Experts Answer Queries on Taxes
Second session tonight in free call-in program with area accountants
Published by the Akron Beacon Journal
By Jim Mackinnon
February 18, 2009
Mike Hydell had good news for some taxpayers who own homes but don't itemize their federal taxes.
It turns out many taxpayers who take the standard deduction can take advantage of a new real estate deduction when filling out their 2008 returns, Hydell said.
He was among seven volunteers Monday night from Fairlawn accounting firm Bober Markey Fedorovich who staffed the annual tax call-in program sponsored by the Akron Beacon Journal and the Ohio Society of Certified Public Accountants.
The call-in program continues Wednesday from 6 to 8, with the last session running from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday.
Hydell said he fielded three questions, out of at least 24 calls he handled in an hour-and-a-half, on real estate deductions.
''Without itemizing, you can still deduct real estate taxes,'' he said. ''It's new.''
The IRS for 2008 filers will allow taxpayers who don't itemize, and who meet certain requirements, to deduct up to $500 in real estate taxes for singles and up to $1,000 for married couples.
''If you are paying real estate taxes, you're generally paying more than $500,'' Hydell said. ''If you know you don't itemize, you can take it.''
The change amounts to an additional standard deduction, Cindy Mitchell said.
''That works out great for people who are retired,'' she said. ''That is a good benefit for them.''
The call-in line volunteers said they handled a wide range of questions, including one that pops up each year: Whether Social Security payments were taxable. The answer is, under most circumstances, no.
Some callers said they hadn't received Social Security forms that they needed. In those circumstances, Hydell said the taxpayers need to call their local Social Security office and complain.
Mitchell also had good news for a caller who wanted to know if he could get a tax break on his travel trailer.
Because the trailer had a kitchen/eating area, sleeping quarters and a bathroom, it qualified as a second home, she said.
Sharon Sledzik answered a call from a woman who was trying to do taxes for a daughter.
The caller said, after a little coaxing, that her daughter was an exotic dancer who hadn't received certain forms from where she performed.
Sledzik told the woman that the daughter is considered an independent contractor, not an employee, and had to treat her income differently.
''She has to file a Schedule C,'' Sledzik said.