Topic 457 – Tuition and Fees Deduction
You may be able to deduct qualified tuition and related expenses that you pay for yourself, your spouse, or a dependent, as a tuition and fees deduction. You don’t have to itemize, instead, you claim the deduction as an adjustment to income on Form 1040 (PDF) or Form 1040A (PDF), U.S. Individual Income Tax…[Read more]

Topic 458 – Educator Expense Deduction
If you’re an eligible educator, you can deduct up to $250 ($500 if married filing jointly and both spouses are eligible educators, but not more than $250 each) of unreimbursed trade or business expenses. Qualified expenses are amounts you paid or incurred for participation in professional development courses,…[Read more]

Topic 501 – Should I Itemize?
There are two ways you can take deductions on your federal income tax return: you can itemize deductions or use the standard deduction. Deductions reduce the amount of your taxable income.

The standard deduction amount varies depending on your income, age, and filing status and changes each year; see How Much Is My…[Read more]

Topic 502 – Medical and Dental Expenses
If you itemize your deductions for a taxable year on Form 1040, Schedule A (PDF), Itemized Deductions, you may be able to deduct expenses you paid that year for medical and dental care for yourself, your spouse, and your dependents. You may deduct only the amount of your total medical expenses that exceed…[Read more]

Topic 503 – Deductible Taxes
There are four types of deductible nonbusiness taxes:

State, local, and foreign income taxes
State and local general sales taxes
State, local, and foreign real estate taxes, and
State and local personal property taxes
To be deductible, the tax must be imposed on you and you must have paid it during your tax year.…[Read more]

Topic 504 – Home Mortgage Points
The term points are used to describe certain charges paid to obtain a home mortgage. Points are prepaid interest and may be deductible as home mortgage interest if you itemize deductions on Form 1040, Schedule A (PDF), Itemized Deductions. If you can deduct all of the interest on your mortgage, you may be able to…[Read more]

Topic 505 – Interest Expense
Interest is an amount you pay for the use of borrowed money. Some interest can be claimed as a deduction or as a credit. To deduct interest you paid on a debt, review each interest expense to determine how it qualifies and where to take the deduction. For more information, see Publication 17, Your Federal Income Tax…[Read more]

Topic 506 – Charitable Contributions
You can only deduct charitable contributions if you itemize deductions on Form 1040, Schedule A (PDF), Itemized Deductions.

To be deductible, you must make charitable contributions to qualified organizations. Contributions to individuals are never deductible. To determine if the organization that you…[Read more]

Topic 508 – Miscellaneous Expenses
If you have deductible expenses that qualify as miscellaneous itemized deductions, you can deduct certain of those expenses only to the extent that they exceed 2% of your adjusted gross income. For an explanation of deductible and nondeductible expenses, refer to Publication 529, Miscellaneous Deductions.

There…[Read more]

Topic 509 – Business Use of Home
Whether you’re self-employed, an employee, or a partner, you may be able to deduct certain expenses for the part of your home that you use for business.

To deduct expenses for business use of the home, you must use part of your home as one of the following:

Exclusively and regularly as your principal place of…[Read more]

Topic 510 – Business Use of Car
If you use your car in your job or business and you use it only for that purpose, you may deduct its entire cost of operation (subject to limits discussed later). However, if you use the car for both business and personal purposes, you may deduct only the cost of its business use.

You can generally figure the…[Read more]

Topic 511 – Business Travel Expenses
Travel expenses are the ordinary and necessary expenses of traveling away from home for your business, profession, or job. Generally, employees deduct these expenses by using Form 2106 (PDF), Employee Business Expenses, or Form 2106-EZ (PDF), Unreimbursed Employee Business Expenses, and Form 1040, Schedule A…[Read more]

Topic 512 – Business Entertainment Expenses
You may deduct entertainment expenses that are both ordinary and necessary in carrying on your trade or business if they meet one of these two tests:

The directly-related test, or
The associated test
See Publication 463, Travel, Entertainment, Gift, and Car Expenses, for more detailed information about…[Read more]

Topic 513 – Work-Related Education Expenses
You may be able to deduct work-related education expenses paid during the year as an itemized deduction on Form 1040, Schedule A (PDF), Itemized Deductions. To be deductible, your expenses must be for education that (1) maintains or improves your job skills or (2) that your employer or a law requires to…[Read more]

Topic 514 – Employee Business Expenses
If you’re an employee, you may be able to deduct your work-related expenses as an itemized deduction (subject to limitations) on Form 1040, Schedule A (PDF), Itemized Deductions. Additional information on this subject can be found in the Form 1040, Schedule A Instructions. Also, you may refer to Topic 511 for…[Read more]

Topic 515 – Casualty, Disaster, and Theft Losses (Including Federally Declared Disaster Areas)
Generally, you may deduct casualty and theft losses relating to your home, household items, and vehicles on your federal income tax return. You may not deduct casualty and theft losses covered by insurance unless you file a timely claim for reimbursement…[Read more]

Topic 551 – Standard Deduction
The standard deduction is a specific dollar amount that reduces the amount of income on which you’re taxed. Your standard deduction consists of the sum of the basic standard deduction and any additional standard deductions for age and/or blindness. In general, the standard deduction is adjusted each year for…[Read more]

Topic 552 – Tax and Credits Figured by the IRS
If you qualify, you may opt to have the IRS figure your tax and certain credits on Form 1040EZ (PDF), Form 1040A (PDF), or Form 1040 (PDF). This option is available even if you’re not required to file a tax return but would like to request a refund of taxes paid or would like to claim certain tax…[Read more]

Topic 553 – Tax on a Child’s Investment and Other Unearned Income (Kiddie Tax)
The following two rules may affect the tax and reporting of the unearned income of certain children:

If the child’s interest, dividends, and other unearned income total more than $2,100, part of that income may be subject to tax at the parent’s tax rate instead of the…[Read more]

Topic 554 – Self-Employment Tax
You’re self-employed for this purpose if you’re a sole proprietor (including an independent contractor), a partner in a partnership (including a member of a multi-member limited liability company (LLC) that has elected to be treated as a partnership for federal tax purposes), or are otherwise in business for…[Read more]