Posted on Jan 8, 2024

The Internal Revenue Service today announced Monday, Jan. 29, 2024, as the official start date of the nation’s 2024 tax season when the agency will begin accepting and processing 2023 tax returns.

The IRS expects more than 128.7 million individual tax returns to be filed by the April 15, 2024, tax deadline.

Although the IRS will not officially begin accepting and processing tax returns until Jan. 29, people do not need to wait until then to work on their taxes if they’re using software companies or tax professionals. For example, most software companies accept electronic submissions and then hold them until the IRS is ready to begin processing later this month.

As taxpayers begin to think about filing their tax return, here are some things they should know about standard and itemized deductions. This understanding can help you to decide the best option that would maximize your tax outcomes this year,

Standard deduction
The standard deduction amount increases slightly every year. The standard deduction amount depends on the taxpayer's filing status, whether they are 65 or older or blind, and whether another taxpayer can claim them as a dependent. Taxpayers who are age 65 or older on the last day of the year and don't itemize deductions are entitled to a higher standard deduction.

According to the Instructions for Form 1040 and 1040-SR, not all taxpayers can take a standard deduction, including:

• A married individual filing as married filing separately whose spouse itemizes deductions - if one spouse itemizes on a separate return, both must itemize.
• An individual who files a tax return for a period of less than 12 months. This is uncommon and could be due to a change in their annual accounting period.
• An individual who was a nonresident alien or a dual-status alien during the year. Nonresident aliens who are married to a U.S. citizen or resident alien, however, can take the standard deduction in certain situations.

Itemized deductions
Taxpayers who choose to itemize deductions may do so by filing Schedule A, Form 1040, Itemized Deductions. Itemized deductions that taxpayers may claim can include:

• State and local income or sales taxes.
• Real estate and personal property taxes.
• Home mortgage interest.
• Personal casualty and theft losses from a federally declared disaster.
• Gifts to a qualified charity.
• Unreimbursed medical and dental expenses that exceed 7.5% of adjusted gross income.

Some itemized deductions, such as the deduction for taxes, may be limited. 

More information:

Please contact us on 651-675-7041 for more information or any question that you may have. Thank you.