7 Common Tax Mistakes to Avoid
by Eric Cohen • June 11, 2012 • Tax News • 0 Comments
If your objective is to pay the least amount of income taxes, then you need to be aware of common tax mistakes. Here are seven to watch out for:
1. Maintaining poor tax records. Don’t rely on your memory to keep track of deductions. During the year, accumulate tax receipts and notes concerning deductions in one place.
2. Withholding too much in taxes. When you receive a refund, you’ve given the government an interest-free loan for the year. Consider reducing your withholding and investing the extra money.
3. Not contributing to your company’s retirement plan. Not only will the plan help you save for retirement, but it may also help reduce your current-year tax bill. For instance, for 2012, you may contribute a maximum of $17,000 to a 401(k) plan, or $22,500 if you are at least 50 years old, (up from $16,500 and $22,000 respectively for 2011.) If you’re in the 35 percent tax bracket, contributing $16,500 reduces your current-year tax bill by $5,950.
4. Failing to bunch deductions. It only makes sense to itemize deductions if your total deductions exceed the standard deduction amount, which for 2012 is $11,900 for married taxpayers filing jointly and $5,950 for single taxpayers (up from $11,600 and $5,800 respectively in 2011). In addition, some deductions must exceed certain thresholds - for example, medical expenses are only deductible to the extent that they exceed 7.5 percent of adjusted gross income (AGI) and miscellaneous expenses are only deductible to the extent that they exceed two percent of AGI.
Many expenditures can be bunched into one year or another to take advantage of these limits. For instance, if your total itemized deductions are slightly below the limit, you might consider prepaying property taxes or state estimated tax payments.
5. Overlooking charitable contributions. In addition to cash and property donations, you may deduct mileage, parking fees, postage, and long-distance phone calls made while performing charitable work.
6. Not considering filing separate returns. In some situations, it may be more beneficial for a married couple to file separately. Once you file jointly, your return can’t be amended to file separately, so calculate your tax both ways before filing.
7. Forgetting deductions carried over from prior years. Don’t forget about items you carried forward because you exceeded annual limits, such as capital and/or passive losses, charitable contributions, and alternative minimum tax credit.
About Eric Cohen
Eric Cohen, CPA is the President and Founder of E. Cohen and Company CPAs, a full-service CPA firm serving nonprofit organizations, government contractors, professional service companies and other industries with audit, tax and business advisory services for over 20 years. The firm was commended as a SmartCPA Reader's Choice by SmartCEO magazine and a Top 10 “Best Accounting Firm to Work For” by AccountingToday magazine. For more information, visit www.ecohencpas.com or call 301-917-6200.