Week 3 Lab Assignment - Tax Filing
Overview
For this assignment, each student will write a program to estimate federal tax obligations and effective tax rate.
Prior to Lab
Install Java and IntelliJ
- Download and install Java 24 JDK (Java Development Kit) from here.
- Be sure to download and run the x64 MSI Installer (the first link)
- Download and install IntelliJ IDEA. The Community Edition is all you'll need for this course, but you can download the Ultimate Edition and create a free student account, if you'd like.
Hand Calculations
Calculate by hand (calculator is allowed, but show your work) the taxes owed for a single filer making the following amounts:
- $10,000
- $20,000
- $50,000
Submit this (on paper) to your instructor at the beginning of lab.
Details
The United States Internal Revenue Service collects taxes from those who earn income in the United States. Ignoring all tax deductions and loopholes, those who earn more are require to contribute a higher percentage of their income. The following table shows the tax brackets for 2024.
| Rate | Single Filers | Married Joint Filers |
| 10% | $0 to $11,600 | $0 to $23,200 |
| 12% | $11,601 to $47,150 | $23,201 to $94,300 |
| 22% | $47,151 to $100,525 | $94,301 to $201,050 |
| 24% | $100,526 to $191,950 | $201,051 to $383,900 |
| 32% | $191,951 to $243,725 | $383,901 to $487,450 |
| 35% | $243,726 to $609,350 | $487,451 to $731,200 |
| 37% | $609,351+ | $731,201+ |
Note that the first $11,600 of all single filers income is taxed at the 10% rate, the next $35,550 (= 47,150 - 11,600) is taxed at 12%, etc... For example, taxes due for a single filer with $100,000 in income would be $17,053, which is calculated as follows: 0.10 x 11600 + 0.12 x 35550 + 0.22 x 52,850. Note: tax obligations are rounded to the nearest whole dollar.
The effective tax rate is calculated as the amount of taxes due divided by the total income. In our specific example this would be 17.1% = 100% x ($17053/$100000).
Write a program that asks the user if they are a single filer or married joint filer. It should then ask for their expected earned income for 2024 and display the estimated taxes they will be required to pay by April 15, 2025 as well as their effective tax rate.
You may develop your own technique for determining if the user is a single or married joint filer, but it must be obvious to the user when the program is run (provide clear instructions).
Your program must be in a class called CalculateTaxes in a package that matches your
MSOE username (email address without the @msoe.edu).
A sample program interaction for the program is shown below:
Are you a single filer or a married joint filer (enter 's' or 'j'): s Enter an estimate of your earned income for 2024: 100000.00 Your estimated taxes for 2024 are: $17053 This results in an 17.1% effective tax rate.
Note: You do not need to have the correct number of digits after the decimal place for the effective tax rate.
Acknowledgement
This laboratory assignment was developed by Dr. Chris Taylor.