Tax return: Common tax deductions for individuals

If you file as a single person status then you can take out deductions this year, you have the option of the standard deduction amount or an itemized deduction amount. If you take out the standard deduction, you won't be using the itemized deduction. It's one or the other. If you're filing as a single person, the deduction amount this year is around $5000 something. You would choose this amount because it's usually higher then your itemized deduction number unless you're someone who can claims dependents, loan interest, charity, health care cost, and all else that can add up to more than $5000 something. Usually, it'll hard to come up with deductions that are higher than $5000 and if you do you have to have all paperwork to attached to your tax return. If you donate a used car then you might be able to deduct more because you can take out the car total cost which can be around $6000 for a nice used car. You're still entitled to any deductions that you're qualified for within any giving year.

What are the common tax deductions for individuals? One of the common deduction is child tax credit and dependents. If you're single but have a child or dependents like your old parents that you're caring for then they can be claimed on your tax return. There're many people that are single, divorced but have more than one dependent children that they can claimed on their tax return. You can claim your child and your other dependents if they can't claim themselves. Another common deduction is EIC or earned income credit. You can take out this deduction if you make under certain income level for the giving years. This is a tax credit if you're qualified for it. One other common deduction is work related cost if you're an independent contractor. When you're an independent contractor, you're qualified to make deductions on any work related cost like traveling, mileage, gas, uniforms, health, food, and work supplies. The list is long and you would need to look into all of your cost. You have to have records attached to your deductions or saved if you do get audited.

If you are a student and you have a high loan interest, you're able to deduct all of your interest amount on your tax return. If you owed $40,000 loan and you're paying $300 interest each month and $4000 annually then you can subtract the $4000 on your tax return. You can take out the full amount of interest that you're paying. You should not ignore this part if you're paying loan interest and there're a lot of students that have loan interests. Another common deduction is health care cost that is not covered by your insurance company or if you don't have insurance at all. You can deduct all of those cost that you have incurred. The categories include dental, vision, surgery, hearing and others that you have to look into. You can deduct them but you have to have records to attach to your return or if you do get audited one day. Another common deduction is charity contributions.

If you donate things to a local charity then you should have a receipt from them and you can write off that amount on your tax. You should save the receipt and attach it to your tax return if it's a very high number. You should save all records for all of your deductions. If you're single and you owned a home, then you can deduct out the home loan interest on your tax return too. If you're single but you have investments like stocks you can deduct out any lost in investment within the year. If you're single but you owned a business, you can deduct cost, loss, fraud and others categories related to your business. The list of deduction is long too for individuals filing their tax. The common deduction list for individuals include health-care, student loans, charity, home loan interest, business deductibles, independent contractor work related cost, child tax credit, EIC credit and any other dependents that you can claim if you're divorced or a single parent.