DrGravitas Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 Tax time approaches! Let's have a thread to discuss tips, deductions, and strategies for taking on those intimidating forms. I'll start with a pretty well known deduction that I've was surprised to find a few people didn't know: Did you know you can deduct up to $2,500 in student loan interest? What are your tax time tips or favorite deductions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fantasma Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 I'm just hoping I get anything at all back Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rassah Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 Student loan interest, mortgage interest. Also, if you use anything at home for business (Do you draw commissions for money? Run a web server?) you can deduct your supplies as business expenses (pens, markers, paper, tablets, PC parts, ISP costs). Don't forget to deduct bank fees, like PayPal charges if you get paid through PayPal (though, of course, this is only if you actually report your art commission income). If you drive for business, or had to make a trip that you normally would not have (not your daily commute), you can deduct the miles you have driven, which pays a lot (e.g. if you had to drive to meet someone to discuss the commission in person). You can even deduct food expenses on such trips if you discussed business during lunch. Another one is IRA. You have until April 15th to put in money towards 2015, and count it as a 2015 deduction. Everything you put into an IRA is tax deductible. If you're in US, I recommend opening one up with Vanguard. What I usually do is claim that I will put the amount of my tax return into my IRA, which increases my return even more, so I keep adding to how much I'm going to put in, until the tax return and the amount I can put in are equal and maxed out. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rassah Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 Then, of course, there are more complex tax reduction strategies, like personal corporations, tax havens, religious based arbitrage, etc, but that's probably above the scope of this discussion (unless people actually want to hear about those). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Misomie Posted February 5, 2016 Share Posted February 5, 2016 Gosh darn it. I don't think I apply for ANY of these. I do know about the poor people income one though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luca Posted February 6, 2016 Share Posted February 6, 2016 Ah that time of year... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zeke Posted February 6, 2016 Share Posted February 6, 2016 I knew about the student loans and business stuff, but i didn't know about the bank fees. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rassah Posted February 7, 2016 Share Posted February 7, 2016 Anything that costs your business money is deductible. People just often miss the little things. But that's only if you report how much you charged, not actually received. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AshleyAshes Posted February 7, 2016 Share Posted February 7, 2016 I'm getting it all back. All of it. The only way I can get more back on my tax return is to travel back in time and find some way to have paid MORE in taxes in 2015. A good chunk will just have to be carried over to next year. It boggles my mind. o_____________o Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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