The Joys of Tax Deductions

It's that time of year when, for married people like me, one decision is paramount: Filing a 1040 singly or jointly. For our lean years together it was easy to fill out both versions of the 1040 ourselves to see which was best, especially since Janet was an accountant and bookkeeper previously, and has only honed her skills since. Even back in '71 when we started out together, penciling in various hardcopies was the norm. It's become much easier now to run multiple scenarios online to see which would provide the greatest benefit, or God be praised! a refund. And without many exceptions, filing jointly has cost us less.

Even today, most people know that filing singly is about half the deduction you both can get filing jointly. Marriage is a benefit to society, in dozens of ways, so is encouraged by the U.S. Government, and rightly so. Hence it has significant ramifications for the LGBT community, just as innumerable laws and regulations do on each of us. Tens of thousands of laws, even more regulations, all regulate our behavior, except for our thoughts. The future days of general telepathy will even change that freedom.

And we received deductions for dependents (e.g. our younger children), which category is broadly defined, thank goodness. Yet the deductions seem minimal: a few thousand dollars, not indicative of their real living costs at all, but better than nothing. And they don't apply to certain ages.

And significant costs such as healthcare rarely meet the 7% of income to even qualify as a deduction.This of course is a criminal flaw. Healthcare is a human right, like getting married and having children, and just as costly. At least Obamacare is helping in other ways.

Then we have deductions as homeowners, such as certain improvements, mortgage payments, and in recent years, things like energy credits. Deductions and credits are different. Of course amounts on the many Tax Tables can change every year, and credits come and go yearly, so it pays to subscribe to IRS.gov and its regular newsletters to see how these things change, and come and go, going usually because a law is left to lapse. 

Take energy credits on solar installations, where powerful industries lobbied congressmen to extend them, and thankfully they were, until 2016 and a new round of concerns will begin. Janet and I used the credit to save $324 off our own tax liability by spraying insulation in our attic, thereby decreasing our heating bills by 10%. So this is a perfect example of how government changes and molds our lives based on tax policy, since these credits are only meant to jump start new energy conservation measures until they reach a self-sustaining level. 

And I like this about some government supports - they're temporary. Wouldn't it be fantastic if all were so? Another example being research such as cold fusion to power our vehicles, like we've already done with compressed gas and electricity. I count renewables as the true future of energy supply since obviously all accessible fossil fuels are rapidly decreasing, if you take the hundred year view.

I could go on, but for me, also receiving business deductions, and charitable contribution deductions for a Faith we love, are benefits to all sole proprietors and all non-profit donors. I can't imagine what would happen to non-profits, religious and other kinds, if those deductions weren't there.

So here's the IRS website that helped me most: http://www.irs.gov/Credits-&-Deductions  Hope it helps you.

Oh, and by the way, now paying our friend Joe a nominal fee for preparing multiple 1040 filings and calculations, is a real Godsend. You see, even with the 260 page 1040 Instruction Booklet available online, I'd rather trust our expert Joe, rather then decipher those "instructions" myself.

By Rodney Richards copyright 2014

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Surviving Bipolar Disorder in the modern age . . . a journey of Hope for the afflicted. Check out my poetic memoir Episodes available at www.amazon.com/episodes-rodney-richards/dp/0615914705/