Throughout the year, a variety of things that affect your income taxes can happen. In the United States, a personal income tax return is a set of forms provided by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) which most residents are required to complete every year. Most financial transactions and important life events will be entered into your tax return so that you can calculate exactly how much income tax you owe to the federal government.

Typically, you pay some amount of income tax through withholdings (see What is: Withholding) throughout the year, but your withholding amounts are only estimates. After you complete your tax return, you’ll find out how close the total withholding is to your actual tax owed.

Typically, each of your paychecks shows deductions for Social Security, Medicare, federal tax, and state tax. These items amount to your withholding–the portion of your pay that is withheld. These amounts are sent by your employer to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), an agency of the U.S. government.

At the end of the year, you’ll receive a form that shows the total amounts withheld from you throughout the year. The information on this form will help you complete your tax form, which will determine the size of your tax refund or balance due.

The depreciation of new cars:

On average, the prices of vehicles dropped 11.7% each year for the first three years, and only 7.6% each year for the following four years. You can find the best value by buying vehicles that are three to seven years old. It is more difficult to obtain extended maintenance plans for used cars older than seven years or with more than 70,000 miles.

UPDATE: November numbers are now available. The SAAR for November 2009 was 10.93 million vehicles.

General Motors entered bankruptcy and..
Sold: Hummer (to Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industry Machine Co), and Saab (to Spyker Cars N.V.)
Discontinued: Pontiac and Saturn

Chrysler entered bankruptcy.

Ford did not enter bankruptcy, but…
Sold: Aston Martin, Land Rover, Jaguar, and Mazda.

The only brand showing positive sales growth (for which stats were available) from 2005 to 2008 was Mazda, with a +0.5% CAGR. Cash for Clunkers clearly had a fleeting impact on sales, essentially shoring up some demand at the expense of near-future sales.

The two best selling domestic vehicles are Ford F-150 (#1), and Chevy Silverado (#4). The remaining top 5 are Japanese mid-size or compact sedans.

The Total U.S. Light Vehicle Sales chart shows that domestic brands visibly lost market share to all other brands over the past decade.

Credit card companies allow card holders to pay a minimum payment—a set percentage.   This makes the payment more affordable but ultimately allows the credit card company to collect huge amounts of interest

Congress recently passed the Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights Act of 2009 to protect consumers against unfair interest rate changes and fees.  Five out of 99 attending senators voted against the bill, and four did not vote.  Two of the five “Nays” were from South Dakota, the state where most credit card companies are headquartered due to the state’s lack of a statutory limitation on credit card interest rates and other favorable conditions.  A few days after the vote, Pres. Obama signed the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure (CARD) Act of 2009.

Still, some call for legislation forcing credit card companies to increase the minimum to 5%  to protect consumers from excessive interest.  Chase Bank has voluntarily raised its minimum payment requirement from 2% to 5% on certain cards.  This increase causes difficulty for those who cannot afford the new payments; many pundits are framing Chase Bank’s action as consumer abuse, but it’s actually the prudent thing to do.  In the long run, it will keep consumers’ interest charges from growing out of control.

*Interest calculated using an average daily balance method with monthly compounding.

IRS Form 1040 summarizes your tax information for the year—Some numbers come from additional forms called “Schedules”

All Income is everything that you received during the year.  Some income, such as tax-free gifts, is excluded, which is why Total Income can be less than All Income.

(2) The card issuer will estimate your ability to pay back money, and send you a credit card with a limit that they determine.

(3) You can make purchases until you reach the credit limit.

(4) The card issuer will send a monthly bill that shows how much you spent.

(5) You will have a set number of days (the “grace period”) to make a payment. You will be charged fees if you miss a payment deadline.

(6) A – Pay only a small portion of the balance each month, and interest charges will quickly pile up.
B – Pay the full balance each month, and it’s a free loan.

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