geepondy
Flashlight Enthusiast
Hey everybody. I bought a condo this past fall and was hoping for a greater tax write off then I apparently will get. Here is a copy and paste of a email I sent to a friend. Tell me I'm missing the boat somewhere. Thanks for any input.
I received my W2 form today and was trying to roughly figure out my returns for now and the future and would like your opinion on the following.
Because I have only paid two months worth of mortgages and taxes, I don't think I have enough to itemize for 2004 and therefore would be best to take the standard 1040EZ deduction of $7950. On my closing costs, I only paid fees (appraisal, title search, etc.), save three months of pre-paid property tax (no points or anything like that) so I don't think I can claim anything on that. If you think otherwise, I can send an itemized list of the fees paid.
But I was playing around and assuming I had paid a full year of mortgage payments to find out how much more I would get. From looking at the 1040 schedule A, I believe I can deduct
-mortgage interest
-state income tax
-property tax
I don't see anything else significant unless you really have a large amount of medical expenses. Based on that I come up with deductions totalling about $10400. This is not a great deal more then the standard deduction of $7950 and only results in about four hundred dollars extra on the return. I was hoping for much more as everyone kept telling me about the great tax write-off of owning a home. Am I missing something here?
Also what is confusing is that for the 1040EZ, the standard deduction is $7950 but when looking at the regular 1040 form, I see the standard deduction if not itemizing is $4850 (both numbers are for single guys). Why the difference? I assume if I itemize I can't take both the standard deduction plus the itemized items. Also because I bought a home, can I still use the 1040EZ?
I received my W2 form today and was trying to roughly figure out my returns for now and the future and would like your opinion on the following.
Because I have only paid two months worth of mortgages and taxes, I don't think I have enough to itemize for 2004 and therefore would be best to take the standard 1040EZ deduction of $7950. On my closing costs, I only paid fees (appraisal, title search, etc.), save three months of pre-paid property tax (no points or anything like that) so I don't think I can claim anything on that. If you think otherwise, I can send an itemized list of the fees paid.
But I was playing around and assuming I had paid a full year of mortgage payments to find out how much more I would get. From looking at the 1040 schedule A, I believe I can deduct
-mortgage interest
-state income tax
-property tax
I don't see anything else significant unless you really have a large amount of medical expenses. Based on that I come up with deductions totalling about $10400. This is not a great deal more then the standard deduction of $7950 and only results in about four hundred dollars extra on the return. I was hoping for much more as everyone kept telling me about the great tax write-off of owning a home. Am I missing something here?
Also what is confusing is that for the 1040EZ, the standard deduction is $7950 but when looking at the regular 1040 form, I see the standard deduction if not itemizing is $4850 (both numbers are for single guys). Why the difference? I assume if I itemize I can't take both the standard deduction plus the itemized items. Also because I bought a home, can I still use the 1040EZ?