Training Home – Understanding Taxes – Teacher's Guide

Teacher's Guide

The Utah State Tax Commission has a continuing commitment to provide taxpayers with materials for education.

Utah's Understanding Taxes program recognizes teachers' interest in preparing their students to meet the challenges of citizenship and entering the business world. One important subject students need to understand is state government and the funding required to provide the services we use on a daily basis. This program provides you with the following resources for use in your classrooms:

• How a legislative bill becomes a law. A pictorial presentation of the steps a legislative bill must go through in the Utah Legislature to become law.
• A statistical analysis of the collection and and distribution of taxes. Click here to see an abbreviated report of collections and distributions as reported in the Tax Commission 2003-2004 Annual Report. Click here to review the entire Annual Report for Fiscal Year 2005-2006.
• A brief discussion on the background and history of the three primary taxes: Sales and Use Tax, Property Tax, and Income Tax with links to Utah Tax Code.
• A detailed tutorial on employer's responsibilities for withholding income taxes from employee wages is also available in the online Withholding Workshop.

Abbreviated step-by-step instructions for the TC-40 Individual Income Tax Return have been provided for the students' use, or the instruction booklet can be accessed online at http://tax.utah.gov/forms/current/tc-40inst.pdf.

Select a topic from the list on the right, or click the Next Step button below to start at the beginning.

1. Introduction for Students
2. How a Bill Becomes Law
3. Three Primary Taxes
   1. Sales Tax
   2. Property Tax
   3. Income Tax
4. Revenue Collection and Fund Distribution
5. TC-40 Instructions
6. W-2 Discussion
7. Health Insurance Premiums
8. Exempt From Utah Income Taxes
9. Preparing the Return for Mailing
10. Payment Options
11. Exercises
12. Answers to Exercises
13. Tutoring Credit
14. At-home Parent
15. U.S. Government Interest
16. Credit for Taxes Paid to another State