The IRS Deductions Blog

Posts Tagged ‘work tools tax deduction’

Question: Quicken Online and Tax Deductions?

I know that (free online money tracking tool) Quicken Online (just like Mint.com) tracks bunch of transactions, does fancy graphs, updates amounts, etc. But I do have a question. What about tax deductions?

Would Quicken Online be able at the end of the year scan all my transaction and find all eligible ones that are potential tax deductions?

For example:
I am a self-employed. I bought a computer for my website business in summer. So, when I do my taxes (TurboTax – same company) can I integrate my Quicken Online transaction and TurboTax to find out that there was a $2,000 transaction in summer that might be eligible for tax deduction (based, of course, on my tax situation)?

Any ideas? Thanks.

Answer: The Quicken programs are great, but they don’t read your data- they keep track of it and the better you set it up, the better it will perform for you at tax time.
For example, there is an option to link the various categories from Quicken to the Schedule C of the tax program- when done correctly, at tax time all you would need to do is print the tax summary report to complete your taxes or with Turbo Tax, it will import the data to complete your returns.
But if you haven’t set it up with all the categories, at tax time, the various tax programs will interview you with questions meant to assist you in answering the things that might be tax deductions- there is a question related to purchases of equipment for business use.
It really comes down to regular bookkeeping throughout the year to insure that you get all the deductions you have coming.
Ultimately, you might benefit from having someone assist you in getting your Quicken set up to properly categorize your expenses the first time. Good luck!!

Items on Amazon Right Now for Work Tools Tax Deduction:

David Bruner, The Tax Man: Some miscellaneous Itemized Deductions

If you itemized, there are a variety of deductions you can take in the miscellaneous itemized deduct

How to Build Your Own Home Made SOLAR PANEL to Generate FREE Electricity

Question: Tax Question about a right off?

My hubby is a mechanic, and had to buy literally $9,000 in tools for his job. My Q. is can we right them off without having to bypass the standard deduction, because we don’t have enough to right off to reach the limit to make it worth it to us. So is there any other way to right them off?

Answer: The easiest way is to use an on-line tax program. Enter all your information including the tool expense. The program figures it out for you and will use standard or Itemized Deductions which ever gets you the bigger refund. Also, you can see how much you are getting back before you pay.

I like this one because it donates part of your fee to charity.

http://www.internet-taxprep.com/wichitasouth

or

http://www.internet-taxprep.com/hopeworldwide

Don’t use turbotax, they get your numbers wrong.

Items on Amazon Right Now for Tools Tax Deduction:

An appeal to help light the darkness. [Adventures in Ethics and Science]

In the last few days, I’ve gotten a bunch of emails reminding me that the window for tax-deductible charitable giving for the year is closing. So, as 2009 winds down, I want to make an appeal to those readers lucky enough to have a bit of money for discretionary spending. Last year I wrote : [T]o the extent that we can, we can shake our tiny checkbooks and try to bring a bit more light to the …

World’s Greatest Small Business Tax Tool