Editorial policy

Last updated 2026-09-08.

Tax figures are only useful if they are right and you can see where they came from. These are the rules every number on this site has to pass before it is published.

Primary sources only

Every rate, threshold, deduction and credit is taken from the document that has legal force or is published by the agency that administers the tax: an IRS revenue procedure, a form's official instructions, a state statute, an agency notice. Summaries by tax-preparation companies, news articles, encyclopedias and AI-generated answers are never used as a source, though they are sometimes used to find the primary document. Each data file lists what was read, and the methodology page links to the official copy wherever one is online.

Two independent reads, then an adversarial one

A data file reaches verified only after two separate reads of the primary documents produce the same figures, and every difference between them has been resolved from the document rather than by choosing one reader's figure. A third pass then tries to break the result: it recomputes several returns by hand from the agency's own tables and worked examples and compares them with the calculator's output line by line. Differences of a dollar or more are treated as errors until explained. The passes are done with software agents reading the documents, and every reconciliation is reviewed by the maintainer; the method, the documents and the date are recorded in the file and shown on the methodology page.

"Verified" is a documentary claim, not a professional one. Tallyvane is independent developer and publisher and not a CPA, enrolled agent or attorney; the site does not describe any figure as reviewed by a licensed professional unless a named professional has actually reviewed it.

Tests that pin the figures

The official examples and tables used in verification are written into automated tests, and the site cannot be built while any test fails. If a later edit moves a figure that a form's worked example depends on, the build stops. The differential comparison against other calculators is pinned the same way.

What gets modeled

A rule is modeled when it applies to a typical self-employed filer and can be computed from the inputs the calculator asks for. Rules that need information the calculator does not collect — a child's exact age, a county of residence, itemized deductions — are either left out and named on the page, or added together with the input they need. Nothing is approximated silently: when the calculator simplifies, the page says so, and the methodology page keeps a complete list of what is not modeled.

Keeping figures current

Federal figures are refreshed when the IRS publishes the annual inflation adjustments and the SSA announces the wage base. State figures are refreshed when each state publishes its form instructions for the year. Where a state's law for the coming year is already enacted, it is modeled from the enacted text and marked for a re-check when the forms appear; where it is not, the calculator uses the latest published year and says so on the page. Every data file carries a "last verified" date, and the calculator shows the earliest date of the data it is using.

Corrections

Reports of wrong figures are the most valuable mail this site receives. Confirmed corrections are applied to the data file, dated in its notes, and listed on the corrections page, including the ones found by the site's own audits. See the contact page for what to include in a report.

Advertising and independence

The site is funded by advertising and may earn commissions from affiliate links. Advertisers and affiliates have no influence on which rules are modeled, which sources are used, or what the pages say; ads are never placed between a calculator's inputs and its results; and no page recommends a product in exchange for payment. Sponsored content, if it ever appears, will be labeled as such.

Writing

Pages are written to be read by the person filing, not by a search engine. Each state page is written from that state's own rules; pages are not generated by swapping a state name into a template, and no page is published without something specific to say. Drafting and cross-checking make use of language-model tools; every published sentence is reviewed by the maintainer, and every figure in prose comes from the same data files the calculators use, so text and numbers cannot drift apart.

Questions about this policy: support@clearselftax.com.