Originally posted by: oogabooga
You may have answered this and if so I apologize >< i took the time to try to read as much of the thread as i could.
I was a full time student from jan->june(graduated). Started working in Nov 29th, come this April should I file alone or have my parents file me as a dependent (as they have been)
Originally posted by: MikeyIs4Dcats
anyone have an online W2 simulator/calculator? I guess I could figure out the amounts on my own from my pay stubs, but you know, reinventing the wheel and all...
Originally posted by: edro
Question:
I bought a house this year in September and have only made 3 payments this year. The interest, tax, closing taxes and fees, etc should not be over the standard deduction.
What household purchases can be deducted? (Upgrades, maintenance, etc.)
I have always heard that you should keep all your receipts for household purchases because they are deductable. But... earlier in this thread, you said they are not, unless you rent out the house (and I am guessing that rental income must be claimed and taxed, so if you were renting out a room, the benefit of admitting it would be nil)
Thanks!
The ex should check to see if the child will have any bearing on his return due to the EICOriginally posted by: Fritoz
My wife has a son from her previous marriage. In the divorce decree, they agreed to alternate each year claiming the son on their tax returns.
My wife claimed her son last year, and this year it is the ex-husband's turn to claim him. However, he did not earn enough money in 2006 to have to file a return (gross income was around $2,800). Can we safely claim him on our return? Is there a situation where the ex can "file" and claim the son somehow? I understand that non-payment of support has no bearing here, but it was an ugly divorce and he has not paid one dime of child support since they split. I could conceivably see him doing something along these lines just to spite us.
See my response on 01/03/07 to CTrain with respect to theft losses.Originally posted by: kalster
Hi, I have heard something about claiming deductions because of a robbery in your house, is that true. My house was broken into in November and lot of my stuff was stolen. I filed a police report, but haven't heard anything from the cops regarding my report, can you tell me more about this deduction.
Originally posted by: 49erinnc
I was just plugging in my deductions which included around $3600 in medical/dental, into the online tax service I use. After doing so, it told me that my deductible amount on the $3600 was $896 (or something within a few dollars of that). Just trying to figure out why I wouldn't be able to take the full deduction. What am I missing here?
Originally posted by: spidey07
What is required for recrods keeping RE: gambling losses? Do these need to be kept 7 years?
Specifically I track my losses with losing tickets from a horse track or a win/loss statement from a casino. Is this enough?
Unless a fee is paid to a government entity, classified on the closing statement as a tax or identified as points/interest it is NOT deductible.Originally posted by: Maximus96
Which fees from the home buying and selling process are deductible? In June of this year we bought a house and in August we sold our old house. During the buying process we paid the regular escrow fees. During the selling part, we gave back $10k to the buyer during escrow. is this $10k also deductible? thanks!
Tax court has ruled that because you have complete control over the funds at the time received, they are taxable for that year.Originally posted by: gooseman
I own a small farm along with my sister. It sits in the middle of the Fayetteville Shale Deposit (There is Natural Gas under it). In the beginning of 2006, we leased the Mineral Rights to an out-of-state oil company for a 5 year period. We were paid the entire 5 year lease in one payment.
My question is this. Since the payment was for 5 years of leasing, can I claim 1/5th of the income per year for 5 years or do I have to claim my entire half of the lease payment on my 2006 taxes?
Thanks in advance for your help.
Originally posted by: markgm
Every year I fill out my taxes and itemize all of my deductions. In 2006 I had a huge medical bill that alone will have me paying $0 in Federal taxes. Is there a point then spending the time filling in the rest of the deductions that I could claim such as mortgage interest, student loan interest, charitable donations, etc? I wasn't sure if they compare year to year so if I don't claim something this year and claim it next year it'll increase the chances of an audit in the future.
Thanks!
Originally posted by: 49erinnc
I was just plugging in my deductions which included around $3600 in medical/dental, into the online tax service I use. After doing so, it told me that my deductible amount on the $3600 was $896 (or something within a few dollars of that). Just trying to figure out why I wouldn't be able to take the full deduction. What am I missing here?
Originally posted by: EagleKeeper
Originally posted by: markgm
Every year I fill out my taxes and itemize all of my deductions. In 2006 I had a huge medical bill that alone will have me paying $0 in Federal taxes. Is there a point then spending the time filling in the rest of the deductions that I could claim such as mortgage interest, student loan interest, charitable donations, etc? I wasn't sure if they compare year to year so if I don't claim something this year and claim it next year it'll increase the chances of an audit in the future.
Thanks!
A comparison of your tax return to a different year will only happen if something causes a return to get flagged.
Given the scenario that you have described, In my opinion only, it would be better to not use the medical deduction completely. A large medical deduction that eliminates all of your tax liability is sure to raise a flag.
All things being equal, do the Schedule A as normal (without the medical expenses) and then increase the amount of the medical expenses so as to cause the final numbers to just exceed your tax liability.
If the medical bill(s) has not been fully paid; look at shifting some of the payments into this year.
Originally posted by: EagleKeeper
Originally posted by: spidey07
What is required for recrods keeping RE: gambling losses? Do these need to be kept 7 years?
Specifically I track my losses with losing tickets from a horse track or a win/loss statement from a casino. Is this enough?
Your record system is acceptable for the IRS.
You only have to back up 3 years of returns unless a return is in the process of being questioned.
Note that you can only deducut the amount of losses up to the amount of winnings.
Also, the losses must use Schedule A.
Depending on your joint income, see the OP for filing options.Originally posted by: blurredvision
A simple questions for you guys:
What method do you recommend to file? For the past few years, I've always found a site that offered free filing of federal and state because of my single status, and I always made under $25k or so to meet the guidelines of individual site. However, I was married in May of 06, and also purchased a house in August of 06 (<-- which I read above doesn't help me anyway). I know being married will exclude me from free filing from now on, and I'd rather continue to e-file, so do you recommend any particular website or software? I'd like to keep my total costs to around $30 or so. I just made my first payment on student loans on Jan 1st, so I doubt any student loans count for 06. My wife is still in school (we were late bloomers , so she isn't making payments yet.
Sorry if you guys hate simple questions like this, your knowledge far exceeds my simple question .