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Grades 9-12
Taxes Scavenger Hunt
In this economics activity, students will investigate frequently asked questions about income tax.
Key Concepts: Taxes
Objective
Students will be able to:
- Use a w2 and other tax documents to learn and practice filing taxes.
- List the factors that impact the amount a person receives or pays from filing taxes.
- Describe information contained in a W2 and other important tax forms.
- How different life circumstances impact taxes.
Concepts
Resources
Important Website Links
Procedure
Have your students go to the TurboTax Simulation Link. Students do not need to sign up or sign in, all they need to do is click on “Filing your Taxes” under the Tax Simulations section. Students will need to start or complete the first simulation before they can move on to the other 4 simulations.
Disclaimer
The Council for Economic Education does not endorse or evaluate the advertised product, service, or company, nor any of the claims made by the advertisement.
Assessment
Filing taxes is a complex process. TurboTax is a tool that helps manage that process. Users input both personal and financial information. TurboTax uses the data to fill out the tax forms.
- List 3-4 pieces of information directly from your W2 that you have to input into TurboTax.
- Of the many personal questions prompted by TurboTax while filing taxes, list two that stuck out to you as memorable or significant.
- Describe the process of filing taxes. Was it easy or difficult? If you were doing this for your own personal taxes instead of for a simulated scenario, would it be simpler or just as complicated?
FFFL Connection
Budgeting for Income and Expenses Simulation has been created as a real-world technology simulation to accompany FFFL 9-12, 3rd Edition lesson 7 titled Uncle Sam Takes a Bite. If you have not taught this lesson plan, we recommend students are proficient in the net worth concepts.
In this personal finance activity, students will use the IRS Free File program provided by Intuit’s TurboTax to learn and practice filing taxes.
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