dltaylor

Did you know you can deduct the following items if you itemize on your taxes? My speciality is itemized deductions.. I find that most taxpayers will not itemize because they think they have to save every single receipt...now true...try this method..

Medical bills: Wait until January 1st..call all your doctors and pharmacies that you used and request an "itemized" statement...that's it, you have everything on one single printout!! Now take the statement and track the mileage for the days you went into the office or drove to the pharmacy, go to mapquest and track your round trip mileage...now you have your total medical cost and your mileage all on one neat page..just file it with your return!!


Deductible Mileage: Did you know that if you work two jobs and your leave job A to go to Job B the mileage between the two are deductible!! Its deductible!! If you leave work and go to school its the same thing!!

Should I Itemize? yes you can if you:

Had large uninsured medical and dental expenses
Paid interest or taxes on your home
Had large unreimbursed employee business expenses
Had large uninsured casualty or theft losses, or
Made large charitable contributions


Medical and Dental Expenses:
Medical expenses may include:

Fees paid to doctors, dentists, surgeons, chiropractors, psychiatrists, psychologists, and Christian Science practitioners for medical care expenses

Payments for hospital services, qualified long-term care services, nursing services, and laboratory fees including the incidental cost of meals and lodging charged by a hospital or similar institution if your principal reason for being there is to receive medical care

Payments for acupuncture treatments or inpatient treatment at a center for alcohol or drug addiction are also deductible medical expenses. You may include amounts you paid for participating in a smoking-cessation program and for drugs prescribed to alleviate nicotine withdrawal

The cost of participating in a weight-loss program for a specific disease or diseases, including obesity, diagnosed by a physician. In general, you may not deduct the cost of purchasing diet food items or the cost of health club dues

The cost of drugs is deductible only for drugs that require a prescription, except for insulin
Admission and transportation to a medical conference relating to the chronic disease of yourself, your spouse, or your dependent (if the costs are primarily for and essential to the medical care). However, you may not deduct the costs for meals and lodging while attending the medical conference ..But if your doctor requires you to take an aspirin per day...its deductible!!

The cost of items such as false teeth, prescription eyeglasses or contact lenses, laser eye surgery, hearing aids, crutches, wheelchairs, and guide dogs for the blind or deaf, and

Transportation costs primarily for and essential to medical care that qualify as medical expenses. The actual fare for a taxi, bus, train, or ambulance can be deducted. If you use your car for medical transportation, you can deduct actual out-of-pocket expenses such as gas and oil, or you can deduct the standard mileage rate for medical expenses. With either method you may include tolls and parking fees. If you have to travel with your spouse or child and stay overnight in a hotel, its deductible!!


Deductible Taxes:
State, local income taxes
State, local real estate taxes
State, and local personal property taxes
State and local sales taxes, and
Qualified motor vehicle taxes, if you purchase a new vehicle take your bill of sale with you to the tax office, the sales tax from the vehicle is deductible!!

Home Mortgage Points -
if you purchased a new home, take your HUD Settlement statement to the tax office with you, there are many, many items on the form that can be claimed!!

Your loan is secured by your main home (your main home is the one you live in most of the time).
Paying points is an established business practice in your area.
The points paid were not more than the amount generally charged in that area.
You use the cash method of accounting. This means you report income in the year you receive it and deduct expenses in the year you pay them.
The points were not paid for items that usually are separately stated on the settlement sheet such as appraisal fees, inspection fees, title fees, attorney fees, or property taxes.
The funds you provided at or before closing, plus any points the seller paid, were at least as much as the points charged. You cannot have borrowed the funds from your lender or mortgage broker in order to pay the points.
You use your loan to buy or build your main home.
The points were computed as a percentage of the principal amount of the mortgage, and
The amount is clearly shown as points on your settlement statement.

Interest Expense
Mortagage interest is deductible..if you are the joint owner of a propery and you pay part of the mortagage and taxes..you can claim your portion on your taxes!!


Miscellaneous Expenses :
Did you know that if you owe and paid State income taxes you can claim what you paid as a federal deduction?



Casualty, Disaster, and Theft Losses (Including Federally Declared Disaster Areas)
If your property is personal-use property or is not completely destroyed, the amount of your casualty or theft loss is the lesser of:

The adjusted basis of your property, or
The decrease in fair market value of your property as a result of the casualty or theft


Until next time!! Its deductible!!