new tax laws

[kyadams]

i've beendoing mt taxes and found out i couldn't take my real estate taxes paid as a deduction this year .i don't itemize, i file mfj,income 40k, and tis is a first for me in 45yrs of filing and i can't take this deduction. i use turbo tax and really trust them but i feel like red flages are popping up.i was also denied mt taxes paid on car and truck,it wouldn't let use my contributions to goodwill, or my donations to my church. i found the new law about the real estate taxes but i couldn't find any thing on the rest. can someone help me out here?

[4jacks]

Haven't done my taxes yet this year, but this doesn't sound good. We have a couple guys on the board who are pretty keen on this type of stuff, hopefully they will chime in. But Goodwill and my church make up 99% of my deductions, so I hope it's not the case.

[tim_v]

i've beendoing mt taxes and found out i couldn't take my real estate taxes paid as a deduction this year .i don't itemize, i file mfj,income 40k, and tis is a first for me in 45yrs of filing and i can't take this deduction....

What do you mean when you say that you don't itemize (deductions?) but have been taking the real estate taxes as a deduction?

I didn't notice any special change the deductions for property tax or donations on my taxes this year. Possibly TurboTax is just saying that for you the standard deduction is larger than itemizing.

[kyadams]

What do you mean when you say that you don't itemize (deductions?) but have been taking the real estate taxes as a deduction?

I didn't notice any special change the deductions for property tax or donations on my taxes this year. Possibly TurboTax is just saying that for you the standard deduction is larger than itemizing.

if you look on the back side of your 2009 1040 form on line40Byou will see that if you don't itemize you can still takedeductionsforreal estate taxes and some vehicle taxes. that line is not there this year.

[clydewolf]

Kyadams,

We can deduct our property taxes when we itemize our deductions on 1040 Schedule A.

There were a few years where we could add up to $1,000 of property taxes paid on our primary residence to our Standard Deduction. But that law expired at the end of 2009. The December 17 2010 tax law signed by the President did not include an extension for this provision.
The same fate happened to the sales tax paid on a new vehicle, that provision expired on December 31, 2009 and was not included in the December 17, 2010 tax bill.

Coming back to the 1040 Schedule A, here you may deduct your un-reimbursed medical expenses that exceed 7.5% of your AGI, property taxes, State Income taxes or State and Local Sales Taxes.
Charitable Contributions of Cash when you have a receipt from the qualified 501c3 organization, as well as the current market value of non-cash contributions. But if you claim more than $500 of non-cash items, then you must complete Form 8283.

We may also qualify to deduct mortgage interest paid on our Primary Residence and a second home.

Then there are some miscellaneous deductions that we can deduct. Some of these we can deduct only the amount that exceeds 2% of our AGI.

Here Is IRS PUB 526, Charitable Contributions with more information: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-
pdf/p526.pdf

It sounds like you may not be entering your information into TT properly.

[tim_v]

if you look on the back side of your 2009 1040 form on line40Byou will see that if you don't itemize you can still takedeductionsforreal estate taxes and some vehicle taxes. that line is not there this year.

I see that on the line 40b on the 2009 form but not on 2008 or 2007 so it looks like 2009 was an unusual year as far as being able to deduct property taxes without itemizing. I'm still confused about how you handled property taxes the previous years and donations in 2009.

[kyadams]

i don't have enough deductions to file sch A anymore. i'm retired, but still have real estate taxes,car taxes and a reasonable amount donations togoodwill and my church.last year i could file a sch L and get my real estate taxes back up to 1k.as far as the rest of my deductions i guess i just don't have enough. thanks for the info and God bless.ky

[kyadams]

i haven't looked yet but i think i was able to itemize prior to last year.

[clydewolf]

A single filer over age 65, you can add $1,400 to the standard deduction.
If your filing MFJ each joint filer over age 65, can add another $1,100 to the standard deduction.

I think TT would do that automatically.

The Standard Deductions for 2010 are:
- Single filer = $5,700.........for 2011 tax year $5,800
- HH filer = $8,400..............for 2011 tax year $8,500
- MFJ filer = $11,400...........for 2011 tax year $11,600

[kyadams]

ithink they would too, but i'm only 60 years old.

[tednorris13]

These new tax laws would help improve small businesses. Thanks for the info.


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