Are You Missing Tax Deductions?

The Tax Code is four million words long. In the last 12 years, there have been over four thousand changes to it. Who has time to read all of that? Here are a few tax deductions that most of us are likely to miss.

Have You Counted Your Dependents?

Did you know that for every child under 12 you have you can deduct $38 hundred dollars? Don't have any kids but your supporting your down-on-his-luck brother? Did you know that many times your supporting a relative can often times qualify as a "dependent"? Do you have a friend that's been crashing on your couch? They can qualify as well. The stipulation is that they have to make less than $38 hundred dollars a year to qualify. There is also the Child and Dependent Care Credit. If you work and have kids under 13 that go to day care, you could qualify for a deduction of up to $21 hundred dollars.

Do You Know What EIC Is?

EIC is the Earned Income Tax Credit and almost 20 percent of people who qualify for it don't take it. Filers need to meet certain income requirements, but if you have three dependents, you can get a tax credit of almost $59 hundred dollars.

Do You Donate to Charity?

Charitable contributions can consist of not just money or goods donated to a cause. Did you spend time volunteering? You can deduct the cost of parking and driving there at a reimbursement rate of 14 cents a mile. Just make sure you get receipts for everything.

Looking for Work?

A lot of people are looking for work and may not know that certain expenses connected to your job search can be deducted. Did you pay to have your resume printed? Did you mail out resumes? Did you have to travel any distance? All of those expenses can be deducted, provided the job you were looking for was the same as the job you previously held. If you were looking for your first job, expenses related to that are not deductible.

Have You Filed Your Taxes Yet?