So what are miscellaneous itemized deductions? It is a melting pot of items; most are limited by 2% of your adjusted gross income. They can range from unreimbursed employee business expenses to tax preparation fees (me) and legal fees that help generate and (sometimes) protect income. See this article in Smart Money with some other links to get more specific:http://www.smartmoney.com/taxes/income/miscellaneous-itemized-deductions-9547/The final two posts will cover unreimbursed employee business expenses and investment expenses tomorrow and Friday.You can count on us to count for you!
Brian’s Tax Musings
Non cash contributions can be a great tax deduction, but you may have to do some work to get the deduction. If you donate more than $500 you have to file form 8283 and report information on the charity. Over $5000 can require an appraisal of the items donated and the charity has to sign the 8283.Valuation can be tricky too. A good rule of thumb is fair market value (your deduction) is 15 to 20% of the original purchase price, with the value going down as it gets older. Items also have to be in good condition (don’t ask me what that means) Here are a couple of links:Substantiating Non Cash Contributions from IRS website: http://www.irs.gov/charities/charitable/article/0,,id=123202,00.htmlA Valuation Guide from The Salvation Army:http://www.salvationarmyusa.org/usn/www_usn_2.nsf/0/d477340ffa28755c8525743d0049d1ef?opendocumentAnd don’t forget mileage: 14 cents a mile, up from 14 cents a mile last year (if never changes except by Congress passing a change: good luck with that).Tomorrow I will take a couple of days to talk about Miscellaneous Itemized Deductions – the catchall area.You can count on us to count for you!
Brian’s Tax Musings
Today I want you to hear about charitable contributions paid by cash or check. The first, most important thing is to get a receipt for your contribution, especially if you donate cash. If you give a single contribution of over $250 you need a letter from the charity verifying the contribution also. Out of pocket expenses for a charity are also deductible (like hot dogs for a church event, etc.) Here is a list of charitable contribution rules put together from publication 17:http://www.insulin-pumpers.org/howto/irscharityrules.htmlAnyway, give till it hurts and deduct away. I will be talking about non cash contributions tomorrow.You can count on us to count for you!