TurboTax - Choose Easy

Tax Questions...

Q: I'm a sole proprietor. Can I deduct the interest on my personal credit card if I use it to charge business expenses?

Answer...

Q: How does an S-corporation deduct health insurance premiums paid on behalf of shareholder/employees?

Answer...

Q: How do shareholder/employees of an S-corporation deduct health insurance premiums?

Answer...

Q: I own various stocks in my IRA and have taken a beating. Can I deduct these losses?

Answer...

Your Registration Fee May be Deductible

Vehicle Registration Fees:

A portion of the registration fee for the nonbusiness use of your vehicle may be deductible depending on the state you live in.

Here's why:

There are 18 states that assess a portion of a vehicle's registration fee based on the vehicle's VALUE instead of some other basis, such as weight. This part of the fee is considered a personal property tax and is deductible.

So, if you used your vehicle 100% for personal purposes (as opposed to business purposes) and if you lived in one of the following 18 states during 2008, you can deduct the personal property tax portion of your registration fee.

Call your motor vehicle department to verify the amount of the registration fee that is deductible.

  1. Arizona
  2. California
  3. Colorado
  4. Connecticut
  5. Georgia
  6. Indiana
  7. Iowa
  8. Maine
  9. Massachusetts
  10. Minnesota
  11. Mississippi
  12. Montana
  13. Nebraska
  14. Nevada
  15. New Hampshire
  16. Oklahoma
  17. Washington
  18. Wyoming

Did You Donate Property to a Charity?

What's that T.V. you donated to your favorite charity worth? Or your old computer?

If you're not sure, use IRS Pub 561 to help you value the items you donated.

                   Travel Expenses
             Meals and Entertainment
             New - Making Work Pay and Government Retiree Credit

Unemployment Benefits

Did you receive unemployment benefits during 2009?

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act lets an individual exclude the first $2,400 of unemployment benefits from tax. For married couples the $2,400 exclusion applies to each spouse, separately.

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Were you a victim of a Ponzi-type investment scheme?

If so, the following four links will provide tax guidance:

  1. Revenue Ruling 2009-9
  2. Revenue Procedure 2009-20
  3. Testimony before the Senate Finance Committee
  4. Questions and answers

First-Time Homebuyer's Credit

A new law that went into effect Nov. 6, 2009 extends the first-time homebuyer credit five months and expands the eligibility requirements for purchasers.

The Worker, Homeownership, and Business Assistance Act of 2009 extends the deadline for qualifying home purchases from Nov. 30, 2009, to April 30, 2010.

Additionally, if a buyer enters into a binding contract by April 30, 2010, the buyer has until June 30, 2010, to settle on the purchase.

The maximum credit amount remains at $8,000 for a first-time homebuyer – that is, a buyer who has not owned a primary residence during the three years up to the date of purchase.

But the new law also provides a “long-time resident” credit of up to $6,500 to others who do not qualify as “first-time homebuyers.”

To qualify this way, a buyer must have owned and used the same home as a principal or primary residence for at least five consecutive years of the eight-year period ending on the date of purchase of a new home as a primary residence.

For all qualifying purchases in 2010, taxpayers have the option of claiming the credit on either their 2009 or 2010 tax returns.

A new version of Form 5405, First-Time Homebuyer Credit, will be available in the next few weeks.

A taxpayer who purchases a home after Nov. 6, 2009 must use this new version of the form to claim the credit.

Taxpayers claiming the credit on their 2009 returns, no matter when the house was purchased, must also use the new version.

Taxpayers who claim the credit on their 2009 tax return will not be able to file electronically but instead will need to file a paper return. More >>

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Federal Employer Identification Number

Get Your EIN Online

It's quick, easy, and you can download it immediately.

Keep the printout for your records. Online application for EIN.

You need an EIN if you:

  • Started a new business
  • Hired or will hire employees, including household employees
  • Formed a corporation
  • Formed a partnership
  • Opened a bank account that requires an EIN for banking purposes
  • Changed the legal character or ownership of your organization (for example, you incorporate a sole proprietorship or form a partnership)
  • Purchased a going business
  • Created a pension plan as a plan administrator

Online application for EIN

Learn more about tax identification numbers