It's January 1, soooooooo.....(official tax time thread)

Apologies in advance to everyone for starting this thread for the fourth straight year.

It's tax time again and I need a refund like Vince Neil needs a new liver. I started adding up deductions today.

So, for our newbie friends, lets list what's deductible.

For us stringers, milege, internet, cell phones and office supplies.

I have a few questions this year.

1. Can I deduct the money I've spent on meals over the past year while I'm working? It's really not that much, but I'm at the every little bit helps stage.

2. As everyone knows, I started the retail job this year. I've had to buy a ton of clothes because of a surprisingly strict dress code. I've spent at least a couple of hundred dollars on bottoms that aren't made of denim, sneakers to take away back pain and shirts with no writing on them. I've also lost a lot of weight, so around September I had to do it all again.

3. Was The Decent really a good movie? I've heard good things, but I'm not sure.

 

The Decent was pretty descent, nothing special.

 

For the fresh-out-of college newbies, is it worth it (if you've only worked since, say, August) to do individual deductions, or should you do the standard deduction since your applicable income is going to be probably at the very low end of the spectrum?

 

I use Pro-Tax and it asks about the deductions and then decides for me if it's worth it. Oh, and if you are not being claimed by anyone this year, you get a decent deduction for your educational loans or tuition payment. I got more than 1,000 back last year, even with pulling money from a mutual fund and having stocks because I moved and got deductions for my tution.

 

Remember you can only deduct a certain percentage of Internet, cells, computers based on how much you used it for work.

 

Ha ha, farmerj can't spell.

Hank is right. I think you can deduct about a third, no?

 

You can deduct job hunting expenses, such as mileage, photocopies and FedEx costs.

Also, if your job doesn't reimburse mileage at the federal rate, you can deduct the difference.

 

Well, all the time we spend on sj counts, right?

 

I keep a very close eye on my deductions -- I count unreimbursed mileage, my property taxes, mortgage interest, etc. I also can deduct a certain percentage of my kids' child care costs.

I get credits for both kids, and this year, everyone gets an extra credit ($60, I think) related to telephone service excise taxes.

All that said, keep this in mind. It's advice shared in these sorts of threads before on SportsJournalists.com: Do NOT fuck with the IRS. Be honest with them, pay anything you owe, and don't report things that aren't true. You do NOT want trouble with this particular arm of the government.

 

In my state (don't know about others), you can't itemize unless you have more deductions than the standard, which only makes sense.

If you've only been working since August, you most likely don't have enough.

 

How good/convenient/useful is Pro Tax?

 

I use TurboTax.