Income tax deductions & credits

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know you mean well, but please refrain from giving tax advice here.

Lighten up. I'm pretty sure it's obvious I'm no accountant or tax lawyer, so anyone should check carefully about whether she qualifies before making any tax moves. I'm just offering up items that have helped save my family money on taxes. Maybe they're applicable to your situation, and maybe they're not. This is meant as a brainstorming thread, not your 1st year tax class from law school. If anyone wants to check the details on any of these, IRS has useful publications on each of them to spell out the details.

It seems like you may know a little something, so instead of crapping on my brainstorming ideas, why don't you offer some suggestions of your own?

Nah, you shouldn't be trying to give advice since you seem pretty uninformed. For example, the child care care credit - the majority of DCUM posters are going to have incomes above the limit for this. I "qualify" based on my income and the max credit you can get is $400 even with thousands of dollars in expenses. You also have to itemize. It's not even worth it anymore for me to worry about taking the credit now.

So what I read here is that you're acknowledging that it's a valid credit, but you're saying you personally are so well paid that it's worth only $400 to you, so you don't bother claiming the credit? That's fine for you, but I'm not sure your particular tax situation mirrors what everyone else faces.

I know I'm "scarily misinformed" and certainly no tax lawyer, but here's my layperson's understanding of how it works: The credit is available for up to $6,000 in costs (2 kids), with a phase down depending on your income. So someone with a relatively high income will be able to claim a credit of 20% of the $6,000 (so about $1,200). And of course there are other limits, like you need to be paying the childcare so you can work, and your kids need to be below some age, etc. I'm sure I've got some details wrong, but that's the gist. As always, everyone needs to decide individually whether she's eligible for the credit and by how much.

I was hoping this thread might be a place for people to gain actually useful info. But you've crapped it up enough now that people potentially interested will likely be scared off by the vitriol. I guess I should know better than to discuss financial matters here. I'm done.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Since you have an accountant doing your taxes, why did you start this thread? The implication is that you were doing your own taxes and discovered all these things, even though you clearly do not understand them.

What, exactly, is your business? How, exactly, would a contractor owe you money?

BTW, a bad nonbusiness debt has to be worthless and reported as a short-term capital loss on Form 8949. They're not deductible against ordinary income.

No thanks; not interested in discussing further. This has clearly become a dick-measuring contest for you, and not a place where information is exchanged. Have a nice day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP again. On #4, I just read the rules more closely. It appears I can deduct either my state income tax or my state sales tax, but not both. Oh well.

Yeah, you really shouldn't be giving advice on this stuff. You got a lot of things wrong. For example, you cannot deduct child care/nanny expenses. There are credits for those expenses, but credits are not deductions. There are also income limitations and other factors so not everyone is qualified to claim them, particularly in this area.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Since you have an accountant doing your taxes, why did you start this thread? The implication is that you were doing your own taxes and discovered all these things, even though you clearly do not understand them.

What, exactly, is your business? How, exactly, would a contractor owe you money?

BTW, a bad nonbusiness debt has to be worthless and reported as a short-term capital loss on Form 8949. They're not deductible against ordinary income.

No thanks; not interested in discussing further. This has clearly become a dick-measuring contest for you, and not a place where information is exchanged. Have a nice day.

OMG you have no clue what you are talking about.

This has nothing to do with being a dick-measuring contest -- it's not even a contest. I'm just trying to stop you from providing bad information or causing someone to do something that gets them in trouble with the IRS.

Do you even understand the difference between a deduction and a credit? It's not clear from your inane postings that you do.

Again, you just said you use an accountant. Why then are you "discovering" tax preferences? Doesn't make a lick of sense.