Should I itemize my deductions?

Question

I'm 20 years old, and I'm a college student. I have no clue if I should itemize my deductions or not. Also, I've received a few forms from my school telling me how much I have paid for tuition and the sort, where do I imput these amounts?

Answer 1

You would need more than the standard deduction ($5150 for a single individual) to make it worthwhile to itemize. Your tuition is either deductible as Tuition and Fees as an adjustment to income, or as a credit either in the form of a Hope Credit or Lifetime Learning Credit. Be careful though, because if your parents are providing more than half your support, they should claim you on their taxes and you CANNOT claim yourself even if they don't claim you. If your parents can claim you, they would get the education credit not you. You would take the standard deduction (or itemized if you had enough deductions) and not a personal exemption ($3300 this year) That would mean that you would owe tax on earnings over $5150.

Answer 2

report Married, submitting mutually, it supplies you you with the finest tax fee and deductions. oftentimes, paying for a house is the snapping aspect the position that's wise to itemize your deductions. The personal loan corporation will deliver you a kind pointing out how a lot you paid in interest in 2006. once you've a second personal loan, you need to get 2. one hundred% of the non-public loan interest you paid is deductible. you could't deduct the advancements you made, yet keep your records; even as and in case you promote they could help you to mirror your extra funding contained in the domicile and reduce your Capital effective aspects burden. because you're itemizing, take a fantastic seem at each and every line merchandise deduction presented. you could deduct motorized vehicle costs, charitable contributions, artwork expenditures, all varieties of issues. because you're so new, employ someone, it should not be more advantageous than $three hundred and they are going to forestall that in catching deductions you may have ignored. chuffed submitting!!

Answer 3

If someone else, like your parents have not taken you as a dependent you have $8450 in earnings before you are required to file. You may wish to file at or below that level of income to recover any withholding. As for the forms that you have from the school The normally have tuition amounts and sometimes scholarship amounts on them. If you have both, go see somebody that knows what they are doing, particularly if your income is greater than the $8450.

Answer 4

I'd be really surprised if you have enough eligible expenses to itemize.

You can take education credits for your tuition and fees without itemizing - you'll fill out a form 8863 and follow the instructions. Note that if you're a dependent of your parents, then THEY can take the education credits for your expenses, you can't.

Answer 5

As a general rule, if you're not buying a house (and don't have the accompanying interest deduction), it's usually better to just take the standard deduction.
And you'd better check real close on your tuition and college expenses...as a general rule, they're NOT deductible for an undergraduate degree.
Good luck!

Answer 6

If your itemized deductions don't come out to be more than your personal standard deduction; then you can't itemize.