If you file your own taxes and have not yet gotten them finished, here is a little extra deduction that is new for this year.
If you do not itemize deductions, and if you own your own home (that means, probably, that you make mortgage payments), you may add the amount of any real estate taxes that you pay on your principal residence to the usual standard deduction amount. For instance, if you are single (with no children nor other dependents) and you paid real estate taxes of $575 in 2008, your standard deduction for 2008 can be claimed as $5950 instead of the regular $5450. There is a limit of $500 for single taxpayers.
See the IRS website for further information.
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Glenna Mae Hendricks. She is an entrepreneur and income tax consultant, so we get lots of good tax tips from her. She is an oenophile (“look that up in your Funk and Wagnall’s,” she says), and a wine enjoyment teacher/guide who also writes wine notes at the Allen’s Retail Liquors site. Her political thoughts (and occasional outbursts of domesticity) appear at Old Feminist and Wild-eyed Liberal.
“$5950”
Is this number right?
best,
Chris O.
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$5950 is the standard deduction if you are filing as single and you paid at least $500 of real estate taxes to your state or county and if you do no itemize deductions.
Check irs.gov at the link for more details.