Any good tips for tax deductions?

[kbaker]

When we do our taxes, we always deduct the obvious things such as real estate taxes, mortgage interest etc. What are some other things that you can deduct in the categories of employment costs etc. We use turbo tax and have always done a very clean, straightforward return, but a lot of people at work seem to have a lot more deductions...any advice? I already finished for this year, but I want to start thinking about 06/

 

[jetmal]

hmmmm, lets see

- my hubby has to pay for his meals each shift he works, and he works for the city, so we deduct about $1000k a yr for that

- out of pocket uniform costs

- if you are a student, even part time there are deductions

- if you do any business out of your home, there are a zillion different kind of deductions for that

- any donations that you do to say Goodwill or the likes

 

[Mara]

there''s an MSN money article about this i read recently, see if you can find it.

we just have our taxes done, it''s $300 and the guy knows what to ask us and what to look for. i wouldn''t even know where to begin to ensure we were maximizing the return potential.

there are also funky laws making things not super straightforward. for example i am in sales but i can''t write off my actual home office unless my employer forced me to work from home (aka had no space for me at work). i can write off costs of doing business from home but not my office in terms of mortgage amount. so it''s not always as straightforward as it may seem i guess.

 

[mingagreen]

Our accountant is amazing (I think!) he knows lots of little deductions. Some are:

clothing, shoes, briefcase for DH work
dry cleaning DH shirts for work
Cell phone charges for DH work
BIG one was med bills for us
I work from home he accounted for electric I used while working!!!!
gas/mileage can sometimes be used

thats all I can think of right now but I will ask DH when he gets up. We hada child 3 days before the new year so that really helped up this year! Unfortunately our entire return went to CC bills

 

[pearcrazy]

A regular IRA does wonders for us. I have resisted converting it to a Roth IRA over the years because of the tax advantages it has for us right now. Contributing just $1000 to it this year increased our refund by $400. The next time the market has a big downturn I''ll probably go ahead and convert it over. I have uniform, continuing education and licence renewal fees but they have to be a certain percentage of your gross so mine never count. Clean out your closets and attic and donate it to Goodwill, the charitable deduction also goes a long way.

 

[AndyRosse]

Definitely talk to an accountant or a tax attorney. There are so many deductions that are possible, but each one has jumps and hurdles to overcome. Many have floors or ceilings, and many might seem to apply, but when you read the IRS definition of a particular term (like "away from home"), you''ll realize that often their definition is not the same as the common English definition.

 

[Tacori E-ring]

I agree going to a CPA is really worth it (PLUS the cost of them doing your taxes is a write-off for the next year). I would suggest not going to a national tax farm (ie. H&R block, they are over priced and don''t seem to care about really saving you money. At least that was the experience I had with them).

 

[Mara]

Date: 3/12/2006 11:52:03 AM
Author: Rascal49
Definitely talk to an accountant or a tax attorney. There are so many deductions that are possible, but each one has jumps and hurdles to overcome. Many have floors or ceilings, and many might seem to apply, but when you read the IRS definition of a particular term (like ''away from home''), you''ll realize that often their definition is not the same as the common English definition.

Yep definitely Rascal, it''s not as easy as ''oh I donated to goodwill'' this year so I''ll take $500 off....

Unless you already have more ''itemized'' than the standard deduction (if you are a homeowner you almost always will itemize unless maybe you are at the end of paying off a house and won''t have enough interest) then the charitable contributions and the like can help you, but if you don''t itemize and take a standard then stuff like that I believe cannot apply.

It''s little things like that, what you have to have in order to XYZ that is confusing for us. Better to have someone else do it. Also again the writeoffs for stuff like working at home come with a bunch of caveats before you can technically write it off and we always try to err on the safe side just in case, knock on wood.

 

[fortheloveofdiamonds]

Our accountant gave us a work sheet on how to itemize goodwill donations. Basically you write down every single thing that you give to them. Then you drop it off at goodwill and have the attendant give you the receipt and sign your itemized list. The work sheet has a ranged value for anything from kitchenware to underwear. If you are giving a lot, like I am this year. It is worth doing. AND, much easier than a garage sale, IMO.

 

[fire&ice]

If you volunteer your time, you can write off your mileage to and fro at around 15 cents or so/mile. Also, if you travel for work, keep a mileage journal. You can also deduct the percentage of business travel of your PPT, county/state stickers, etc.

You can donate something of value to a charity auction, etc at full value if you have an appraisal.

Consider seeking the advice of a tax CPA to see if you can set up a "company". That way you can deduct quite a bit of reasonable expenses.

From every thing I''ve read and heard - deducting a room in your house is a HUGE red flag targeting you for audit. If it''s legit, then go ahead - but it''s something that they do flag.

 

[Small]

I''m perfectly capable of doing our taxes (I have an accounting degree) but I choose to let a CPA do it and ours is amazing! We always come out way ahead of what I estimate us to be getting back. He knows all the laws and the min/max you can deduct for things so I let him figure it out and pay him 195/year to do it. When he gets us back large returns the 195 seems very insignificant.
We deduct the standard things like you but also my student loan interest, tuition from my current class, contributions, and medical expenses.

 

[AChiOAlumna]

Because of my business & Dh''s job, we take off my computer, any computer/printer supplies, any software, my cell phone, my palm pilot, any further education we take, our internet, and mileage for all our work-related activities....