effective tax rate looks wrong

Forum|Forum|6 years ago
March 28, 2020
6 replies
32 views

Hoping someone can help! This is the summary of my taxes. My questions are 1) if my taxable income is only $17344 isn't my tax really high; and 2) why does my effective tax rate say negative 2.98%? Isn't the calculation tax/taxable income which would be $6273 (or $4878) divided by $17344? Thank you!

RobertG

Level 12

Total Tax on line 16 of Form 1040 includes tax other than the income tax.

It includes taxes from Schedule 2, like self employment tax.

TurboTax divides your total tax from line 12b, by your total income, line 7b, to get the effective tax rate.

This figure is just informational, it does not appear on your tax return or affect the amount of tax that you pay.

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jerseymfAuthor

Level 2

Thank you, Robert! Do you think it's odd that I'm paying about $5K in taxes on $17K in taxable income?

RobertG

Level 12

Yes, unless the $5k includes other taxes besides the income tax.

You can view your 1040 form before you file or pay:

Open or continue your return.
Select Tax Tools in the left menu (if you don't see this, select the menu icon in the upper-left corner).
Then Select Tools
With the Tools Center menu open, you can then:
- Select View Tax Summary
- Then select Preview my 1040