Home Ownership Deductions Limited for Itemized Returns in 2018
For those who continue to itemize their deductions, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (or TCJA) has installed several limits on deductions for home owners. First, taxpayers can only deduct mortgage interest resulting from up to $750,000 of debt ($375,000 for those filing single or married filing separately). IRS Publication 936 summarizes the limitations (https://www.irs.gov/publications/p936#en_US_2018_publink1000229991),…
What is “Donation Bunching”?
In all the talk about the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, you may have heard about the terming “bunching donations” being thrown around. What is it? Can it help your tax return? “Donation bunching” is a tax strategy to attempt to maximize your tax deductions. Prior to 2018, it was much easier for taxpayers to…
Miscellaneous Itemized Expense Deductions Cut in 2018
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is changing a lot this year, for better and for worse. One of the bigger changes to 1040 returns is the loss of miscellaneous itemized expenses on Schedule A. What sort of things are included in miscellaneous itemized expenses? Here are some examples: Tax preparation fees Investment fees Safety…
IRS Releases 2019 Standard Mileage Rates
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released the 2019 standard mileage rates. Beginning January 1, 2019, the standard mileage rates for the use of a car (vans, pickups or panel trucks) will be: 58 cents per mile for ministry or business miles driven, up from 54.5 cents for 2018 20 cents per mile driven for medical, up from…
Charitable Gifts: Date of Delivery Rules
The IRS’s basic rule is that a gift must be “delivered” to the church by December 31 for it to count as a contribution for that year. The date of delivery depends on how the gift was made and delivered. Here is a quick summary of the year-end cutoff for various gift delivery methods: In…
Suits and Vestments
Generally, a taxpayer may deduct the cost of uniforms as a business expense if the taxpayer must wear them on the job and they are not suitable for street wear. In Ratcliff, the Tax Court denied a minister a deduction for suits worn to church because the church did not require them. Rather, the wearing of a…
How the 90-Day Mileage Log Rule Works
Often in an IRS audit, the examiner will ask for your mileage log at the beginning of the audit. If you do not have a mileage log, then you are in danger of losing more than just vehicle deductions. Think about it. If you don’t have a log for mileage, what is the IRS examiner…
Tax Deductions for Assisted Living Costs
If you or a family member lives in an assisted living facility, you know that assisted living costs continue to rise every year. But did you know some of those costs may be tax deductible? Medical expenses, including some long-term care expenses, are deductible if the expenses are more than 7.5 percent of your adjusted gross…
Contributions for Short-Term Mission Trips
It is a common practice for churches to raise funds to send volunteers on short-term mission trips. The funds are often raised by a participant preferenced for his or her own trip expenses, as opposed to raising the funds for the group of volunteers as a whole. Tax-deductible contributions for short-term missionary trips must be made “to or for…
New Changes to the Employee Business Expense Deduction
Prior to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which went into effect, January 1, 2018, unreimbursed ministry-related expenses were generally deductible on the minister’s individual tax return as a miscellaneous itemized deduction (Schedule A) if they exceeded 2% of an individual’s AGI. Starting in 2018, these deductions will be eliminated for tax years through 2025. This includes unreimbursed…
