Taxes paid in the USA are of five different types – FEDERAL TAX, STATE TAX, SOCIAL SECUTIY TAX, MEDICARE TAX, and LOCAL TAX. Every person who has worked in the US is obliged to submit their tax declaration regardless of which tax type they have paid. Depending on the type of your visit (your visa type) there are different rules for the filling in of your declaration which require some specific information on how to do it. Furthermore, if you work during different tax years, or in different states, you have to submit a separate tax declaration for each tax year, or each state. The correct filling-in of the respective documents is not easy even to Americans.

FEDERAL TAX
The federal tax is obligatory to all who live and work in the USA regardless of the type of their residence there. It is uniform for all states. This type of tax is taken in advance from your employer / employers and subsequently submitted to the tax administration (IRS). The amount of federal tax which is due to be paid is determined by the US Congress each year.

STATE TAX
The state tax is obligatory to all who live and work in the USA regardless of the type of their residence there. It is lower than the federal tax and it is different for the different states. There are some states in which there is no state tax – Alaska, for example. The amount of the state tax which has to be paid is determined by the legislative authorities of each state.

SOCIAL SECURITY & MEDICARE TAX
The social security and the medicare tax are obligatory to all who live and work in the USA, except for the university students. The amount of this tax is uniform for all states.

LOCAL TAX
The local tax is not obligatory in all states. It is determined by the local administrative authorities of the state. It should be known that this tax is non-refundable in most cases.