Want to know how much you'll really be earning from that new job? You could try to calculate your take home pay after taxes using the ol' noggin, or you could be really smart about it and use a free online calculator to figure it out for you.
Some of the best I've found are provided by PaycheckCity.com . You can use the basic calculators without registering with the site, or use the professional calculators with registration. Whichever you decide, they are all free to use.
Not only can you calculate your take home pay after taxes, but you can get free help with your W-4 and more.
You'll need to enter some basic tax info, such as your filing status, number of allowances you're claiming etc. It's nice that you can play around with the info too, so you can see what difference it would make if you claimed fewer allowances, etc.
So while you may never find out who that FICA character is that's taking all your money, at least you can get a realistic idea of what your take home pay will be.
photo: djayo, sxc.hu
