Feel free to post your tax questions

[traveltax]

Good discussions are very informative!

[LaFeet]

Finished a job for my company in northern California,  they reassigned me to Houston Texas.  The family took this as a sign to move back to Florida.

While in California and in Houston I maintained a separate household, I am still paying for a mortgage in Oklahoma. 

Can I deduct expenses away from home as well as the cost of moving for job relocation?

[traveltax]

Finished a job for my company in northern California,  they reassigned me to Houston Texas.  The family took this as a sign to move back to Florida.

While in California and in Houston I maintained a separate household, I am still paying for a mortgage in Oklahoma. 

Can I deduct expenses away from home as well as the cost of moving for job relocation?

Is this a permanent job (>12 months) or a temporary job (< 12 months)

[Starkist]

Technical resident of michigan, payed taxes in louisiana. Doing my tax return,  turbo-tax is appearing to give me credit for ALL of louisiana, and instead taxing me in michigan. I.e. payed LA 8k. Getting 8k back from LA, but now I owe 3k to MI.  Net profit, but confusing. I hope you understand what Im asking haha.

[traveltax]

Technical resident of michigan, payed taxes in louisiana. Doing my tax return,  turbo-tax is appearing to give me credit for ALL of louisiana, and instead taxing me in michigan. I.e. payed LA 8k. Getting 8k back from LA, but now I owe 3k to MI.  Net profit, but confusing. I hope you understand what Im asking haha.

1) You should not be getting back all of your withholding from LA
2) MI taxes worldwide income as you are a resident- they credit you for taxes paid to LA. MI taxes are higher than LA so you owe the difference

Something is amiss in the data.

Turbo tax does not handle multistate taxes that well and all almost all software products from TT to the kinds I use occasionally require an override in a multistate environment

How are you getting everything back from LA?

[LaFeet]

Is this a permanent job (>12 months) or a temporary job (< 12 months)

Both jobs are greater than 12 months.  Same company, different places, different positions (not a raise either).

[traveltax]

Both jobs are greater than 12 months.  Same company, different places, different positions (not a raise either).

Since the job is considered permanent and indefinite (> 12 months), then you cannot deduct travel related expenses for your job even though its away from your personal home. If the job was less than 12 months, it would be considered temporary and we would have a different set of rules to consider. A permanent home and tax home are 2 different things and this job site is your tax home even though your permanent home is elsewhere. A tax home is where you work, not where you live, unless the job is temporary and then the "away from home" expenses are judged differently.
However, you do have the following

1) Moving expenses to the new place of work
2) Mortgage interest and taxes for up to two homes

[traveltax]

Joe -

First, thanks for your help in this forum and well beyond (waiting for a few more docs to show up before I ship them off to you).

My question:  after we elect Ron Paul as our President and he does away with the IRS and this insane notion that penalizing productivity is a good thing, will you be looking to join us and make your living at a power plant or do you have grander ideas?

I am almost finished with my Masters in International Taxation. Plenty of jobs in the transfer pricing, cross border arena. I spent 25 years in patient care and still have my Respiratory Therapy license. I could go back to that too...... 

Seriously, I would love to see a tax policy that wasn't designed around wealth redistribution and class warfare. The people that gravitate to that think anyone who makes more them is rich. Am I allowed to state this as a forum expert

[Starkist]

1) You should not be getting back all of your withholding from LA
2) MI taxes worldwide income as you are a resident- they credit you for taxes paid to LA. MI taxes are higher than LA so you owe the difference

Something is amiss in the data.

Turbo tax does not handle multistate taxes that well and all almost all software products from TT to the kinds I use occasionally require an override in a multistate environment

How are you getting everything back from LA?

I have NO idea whats going on with it.  I'll be contacting turbotax tomorrow to speak with a representative there, and I will let you know what they are saying.

[thenukeman]

Is an  Education Credit  for  taking  a class  relating to  health physics   such  as  a  class  to  pass The Certified Health Physics Exam allowable?  I  understand  the maximum is 2,000 dollars.  Is this  still  the case?

[traveltax]

Is an  Education Credit  for  taking  a class  relating to  health physics   such  as  a  class  to  pass The Certified Health Physics Exam allowable?  I  understand  the maximum is 2,000 dollars.  Is this  still  the case?

Did not want to reply until the fiscal cliff legislation was finished as it would possibly change the answer to your question.

There are 3 ways to deduct the class since it looks like it you are not working toward a 4 year degree.
Assuming that this is for college credit you can choose either (in order of maximum benefit):

1) 20% of the tuition is creditable up to 2K (depending on your income)

2) Tuition and fees deduction up to 4K (depending on income). Someone in the 25% tax bracket will save 1K

3) Employee business expense

[thenukeman]

I was reading this on the IRS website and have claimed this before.  http://www.irs.gov/uac/Tax-Benefits-for-Education:-Information-Center

Sorry I was not specific, but this was for the lifetime learning credit.


Lifetime Learning Credit

The lifetime learning credit helps parents and students pay for post-secondary education.

For the tax year, you may be able to claim a lifetime learning credit of up to $2,000 for qualified education expenses paid for all students enrolled in eligible educational institutions. There is no limit on the number of years the lifetime learning credit can be claimed for each student. However, a taxpayer cannot claim both the Hope or American opportunity credit and lifetime learning credits for the same student in one year. Thus, the lifetime learning credit may be particularly helpful to graduate students, students who are only taking one course and those who are not pursuing a degree.

Generally, you can claim the lifetime learning credit if all three of the following requirements are met:
 •You pay qualified education expenses of higher education.
•You pay the education expenses for an eligible student.
•The eligible student is either yourself, your spouse or a dependent for whom you claim an exemption on your tax return.
 
If you’re eligible to claim the lifetime learning credit and are also eligible to claim the Hope or American opportunity credit for the same student in the same year, you can choose to claim either credit, but not both.

If you pay qualified education expenses for more than one student in the same year, you can choose to take credits on a per-student, per-year basis. This means that, for example, you can claim the Hope or American opportunity credit for one student and the lifetime learning credit for another student in the same year.

[traveltax]

I was reading this on the IRS website and have claimed this before.  http://www.irs.gov/uac/Tax-Benefits-for-Education:-Information-Center

Sorry I was not specific, but this was for the lifetime learning credit.


Lifetime Learning Credit

The lifetime learning credit helps parents and students pay for post-secondary education.

For the tax year, you may be able to claim a lifetime learning credit of up to $2,000 for qualified education expenses paid for all students enrolled in eligible educational institutions. There is no limit on the number of years the lifetime learning credit can be claimed for each student. However, a taxpayer cannot claim both the Hope or American opportunity credit and lifetime learning credits for the same student in one year. Thus, the lifetime learning credit may be particularly helpful to graduate students, students who are only taking one course and those who are not pursuing a degree.

Generally, you can claim the lifetime learning credit if all three of the following requirements are met:
 •You pay qualified education expenses of higher education.
•You pay the education expenses for an eligible student.
•The eligible student is either yourself, your spouse or a dependent for whom you claim an exemption on your tax return.
 
If you’re eligible to claim the lifetime learning credit and are also eligible to claim the Hope or American opportunity credit for the same student in the same year, you can choose to claim either credit, but not both.

If you pay qualified education expenses for more than one student in the same year, you can choose to take credits on a per-student, per-year basis. This means that, for example, you can claim the Hope or American opportunity credit for one student and the lifetime learning credit for another student in the same year.

Correct- that is option 1 that I noted. 20% for the first 10K of expenses - maximum credit is 2K

[BetaAnt]

I am going on a 5 month project out of state, greater than 100 miles (682 miles) from my tax home. Can I deduct the full lodging rate and full MIE from my taxable income as a non-reimbursed expense? What about mileage? Am I entitled all business related mileage (i.e. hotel to job site)? Are the mobilization fees considered taxable?

Thanks in advance,

BA

[traveltax]

Only employers can use the lodging rate. You are limited to actual expenses for lodging although you can use the full meal rate

The mileage is deductible

All expenses must be reduced by any per diem and if you are paid a per diem for housing and there is no allocation to meals, then the per diem must be split 60/40 (60% for lodging and 40% for meals) when applying your reimbursements to deductible expenses

I am going on a 5 month project out of state, greater than 100 miles (682 miles) from my tax home. Can I deduct the full lodging rate and full MIE from my taxable income as a non-reimbursed expense? What about mileage? Am I entitled all business related mileage (i.e. hotel to job site)? Are the mobilization fees considered taxable?

Thanks in advance,

BA