how can i tell if its worth it to itemize on my taxes?
152869
For most people in your situation: add up all state taxes paid or withheld during the year, property and real estate taxes paid, interest paid on a mortgage, charitable contributions. If greater than $5,000, itemize.\nMedical expenses are only counted if they exceed 7.5% of your adjusted gross income.  If you make $40,000, then only the amount of medical expenses over $3,000 can be included as an itemized deduction.\nCar and credit card loan interest do not count towards this.\nDo not use the "average itemized deductions" reported by TurboTax and others.  If you do not have documentation for your expenses and you are audited, you will be paying penalties and interest.\nBusiness expenses will NOT affect your itemized deductions.  They are reported on a separate schedule.  However, unreimbursed expenses you pay as an employee can be included as itemized deductions if they are greater than 2% of your adjusted gross income (line 37).
1115708
Only if they are non profit and you got a receipt. Then you could claim it if you itemize. Otherwise just wait for karma to mail you some luck and kindness down the road.
251635
Check with an IRS rep.
902667
H&R Block is offering a program for Holiday cash. If you qualify, you could get up to 1500 dollars of your return now instead of waiting. I would call the local office to get prices for this and see what exactly you need to do it.
850163
Determine what % of the time you will use the computer for business.  That is the % you can write off your taxes.  Of course that % is open to interpretation by you so be generous with yourself.
1057849
(Since you're talking about the IRS, I must put up a disclaimer that this advice is worth what you paid for it.  Nothing.)\n\nIf you have records showing how much you paid for the stock when you bought it, the amount you paid is your cost basis.
618389
Ebay is good for everything...the only problem I see is the shipping charge. You might want to find that out first...if the shipping fees out weigh the value of the item I would donate them to Goodwill and use the tax rewards.
147943
Too many people confuse the tax deductability of mortgage interest with being a huge benefit that one should keep.\n\nYou are always, always, **always** better off not to pay the interest in the first place, whether it is tax deductable or not.\n\nMany people also ignore the fact that if you don't itemize, you still get the standard deduction even if you don't have a mortgage. This new standardized deduction will replace your itemized deduction making the loss of the deduction that much less noticable.\n\nSo do it, and congratulations!
1137232
You should have a CPA go over your documents. It would be worth the money.
271431
Honestly there is no way online. If you do find something then you will have to pay out money at the beginning plus have to pay your own taxes out of your checks. ( No money taken from your checks meaning you set money back for the end of the year)
30853
Here's a link to the IRS website detailing itemized deductions, including a test to see if you should itemize instead of taking the standard deduction;
335153
You can personnelly drop stuff at the local IRS office or go to www.irs.gov for more information.
34996
You are best waiting for the w-2 to come in.  But you can get a really good estimate of how your taxes will look in the meantime w/ the info you have.  The w-2 will have additional information that you will need on the tax forms and you cant file till you have that info.
863547
Yes, but unless you have a house or you itemize for some other reason it won't be worth it.\nWhen you file your taxes,  you automatically get a standard deduction that you don't need to show receipts for.\nIf you want to claim more,  you would first have to have receipts that cover the amount of your standard deduction.\n Not easy to do.
334889
Every filer is allowed one exemption for themselves and one for each member of their immediate family (i.e. spouse and children).  For 2005, each exemption was worth $3,200 and it is deducted from your Adjusted Gross Income.  You do not need to itemize in order to take advantage of this.\n\nThis deduction was actually added to the tax code way back when for the benefit of one senator who had a large family.
374176
It varies from state to state:\n\nSales and use tax chart\nSales tax chart\nSales tax calculation chart\n\netc etc
44599
You might be able to deduct them, as you would if you had a home office, but only in proportion to the amount you use them for work versus personal use.  If you use them 100% for work, then you could take the total cost.  If you use them also for personal use, it can get tricky and the IRS can come after you to check it out.  (Some years ago they were cracking down on people claiming home offices; not sure what the situation is today).