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Easing That Mid-April Angst
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New graduates need to know the rules governing work-related tax deductions. First, itemizations must exceed the standard deduction, which this year is $5,150 for a single adult, said David Sharkey, a certified public accountant with Ryan, Sharkey & Crutchfield in Herndon.
Mortgage interest, taxes on a home or car or boat, charitable contributions and unreimbursed employee expenses are all potential claims to itemize.
So can Ash claim part of her Treo? Tucker says taxpayers can itemize a claim only if they can show how much the equipment was used for work. Phone bills could prove what percentage of the time a cellphone is used for work, for example.
But the rules are tricky. Tax lawyers say individuals who go it alone should use a good computer program. Intuit's TurboTax and H&R Block's TaxCut are popular.
Taxpayers with adjusted gross income of $52,000 or less -- attention recent college graduates -- can have their taxes prepared free through the IRS "Free File" program on the agency's Web site, http:/
Since its 2003 debut, Free File has been used to file 15.4 million returns, but that's a fraction of the returns that could have been filed through it. The IRS says 70 percent of tax filers, or 95 million people, could qualify for the program this year and hopes a larger percentage will use it.
Paralegal Chad Harple, a history and international studies major who graduated from Yale University in May, says he's going to use Free File. But his friend and fellow Yale graduate, Julia Pudlin, is going with an option many first-time filers find even easier: parents.
"I'm embarrassed to say that's the case," Pudlin said. "I sent my stuff to my dad. It was just too daunting, and my dad is tax lawyer."
