Income tax deductions offer taxpayers many creative ways to shave dollars off their taxable income totals. However, there are many rules for claiming deductions, which makes it easier to commit mistakes.
This section:
• Lists all of the commonly claimed tax deductions
• Describes how each tax deduction works
• Explains how easy it is to claim deductions when you e-file
Make claiming deductions easier
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Avoid costly mistakes, and take advantage of all possible credits and deductions. (Claiming deductions is really easy with H&R Block).
By itemizing your deductions, you may find that you'll save much more money than you would by just taking the standard deduction.
But beware: itemizing deductions can be tricky, and can leave you open to making the sort of mistakes that lead to penalties, or worse, trigger the dreaded audit.
Well, okay, it's not quite that dire. But itemizing does add an extra level of complication to your tax return - so proceed with caution.
Click on the following links for more in-depth information about each of the major topics and to learn how itemize when you e-file:
Most often when you think of "writing something off" on your taxes, you are in fact thinking of something that would fall into the miscellaneous tax deductions category.
Because it is easy to make a mistake when claiming these, we've included an expanded guide to itemizing tax deductions.
• Alternative minimum tax. This article explains how this new Irs rule affects those who try to deduct too much.
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