Tax Changes That Will Affect Your 2010 Tax Filing

Here are some of the changes that will affect you as you prepare your 2010 tax returns:

1) Taxpayers, nationwide, will have until Monday, April 18, 2011, to file their 2010 returns and pay any taxes due. Taxpayers get the extra time because Emancipation Day, a holiday in the District of Columbia, is observed this year on Friday, April 15. By law, D.C. holidays impact tax deadlines in the same way that federal holidays do. The April 18 deadline applies to any return or payment normally due on April 15. It also applies to the deadline for requesting a tax-filing extension and for making 2010 IRA contributions.

2) Several tax breaks that expired at the end of 2009 were renewed and can be claimed on 2010 returns. They include state and local general sales tax deduction, primarily benefiting people living in areas without state and local income taxes.

3) A provision available through the end of 2011, offers older owners of individual retirement accounts (IRAs) a different way to give to charity. An IRA owner age 70½ or over can directly transfer, tax-free, up to $100,000 per year to eligible charities.

4) Overall income limits for personal and dependency exemptions and itemized deductions do not apply. Before 2010, taxpayers whose incomes were above certain levels lost part or all of their exemptions and part of their itemized deductions. For taxpayers at all income levels, limitations continue to apply to particular itemized deductions, such as medical and dental expenses, certain miscellaneous itemized deductions and casualty and theft losses.

5) The maximum adoption credit for 2010 is increased to $13,170 per child, up from $12,150 in 2009. The credit is refundable, meaning that eligible taxpayers can get the credit even if they owe no tax. In general, the credit is based on the qualified adoption expenses, which include adoption fees, court costs, attorney’s fees and travel expenses. Income limits and other special rules apply.Because of these documentation requirements, taxpayers claiming the adoption credit will have to file paper tax returns. Normally, it takes six to eight weeks to get a refund claimed on a complete and accurate paper return where all required documents are attached.

6) Eligible self-employed individuals can use the self-employed health insurance deduction to reduce their social security self-employment tax liability in addition to their income tax liability. As in the past, eligible taxpayers claim this deduction on Form 1040 Line 29. But in 2010, eligible taxpayers can also enter this amount on Schedule SE Line 3, thus reducing net earnings from self-employment subject to the 15.3 percent social security self-employment tax.

7) Premiums paid for health insurance covering the taxpayer, spouse and dependents generally qualify for this deduction. Premiums paid for coverage of an adult child, under age 27 at the end of the year, for the time period beginning on or after March 30, 2010, also qualify for this deduction, even if the child is not the taxpayer’s dependent.

8) Taxpayers who claimed the first-time homebuyer credit for a home bought in 2008 must generally begin repaying it on the 2010 return. In most cases, the credit must be repaid over a 15-year period. Many of those affected by this requirement received reminder letters from the IRS. A repayment requirement also applies to a taxpayer who claimed the credit on either their 2008 or 2009 return and then sold it or stopped using the home as their main home in 2010.