Tax deductions are a great way to save money on regular purchases within certain categories. The standard deduction alone saved some 85 million American’s a little over 0.5 trillion dollars in 2009. But the real way to claim deductions is by filing a Schedule A along with your 1040 long form. Categories of deductions available on the Schedule A include Medical, Taxes, Charity, Education, Mortgage and Causalities.

Deductions for Medical Expenses: Medical expenses are deductible on your tax return once you clear a certain level of your income in expenses, 7.5%. For this reason it is a good ideal to group major medical procedure in the same year to allow for them to be deductible. Items such as doctor’s bills, hospital visits, operations, prescriptions, premiums, and health care for dependents are deductible.

Taxes for State and Local: The state and the local government in your area collects income taxes, that’s the bad news. The good news is that the Federal government allows to deduct these tax expenses. Check the IRS website for a list of local and state taxes that you can deduct as not all taxes are deductible. Turbo Tax also is a good resource for what taxes you can deduct when preparing your tax return.

Charity Donations: Donations to charitable organizations, such as churches, are deductible without limit. When you provide transportation for a charitable event you can deduct the mileage. And when you purchase a ticket to a charitable event that is more expensive than the value of the service or entertainment provided, you can deduct the difference. Keep records of all your gifts.

Education Expenses: The federal government wants to support education and therefore gives tax deductions for expenses incurred while obtaining education degrees. The rules have changed recently with ARRA (the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act) but generally provides $2,500 per student in deductions for education.

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You Bought a House, Claim the First-Time Homebuyers Credit

There are a number of documentation requirements when you go to file your return for 2009 and you want to claim the First-Time Homebuyers Credit. This great credit of $8,000 helps with fixing up the new house or paying off some moving expenses. But claiming the credit requires a number of documents and filing a paper return with the IRS.

The first statement you will need to attach to your 1040 paper tax return is a HUD-1 Settlement Statement. You will get a copy of this form when you close on your new house. Make a copy of the legal sized page for your credit. Make sure that signatures are included on the Settlement Statement. If your settlement statement does not have your signature, sign the bottom of the form before you mail it in.

If you purchased a mobile home instead of a traditional home, you did not receive a Settlement Statement. Attach a Retail Sales Contract with your tax return to get the credit. And some new homes also do not close with a Settlement Statement. In this instance a Certificate of Occupancy is needed.

The other group able to claim a home buying credit are long-term purchasers. When you have lived in a house for over 5 years and purchase a new home prior to April 30th, you can claim a $6,500 credit. To claim this credit, the IRS wants you to attach five years of 1098 Mortgage Interest Statements to prove your long-term ownership.

Start your Free Tax Return today with Turbo Tax Online.

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You probably know about taking deductions to reduce your tax liability. To be clear, deductions are not the same as tax credits – deductions are applied to your earned income before calculating taxes, and thus reduce the amount on which you are taxed. Tax credits are more valuable, and are a direct credit towards the tax that is due.

When you do your taxes each year, you can either take a standard deduction, or you can keep a record of tax deductible expenses and choose to use that if it is greater. For 2008 the standard deduction is $5450, or $10,900 if married filing jointly.

It seems that many people I speak to have not heard that this year you can claim at least some of your property taxes as a deduction, even if you do not itemize your expenses. The law allows you to add your real estate taxes to the standard deduction.

There is a limit of $500, or $1000 for joint filers, so it can save you paying taxes on $1000 of your income. This is all part of the plan to stimulate the housing market.

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