2008年ESL之商务英语 09 Filing Taxes（打印版）

2008年ESL之商务英语 09 Filing Taxes（在线收听）

09 Filing Taxes

GLOSSARY

taxes – payments that citizens make to the government; money that thegovernment takes from citizens* How much did you pay in taxes last year?

to look (something) over – to review something; to read something and check itfor correctness or accuracy* Do you look over your children’s homework before they give it to their teacher?

exempt – not subject to something; not being required to do or pay somethingbecause it is not applicable to oneself* Peace Corps Volunteers are sometimes exempt from paying application fees when they apply for graduate school.

EZ tax return – a simplified form for paying one’s taxes to the U.S. government* If you have only one job and not very many investments, the easiest way to fileyour taxes is to fill out the EZ tax return.

earnings – money that one receives from jobs or investments* When Marty accepted the new job, his annual earnings doubled.

salary – the amount of money that one receives in a year for working for acompany or organization* The engineering company offers a starting salary of $72,000.

dividends – money earned on one’s investments; money received as apercentage of the amount that one has invested in some way; money paid by acompany to its investors* When you invest in a company, you might earn dividends or you might losemoney.

dependent – a person, usually a child, who depends on another person forfinancial support, including food, housing, and clothing* His parents listed him as a dependent until he turned 18 years old and startedliving alone.

withholdings – the money that a worker does not receive because it is taken outof his or her payments in order to pay taxes * If you have a job that pays $100,000 per year, you will probably receive only around $70,000, because about 30% might be kept as withholdings.

tax refund – the amount of money that one receives from the government ifone’s withholdings for the previous year were more than the amount that oneowed in taxes* He had too much in withholdings last year, so this year he expects to receive abig tax refund.

standard deduction – an amount of money that people can subtract from theirtotal income when calculating their taxes if they do not want to specify all of theirexpenses* She asked her accountant whether it would be better to take the standarddeduction or to list all her expenses in detail.

to itemize – to make a detailed list of something, especially of one’s expenses on a tax form* Business owners need to itemize all their business expenses.

medical expenses – money spent on doctors’ appointments and medicine* Avrumel had a lot of medical expenses when he got in a car accident.

charitable contributions – money given to a not-for-profit organization, often tohelp poor people, improve the environment, or conduct medical research* Each year they make charitable contributions for AIDS research and forestprotection.

calculation – the use of numbers in addition, subtraction, multiplication, anddivision to find the answer to a math problem or the price or amount of something* A good bank employee needs to be able to make simple calculations very quickly.

to crunch numbers – to make calculations; to add, subtract, multiply, and divide* I hope you enjoy crunching numbers all day if you’re thinking of becoming anaccountant,refund check – a piece of paper that one receives from the government and cantake to a bank to exchange for money in the amount of one’s tax return* I wish we didn’t have to wait so long to receive our refund checks. I could really use the extra money this month!

COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS1. Which of these are earnings?

a) Dividends.

b) Dependents.

c) Withholdings.

2. When will one receive a refund check?

a) When one’s withholdings are greater than one’s taxes.

b) When one’s standard deduction is greater than one’s itemized deduction.

c) When one’s medical expenses affect the calculations.

______________WHAT ELSE DOES IT MEAN?

to look (something) over The phrase “to look (something) over,” in this podcast, means to review or readsomething and check it for accuracy: “Could you please look over my homework and let me know if you find mistakes?” The phrase “to look down (one’s) nose at(someone or something)” means to act as if one were better than another personor thing: “When Jenni learned that we didn’t go to college, she looked down hernose at us.” The phrase “to look the other way” means to ignore something, or tosee something that is wrong but not do anything about it: “Millions of people look the other way when they see homeless people on the street.” Finally, the phrase“to look no further” is used to say that one has exactly what another personneeds: “If you’d like to make more money, look no further! I have a business opportunity for you.”

dependentIn this podcast, the word “dependent” means a person, usually a child, whodepends on another person for financial support, including food, housing, andclothing: “The more dependents you have in your home, the more money youneed to make each year.” The word “dependent” also means not independent,or needing something or someone for one’s happiness, success, health,existence, or something else: “Rocheleh is dependent on public radio news programs for learning about what is happening in the world.” Or, “High schoolstudents’ ability to get into a good college is dependent on their grades, extracurricular activities, and essays.” The word “dependent” also means addicted todrugs or alcohol: “Bernie wishes that his son weren’t dependent on drugs.”

CULTURE NOTEThere is a popular joke in the United States: “Only two things are certain in life:

death and taxes.” Death and taxes seem to be the only things that peoplecannot “escape” (get away) from. Americans pay many different kinds of taxes and the “federal” (national) government uses the “tax revenues” (money receivedfrom taxes) to “finance” (pay for) federal programs.

Almost all Americans pay “income taxes,” or taxes on the amount of money thatthey earn each year. Income taxes are “assessed” (calculated and charged) as apercentage of one’s income. In general, people who earn more money pay ahigher percentage of income tax than do people who earn less money. This is a“progressive” tax. If people who earn little money pay more in taxes than peoplewho earn a lot of money, the tax is known as a “regressive tax.”

In all states except Oregon, Delaware, New Hampshire, Montana, and most ofAlaska, Americans pay a “sales tax,” which is assessed as a percentage on allsales except for “groceries” (food that has to be prepared, not food in arestaurant). This tax is often around six or seven percent and represents asignificant part of most Americans’ “budget” (a plan for how one will spendmoney in a certain period of time).

“Property owners” (people who own land, houses, and/or buildings) have to pay “property taxes,” too. The property that they own is “appraised,” meaning that aprofessional “appraiser” examines the property and decides how much it is “worth” (how much money something can be sold for). Then the property tax is assessed as a percentage of that “appraised value.”

Nobody likes paying taxes, but almost everyone does. If you don’t, the “InternalRevenue Service” (IRS; the U.S. agency that collects taxes) can make your life“miserable” (very sad and uncomfortable).

______________Comprehension Questions Correct Answers: 1 – a; 2 – a

COMPLETE TRANSCRIPTWelcome to English as a Second Language Podcast number 364: Filing Taxes.

This is ESL Podcast episode 364. I’m your host, Dr. Jeff McQuillan, coming toyou from the beautiful City of Los Angeles, California, and the Center forEducational Development.

You can go to our website at www.eslpod.com and download a Learning Guidefor this episode. The Learning Guides are designed to help you improve yourEnglish even faster. They include all of the vocabulary, definitions, new samplesentences so you can test your comprehension by reading them. We also havecomprehension questions, additional definitions of words that we talk about hereon the podcast; you’ll find cultural notes, and a complete transcript of everythingwe say.

This episode is called “Filing Taxes.” “To file,” here, means to send in yourinformation to the government, and to pay the taxes that you must pay your stateand national government, here in the U.S. anyway. Let’s get started.

[start of dialogue]

Ricky: Aren’t you done with your taxes yet?

Shawn: No, not yet.

Ricky: Can I help?

Shawn: That would be great. I think I’m almost done, but it’d be great if youcould look it over. This is the first year I haven’t been exempt or filed an EZ taxreturn.

Ricky: No problem. What are brothers for? Okay, you’ve entered your earnings,including your salary and dividends. You have no dependents...

Shawn: I just hope I picked the right number of withholdings. I’d like to get a tax refund, rather than have to pay. Ricky: Well, you can take the standard deduction here, but I suggest itemizingyour medical expenses and your charitable contributions. It may make a bigdifference in the calculations.

Shawn: Thanks. I’ll crunch the numbers to find out. So what do I owe you for allof this help?

Ricky: That depends on the size of your refund check! [end of dialogue]

Our dialogue between Ricky and Shawn begins by Ricky saying, “Aren’t youdone with your taxes yet (aren’t you finished with your taxes yet)?” “Taxes” arepayments – money – that you have to give the government for some reason. Here in the United States, we have different kinds of taxes. We have an incometax; “income” is the money you get for your job or other investments. Incometaxes are, in the U.S., paid by everyone who makes a certain amount of money,and the more money you make, the more taxes you’re supposed to pay, althoughit does not always happen that way. Everyone who lives in the U.S., or is a U.S.

citizen, and makes a certain amount of money must file their taxes every year tothe federal government and most state governments.

Ricky is asking if Shawn is “done,” or finished, with preparing her taxes. Wesometimes say “to prepare your tax return.” The “return” is the actual form thatyou fill out your information on to send to the government. Shawn says, “No, notyet.” Ricky says, “Can I help?” Shawn says, “That would be great. I think I’malmost done, but it’d be great if you could look it over (it would be great if youcould look it over).” “To look over something” is a phrasal verb meaning toreview something, to read something and check to make sure it is correct andaccurate. Shawn says, “This is the first year I haven’t been exempt or filed an EZ tax return.” “To be exempt from something” means that you are not required to dosomething; in this case, not required to pay something. If you make very littlemoney in the U.S., you are usually exempt from paying taxes – you don’t have topay taxes. Shawn says that in the past she’s file an EZ tax return. An “EZ”

(which is spelled: the capital letter “E” and the capital letter “Z,” obviously standing for the word “easy”) is a tax return that the U.S. government started afew years ago to make it easier for people who don’t make a lot of money to fillout their tax return. In the United States, your tax returns must be “filed,” or sentto the government, by April 15thevery year.

Ricky offers to help Shawn, he says, “What are brothers for?” This is anexpression we use to mean that’s what I’m here for; that is what being a brother,in this case, means. You could say, “What are sisters for?” You’re saying, “I’mhappy to help, that’s why I’m here.”

Ricky says, “Okay, you’ve entered your earnings, including your salary anddividends.” “Your earnings” refers to all of the money that you receive from any source – from your job, from investments in the stock market; anything that youget is considered your earnings. Your “salary” (salary) is the amount of money you get for working for a company or organization. “Dividends” refers to themoney you get from your investments. Sometimes companies who have stock will pay dividends; once a year, they will give you money because you areinvested in their company.

Ricky says to Shawn, “You have no dependents.” A “dependent” is a person,usually a child, who “depends on,” or relies on, another person for their financialsupport: someone gives them food, housing, clothing, and so forth. In the U.S.

tax system, if you are a parent who has children, you don’t have to pay as manytaxes; if you have a lot of children, you pay even less. These are called“dependents.” Sometimes dependents could be your older father or mother, orgrandparents, who you have to give money to, to support. If they rely on you – ifthey depend on you – then they’re considered dependents also, and you pay lower taxes because of that. The word “dependent” has a couple of differentmeanings in English, as does the phrasal verb we talked about earlier, “to looksomething over.” Take a look at the Learning Guide for some additionalexplanations of these expressions.

Shawn says, “I just hope I picked (or selected) the right number of withholdings.” “Withholdings” is money that you do not receive in your paycheck as part of yoursalary, but goes directly to pay your taxes. For example, if you get paid every two weeks you will receive some money, but the government will have thecompany withhold money from you. “To withhold” means not to give somethingto someone that otherwise belongs to them. So, if you make $1,000 every twoweeks, you may have to pay 100 or $115 to the government in taxes. That’s because the government is not going to wait until the end of year, or April 15th,for you to pay all of your taxes; you have to pay some of them every time youreceive a paycheck, and that money is called “withholdings.”

Shawn says, “I’d like to get a tax refund, rather than have to pay.” A “tax refund”

is money the government gives back to you if you withheld too much money. So,you may have told the government to take too much money from your paycheck every week, then the government gives you money back. This is always, ofcourse, a good thing – a “refund,” when someone returns money to you. If youdidn’t withhold enough money, then you have to pay the government the rest ofthe taxes on April 15th.

Ricky says, “Well, you can take the standard deduction here, but I suggestitemizing your medical expenses and your charitable contributions.” A“deduction” is something that you take out of something, something you subtractfrom something else. To deduct 2 from 10 would give you 8. The “standarddeduction” is what the government says everyone can take out their incomewhen they are calculating their taxes. The reason they do this is becausebasically they’re lowering the taxes on everyone’s income. The government alsosays that there are certain kinds of expenses that you can deduct from yourincome, so you don’t have to pay taxes on them. Many people, however, don’t“keep track of,” or don’t write down or keep a record of all of the expenses they make every year, so they can just take the standard deduction. The governmentsays okay, it’s this much money that you can take out of your income so that youwill have lower taxes. The opposite is to itemize your expenses. “To itemize” means to make a detailedlist of something, the expenses of what you have paid in the past year that thegovernment says you can deduct from your income. For example, if you spend alot of money on medical care – on going to a doctor, these medical expenses canbe itemized and sometimes deducted from your income. If you give a lot ofmoney to a charitable organization – a not-for-profit organization such as ahospital, a school, perhaps a church, these “contributions,” or gifts, are alsodeductible; they can be part of your itemized deductions. So charitablecontributions, or gifts, are itemized, and therefore deductible.

Ricky says, “It may make a big difference in the calculations.” “Calculations” arethe numbers that you add, subtract, multiply, or divide in order to solve a mathproblem. Shawn says, “Thanks. I’ll crunch the numbers to find out.” “To crunchthe numbers” is an informal expression meaning to make or do the calculations –to add, subtract, multiply, and divide what you need to, to find the answer. It is often used when talking about business or finance or taxes; we talk aboutcrunching the numbers for our business to find out if we are going to makemoney this year. It’s just another way of saying “to figure out.”

Shawn asks Ricky what she owes him for all of this help – what does she have topay him. Ricky jokes, “That depends on the size of your refund check!” The“refund check” is the money that the government gives back to you if you’vewithheld too much money for your taxes. Ricky is saying, “If the governmentgives you a lot of money back, then you will have to pay me more.” Now let’s listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.