Look online for Tax Tables. They’ll show you, by income category, what you’ll pay.

This is the hardest part of getting out of college. What type of position you’re applying for, and what type of degree you have, is more of a factor than what you think you need to live on. Add to that, this is a recessionary job market, and you have a very different world than looking for a job last spring. Not to say that it’s impossible. You just have to be creative and flexible.

if you want 28k after taxes you need to pull in about 31.5k depending on what you can claim as business expenses.

well and you’ll also be looking at taking intrest off your student loans off of your taxes. so as long as you area paying intrest on student loans you’ll get more back.

I will definitely be paying back student loans (somewhere in the ballpark of a grand a month). I’m going to have a bachelors in chem, with a minor in criminology (thankfully the laboratory chemist market has held steady so I SHOULD have no trouble finding a job). Does anyone know how to end up getting my student loans to lower my taxes? That would be tremendously helpful cuz I have a TON of loans.

The interest you pay on qualifiying student loans, assuming you meet a few basic criteria, is tax deductible. What that means is that if you make 30,000 a year, but pay $500 a month in interest on your loans, then you’ll be able to calculate your taxes as if you earned only $24,000. Subtract from that the personal deduction ($3650) to get your taxable income. In this case, you’d owe about $3,887.

So, you say you pay $1,000 a month on student loans. Let’s assume about half of that is on the interest, so if you want to bring in $28,000 after taxes, then you need an annual salary of about $32,500.

@Michael is accurate, don’t forget that cost incurred looking for a job is also deductible.

If you have to move more than 50 miles because of the new job location, the cost of the move is deductible, along with any expenses you may incur that are directly related to the job.

It is refreshing for someone to have the insight to ask before, rather than wait till time to file and say “what happen?”

Thank you much Michael, that’s super helpful. Any other ways I can reduce the tax impact that I should know about? lol