America has a city, state, and federal tax system. Tax is deducted from employees pay directly depending on your job and rate of pay. The http://www.irs.gov/ is responsible for monitoring taxes and performs audits to assure that tax returns are being appropriately paid.

Some of this tax may be rebated, or more tax may be required, in an annual accounting done by the citizens with a due date of April 15th. Large firms like http://www.hrblock.com/ and www.turbotax.com can help citizens fill out forms on-line or in-person to determine how much taxes are owed or to be refunded. If you do not have stocks, pension plans, or other investments filing your own tax return is fairly simple and it is cheapest to complete by yourself on-line. If your return is more complicated, hiring an accountant or tax specialist to go through the paper work may end up saving you money.

Some local money managers include:

Kobe David H & Associates
333 Hayes St
San Francisco, CA 94102
Phone: (415) 864-3235
www.dkobe.com/new/dkobe/

TaxPlus Financial Services
315 Noe Street
San Francisco, CA 94114
Phone: (415) 431-9660
www.taxplusfinancial.com/

JK Harris & Co.
425 Market Street, Suite 2200
San Francisco, CA 94105
Phone: (800) 621-0601

Another option is to search on Citysearch: sanfrancisco.citysearch.com.

Foreigners are also taxed as anyone else living in the United States if they are a permanent resident, have a green card, or if they live in the United States on average at least 122 days over 3 years. Most countries have formed a partnership with the United States to insure that their ex-patriots are not doubly taxed, but check with your own country to confirm that your taxes are paid appropriately. For more information on taxes as a non-resident http://www.irs.gov/faqs/faq13-4.html.

For 2007, the Federal tax brackets for a single (unmarried) person are:

This applies only to amounts above $8,025 (standard deduction of $5,350 plus the one personal exemption of $3,400) for an individual. For example, a single individual would actually pay 0% on the first $8,750 of income, 10% on the amount of income between $8,751 and $16,575, 15% on the amount of income between $16,576 and $40,600, 25% on the amount of income between $40,601 and $85,850, and so on.

For a quick glossary of terms:

Local Tax

Local government is funded by local taxes such as property taxes. In California, seeds, bulbs, starter plants and trees obtained from a garden center are taxed if adjudged for decorative purposes while plants for food production are untaxed, as is food in California. California imposes "sin taxes" like most US States in which products like cigarettes and alcohol are taxed higher then other products. For detailed information on taxes in San Francisco, go to San Francisco Treasurer .

State income tax rate: 9.3% maximum variable rate income tax, with 6 tax brackets (divisions at which tax rates change, essentially a cutoff values for taxable income)
Local sales tax rate: City sales tax rate is 8.5%

For single taxpayers, the personal income tax:
• 4 percent on the first $8,000 of taxable income.
• 4.5 percent on taxable income between $8,001 and $11,000.
• 5.25 percent on taxable income between $11,001 and $13,000.
• 5.9 percent on taxable income between $13,001 and $20,000.
• 6.85 percent on taxable income of $20,001 and above.

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