Tax Day - April 15!! Tips and suggestions

Shobana,
I have a doubt...when to go for itemized rather than standard....

Hi Shravanthika,
If you have itemized deductions more than $30000.00, then you can go for itemized deductions else go for standard.
Few Itemized deductions:
1. Mortgage interest
2. If you have own business
3. Real estate tax
4. Student loans and interest
Hope this might help you.
~Punitha

Originally Posted by shravanthika

Shobana,
I have a doubt...when to go for itemized rather than standard....

Thanx Puni, that was real quick............

You are welcome!
Hope it made sense to you.

Originally Posted by shravanthika

Thanx Puni, that was real quick............

We just got married in Oct..was wondering if there are any more stuff with taxation where we can use the married tag..

Shravanthika - I know that Punitha answered your question - but here is what it comes down to - you get to deduct either the standard or itemized whichever gives you a higher deduction.

Standard deduction for married filing a joint return $ 10,700. So, if the total of your itemized exceeds this amount, use itemized otherwise use standard deduction.

Having said that, there are phase out rules when you income exceeds certain levels, etc.

If you have any more questions, let me know. Most software will easily handle this -

Originally Posted by shravanthika

Shobana,
I have a doubt...when to go for itemized rather than standard....

Originally Posted by pushkala

We just got married in Oct..was wondering if there are any more stuff with taxation where we can use the married tag..

You will most probably be filing as "married filing joint" return - you combine all income and deductions. A lot of working couples end up paying more tax when they get married and file a joint return because the combined income pushes them into a higher tax bracket - they call this the "marriage penalty" - go figure!

Thanx Shobana...I'm now clear....

Hi IL,

Inspite of me being a male, thanks for letting me to get into the forum. I have one question regarding tax filing. My daughter born here last year is right now in India. Can I include as my dependent when I do my taxes? My wife is workign too.

Thanks,
Arun.A

Originally Posted by puni88

Hi Sobhana,
Good topic to discuss..
I would like to add few more things.
1. Collect all the T-passes.(Mass gives the tax break for T-passes)
2. Collect all the energy bills.(Mass gives the tax break for high energy bills)
3. Collect all telephone bills (Fed charges can get tax break)

Myself and my husband does it online.
I will type the information and my husband verifies them.
We both will be happy when the refund numbers jumps.

~Punitha

Hi puni

We are new to US...Jus came in the month of June'07. My husband works for a private concern in H1B. I joined my husband in the month of August'07. He got is W-2 form from his office. He said he need to file the IT returns. Though I am Commerce graduate with tax returns knowledge (only relating to India), I dont know anything abt US taxation. Can you pl let us know how we can file returns online ? Do we need to have consultation with any tax assistant ? Am a house wife in H4, so no income for me. And we dont pay any mortgage or housing loan here....Help us in this regard. I jus want to help my husband in this regard....