Clearly Taxes is a plain-English reference for people who want to understand how United States income taxes work before they sit down to file. It does not prepare returns, sell software, or tell you what to claim. Instead, it explains the vocabulary and the machinery: what the difference between a credit and a deduction really is, how marginal tax brackets apply to your income, what the boxes on a W-2 mean, how withholding gets from your paycheck to the IRS, and how deadlines and extensions actually function.
Every page answers one concrete question and points you to the primary source — usually the IRS itself, especially Publication 17, the agency's own comprehensive guide for individuals. When a question turns into a judgment call about your specific situation, we say so plainly and point you toward the IRS, your state tax agency, or a qualified tax professional rather than guessing on your behalf.
Start with the Filing Readiness Checklist, a quick self-assessment that scores how prepared you are to file and shows which documents and decisions are still outstanding. Then browse the guides — for example how tax brackets work, credits versus deductions, or how to read your W-2. Everything here is written to be read in a few minutes and understood on the first pass.