Have Your Been Tracking Your Expenses?

Tax Time is going to be here before we know it. If you aren’t tracking your expenses it’s going to make preparing your taxes more difficult and dare I say frustrating. Before the holiday press begins, please take a moment and look through your credit card statements and receipts and begin to list your expenses.

Some of the things you might want to double check:

• Charitable Donations you have made.
• Office Equipment you have purchased this year
• Mileage you drove for business
• Any losses you have sustained
• Advertising and Promotional Expenses
• Mortgage Expenses
• Home Office expenses such as supplies, literature

From the Turbo Tax Website:

“Medical expenses
While you may have heard that medical expenses are deductible on your personal income tax return, you may be wondering exactly which expenses qualify. To deduct your medical expenses, you’ll have to itemize your deductions.

Qualified deductions include any of the following expenses paid for yourself, your spouse, your dependents, and any children that you could have claimed but didn’t because of a divorce or separation agreement:

• Premiums for medical, dental, long-term care, vision, Medicare Part B, and Medicare Part D insurance that you are not reimbursed for and that are not paid using pretax dollars
  Co-pays for medical, dental, or vision care
• The cost of eyeglasses, contact lenses, prescription medicine, breast pumps or other lactation aids, crutches, hearing aids, braces, wheelchairs, and other medical aids, all costs associated with guide dogs, and medical exam or test fees
• Acupuncture, chiropractic services, podiatrists, sessions with a psychiatrist or psychologist, and occupational and physical therapy
• Nursing care, hospital stays, programs to help you stop smoking, and weight-loss programs for the treatment of obesity or another condition diagnosed by a doctor
• The cost of parking fees, tolls, transportation, and mileage for the trip to and from appointments with any of these medical professionals, transportation via ambulance to a medical facility, and the cost of overnight hotel stays for treatment that is received out of town

Childcare expenses
You may be able to receive a credit for child or dependent care expenses paid to a babysitter, daycare, day camp, after-school program, or other care provider. If the care is provided in your home, additional expenses may also qualify, such as the cost of a maid, cook, or housekeeper hired to provide services or care for your child or dependent.

These expenses only qualify if you paid them to enable you (and your spouse, if you are married and filing jointly) to work or look for work. In order to qualify, you and your spouse must both have earned income, unless your spouse is your disabled dependent or a full time student.

You can collect this credit for one of the following types of dependents:

• A child under the age of 13 who you claim as a dependent
• A disabled spouse or dependent who is physically or mentally unable to care for him or herself
• Unreimbursed work-related expenses  “

There are other items that could be taken as deductions for those of you who are self employed, so don’t try to guess, call us and we can help you prepare!!.

DiSalvo,

Vero Beach CPA

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