Lowering Your Tax Liability Without Itemizing

The Regular Deduction

If you do not itemize your return then you can take what is known as the Regular Deduction, which is a dollar quantity that non-itemizing taxpayers can subtract from their adjusted gross revenue. There is a set quantity for people, married couples and taxpayers who claim the head of home filing statusthis volume modifications each tax year. There are also extra quantities accessible to individuals who are blind and/or are 65 many years or older. The Normal deduction quantities for the 3 primary filing statuses are listed beneath.

Single: 2009: $5,700; 2008: $5,450

Married Filing Individually: 2009: $5,700; 2008: $5,450

Married Filing Jointly: 2009: $eleven,400; 2008: $ten,900

Head of home: 2009: $8,350; 2008: $8,000

Home Taxes

There are a handful of tax deductions that can be utilized to additional decrease your adjusted gross revenue. These over the line deductions can be claimed even if you are taking the Regular Deduction. The initial of which is the Home tax deduction. If you own a Property, and have to pay House taxes then you can either deduct the quantity of actual estate taxes paid throughout the year or a flat price ($500 for single taxpayers and $one,000 for married couples filing a joint return). Generally if you owned a household then you would want to itemize because you could claim the household home loan deduction, nevertheless if your deductions are nonetheless reduced than the Normal Deduction you can nonetheless use your Home taxes to reduced your tax liability.

New Vehicle Revenue Tax

If you bought a new Vehicle in 2009 then you can deduct all state and nearby excise taxes paid on the Automobile, up to $49,500. To qualify, the buy should have taken positioned in between February 16th and December 31st in the year 2009. To claim the complete credit your adjusted gross earnings also requirements to be below $125,000 for single taxpayers and $250,000 for married couples filing a joint return.

Alimony Payments

If you have to make alimony payments as component of a divorce settlement then you can take benefit of the alimony payment deduction even if you do not itemize. The IRS considers alimony payments taxable revenue to the recipient in the year received, and makes it possible for the taxpayer producing the payment to deduct the volume paid from their adjusted gross earnings. However non-money settlements this kind of as House or voluntary payments do not qualify.