What things I am able to write off in my taxes?

Question

I'm curious about what things I claim to get more money back next year. Every year I end up owning money, even the years I was in college & barely working!.

I completed college last year, so I am stuck in a financial rut with student loans. My interest is very high, so almost half of my monthly income goes towards paying off my student loans - Is there any way I can use that info to get a bigger return?

I now work full-time in my field, and I spend $2,556 a year ($213 a month) commuting to work. Can I claim that?

I'm just curious. I know we all have to pay taxes, but there are loopholes in every law, and I want to find them.

Answer 1

You don't "get a return" you FILE a return. The tax return is the piece of paper that you send to the IRS listing your income, deductions, exemptions, adjustments, credits, etc. and that you calculate your tax liability on.

If you have had to pay at tax time you have not been having enough tax withheld from your pay. That's actually a GOOD thing though because if you get a refund you have been giving the government an interest free loan for upwards of 15 months or more. As long as your debt at filing time is less than $1,000 there are no penalties, you only need to pay the tax due. There are other safe harbor exceptions to the penalties but I won't go into them here.

You can take a deduction for the interest paid on your student loans. That will reduce your taxable income. Whether it puts you into refund territory depends upon your final tax liability and how much was withheld from your wages.

Commuting costs are never deductible. Sorry.

Answer 2

You can deduct student loan interest on line 33 and/or Tuition and fees on line 34 of Form 1040. You may also get a "Lifetime Learning Credit."

Go to www.irs.gov Read instructions for Form 8917 &Form 8863.

If you are paying morgage interest and Real Estate taxes, you may have enough deductions to itemize--otherwise take the Standard deduction.

Answer 3

I have an aswer relative to your question to keep in mind as you get more responses to your question. If you are single, don't own a home or have children, and are making an entry level to mid level salary, there's are good chance whatever you itemize would not exceed the "standard deduction" -- which is a break you get on taxes if you don't have a lot of things to itemize.

Answer 4

Depending on your income, you can most likely deduct up to $2500 of the interest you paid on college loans this year. You can do this whether or not you itemize.

Expenses for commuting to work are not deductible.

Answer 5

The cost to spay or neuter your pets. We'd become with quite a bit less cash spent on shelters and rescues and euthanizing harmless animals if they were not born in the first situation. If we could write off clinical bills for our pets like we will for ourselves, much more people would take correct care of their pets.

Answer 6

use the on line turbo tax software deduction maximizer
it doesn't cost a thing unless you file
http://www.researchitforme.com/turbotax