Find below a list of 10 most common deductions that are missed out and how they can impact your 2008 tax bill and 2009 tax planning.

Top Ten Missed Tax Deductions for 2008 Taxes

1 – Noncash contributions

Charity, as everyone remembers, starts with a tax deduction. Though cash may not be available for you to provide in 2008, let us remember to deduct it. Also remember to deduct it even if you do not have money for a 2009 tax payment. Thus deduction is allowed not actually when the bill is paid but in that particular year of charge. It is essential to receive a receipt from the charity organization to whom you have contributed and for proper documentation purposes, you can also request your credit card company to send the transaction record.

Let’s use an example that you emptied all of your closets and donated everything to charity or to the Salvation Army. The cost of the donated items like clothes and furniture, etc. is applicable for deduction. The rule is made easy for the donations with non-cash charity. If you do not have a receipt then there is no tax deduction when you are audited. To receive a deduction, the household items and the clothes should be in acceptable condition.

Try to claim the deduction, even if you have not taken a receipt after you donated your clothes by dropping it to the donation truck. The donation you made is legitimate. For auditing, you need to prove with a receipt. Starting from 2007 returns, for all the charitable donations, the law has made it compulsory to submit a receipt or some kind of written documentation. Are you feeling lucky? Be an honest person and still you can play in the audit lottery.

If it is possible, prepare a list of items that you have donated for charity and calculate the total market value. The easy solution is to check the prices in a thrift store and the point is whenever you make any donations for charity, get a receipt.

2 - Clean Fuel Credit for Car

Credits are best as in tax they are dollar-for-dollar deduction. Conservation tax credit is available if you have purchased a new model of truck or a gas-electric auto in 2008. The conservative tax credit can vary from $250 to $1000 and also an additional fuel economy credit of $400 to $2400 and this depends upon the economy and make of the fuel. A hybrid car uses a combination of internal combustion engine with gas fuel and electric motor.

But you have to work fast. When the 60,000th hybrid vehicle is sold by the auto manufacturer, the credits starts to phase out. It is not 60,000 per model but it stands for total per manufacturer. As the cap gets hit, at the beginning of the second calendar quarter, the phase-out begins.

The cars which qualify for tax credit are models from Ford and other brands like Chevrolet, Saturn, Nissan, Mazda and Volkswagen. The Toyota Prius does not get credits any more and on Dec 31, 2008 the credits run out for Honda Civics.

Buyers can claim half the credit over the subsequent two quarters, after 60,000 cars get sold.  After six months 1/4 of the full credit can be claimed. Nothing can be claimed after this point. You should be owner of the car and you can get the tax deduction right from the year you start to use the car. By writing “clean fuel” you can take the tax deduction using Form 1040.

A complete research work should be done by the consumers to know how they can save tax while purchasing a particular type of truck or a car. You can find out details from a tax preparer of from a dealer

3 - Teacher expenses

As a qualified teacher, you can receive up to $250 as above-the-line Tax Deduction for your 2008 supplies and even for your 2009 purchases like books and computer equipment.

This is also applicable if you are an aide, or kindergarten to 12th grade teacher, principal or an instructor.  Congress has made this law to continue through 2009, and very likely will renew the tax break for the year 2010.

To make sure of high earnings, to begin with, they assigned the Alternative Minimum Tax.  The good news is, most of the Americans paid a good portion of the income taxes. But people belonging to the middle class are in fear as over the past years this has not been changed significantly.

4 – Tax and Investment expenses

As investments expenses and tax planning are part of miscellaneous item expenses, most of them forget about it. Before you receive your tax break, the total of these should not cross 2% of the gross income adjusted

The tracking expenses comprises of the expenses of your employee business, fees for tax preparation and also covers portion of the accounting and legal fees pertaining to your tax planning. For example, for a divorce case, the time spent legally which bears on the concerned person’s tax aspects and child support is also considered. Same is the case with respect to the estate planning tax aspects.

Many people are unaware about the investment deduction expenses. Though they are aware about the fees of safety deposit box but they do not remember the fees paid annually to the broker and also the IRA fess with they pay directly. They do not forget cost involved in the subscription of investment publications like Business Week, Fortune, Forbes, Barron’s and Worth but they miss out on the newspaper’s investment which has been purchased off the newsstands. Consider not only the phone calls you make to your brokers, investment advisor but also include the cost of the gas mileage to visit them.

5 – Refinancing (new points)

Over the last few years, in 2008 and even in 2009, the interest rates have gone very low – many homes are refinanced, sometimes even more than once.

Every month, the points you have paid to refinance your house can be cut over the term of the fresh loan. For example, if on June 1, 2008 you have refinanced your mortgage, for a period of 20 years, after Dec 31, out of 20 years, 7 months would have already elapsed. You can get a tax reduction of $70, that is $10 every month for seven months, if you have paid $2,400 as points. For 2009, $120 can be written off and continue every year till the points are totally deducted.

6 – Refinancing (Old points)

Many people overlook this deduction. The unamortized points accumulated in old refinancing could be cut in the new refinancing year.

Take an example that on June 1, 2007 you have refinanced and in points you have paid $2,400. Again on June1, 2008, you have refinanced. On the 2008 return, all the unused points accumulated in 2007 could be deducted. Starting from January and up to May 2008, $2,280 and in addition, $50 can be deducted. Also, if the 2008 loan is refinanced in 2009 provided the interest rates are low and you are in the good books of the lender, on the 2009 return the balance amount could be written off.

7 – Health insurance premiums

The premiums you pay on health insurance, even if it is long-term premiums that depends on your age are tax deductible. These are to be added in the medical expense pile. Before the tax breaks are calculated, these medical expenses should cross 7.5% of the adjusted gross income (AGI)

100% of health insurance premiums can be deducted “above the line” in case of self-employment and you are not under any employer-paid plan. In “above the line”, the expenses are adjusted under gross income and are not included in the itemized deductions. This also means that you need not itemize and should not go beyond the 7.5% floor.

8 - Expenses of student higher education

For any expenses you paid for your higher education for the year 2008 and 2009, you can get up to $4,000 above-the-line deduction. But the adjusted gross income should not be more than $65,000 that is $130,000 for 2 years return.

Find out whether you are eligible for Hope credit and Lifetime learning credit. The worth of Hope credit is up to $1,800 for one student in the years 2008 and 2009. The value of Lifetime Learning credit is up to $ 2,000 for a return. Select that credit which offers the best benefit after comparing the credit to the deduction. You may deduct as much as $4,000 in the years 2008 and 2009 as education expenses, in case if you are not eligible for both the credits.

9 – Casualty deductions

Everybody remembers the Hurricanes, Katrina and Rita which destroyed the Gulf Coast in the year 2005 and the Ike Hurricane which affected the Louisiana and Texas region in the year 2008.

If your area is declared as the affected are by President Bush, the loss can be claimed on your 2007 and 2008 returns. Whether you are eligible can be confirmed on the website of the Federal Emergency Management.

To find out which year has given you increased money, compare what you are expecting for the 2008 filing with the 2007 return. The interest should be received by April 15, 2007. If the income for your 2008 was considerably lower than 2007, it is good to take the cut in 2008. If you are eligible for a refund on 2007, file a revised tax return for 2007 and use Form 1040X for the same.

10 – Retirement tax credit

This is also included in the deduction. This credit motivates the tax payers of moderate and low income for their retirement saving. Make regular contribution to the retirement account as this is presently not taxed. So there is no deduction on your income and also receive a credit up to half of the $2,000 invested first and there is a reduction in your tax up to $1,000.

For an investment of $2,000 the rate of return is good. In addition to $2,000 reduction from you income you also get the tax reduction of $1,000. Also if you are eligible, you can also get a deduction up to $4,000 in IRA contributions. As there is an increase in your adjusted gross income there is no tax credit. But singles with AGIs as much as $25,000 and AGIs as much as $50,000 for joint filters will be eligible. For the households heads the ceiling is $37,500.

Your contributions towards the SEP, 401(k), 403(b), traditional and also Roth IRAs also qualifies.

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Deductions are expenses the IRS allows you to subtract from your taxable income, lowering your overall tax bill. There are two ways to file deductions – using the standard deduction, and “itemizing.”

Standard Deductions

Every taxpayer is allowed to take a standard deduction. The standard deduction assumes you have an “average” amount of tax-deductible expenses, and lumps them into one easy sum based on your circumstances. For 2007, the standard deduction amounts are:

• $850, or all earned income plus $300 (whichever is greater), for dependents (someone who is claimed as a dependent on someone else’s tax return)
• $5,350 for single (unmarried) individuals and those married filing separately
• $7,850 for a head of household (unmarried individual with at least one dependent and currently paying over half the cost of maintaining a home)
• $10,700 for those married filing jointly and qualifying “surviving spouses” (widows and widowers).

In addition to the regular standard deduction, there is an additional standard deduction for those who are 65 or older or blind. For 2007, this additional deduction is $1,300 for unmarried, unwidowed individuals and $1,050 for those who are married or widowed. This additional deduction is added to your regular standard deduction. For example, if you were 68, single, and not blind in 2007, your standard deduction would be $5,350 for being single plus $1,300 for being over 65, for a total of $6,650.

Itemized Deductions

But what if you had more tax-deductible expenses than the standard deduction covers? The other option, in that case, is to list all of your deductions separately. This is called “itemizing,” and can save you hundreds to thousands of dollars more than the standard deduction.

Deductions you can itemize include:

• Charitable donations
• Medical costs
• Interest payments
• Investment losses
• Gambling losses
• Certain legal fees
• Property lost to theft
• Casualty losses
• Expenses for your employer or business that were not reimbursed
• Estate tax payments
• Other taxes

However, if you choose to itemize deductions rather than claim the standard deduction, you are not allowed to claim any additional deductions for being 65 or older or blind.

Difference Between Standard Deduction and Itemized Deductions?

In general, you should claim whichever of the two deduction methods saves you the most money. If your itemized deductions are greater than the standard deduction, you should probably itemize. If the standard deduction is greater, claim the standard deduction.

There are, however, a couple of caveats to this rule. The first is that if a married couple is filing separately and one spouse itemizes deductions, the other spouse must also itemize deductions. Whatever one spouse does, the other must follow suit. So make sure to choose the route that works best for both spouses.

Second, if you are subject to the alternative minimum tax (AMT), you might save more by itemizing rather than taking the standard deduction, even if your itemized deductions are less than the standard deduction. The reason for this is that the standard deduction doesn’t reduce income subject to the AMT, while certain itemized deductions can.

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The tax formula is fairly straightforward: your small business must pay taxes on what’s left of your revenues after you have deducted all your expenses. With that said, it would seem to make sense to claim the maximum allowable number and amount of deductions in order to reduce your tax liability. Luckily, the IRS gives you lots of choices as to tax deductions that you can legally claim.

Here are some deductions that you don’t want to miss out on when doing your business tax planning.

Small Business Tax Deductions

1. Deductions for Business Start Up Costs

In your first year of business, you are allowed to write off as much as $5,000 in business start-up costs. In addition you can write off an additional $5,000 in organizational costs. Not only that: you also have the option of spread out expenses not deducted in the first year over a period of 15 years, beginning with when you opened your business. Eligible start up costs include things like market research, company advertising, employee training, travel for business, legal advice and other costs. Consult your tax professional for more details.

2. Deductions for Education

First stop: IRS Publication 970, Business Deductions for Work-Related Education. For the most part, you can write off expenses related to your employees’ education if the courses relate to their jobs.

In other words, if the course helps them keep pace with the marketplace demands (or improve their skills) or if they need the course to actually keep their existing jobs, then the expense may be a legitimate deduction. The bad news is that you can’t take a write-off on any expense related to professional training in a new, unrelated field. A couple of other things to remember: You can also claim a training or education write-off if you are self-employed. Deductions also include the cost of getting to and from the classes. Consult your tax professional for more details.

3. Deductions for Vehicles

Be careful here: the rules for deducting automobile expenses are pretty detailed and the Feds pay close attention to anyone claiming these deductions. So, for starters, keep clear and concise records. You can deduct expenses two ways:

The first option is to claim a deduction by counting how many miles you drove while on business. Currently, you can claim a deduction of 44.5 cents per mile. Check to make sure that is the current amount, as it does change occasionally. The other option is to track your total expenses incurred on things like gasoline, repairs and maintenance. Deducting commuting mileage is a different matter altogether.

Remember: keep good records. If you’re using your own personal vehicle for your small business, make sure you separate the times you use it for business from the times you do not. Include dates, destinations, purpose of the travel, etc. Read IRS Publication 463 for more info. And here’s an important point: if your employees use a business vehicle while running personal errands, for example, you have have to show this as income to them on their W-2.

A couple of other things to remember: If you bought a new (or previously owned) car, you can take a write-off. You’ll have to decide if it’s better to take it in one single deduction or spread out over a period of time through depreciation. And if that car is a hybrid, you might be eligible for a tax credit. Check IRS Form 8910 for more details. As always, consult your tax professional for more details.

4. Deductions for Equipment

You have the ability to take a write-off for small business equipment purchases. The write-off can be pretty large – in prior years, it amounted to over $100 thousand. And the equipment can be used; the only requirement is that you use it at least half the time for your company. Allowable equipment includes things like computer hardware, machinery, office furniture, automobiles and other related equipment.

Make sure you read a current copy of IRS Form 4562 before planning your tax strategy on this point. If you decide you are not going to claim this write-off immediately, you can spread it out over a period of years by claiming depreciation on that equipment. Consult your tax professional for more details.

5. Deductions for Entertainment

The IRS definition of entertainment is pretty flexible. Generally speaking, if you attend a business meeting, for example, and you are not reimbursed for the expenses, you’re allowed to write off up to half the entertainment expense. They do caution you that the “entertainment” must be in a business context. This means if you go to a seminar or conference, that’s OK. Also, the entertainment should come immediately before or after the meeting. You get a break if you are self-employed; then, the 50 percent deduction cut-off does not pertain to you. Consult your tax professional for more details.

In Conclusion

The Internal Revenue Service is pretty generous in offering your business a whole range of tax write-offs. Just make sure you talk to your tax attorney or CPA to get the most current rules and regulations before you begin planning.

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