I paid 6K in taxes and mortgage interest in 07. Should I go for itemized or can claim it in stand. deduction?
by Mortgage Rates on Friday, October 8th, 2010 | 5 Comments
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Fed income tax is not a Sch A deduction. Standard deduction may be the way to go if can not get over 10700.
No if you claim standard deduction you can not take off for your taxes & interest, look into your Schedule A, with charitable contributions, job expenses, you may go over 1077 if not – it was worth a try.
Get a copy of the 1040A. You can go to IRS.gov to do that. You cannot deduct Federal income taxes. However, in deciding whether to use the standard deduction or to itemize, you can include the state taxes that were withheld from you and your wife’s salary (look at your w-2) and any additional state taxes your may have paid with your income tax last year. For your home, you can deduct the property taxes and mortgage interest. If your mortgage company pays them out of your escrow, you should have received a 1099 that shows all that was paid. If you have child care expenses or training/schooling expenses or job related stuff like tools or uniforms you can include part of that (see the 1040A). If you have a lot of medical expenses, you can include those, too. I’d spend the money on tax preparation–go to H&R Block or one of those other places. I use tax software–Turbo Tax–and I find it easy, but it’s not cheap. You can also probably file electronically for free at IRS.gov. Oh yes, I forgot a big one, Charitable Contributions. If you donated clothes or furniture, etc., you can take up to $500 for that, but it should be documented.
You claim EITHER the standard deduction OR itemized deductions, so no if you file the standard, you can’t also list the interest and property taxes. And federal taxes are not a deduction.
You can use the standard if you want to, but if your total itemized deductions inclunding for example state and local taxes, and charitable contributions, are over the $10,700 you should itemize.
If your itemized deductions are more than the standard by all means take it. You cannot have both