Educator Expenses

How many times have you done your taxes, and a week or a month later realized you forgot a deduction? In my experience, these are the top 5 missed deductions.

The tax law is very complicated, so it's easy to miss a deduction or two. Non- Cash Donations. Chances are you donated those items to Goodwill or a similar non- profit organization. Did you clean out your closets this year? The value of donated items( clothing, etc, furniture. ) is deductible. Points on Refinancing.

You will need to get a written receipt and assign a value to these items, but the tax savings are worth the effort. With interest rates so low the past few years, there have been a record- number of houses refinanced. These points are deductible over the life of the new loan. If you refinanced, you may have paid points to get a lower interest rate. In addition, if you incurred points on an old refinancing, any unamortized points are deductible in the year of the new refinancing. If you' re a qualified educator( teacher, instructor or principal, aide) , you can deduct up to$ 250 for materials you bought for the classroom.

Educator Expenses. Qualified expenses include books, and computer equipment, supplies. Investment and Tax Expenses. This law is set to expire in 2006, so take advantage of it now if you qualify. Expenses for tax planning and investment advice are deductible as a miscellaneous deduction, subject to the 2% Adjusted Gross Income( AGI) limitation. Many people assume that they won' t have enough miscellaneous expenses to exceed the 2% AGI floor, but all of these expenses combined can be substantial, especially if you have unreimbursed employee expenses to add to these expenses.

Expenses that qualify include tax preparation fees, safe deposit box fees, fees paid to investment advisors, legal and accounting fees related to tax planning, broker and IRA fees paid directly, and more, investment publications. College Savings or 529 Plan Contributions. Because this deduction is only available on the state return( no deduction available on your federal return for 529 contributions) , many people fail to include this deduction on their state tax return. Depending on which state you live in, contributions to 529 college savings plans may be deductible on your state income tax return.