This year i wanted to attempt to do my taxes myself. If anyone here has.. How difficult would this be and what form would i use? I am Single and have always used 1040EZ... But his year i have some deductions, i use my car for my employer at work..but i'm not sure what deductions i qualify for...? can i claim tires? repairs? oil changes? gas mileage? Am i missing anything? Thanks for the help...
Before you consider whether or not to take itemized deductions, you need to find out what your standard deduction would be (you can do one or the other). If it looks like your standard deduction would be more than your itemized deductions, then just stick with the 1040ez.
Taxslayer.com here. They can go as in depth as you need or go EZ route. I have always done my own taxes. This year I am scheduled to get back over 5k, thank you child tax credit. If you file with them before the 30th they will efile to IRS the moment they start accepting returns on the 30th and you will be one of the first to get money back. I also do direct deposit for even quicker return.
If you have used your car only, you either deduct wear and tear (gas, oil, tires, ect..) or do it by mileage. You can only do this only if your employer has not compensated you. The standard deduction is $5950 for a single person. So unless you've used more than $5950 in car maintenance/gas or driven more than 10,000 miles, or have other deductions, just go with 1040ez. If you use your vehicle for your employer, its typically best to get directly compensated from your employer.
Money spent on a good accountant is always worth it, unless you've just got the simplest return ever.
Been using TaxACT.com for the past 5 years or so. Works very, very well. Claim deductions for charitable contributions, mortgage interest, handling 1099s for stock trading accounts etc. Tons of helpful information on everything especially if you pay for the $20 package.
Basically you can use the (easier) standard mileage rate method (decent chance your standard deduction will be bigger anyway), and you can also deduct out-of-pocket expenses like parking, tolls, and interest depending on the value of your car. The more involved actual cost method usually results in a bigger saving, you can deduct depreciation (with limitations), gas and oil, insurance, and repairs. Things get tricky though if you use the car for personal use as well as work, because you have to allocate your expenses according to the miles driven for each purpose, so obviously it's important that you've kept good mileage records. Actually, regardless of which methods you used, it's pretty imperative that you've kept good records with dates and the expenses incurred.
The way to claim the deduction in your tax return is not difficult. You will need to file a Schedule A. Just keep in mind that in addition to the standard deduction amount that a few persons have pointed out, unreimbursed employee expense is also subject to the 2% AGI limitation. What you have to be careful with is the record keeping requirement. The IRS is very specific about what you need in order to back up your claim for car expenses in an audit. So if your total car expenses amount is substantial, I'd advise you to look for a tax pro.
My employer gives me .45 cents a mile. I was under the assumption that this does not include wear and tear, repairs, oil, ect. I believe also that the government reimbursement rate is .51, so you can actually deducted the difference and get credit on the remaining total. I have an older car (96). My plans was to include the $800 i used for repairs, $250 on tires, and whatever my oil changes amounted to. I estimate that i have driven my car about 4,000 mile for my company. The reason i decided to inquire about this is because, a co-worker of mine was advised by a Jackson Hewitt employee that he could claim these (it was her idea matter of fact). Also she was aware of the .45 mileage compensation; which is why he didn't claim gas mileage. Please let me know if i am misinformed.
As I understand things, you can either choose the 'mileage rate' method or the 'actual expense' method. http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc510.html
Take the standard deduction of $5950. You don't have enough miles/expenses to exceed that, even if you don't factor in the .45 cents you were already reimbursed.
You are correct in that you can deduct the difference between the .45 and the 55.5 (or whatever it is), but you can't deduct both. None of that would exceed the standard 5950, so the point is moot. You have definitely come out ahead by having your employer reimburse you at the .45 a mile though. People who file 1040ez single with no dependents get screwed, as you can tell.
Don't confuse these people for tax experts. All these low cost preparer places will hire anybody to prepare returns. That isn't to say they are all incompetent, or that they never hire CPAs (I know H&R Block hires some), but I don't recommend them unless your return is ridiculously simple, and even then, they aren't afraid to rip you off, i.e. RALs & charging for forms you didn't need. One thing I've learned over the years is that there is a lot of misinformation out there. And for the most part, mistakes/cheats don't ever get caught since the IRS doesn't audit a high percentage of returns, particularly for low income people.
This maybe true but if they audit and catch you cheat, you are in for a lot of hurt. I knew a lady who was and she compared it to hell on earth.
My wife get reimbursed at a lower level than what the federal government states. We've always filled in the mileage, minus reimbursement. Isn't that the right thing to do.
