Due to recent law changes that happened in December some taxpayers must wait on filing their taxes. On December 17th, 2010 the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act that ended in 2009 were renewed. These three acts affect the Taxpayers Claiming Itemized Deductions on Schedule A, Taxpayers Claiming the Higher Education Tuition and Fees Deduction, and Taxpayers Claiming the Educator Expense Deduction.
Itemized deductions on Schedule A include:
- State and local taxes
- State and local general sales tax
- Medical and dental expenses
- Charitable deductions
- Mortgage interest
The remaining two categories of people are taxpayers that, in general, claim deductions due to an education expense. Taxpayers Claiming the Higher Education and Fees Deduction are for students and parents that have claimed up to $4,000 of tuition and fees to a secondary education institution. This claim is located on Form 8917. The Taxpayers Claiming the Educator Expense Deduction is the same type of tax listed before, but for education in the K-12 range. Taxpayers can claim expenses that cost the family up to $250. This deduction is claimed on Form 1040 and Form 1040A.
All of these tax law changes are designed to benefit taxpayers and around 9 million taxpayers fell into at least one of the three categories last year. The extension of time is due to the IRS’s need to update their systems to be able to accommodate these changes. Here at Peter Witts, CPA we will be accepting all returns, but will not be sending them out till the scheduled date of February 14th.