Posts tagged as:

itemized-deductions

Ask the taxgirl: Allergies and a New Home

13 November 2011

Taxpayer asks: We bought a new house in June. The old owner was a chain smoker so we had to hire a professional cleaner to clean from top to bottom and it was quite expensive. Can we get a tax deduction for this? My wife has allergies so we had to do it. Thanks. We [...]

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10 Uses for Leftover Halloween Candy

1 November 2011

I love Halloween. I do. I love the camp, the excess, the whole over the top vibe. I dress up every year. I make my kids’ costumes for our school parade. I bake ridiculous amounts of cupcakes and make silly snacks that are meant to look gross like hotdogs that look like bloody toes in [...]

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Back to School: Special Food Needs

8 September 2011

The snack lists have already come home from school (my first parent snack day is September 22 – someone remind me so that I don’t become that mom who forgets). Snack day is a lot more tricky these days than in the past. I’m sure you’re thinking of the obvious reason but as a mom, [...]

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Deduct This: History of the Tax Attorney’s Fees Deduction

25 June 2011

Wait? You mean that you didn’t know that there was such a thing as the tax attorney’s fees deduction? Well, perhaps that’s because it’s not actually called the tax attorney’s fees deduction. Tax attorneys like me just like to call it that. It’s technically part of the Job Expenses and Certain Miscellaneous Deductions subject to [...]

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Deduct This: The History of the Medical Expenses Deduction

20 June 2011

When you ask most taxpayers about available tax deductions, the deduction for medical expenses immediately springs to mind. It’s probably one of the most talked about deductions (in fact, a fairly significant portion of the questions submitted to the blog by taxpayers focus on the medical expenses) but the reality is that very few taxpayers [...]

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Taxes from A to Z: K is for Kickbacks

13 March 2011

Oh c’mon. You totally knew that I was going to choose kickbacks, right? The rules governing illegal activity and taxes are some of the most entertaining bits of the Tax Code, not that the bar’s terribly high to begin with… The specific section of the Code that references kickbacks can be found under Itemized Deductions [...]

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The A, B, C and Ds of Medicare

25 January 2011

Here’s your big disclaimer upfront: I’m not a Medicare guru. I don’t work for Medicare. I don’t receive Medicare. But I do know enough to see that there’s some pretty awful information floating around which has lead to some confusion on the tax side. Let me see if I can help sort some of it [...]

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Ask the taxgirl: Sales Tax Deduction & Leases

28 February 2010

Taxpayer asks: hi can you dedcuct the sales tax paid if you leased a new car in june of 2009? Taxgirl says: Nope, sorry. If you’re referring to the new car sales tax deduction, leases are specifically excluded. However, if you itemize your taxes, you might still be able to claim sales taxes paid as [...]

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Ask the taxgirl: Used Car Sales Tax Deduction

8 February 2010

Taxpayer asks: Just before Christmas, I bought a 2007 VW Jetta. It was a great deal since it had very low miles on it. When I bought it, the dealer said that I could deduct the sales tax from my taxes but I read on your site that the car has to be new, not [...]

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2011 Budget & Tax Proposals

4 February 2010

I got a glimpse of the 2011 budget proposal on the news last night. It’s big. As in big thick book big. And I will admit to not having read all 192 pages yet. But I’m making progress. You can download the whole thing at once – or in little bits (as I have done) [...]

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