Comments on: Income Tax Adjustments to Consider

By: Pamela

Pamela — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 15:03:18 +0000

Tuition! There are multiple credits/deductions for this – you can pick the one that benefits you the most. You can also count student loans taken out as tuition paid, provided you meet certain criteria. I believe you can get up to either $2000 or $2500 from one of the tuition credits.

By: Elle

Elle — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 00:53:14 +0000

Brent, I’m not quite sure, but Liberty tax offers free specific tax advice at any of their offices.

By: Chuckles Mcgee

Chuckles Mcgee — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 19:15:51 +0000

I would suggest adding Individual Roth/Traditional 401ks under the self-employed category. They’re fairly new, but allow for the self-employed to contribute a total of ~$50,000 a year, up to $19,500 of which can be a Roth contribution. I don’t believe there’s any limit to combined IRA/401k contributions, so the self-employed could theoretically reduce their taxable income by ~$100,000 through a combined Individual 401k/SEP IRA approach. Vanguard and maybe some others offer Individual 401ks.

By: Chris

Chris — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 16:51:47 +0000

Brent: Get the 1098-E form from your student loan lender. The name on that form is eligible for the deduction.

You can deduct traveling expenses for volunteer services. You can also deduct giving old clothes to charity. Take a picture of each piece of clothing and determine its “fair market value” (honors system estimation)

By: Brent

Brent — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 16:32:07 +0000

I have a question I would appreciate help with…

My wife and I are paying on a student loan her father opened for her during her college years which is in his name (she had another loan in her name that is paid off).

My question is if we are the ones paying the interest on the student loan he opened for her, can we deduct this interest in our 2009 returns?

By: Brandon

Brandon — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 15:15:57 +0000

Retirement Savings Contributions Credit is my favorite.