The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) functions as a government agency in the United States with the primary responsibility of gathering taxes and ensuring compliance with tax regulations, including rules such as the wash sale rule.

There are two primary methods for filing taxes: Completing IRS Form 1040 manually and sending it by mail (not recommended) or employing a professional CPA to handle the tax filing process.

The three main types of US tax systems are as follows.
Progressive Tax – A taxation system that extracts a higher percentage of income from individuals in higher income brackets compared to those in lower income brackets.
Proportional Tax – A tax system where the same percentage of income is collected from all income groups.
Regressive Tax – A tax structure that collects a greater percentage of income from individuals in lower income brackets as opposed to those in higher income brackets

There are 12 varieties of taxes in the USA, categorized into three groups:
Earn: Includes individual income taxes, corporate income taxes, payroll taxes, and capital gains taxes.
Buy: Encompasses sales taxes, gross receipts taxes, value-added taxes, and excise taxes.
Own: Comprises property taxes, tangible personal property taxes, estate, and inheritance taxes.

The penalty for Failure to File is 5% of the unpaid taxes for every month or portion of a month that a tax return is overdue. However, the penalty is capped at 25% of the total unpaid taxes.

When your financial situation becomes intricate, investing additional funds to enlist the services of a professional CPA can, in fact, result in long-term savings.