Can I deduct sales tax from my taxes from years past if I never have before? (I'm in TN, no state income tax.)

Question

I just found out about this deduction and have been overpaying for years. I take the generic deduction, the one without using receipts.

I have overpaid for years, and am looking to see if I can claim these overpayments on this year's taxes in addition to this year's sales tax deduction.

Answer 1

You can only claim a deduction for expenses in the year that they were actually paid, so you cannot claim expenses paid in prior years on this years return

Answer 2

If they were deductible, then you could file amended returns for prior years back as far as 2003, but check when the deduction came in, it's fairly recent and I'm not sure if it was good for 2003. You can't deduct prior years sales tax from your current return.

If you took the standard deduction, then you'd have to have enough itemized deductions for those years to be higher than that, or would just take the standard.

If you deduct sales tax, you can deduct tax paid on a car, boat or plane in addition to the amount shown in the standard sales tax tables.

Answer 3

You can only deduct sales tax if you itemize. You can only file tax corrections for 3 years unless you have unfiled income (and then you need to talk to an IRS persona anyway).

If you are taking the standard deduction, you're already getting more than you would if you saved all your receipts, so it's a nonissue.