Monday, April 2, 2007

Overlooked Tax Deductions

Overlooked Tax Deductions

Get the highest possible refund, or mitigate your tax burden by getting every possible tax deduction. Using an online interview driven tax program such as TurboTax will help you to maximize your deductions and get the highest refund for which you are eligible. These programs have been built to make sure that you don't miss a single deduction.
Here are a few tax deductions that are frequently overlooked by taxpayers:
  1. Points: The one-time mortgage-closing free is expressed in "points". The dollar amount of points paid is deductible from your federal income tax in the year that the loan is made for the purpose of purchasing a home, or for refinancing a home loan. In addition, you may be eligible to deduct points for home equity loans.
  2. Publications related to tax and finance: Includes books, magazines and other publications regarding financial or tax matters.
  3. Charitable expenses: Deduct any out-of-pocket cxpenses incurred when donating your professional services or personal time to a tax deductible chartiable institution. Also deduction per mile auto usage, parking, tolls, etc.
  4. Health Insurance: Self-employeed individuals may deduct a portion of health insurance premiums paid for their own insurance.
  5. December deductibles: Deduct for tax deductible items charged in December even if you didn't pay them until the following January.
  6. Unreimbursed business expenses: Deductible when they exceed 2 percent of your adjusted taxable income. Some examples include, but are not limited to, use of your automobile for business purposes; office supplies purchased for work; continuing education; or gifts to business associates up to $25 per person per year.
  7. Personal property taxes on cars and trucks: Deductible when they are based on the fair market value of the vehicle.
  8. State Income Tax: You must decide whether you want to deduct the sales taxes you paid or your state income tax amounts. The choice is clear for residents of the seven states that do not collect state income taxes but do levy state sales taxes: Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington, Wyoming and Tennessee. Figuring your sales-tax breakThe sales tax deduction will be available to filers who choose to itemize their expenses on Schedule A. Either claim the total sales taxes you actually paid based on the amounts shown on your receipts. (Just be sure to hang onto those register tapes in case the Internal Revenue Service has a question about how you arrived at your deduction amount.)
    Or you can claim the amount you'll find in the sales tax tables, found this year in IRS Publication 600.

These are only a few of the frequently overlooked federal tax deductions for individuals. However, we strongly encourage everyone to use a reputible tax preparation service that is setup to maximize the deductions for which you qualify.

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