1. Getting the user’s tax profile
The Tight Tax Calculations API combines robustness with the flexibility that your user base needs. Tight can provide useful tax estimates with very minimal data. And, as you are able to gather more tax-related data from your user, the estimates will get more accurate. First, you should retrieve the user’s tax profile. Be sure to include that user’saccess_token in the headers.
2. Updating the user’s tax profile
You should consider updating the following condensed set of fields on your user’s tax profile, as part of your initial tax onboarding:| Field | Description | Format |
|---|---|---|
| federalFilingStatus | Filing status used for Federal tax filing | Must be one of the following: “SINGLE”, “MARRIED”, “MARRIED_SEPARATELY”, “HEAD”, “WIDOWER” |
| stateFilingStatus | Filing status used for State tax filing; usually the same as Federal, but there are situations where the filing status can differ | Must be one of the following: “SINGLE”, “MARRIED”, “MARRIED_SEPARATELY”, “HEAD”, “WIDOWER” |
| taxState | Two-letter state/province abbreviation | String |
| annualW2Income | Estimate of the user’s annual W-2 paystubs total, before any tax withholdings | Numeric, with 2 decimal places |
| acceptedDisclaimer | Whether the user has accepted your tax disclaimer | Boolean |
| isSetupComplete | Whether the user has completed your initial tax onboarding | Boolean |
| Field | Description | Format |
|---|---|---|
| useW2Withholding | Whether the user has specified their W-2 withholdings (allows for more accurate tax estimates); when not specified, Tight estimates the W-2 withholding amount | Boolean |
| federalW2Withholding | Federal tax amount withheld from W-2 income; required if useW2Withholding is true | Numeric, with 2 decimal places |
| stateW2Withholding | State tax amount withheld from W-2 income; required if useW2Withholding is true | Numeric, with 2 decimal places |
| numExemptions | Number of state tax exemptions that the user qualifies for | Numeric |
| useHomeOfficeDeduction | Whether the user wants to use the simplified option for home office deduction | Boolean |
| homeOfficeArea | Size of the home office, in sq. feet (not to exceed 300) | Numeric, with 2 decimal places |
| useUserEstimatedRevenueForTaxCalc | Whether the user (or developer) wants to override Tight’s annual business income projection with their own estimate; this will impact annual and quarterly tax estimates | Boolean |
| userEstimatedAnnualRevenue | User’s estimated annual business income | Numeric, with 2 decimal places |
📘 Submitting Quarterly Tax Payments to the IRS If you are interested in allowing your users to submit estimated tax payments to the IRS, you may need to update a few extra attributes in the user’s tax profile, to update their 1040-ES tax filer info.
3. Displaying a tax disclaimer
While the Tight API provides tax estimates, you will likely want to display a disclaimer to your users to relieve yourself of any potential tax-related liabilities. We recommend displaying the following language in your tax onboarding:isSetupComplete to true. That way, you can prove that your user has agreed to the disclaimer.