First things first, let's gather everything you need to file your taxes. So let's start with the basics. Right. Right here. You need the social security number for yourself, your Children, your spouse, whoever you're filing for over here in this folder. Yeah, you're gonna need anything from your employer, your W-2, your 1099 over here anything you've given into your retirement accounts are taken out of your retirement accounts plus any charity you've given. So retirement accounts and charity and then the final one in this folder over here, you're going to want everything from your mortgage to property taxes you've paid, you gotta get these write offs, you gotta get it right. Ok. Now moving on to the really important stuff, your deductions, let's first talk about your kids. Right. They're finally gonna pay off. You can make some money on them, the child tax credit. Sure. If you have kids, you've done this before, but don't forget about it. You can get up to $2000 per child if they're under 17 years old. So I have three kids, Skyler, Sloan Blake Skyler 17 now. So she's aged out of it. Ok? She's aged out 17. It's gotta be under 17. So she's aged out Sloan's 14. Boom, Kaching Blake. He's 12. We're gonna make some money on him too. The child tax credit. You also don't wanna forget about the child care credit. If they're under 13 years old, you can write off *** percentage of the money you paid to *** child care provider. Ok? The babysitter even summer camp. Finally the vehicle you're driving can get you *** huge tax credit this year. If you bought an electric vehicle in 2023. Great news money is coming back to you from the government anywhere between 3000 $750 all the way up to $7500. How much you get? Depends on *** lot of things, right. Your income level, the kind of car you got where it was manufactured, how the battery was assembled, all those things matter. But so you have some money coming back to you. You can also, if you bought *** used electric vehicle in 2023 get up to $4000 off. Pretty cool and new this year. This is really cool if you're out shopping for an EV. Ok. And right now, and you haven't bought it yet, you can say to the sales person, hey, I don't want to wait until tax time. I want you to take that tax credit off the actual price of the vehicle and they can do that starting this year. Another deduction you may qualify for is the home office deduction. If you use part of your home regularly and exclusively for business related activity, you can actually write off some of those expenses, but it's *** big, but if you're *** W-2 worker, meaning, you know, you have *** full time job, you have an employer that withholds taxes from your paychecks. You don't qualify for that. I'm gonna post more deductions and the qualifications at Rawson reports.com back to you.
Rossen Reports: Use these tax deductions to get a bigger refund
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Updated: 2:31 PM CST Feb 27, 2024
Whether you’re using a tax preparer or doing it yourself with a software program, your goal is to gather all the proof you have of your income and any tax-deductible expenses to get money back as a tax credit. Here are some of the main things you need to gather:Social security numbers for you, your spouse, and your dependents. Any forms sent to you in the mail from your employer, like a W-2 and a 1099. Contributions you’ve made to your retirement account and charity. Property taxes and mortgage interest information. Last year’s federal and state tax returns and taxes you had to pay.Here are some tax deductions you can try to cash in on. Child Tax Credit: For children below the age of 17, you can get up to $2,000 per child from the Child Tax Credit. Child and Dependent Care Credit: This one is meant to cover a percentage of costs for a child under the age of 13 (even daycare and summer camp). It also covers a spouse or parent unable to care for themselves or another dependent so you can work. The amount of the credit is a percentage of the amount of work-related expenses you paid to a care provider. The percentage depends on your adjusted gross income as well. Earned Income Tax Credit: This is a refundable tax break for low-income taxpayers. The credit ranges from $600 to $7,430, depending on how many kids you have (or don’t have), your marital status and your income. 401(k) Contributions: The limit for your 2023 taxes has gone up. You could contribute $23,000 and $30,500 for those 50 years and older. The IRS doesn’t tax what you divert directly from your paycheck into a 401(k). IRA Contributions: You can also deduct contributions to an IRA. How much depends on your income and whether you or your spouse are covered by a retirement plan with your employer. The limit on annual contributions to an IRA increased to $7,000 this year. Educator Expenses Deduction: Teachers and educators can deduct up to $300 on classroom supplies. Student Loan Interest Deduction: Whether you’re paying on your student loans or your child’s, you can write off up to $2,500 from your taxable income if you paid interest on your student loans in 2023. It’s not an itemized deduction, so it’s subtracted from your taxable income to save you money. This is for federal loans or private loans. This is for people with a modified adjusted gross income of less than $70,000. If you’re between $70,000 and $85,000, you can deduct less than that maximum of $2,500. Just remember, payments were frozen dating back to 2020, so if you didn’t make any payments in 2023, you probably don’t have an interest on the loans to make this deduction on your return.Electric Vehicle (EV) Tax Credit: This ranges from $3,750 to $7,500. You can get a credit of $4,000 for used EV cars. Where you are in this range depends on a few rules, like your income, the price of the vehicle, where the car was manufactured, and how the battery was assembled.Energy Efficient Home Improvement Tax Credits: If you’ve purchased qualifying home upgrades, such as energy-efficient windows, doors and heat pumps, you can get back up to $3,200 on those investments.Residential Clean Energy Credit: You might see this called the “solar tax credit.” You can get up to 30% of the installation cost of solar energy systems, including solar water heaters and solar panels on your house.
Whether you’re using a tax preparer or doing it yourself with a software program, your goal is to gather all the proof you have of your income and any tax-deductible expenses to get money back as a tax credit. Here are some of the main things you need to gather:
- Social security numbers for you, your spouse, and your dependents.
- Any forms sent to you in the mail from your employer, like a W-2 and a 1099.
- Contributions you’ve made to your retirement account and charity.
- Property taxes and mortgage interest information.
- Last year’s federal and state tax returns and taxes you had to pay.
Here are some tax deductions you can try to cash in on.
Child Tax Credit: For children below the age of 17, you can get up to $2,000 per child from the Child Tax Credit.
Child and Dependent Care Credit: This one is meant to cover a percentage of costs for a child under the age of 13 (even daycare and summer camp). It also covers a spouse or parent unable to care for themselves or another dependent so you can work. The amount of the credit is a percentage of the amount of work-related expenses you paid to a care provider. The percentage depends on your adjusted gross income as well.
Earned Income Tax Credit: This is a refundable tax break for low-income taxpayers. The credit ranges from $600 to $7,430, depending on how many kids you have (or don’t have), your marital status and your income.
401(k) Contributions: The limit for your 2023 taxes has gone up. You could contribute $23,000 and $30,500 for those 50 years and older. The IRS doesn’t tax what you divert directly from your paycheck into a 401(k).
IRA Contributions: You can also deduct contributions to an IRA. How much depends on your income and whether you or your spouse are covered by a retirement plan with your employer. The limit on annual contributions to an IRA increased to $7,000 this year.
Educator Expenses Deduction: Teachers and educators can deduct up to $300 on classroom supplies.
Student Loan Interest Deduction: Whether you’re paying on your student loans or your child’s, you can write off up to $2,500 from your taxable income if you paid interest on your student loans in 2023. It’s not an itemized deduction, so it’s subtracted from your taxable income to save you money. This is for federal loans or private loans. This is for people with a modified adjusted gross income of less than $70,000. If you’re between $70,000 and $85,000, you can deduct less than that maximum of $2,500. Just remember, payments were frozen dating back to 2020, so if you didn’t make any payments in 2023, you probably don’t have an interest on the loans to make this deduction on your return.
Electric Vehicle (EV) Tax Credit: This ranges from $3,750 to $7,500. You can get a credit of $4,000 for used EV cars. Where you are in this range depends on a few rules, like your income, the price of the vehicle, where the car was manufactured, and how the battery was assembled.
Energy Efficient Home Improvement Tax Credits: If you’ve purchased qualifying home upgrades, such as energy-efficient windows, doors and heat pumps, you can get back up to $3,200 on those investments.
Residential Clean Energy Credit: You might see this called the “solar tax credit.” You can get up to 30% of the installation cost of solar energy systems, including solar water heaters and solar panels on your house.
