OT tax question

The IRS publication on buying a home says you can deduct them over the life of your mortgage. "If you meet all of the tests listed above and you itemize your deductions in the year you get the loan, you can either deduct the full amount of points in the year paid or deduct them over the life of the loan, beginning in the year you get the loan. If you do not itemize your deductions in the year you get the loan, you can spread the points over the life of the loan and deduct the appropriate amount in each future year, if any, when you do itemize your deductions."

Check directly with the source:

I suggest that you have a CPA handle your taxes! Mine has saved me a boatload of money over the years, which has more than paid for his fees. Since you apparently have home ownership issues plus children in daycare plus the usual dependents, a CPA will certainly help. Other benefits to having a CPA -- you don't have to worry about getting things done on time -- the CPA will handle electronic filing (without the risks of a software company bleeding off your personal financial information) -- you won't miss any legitimate deductions -- you are much less likely to be audited. Unlike some of the heavily-advertised chains of tax prep folks, your CPA is a fulltime financial professional with his license and livelihood at stake for errors, goes to school every year to keep current, and is NOT somebody off the streets who has gone through company training to pick up some seasonal cash while strongly encouraged to file as many forms as possible. By the way, I am NOT a CPA, but a retired person with a professional degree in a related field, and would never consider doing my own taxes!

I suggest that you have a CPA handle your taxes! Mine has saved me a boatload of money over the years, which has more than paid for his fees. Since you apparently have home ownership issues plus children in daycare plus the usual dependents, a CPA will certainly help. Other benefits to having a CPA -- you don't have to worry about getting things done on time -- the CPA will handle electronic filing (without the risks of a software company bleeding off your personal financial information) -- you won't miss any legitimate deductions -- you are much less likely to be audited. Unlike some of the heavily-advertised chains of tax prep folks, your CPA is a fulltime financial professional with his license and livelihood at stake for errors, goes to school every year to keep current, and is NOT somebody off the streets who has gone through company training to pick up some seasonal cash while strongly encouraged to file as many forms as possible. By the way, I am NOT a CPA, but a retired person with a professional degree in a related field, and would never consider doing my own taxes!

Neil Cavuto, a tv money guy was on some show the other day and said he fired his tax guy when he found out he was using turbo tax to do his taxes! (sure hope it wasn't a CPA. maybe someone else remembers)

Actually not getting a lot of money back is not a bad thing MArissa. It means you have hold of your money all year. If you hadn't had the house deduction you surely would have had more due, I would think.

Taria

Mary wrote:

The trick is you have to get a good CPA. There are a lot of good ones out there, and a lot of ones who don't know much of anything. :(

I insisted that DH have a CPA do our taxes the year he retired & he took a cash out. I was worried about Turbo Tax missing something. We brought our taxes to a very well respected CPA & guess what - he came up with exactly the same figures as Turbo Tax did & he advised us that Turbo Tax is very reliable. It's programmed to ask all the questions that a human being might forget. He didn't charge us for doing the taxes either. NAYY, but have tested both & have confidence in Turbo Tax now.