In the tax season 2014, 8 popular tax breaks disappeared as credits and deductions benefiting everyone from teachers and students to homeowners were scheduled to expire by the end 2013. The eight tax breaks that are missed most are as follows-
- Teachers' expenses- The Educator Expense Deduction aimed to help teachers cover the cost of classroom supplies like pens, paper and notebooks that their school did not reimburse them for. Elementary and secondary school teachers can qualify for deductions of up to $250 per year, even if they fail to document. It is important to note that nearly 4 million teachers deducted $915 million in school expenses in the year 2010.
- Tuition and fees- A deduction for tuition and fees of up to $4,000 was earlier available to parents and students paying for college.More than 2 million taxpayers claimed this break in 2010, saving more than $4 billion, according to the most recent data available from H&R Block.
- Mortgage insurance premiums- Earlier, homeowners were able to deduct their mortgage insurance premiums as residence interest. About 4.2 million taxpayers claimed the tax break in 2010, deducting a total of $5.6 billion in mortgage insurance premiums, according to H&R Block.
- Mortgage debt forgiveness- This tax break that has been in effect since 2007 allowing struggling homeowners to exclude any debt forgiveness they were granted from a bank when calculating their taxable income.
- State and local sales tax- In states without an income tax, like Florida and Alaska, taxpayers have been able to deduct state and local general sales taxes instead of taking the income tax deduction. In 2010, 57 million taxpayers claimed more than $16.4 billion in deductions this way.
- Donations through your IRA- Retirees older than 70-and-a-half had been able to make non-taxable charitable donations of up to $100,000 directly from their IRA disbursements. But now, they need to take the disbursement first, making it a part of their taxable income.
- Commuter costs- Earlier, commuters who took mass transits like trains or buses to work were able to receive $245 a month (or $2,940 per year) in tax-free money toward those expenses. Now, after the perk expired on January 1, commuters are able to write off just $130 per month- $1,560 a year.
- Energy-efficiency- This break is only available for people who have not claimed received credits totaling $500 in past years. The credit has ranged in value since taking effect in 2006.
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