Ask a CPA

The limit on employee elective deferrals is $18,000 for 2016. The catch up contribution limit for employees 50 and over remains unchanged at $6,000.
Generally, all elective deferrals made to all plans in which you participate are aggregated to determine if you have exceeded these limits.

Itemized deductions are amounts paid for certain items, such as medical or dental care, state or local income tax, real estate taxes, mortgage interest, gifts to charities and miscellaneous deductions, such as investment expenses and unreimbursed business expenses. Each category of itemized deductions is subject to limitations. Generally speaking, the IRS gives you a standard deduction, based upon your filing status(married, single,etc.) You are allowed the larger amount of your itemized deductions or standard deduction. Itemized deductions reduce your taxable income.

Generally, you can only deduct real estate taxes on real estate which you own and therefore have an obligation to pay. Therefore, if you pay your parent’s real estate taxes on their home, wit title in their name, you will not be allowed to deduct those real estate taxes on your income tax return. If you would like to deduct these taxes, you will have to be put on the title.

Points paid on a home mortgage refinance cannot be deducted in the year they’re paid unless the money is used to improve the property which is your primary residence.
Generally, points on a refinance must be deducted over the life of the loan. That means, if you took out a refinanced loan for 15 years, you would have to amortize the points over 180 months.

If the fair market value of your donation is greater than $500. you must complete Section A of Form 8283 – Non Cash Charitable Contributions.
For non-cash contributions of more than $5,000, an appraisal is required. In that case, you must also fill out Section B of Form 8283.
The IRS is aware that certain organizations are issuing inflated blue book value statements regardless of the condition of the vehicle.
You should consider taking a picture of the vehicle at the date of donation for substantiation of the condition.
You may also consider not claiming the full value that was given to you from the charitable organization. Speak to your local CPA for his or her opinion on the amount of the contribution you should claim.

Legal fees for the divorce itself and the property settlement are not deducible. However, legal fees to collect taxable income such as alimony are deductible as miscellaneous itemized deductions on Form 1040, Schedule A.

If you give a business gift in the course of your trade or business, you can deduct the cost subject to special limits and rules. Generally you cannot deduct more than $25 for business gifts that you give directly or indirectly to any one person during the tax year. Keep receipts for all gifts you give for business purposes. These receipts will help you to prove your deductions if you are ever audited. Track your business gifts throughout the year so you don't have to go through all of your receipts individually at tax time. You should record who the gift was given to, what that person's relationship is to your business and how much the gift cost.

You can only deduct your gambling losses if you itemize your deductions. You would claim gambling losses as a miscellaneous deduction on Form 1040, Schedule A not subject to the 2% limitation. The amount of losses you can deduct cannot be greater than the gambling income reported on your income tax return. It is important to keep an accurate diary or a similar record of your gambling winnings and losses. To deduct your losses, you must be able to supply receipts, tickets or other statements that show the amounts of your winnings and your losses.

A long-term capital gain is any gain that you receive from the sale of stocks or other investment property which is held for more than one year. If you hold something for 365 days that is still considered short term. It has to be more than one year.

The good news is that you don't need to compute your gains or losses on mutual funds that are held in an IRA. The bad news is all distributions from deductible IRAs are taxable- as ordinary income - in the year of the distribution. There is no capital gain treatment for gains on investments in an IRA.