Tag Archives: 2011

Medical Expenses to Deduct in 2011

Any type of payment made in advance for medical treatment will not be deductible until the service is rendered.

Medical Deductions in 2011.

Most of us are probably familiar with the standard medical deductions such as hospital expenses, doctor visits, and health insurance premiums that are not paid pre-tax, but there are many other not so common deductions such as:

  • Artificial limbs or teeth
  • Chiropractor fees
  • Hearing aids
  • Alcoholics Anonymous club meetings
  • Purchase and care of a guide dog
  • Transportation services to appointments
  • Home modifications for medical reason
  • Sterilization
  • Television or phone equipment for hearing impaired
  • Laboratory fees
  • Eyeglasses

    If you have a certain item and are wondering if you can deduct it as a medical expense you may want to try on online tax service such as TurboTax.

    Under the current federal medical tax deductions you may not deduct certain items such as gym memberships, over the counter medicine, vitamins, cosmetic surgery, dental work considered cosmetic, or any type of veterinary care for an animal.

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Is a Personal Exemption the Best Way to go?

Lets talk about claiming a personal exemption.

If you and your spouse currently file separate returns you can claim your spouse as an exemption as long as they did not have any income. The same will apply if you file head of household. If you have experienced the death of a spouse in the previous year then you can claim your deceased spouse as an exemption.

You are also allowed an additional exemption for each qualifying dependent. You may not claim the dependent if someone else is claiming them on their return and they must meet certain requirements.

  • The dependent must be your child, stepchild, foster child, brother, sister, or any descendant of them.
  • The child must be under the age of 19 and under the age of 24 if they are a full time student
  • The dependent must have lived with you for more than half the year. The child must not have provided more than half of his or her own support.

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How Does 2011 Look for the Child Tax Credit?

In most cases, the 2011 child tax credit is limited to the amount of tax liability on your return. In other words, if your credit is bigger than your tax liability, your tax liability is just reduced to zero, and the rest of the credit is lost.

In certain cases, though, you can get a child tax credit refund when the credit exceeds your tax liability. This means that you would get a refund of the difference between your tax credit and what you owe in taxes. This refundable child tax credit is called the Additional Child Tax Credit, which you calculate on Form 8812.

For families with three qualifying children or fewer, this tax credit is refundable to the extent of 15 percent of taxable earned income in excess of $3,000 for 2011. For families with four or more qualifying children, the refundable amount may be the excess of the family’s Social Security tax over the earned income credit, or the extent of 15 percent of taxable earned income in excess of $3,000, whichever is greater.

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What Can We Learn From the 2011 Federal Tax Tables

How to Calculate Federal Tax Withholding 2011 Tax Rate

Employees: Income tax amount withheld on wages is based on the amount of wages less an amount for declared withholding allowances (often called exemptions). Amounts of tax withheld are determined by the tax withholding tables. You can use the free W-4 calculator by TurboTax to determine how much tax you should have withheld from your paycheck.

You may also take the option of having additional funds taken out of each paycheck to ensure that you will not owe more money at the end of the year.

Employers: By using the Quickbooks payroll tax withholding calculator,employers can calculate Federal & State withholding taxes instantly, then choose to pay their employees with direct deposit, or print checks & stubs on their printer.

The payroll tax calculator uses current Federal withholding tables to determine the amount of your employees paychecks and to make sure you are taking the right amount of taxes out of each of their checks. The tax withholding tables can help you determine the right amount of federal tax, Medicare, and Social Security to withhold from each pay period.

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A Look At Tax Deductions 2011

A gallery of 2011 tax deductions.

We can expect to see this amount for the IRS mileage tax deduction rate to change from year to year. The mileage deduction rate for business purposes is 51 cents per mile.

The rate for moving or medical purposes is 19 cents per mile. The vehicle mileage tax deduction for charitable travel will remain the same staying at 14 cents per mile.

The IRS standard mileage rate for business, moving, and medical travel comes from an annual study that is done to determine the costs of operating a vehicle, and of the fixed and variable costs of operating a vehicle. The IRS will usually hire an outside company to complete this study.

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Make Mine a Tax Exemption!

The idea is that the tax burden can be lightened or increased for different segments of society.

Typical criteria are the age of the taxpayer, public services which the individual has performed, ownership of property, and income levels.

Each personal tax exemption you claim on your tax return is the equivalent of a $3,650 deduction. Generally, you are allowed one for you, your spouse, and any dependents you have claimed.

To qualify as your dependent, a person must:

  • Be your child, stepchild, grandchild, adopted child, great grandchild, son-in-law or daughter-in-law, father-in-law or mother-in-law, brother-in-law or sister-in-law, parent, brother, sister, grand parent, stepbrother or sister, half brother or sister, and if blood related then your aunt, uncle, cousin, niece or nephew

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