It’s almost tax time and many people are looking forward to getting big tax refunds. Whether you’re using your tax refund to pay off credit cards, to pay for home improvements, or saving for your summer vacation, you’re probably wondering how much you can expect to receive this year.
Unfortunately, you can’t file your tax return until you receive all of your tax documents – including W-2s, 1099s, etc. – and most of those won’t come until the end of January. However, there are several tax return estimators to help you figure out how much you can expect to receive. Here are a few of my favorite tax return estimator sites:
Free Tax Calculators from Turbo Tax
At Turbo Tax’s website, you can find several tax calculators including TaxCaster, which allows you to calculate your 2010 tax refund. Simple enter a few questions about yourself (single or married, any dependents?), your income and your deductions to estimate how much your 2010 tax refund will be.
H&R Block Free Tax Calculators
Or, you can go to the leading tax preparer, H&R Block for a free 2010 tax return estimator. They also have a self employment tax estimator, which is helpful if you have your own business.
1040.com has a number of tax calculators. In addition to estimating your 2010 tax refund, at 1040.com you can also determine if your withholding needs to be adjusted, calculate your self employment tax, calculate your capital gains and losses if you sell any investments, compare tax deferred account growth to tax free investment growth, calculate how much of your Social Security benefit will be taxed, and much more…
While tax return estimators are most popular during January when people are anticipating their tax refunds, it’s a good idea to estimate your tax refund (or taxes due) throughout the year to determine if you should do any tax planning to minimize your income tax liability.
