Under United States tax law, itemized deductions are eligible expenses that individual taxpayers can claim on federal income tax returns and which decrease their taxable income, and is claimable in place of a standard deduction, if available.
Most taxpayers are allowed a choice between the itemized deductions and the standard deduction. After computing their adjusted gross income (AGI), taxpayers can itemize deductions (from a list of allowable items) and subtract those itemized deductions from their AGI amount to arrive at the taxable income. Alternatively, they can elect to subtract the standard deduction for their filing status to arrive at the taxable income. In other words, the taxpayer may generally deduct the total itemized deduction amount, or the applicable standard deduction amount, whichever is greater.
The choice between the standard deduction and itemizing involves a number of considerations:
- Only a taxpayer eligible for the standard deduction can choose it.
- U.S. citizens and aliens who are resident for tax purposes are eligible to claim the standard deduction. Nonresident aliens are not eligible.
- If the taxpayer is filing as "married, filing separately", and his or her spouse itemizes, then the taxpayer cannot claim the standard deduction. In other words, a taxpayer whose spouse itemizes deductions must either itemize as well, or claim "0" (zero) as the amount of the standard deduction. [1]
- The taxpayer must have maintained the records required to substantiate the itemized deductions.
- If the amounts of the itemized deductions and the standard deduction do not differ much, the taxpayer may take the standard deduction to reduce the possibility of adjustment by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The amount of standard deduction cannot be changed following an audit unless the taxpayer's filing status changes.
- If the taxpayer is otherwise eligible to file a shorter tax form such as 1040EZ or 1040A, he or she would prefer not to prepare (or pay to prepare) the more complicated Form 1040 and the associated Schedule A for itemized deductions.
- The standard deduction is not allowed for calculating the alternative minimum tax (AMT). If the taxpayer claims the standard deduction for regular income tax, he or she cannot itemize deductions for the AMT. Thus, for a taxpayer who pays the AMT (i.e., their AMT is higher than regular tax), it may be better to itemize deductions, even if it produces a result which is less than the standard deduction.
Deductions are reported in the tax year in which the eligible expenses were paid. For example, an annual membership fee for a professional association paid in December 2009 for year 2010 is deductible in year 2009.
The United States has a comparatively large and complicated number of deductions owing to policy makers preference to pass policy through the tax code.
Miscellaneous itemized deductions (Tax Years 2017 and earlier)
Per the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, miscellaneous itemized deductions are not deductible for tax years 2018 to 2025.
For tax years before 2018:
Miscellaneous itemized deductions are subject to a 2% floor, [5] a.k.a. the "2% Haircut". A taxpayer can only deduct the amount of miscellaneous itemized deductions that exceed 2% of their adjusted gross income. [6] For example, if a taxpayer has adjusted gross income of $50,000 with $4,000 in miscellaneous itemized deductions, the taxpayer can only deduct $3,000, since the first $1,000 is below the 2% floor.
There are 12 deductions listed in 26 U.S.C. § 67(b). These are not miscellaneous itemized deductions, and thus not subject to the 2% floor (although they may have their own rules). Any deduction not found in section 67(b) is a miscellaneous itemized deduction. [7] Examples include:
- Job-related clothing or equipment, such as steel-toed boots, hardhats, uniforms (if they are not suited for social wear: suits and tuxedoes are not deductible, even if the taxpayer does not like to wear them, but nurses' and police uniforms are), tools and equipment required for work
- Union dues
- Unreimbursed work-related expenses, such as travel or education (so long as the education does not qualify the taxpayer for a new line of work; law school, for example, is not deductible) (repealed, effective January 1, 2018 [8]
- Fees paid to tax preparers, or to purchase books or software used to determine and calculate taxes owed
- Subscriptions to newspapers or other periodicals directly relating to one's job [9]
The United States of America has separate federal, state, and local governments with taxes imposed at each of these levels. Taxes are levied on income, payroll, property, sales, capital gains, dividends, imports, estates and gifts, as well as various fees. In 2020, taxes collected by federal, state, and local governments amounted to 25.5% of GDP, below the OECD average of 33.5% of GDP. The United States had the seventh-lowest tax revenue-to-GDP ratio among OECD countries in 2020, with a higher ratio than Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Ireland, Costa Rica, and Turkey.
Tax deduction is a simplified word for meaning income that is able to be taxed and is commonly a result of expenses, particularly those incurred to produce additional income. Tax deductions are a form of tax incentives, along with exemptions and tax credits. The difference between deductions, exemptions, and credits is that deductions and exemptions both reduce taxable income, while credits reduce tax.
Under United States tax law, a personal exemption is an amount that a resident taxpayer is entitled to claim as a tax deduction against personal income in calculating taxable income and consequently federal income tax. In 2017, the personal exemption amount was $4,050, though the exemption is subject to phase-out limitations. The personal exemption amount is adjusted each year for inflation. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 eliminates personal exemptions for tax years 2018 through 2025.
A Roth IRA is an individual retirement account (IRA) under United States law that is generally not taxed upon distribution, provided certain conditions are met. The principal difference between Roth IRAs and most other tax-advantaged retirement plans is that rather than granting a tax reduction for contributions to the retirement plan, qualified withdrawals from the Roth IRA plan are tax-free, and growth in the account is tax-free.
Charitable contribution deductions for United States Federal Income Tax purposes are defined in section 170(c) of the Internal Revenue Code as contributions to or for the use of certain nonprofit enterprises.
Tax brackets are the divisions at which tax rates change in a progressive tax system. Essentially, tax brackets are the cutoff values for taxable income—income past a certain point is taxed at a higher rate.
In the United States, a flexible spending account (FSA), also known as a flexible spending arrangement, is one of a number of tax-advantaged financial accounts, resulting in payroll tax savings. One significant disadvantage to using an FSA is that funds not used by the end of the plan year are forfeited to the employer, known as the "use it or lose it" rule. Under the terms of the Affordable Care Act however a plan may permit an employee to carry over up to $550 into the following year without losing the funds but this does not apply to all plans and some plans may have lower limits.
In the United States income tax system, adjusted gross income (AGI) is an individual's total gross income minus specific deductions. It is used to calculate taxable income, which is AGI minus allowances for personal exemptions and itemized deductions. For most individual tax purposes, AGI is more relevant than gross income.
A traditional IRA is an individual retirement arrangement (IRA), established in the United States by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA). Normal IRAs also existed before ERISA.
The United States federal government and most state governments impose an income tax. They are determined by applying a tax rate, which may increase as income increases, to taxable income, which is the total income less allowable deductions. Income is broadly defined. Individuals and corporations are directly taxable, and estates and trusts may be taxable on undistributed income. Partnerships are not taxed, but their partners are taxed on their shares of partnership income. Residents and citizens are taxed on worldwide income, while nonresidents are taxed only on income within the jurisdiction. Several types of credits reduce tax, and some types of credits may exceed tax before credits. An alternative tax applies at the federal and some state levels.
The United States Internal Revenue Service uses forms for taxpayers and tax-exempt organizations to report financial information, such as to report income, calculate taxes to be paid to the federal government, and disclose other information as required by the Internal Revenue Code (IRC). There are over 800 various forms and schedules. Other tax forms in the United States are filed with state and local governments.
In the United States tax law, an above-the-line deduction is a deduction that the Internal Revenue Service allows a taxpayer to subtract from his or her gross income in arriving at "adjusted gross income" for the taxable year. These deductions are set forth in Internal Revenue Code Section 62. A taxpayer's gross income minus his or her above-the-line deductions is equal to the adjusted gross income. Because these deductions are taken before adjusted gross income is calculated, they are designated "above-the-line". Thus, those deductions allowed in computing "taxable income" under section 63 of the IRC are "below-the-line deductions". Above-the-line deductions may be more valuable to high-income taxpayers than below-the-line deductions. Since tax year 2018, above-the-line deductions are reported on Schedule 1 of IRS Form 1040.
Depreciation recapture is the USA Internal Revenue Service (IRS) procedure for collecting income tax on a gain realized by a taxpayer when the taxpayer disposes of an asset that had previously provided an offset to ordinary income for the taxpayer through depreciation. In other words, because the IRS allows a taxpayer to deduct the depreciation of an asset from the taxpayer's ordinary income, the taxpayer has to report any gain from the disposal of the asset as ordinary income, not as a capital gain.
Under United States tax law, certain performing artists are eligible to deduct the expenses incurred in the course of their employment as performing artists. The deduction itself is provided by IRC § 62(a)(2)(B), while qualifications of a Qualified Performing Artist ("QPA") are provided by IRC § 62(b).
A casualty loss is a type of tax loss that is a sudden, unexpected, or unusual event. Damage or loss resulting from progressive deterioration of property through a steadily operating cause would not be a casualty loss. “Other casualty” are events similar to “fire, storm, or shipwreck.” It is generally held that wherever force is applied to property which the owner-taxpayer is either unaware of because of the hidden nature of such application or is powerless to act to prevent the same because of the suddenness thereof or some other disability and damage results.
Section 183 of the United States Internal Revenue Code, sometimes referred to as the "hobby loss rule," limits the losses that can be deducted from income which are attributable to hobbies and other not-for-profit activities. Generally, losses which occur in for-profit activities are not limited and can be used to offset other income from other activities. But the § 183 limitation curtails those deductions when the activity is deemed a hobby.
In the United States tax system, the two-percent haircut, otherwise known as the two-percent floor, is a limitation on miscellaneous itemized income tax deductions and is codified under Internal Revenue Code IRC § 67(a).
Commissioner v. Banks, 543 U.S. 426 (2005), together with Commissioner v. Banaitis, was a case decided before the Supreme Court of the United States, dealing with the issue of whether the portion of a money judgment or settlement paid to a taxpayer's attorney under a contingent-fee agreement is income to the taxpayer for federal income tax purposes. The Supreme Court held when a taxpayer's recovery constitutes income, the taxpayer's income includes the portion of the recovery paid to the attorney as a contingent fee. Employment cases are an exception to this Supreme Court ruling because of the Civil Rights Tax Relief in the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004. The Civil Rights Tax Relief amended Internal Revenue Code § 62(a) to permit taxpayers to subtract attorney's fees from gross income in arriving at adjusted gross income.
The alternative minimum tax (AMT) is a tax imposed by the United States federal government in addition to the regular income tax for certain individuals, estates, and trusts. As of tax year 2018, the AMT raises about $5.2 billion, or 0.4% of all federal income tax revenue, affecting 0.1% of taxpayers, mostly in the upper income ranges.
A tax return is the completion of documentation that calculates an entity or individual's income earned and the amount of taxes to be paid to the government or government organizations or, potentially, back to the taxpayer.
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