The Tax Professionals Blog

Background: This provision, which has been available since 2002 and through 2014, allows teachers and eligible educators, grades kindergarten through 12, to take an above the line deduction, up to $250 for expenses that would otherwise qualify as employee business expenses under Code Sec 162. U Under the legislation (Act Sec 104):  This deduction is made permanent. The $250 is inflation adjusted in years after 2015. Qualified expenses include professional development expenses TIP: Remember, if properly documented as a non-cash charitable contribution, the teacher’s expenses can generally be treated as a charitable contribution, although a charitable donation will require the...

Background: The EITC for three or children, with 45% credit rate and maximum credit of $6,269 was a temporary increase sun setting after 2017 (Sec 32(b)(3).

The IRS in Notice 2016-01 has announced the standard mileage rates for 2016. Due to the declining gas prices in 2015 the rates have taken a significant drop. 54 cents per mile for business miles driven (down from 57.5 cents in 2015) 19 cents per mile driven for medical or moving purposes (down from 23 cents in 2015) 14 cents per mile driven in service of charitable organizations (fixed by Congress, never adjusted for inflation)

The IRS’s voluntary education program for unenrolled return preparers and others, the Annual Filing Season Program (AFSP), includes the provision that unenrolled return preparers will no longer have limited representation rights if they do not have a “record of completion” for the year for which the return was prepared and for the year of the representation, effective for tax returns signed after December 31, 2015. 

California has initiated an EITC beginning 2015. California and twenty-five other states plus the District of Columbia now offer an EITC. In twenty-two of these states, including California, the credit is refundable. Most states set their EITC as a portion of the federal EITC, and most states conform to the federal EITC program in other aspects such as eligibility requirements and income levels.