Income tax brackets for 2009

OK, so the 2008 tax season is officially over. Let's take a look at tax brackets of 2009.

The tables below show the tax rates in taxable income for 2009 by each income tax bracket (I found this information on WalletPop.com):

Table A: Single tax return:

If taxable income is:		Amount of tax that you owe is:
More than:	However, not over:	This amount (or %) plus % of:	Amount over:
$0	$8,350	10%	--
$8,350	$33,950	$835 + 15%	$8,350
$33,950	$82,250	$4,675 + 25%	$33,950
$82,250	$171,550	$16,750 + 28%	$82,250
$171,550	$372,950	$41,754 + 33%	$171,550
$372,950	--	$108,216 + 35%	$372,950

Table B: Married Filing Jointly (MFJ) or Qualifying Widow(er):

If taxable income is:		Amount of tax that you owe is:
More than:	However, not over:	This amount (or %) plus % of:	Amount over:
$0	$16,700	10%	--
$16,700	$67,900	$1,670 + 15%	$16,700
$67,900	$137,050	$9,350 + 25%	$67,900
$137,050	$208,850	$26,638 + 28%	$137,050
$208,850	$372,950	$46,742 + 33%	$208,850
$372,950	--	$100,895 + 35%	$372,950

Table C: Head of Household tax return:

If taxable income is:		Amount of tax that you owe is:
More than:	However, not over:	This amount (or %) plus % of:	Amount over:
$0	$11,950	10%	--
$11,950	$45,500	$1,195 + 15%	$11,950
$45,500	$117,450	$6,228 + 25%	$45,500
$117,450	$190,200	$24,215 + 28%	$117,450
$190,200	$372,950	$44,585 + 33%	$190,200
$372,950	--	$104,893 + 35%	$372,950

Table D: Married Filing Separate (MFS) return:

If taxable income is:		Amount of tax that you owe is:
More than:	However, not over:	This amount (or %) plus % of:	Amount over:
$0	$8,350	10%	--
$8,350	$33,950	$835 + 15%	$8,350
$33,950	$68,525	$4,675 + 25%	$33,950
$68,525	$104,425	$13,319 + 28%	$68,525
$104,425	$186,475	$23,371 + 33%	$104,425
$186,475	--	$50,447 + 35%	$186,475

For example, say you file a single return and have taxable income of $40,000 in 2009. Using Table A, above, your tax liability would be $4,675 plus 25% of income above $33,950, or $6,050 in your case. That works out to be $1,513 for a total federal income tax liability of $6,188.

To prevent you from being bumped into the next-higher bracket as a result of a cost-of-living wage increase, the IRS adjusts upward the amount of income that can be earned for each tax bracket every year. This phenomenon of being bumped into the next-higher tax bracket is sometimes called "bracket creep."

Change in American Express cash back cards

Please be aware that American Express is changing the terms on its cash back card (Blue Card) starting June 1, 2009:
Instead of 1.5% on other purchases (after your cumulative spend reaches $6,500) you will only be getting 1.25%. This change makes the card less appealing to people who are looking for a cash back card.

Mortgage Rates Tracker

Mortgage rates went up a bit during last couple of weeks.

Here are today's rates (APR) for fixed conventional (< $417,000) refinance mortgages with 0 points. As of today Wachovia offers the most attractive rates.

____________________________________________________

Bank / 15 Yr / 20Yr / 30Yr / Estimated closing costs for $250K loan

____________________________________________________

Wachovia --------- 4.71% / 4.80% / 4.87% / $5,372

Chase -------------- 4.76% / 4.84% / 4.80% / $8,300 (1 PT)

Amerisave -------- 4.77% / 4.85% / 4.83% / ~$5,000

Citizens Bank ---- 4.80% / N/A na / 5.16% / ~$5,000

PHH Mortgage -- 4.98% / 5.14% / 5.13% / ~$8,000 (1 PT)

Wells Fargo ------ 4.99% / 5.42% / 5.09% / ~$8,000 (1 PT)

Bank of America - 5.00% / N/A na/ 5.20% / ~$5,000

TD Bank ----------- 5.06% / N/A na/ 5.42% / ~$5,000

_____________________________________________________

Some experts believe that we have not seen the bottom of the rates yet and expect the rates for 30 year fixed rate mortgages to go down to 4.25% from current 4.85% by the end of 2009. So make sure you don't miss this rare opportunity to lock in once (and if) they do.

Find a person or a business

How do you find an address and a telephone number of a person or a business? Try one of these websites:

http://www.anywho.com/

http://www.address.com/

http://www.411.com/

http://www.whitepages.com/

They provide information for publicly listed telephone numbers.

Gas Station Branded Credit Cards

 

You have probably seen many offers to apply for a Gas Station Branded Credit Cards (e.g. Sunoco, Shell, BP, ExxonMobil, Lukoil, and so on) so the question is if it makes sense to get one.

The answer is most probably not, unless you primarily use only one brand (say Sunoco) and the fuel cost there is similar or lower compared to other gas stations in your area.

The one worth considering is Exxon/Mobil card where you'll get a 7.5% cash back (assuming gas price of $2 per gallon) on gas purchases at these stations.

 

Here's the summary of some Branded Cards available in Philadelphia area.

 

Gas Station	Teaser Offer	Core Offer (at Station)	Core Offer (other purchases)
BP (Chase)	n/a	5% rebates on all BP location purchases	2% rebate on travel and dining 1% rebate on other purchases
Hess (Chase)	First 90 days: 10% on all HESS gas, merchandise, and food purchases	5% on all HESS gas, merchandise, and food purchases	1% on all other purchases
Lukoil / Getty (Barclays)	First 60 Days: 8% in rebates at any Lukoil or Getty, 2% on all other purchases, $10 Bonus with first use	4% in rebates at any LUKOIL or GETTY location	1% on all other purchases
Gulf (Barclays)	n/a	3% for all purchases at Gulf locations	1% on all other purchases
Sunoco (Citi)	$25 Sunoco gift card after $100 in purchases at Sunoco within first 60 days; another $25 Sunoco gift card after $500 in purchases within first 60 days	3 ThankYou Points per gallon of fuel at Sunoco on your 1st and 2nd purchases in a billing period 10 ThankYou Points per gallon of fuel at Sunoco on your 3rd and subsequent purchases in a billing period	1 ThankYou Point for every $1 on all other purchases
Wawa (First USA)	First 60 days: 10% Rebate on Wawa Gas and other Wawa purchases. 2% Rebate everywhere else	3% rebate on Wawa net purchases	1% on all other purchases
Exxon/ Mobil (Citi)	n/a	Rebates of $0.15 per gallon on eligible gasoline purchases made at Exxon and Mobil	Rebates of up to 2% on other purchases annually*
Shell (Citi)	n/a	5% rebates on Shell gas purchases	1% on all other purchases

* 0.5% on your total annual Other Purchases up to $999; 1.0% on your total annual Other Purchases over $999 and up to $5,999; 2.0% on your annual Other Purchases over $5,999 and up to $10,000; and 1% on your total annual Other Purchases over $10,000.

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Stock tracker

Here's how my picks from a month ago are doing (see posting Investing, February 26'09):

Company	Feb'25	Mar'23 (noon)	% change
PENN WEST ENERGY TRUST	9.00	10.96	22%
ENCANA CORP	38.32	45.1	18%
PETRO CANADA VAR	21.5	30.41	41%
SPECTRA ENERGY	13.23	14.53	10%
Merck	27.91	27.36	-2%
Pfizer	13.08	13.97	7%
J&J	53.96	52.7	-2%
Citi	2.52	3.07	22%

So, if you'd invested $1,000 in each of these stocks (for the total cost of $8,000) you could sell them for $9,151 today at noon (even assuming $10 per trade cost you'd still make $991).

As you can see the gains are primarily attributed to the Energy sector. My prediction in February was that oil price would not go further down (from $40 per barrel) and it did not - actually it's about $52 per barrel today.

The pharmaceutical stocks were flat over last month, I still think they'll be a good investment in the long run at current prices.