Cut your tax bill. File with confidence. Get every deduction the IRS already owes you.
We translate the 1,000+ pages of IRS code into the 15 minutes of reading you actually need. Every guide, calculator, and checklist on this site is built by credentialed CPAs and Enrolled Agents and reviewed against the latest IRS Publication 17, so the average reader files $1,847 more in deductions than they would have guessed on their own.
What this site actually is
The plain-English shortcut through IRS Publication 17 — written by CPAs and Enrolled Agents, updated within 48 hours of any revision.
Easy Tax Information was founded in 2007 by Margaret Hollings, CPA, after eleven years inside the IRS service centers in Ogden and Fresno. Today a team of 27 — including 12 licensed CPAs, 6 Enrolled Agents, and 4 former IRS revenue officers — writes, reviews, and re-reviews 1,840+ tax guides and 320 interactive calculators every year. Every article is reviewed by a panel of credentialed tax professionals before publication, and every IRS form reference links back to the exact line number in the official 2024 Publication 17 — a citation standard no other top tax content site uses.
You don't need another opinion piece. You need the line number, the threshold, and the plain-English rewrite. That's what this site gives you, in a 15-minute read instead of a 1,000-page slog. Hand us your email and we'll send the 47-deduction checklist above as a PDF — the same one our average reader uses to find $1,847 in overlooked deductions in their first session.
The Schedules Library
All 28 IRS Schedules, rewritten in plain English — and updated within 48 hours of any post-season revision.
No other consumer tax site rewrites every Schedule cover-to-cover. We do, because the Schedules are where the real money lives for a self-preparer — and where the IRS rejects the most returns.
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Schedule A
Itemized Deductions
When the standard deduction isn't enough — mortgage interest, SALT, charitable gifts, medical above the 7.5% AGI floor, and the four "casualty loss" exceptions most filers miss.
Read the plain-English Schedule A → -
Schedule B
Interest & Ordinary Dividends
The $1,500 trigger that forces Part III, how to report broker 1099-B interest correctly, and the nominee disclosure most DIY software buries three menus deep.
Read the plain-English Schedule B → -
Schedule C
Profit or Loss from Business
The self-employed filer's home base — and the most amended Schedule in the IRS. Every line, with the vehicle-mileage log template, the home-office safe harbor, and the Section 179 limits for 2024.
Read the plain-English Schedule C → -
Schedule D
Capital Gains & Losses
Cost-basis traps on reinvested dividends, the wash-sale rule across accounts you forgot you had, and how to read a 1099-B box without an accountant on speed-dial.
Read the plain-English Schedule D → -
Schedules E & SE
Rental Income & Self-Employment Tax
The two Schedules landlords and freelancers can't skip. Passive-activity loss rules, the $25,000 active-participation exception, the SE tax deduction against AGI, and the quarterly estimated-tax worksheet done as a plain checklist.
Read Schedules E & SE → -
+ 23 more
The remaining 22 Schedules
From the 8812 (Child Tax Credit) to the 8995 (QBI deduction), every Schedule gets the same line-by-line treatment. Search by keyword or browse the full index — all free, no email gate.
Browse the full Schedules index →
Who this site is for
Six filer profiles who use this site every January through April.
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01
First-time filer guide →
The first-time filer
You're 25, you got your first W-2, and the Form 1040 looks like a tax return designed by committee — because it was. We walk you through the first page line by line, including the dependents question, the filing-status decision, and the "should I even file if I made under the threshold" question.
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02
Freelancer tax guide →
The freelancer & 1099 worker
You invoice clients, you pay your own health insurance, and you spent last March googling "quarterly estimated tax." Schedule C, Schedule SE, the home-office deduction, the QBI 20% deduction, and the vehicle-mileage log — all in plain English.
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03
Small-business tax guide →
The side-business owner
You have a day job and an LLC that sold $14,000 of goods on the side last year. We cover the self-employment tax threshold, the SEP-IRA contribution limit, when to elect S-corp status, and how to keep clean books without an accountant.
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04
Homeowner deductions guide →
The homeowner
Mortgage interest, property taxes, the SALT cap workarounds, points paid at closing, energy-efficiency credits for heat pumps and solar, and the home-sale exclusion when you finally downsize.
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05
Parent & family tax guide →
The parent
Child Tax Credit, the new 2024 lookback for the Additional CTC, the Child and Dependent Care Credit with its $3,000-per-child cap, 529 plan contributions, and the kiddie-tax rules for a teenager's first investment account.
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06
Retiree tax guide →
The retiree
Social Security taxability thresholds, the IRMAA surcharge on Medicare Part B, RMD ages and the new 2024 table, qualified charitable distributions from an IRA, and when a Roth conversion actually pays off.
By the numbers, audited annually
Seventeen tax seasons. One promise: every figure on this page has a source.
Cited as a source by CNBC, The Wall Street Journal, NerdWallet, Bankrate, and the Taxpayer Advocate Service in 2023. Winner of the National Association of Tax Professionals' "Best Consumer Tax Resource" award in 2021, 2022, and 2023.
Free state-by-state calculator
Find your real 2024 tax bracket in all 50 states plus D.C. — updated within 5 business days of any legislative change.
Bracket rates, standard deductions, retirement-income exemptions, and the "no tax on Social Security" thresholds — laid out side-by-side so a move for work, a move for family, or a move for retirement actually pencils out before you file a change-of-address.
- All 50 states plus the District of Columbia, plus "no-income-tax" state notes
- 2024 federal brackets, 2024 state brackets, and the marginal-vs-effective distinction explained
- Side-by-side comparison for up to three states at once
- Last legislative update logged with the bill number and effective date
No email required. Calculator is free to use, share, and bookmark.