3 Tax Deductions You Can Use When Filing Your Taxes

Did you know that Americans alone will claim more than a trillion dollars in deductions on their income tax returns every year? The IRS reports that of all the silly, avoidable mistakes that we make on our tax returns each year, the ones we should pay particular attention to, have to do with not putting down enough allowable deductions.

For example, if you just turned 65 years of age, your reward is that you get to claim a larger standard deduction than the rest of us. Of course, paying taxes is good for the country. It means more roads and more schools can be built, but who wants to pay the IRS any more than he or she absolutely has to? So then what are these income tax deductions that we all seem to be missing most of the time?

Mutual Fund Investments: Most mutual fund investors have the automatic reinvestment option turned on in their stock ownership. Whatever you make on your investments in dividends are just re-invested back to buy you more of the same shares. What that does is that it just sets you up for bigger taxes coming from bigger assets. The important thing to remember is that when people cash in their investments, they forget that they have already paid the taxes once, when those shares were initially bought. So the result is that they just pay taxes on them all over again. What you should do is to make sure that you take note of how many shares you invested in to begin with, and how many you have at the end of your term. This, however, may not strictly be a deduction though, it's just that you shouldn't have to pay twice for anything.

Finding Jobs: If you have been searching hard for your first job out of college for the past few months, traveling to interviews for it - unfortunately none of these expenses are considered allowable as an income tax deduction. However, if you do get that job, and you have to pack everything up and move over to another state for it, those expenses certainly are allowable deductions. Most people get confused, and think that nothing you spend before you get accepted for a job is deductible. That's not the case. Another important thing to remember is that this doesn't just apply for your first job either, it applies to every job you ever have to move for.

Jury Duty: Everyone knows about deductible contributions to charity, but how about the "charitable work" you do, for example, answering a call for jury duty? Well, you get paid a salary, but the pay you get at your day job, your boss will more than likely have you give it back. So how do you tell the IRS not to charge you for that one? The answer is on line 36 on your tax form, that is where.

Hopefully these 3 additional tax deductions that I have explained above will help you to find some more items that you can deduct on your tax return this year to help you to keep more of your hard earned money. If you need to find out more tax deductible items, please visit my website for a full list of tax deductions and tax breaks allowed on your tax return.