Before you efile your federal taxes this year, you may want to take a moment to get to know the standard deduction a little better. A standard deduction is a dollar amount, based on filing status, which reduces income on which you are taxed, with additions for age or blindness. This differs from itemized tax deductions, which are expenses that taxpayers are allowed to claim to decrease their taxable income. The standard deduction amounts for 2010 are as follows- Single or Married Filing Separate $5,700 Married Filing Joint or Qualifying Widow(er) with dependent child $11,400 Head of Household $8,400 In some cases, you can claim additions to your standard deduction for 2010. The additions are claimed on Schedule L and add to the basic standard deduction and any increased standard deduction for being 65 or older, or blind or both. Additions to your standard deduction include: • A loss from a federally declared disaster in tax years beginning after 2007 and that occurred before 2010 or, • Paid state or local sales or excise taxes (or certain other taxes or fees in a state without a sales tax) in 2010 for the purchase of any new motor vehicle(s) after February 16, 2009, and before 2010. Some taxpayers are not eligible to use the standard deduction. If you are married filing separately and your spouse itemizes, then you must do the same. An individual who is a nonresident alien or dual-status alien during any part of the year cannot claim a standard deduction. You also will not be eligible to use the standard deduction if a change in your annual accounting period causes you to file for a period of less than 12 months.

Most people are employees and their employer withholds taxes every paycheck to pay the Federal and State governments. At the end of the year you file your taxes and receive your tax refund. Happy, happy- joy, joy! You are one of the lucky ones. However, things don’t quite work out this way if you are self-employed and required to file a Schedule C. If you were one of the unlucky people that owed this year you may need to consider paying estimated taxes. Filing estimated taxes is simply a method for you to pay your taxes throughout the year on income that is not subject to withholding. That includes not only income from self-employment, but interest and dividends, prizes or awards, alimony, rent, and gains from sales of assets. Taxpayers who expect to owe $1,000 or more after subtracting tax withholding and credits may have to pay estimated taxes. In addition, taxpayers who expect withholding and credits to be less than the smaller of (a) 90 percent of their 2011 tax return or (b) 100 percent of the tax on their 2010 return may need to pay estimated taxes. Federal estimated payments are generally due on April 15, June 15, Sept. 15 and Jan. 15. State estimated payments generally fall on the same dates as well. If you pay State estimated payments and you are itemizing, you should make your Jan. 15th payment by Dec. 31st so you can claim all 4 payments on your current year’s tax return. If you wait until Jan. to make the payment you can only claim 3 of your 4 payments on your current years itemized deductions. The 4th payment will have to be claimed on your following year’s tax return. Paying estimated taxes can be considered a drag but they will save you tax dollars in the future. If you don’t pay your share of taxes on time or not at all you could end up owing the IRS an underpayment penalty in addition to the taxes that you owe. The penalty will be based on the how much and how long you have owed the tax to the IRS. Keep your estimated taxes paid on time to save yourself money in the long run!

No matter what you could want when it comes to doing your taxes, the IRS has probably got a publication out there to explain it. Coupling your publication with TaxSlayer.com tax software makes doing your taxes online a piece of cake. Here are a few of the most popular IRS publications. 1. Publication 17: Your Federal Income Tax. This is the overall guide to help individuals with their online tax preparation. 2. Publication 3: Armed Forces’ Tax Guide. This one is tax filing for the military broken down in bite-sized pieces. 3. Publication 334: Tax Guide for Small Business. Get rid of those Schedule C nightmares by understanding taxable income and legitimate deductions. 4. Publication 463: Travel, Entertainment, Gift and Car Expenses. Do you need answers for deductible employee expenses? You can find the answers to them here! 5. Publication 502: Medical and Dental Expenses. Don’t know if it’s a qualified expense? Check out this one. 6. Publication 503: Child and Dependent Care Expenses. Is soccer day camp deductible? In some cases it is. You can find other bits of useful information here as well. 7. Publication 504: Divorced or Separated Individuals. Legal fees paid for tax advice in connection with a divorce and legal fees to get alimony may be deductible. Read this publication to find out other potential tax savings. 8. Publication 521: Moving Expenses. Know what counts as a qualified moving expense. You may be pleasantly surprised. 9. Publication 525: Taxable and Nontaxable Income. Is your Social Security, Inheritance or Disability Income taxable? This is a great resource to find out if it is or isn’t! 10. If you don’t want to use the publications you should try out TaxSlayer.com’s ‘Bobby Videos’. ‘Bobby’ is a virtual tax guide and is one of the unique help features available to you as you do your tax return. ‘Bobby’ can explain common tax questions in layman terms. In addition, you can always refer to our help wizards or help center for more information. Whatever kind of taxes you need to do online, you may actually be able to find an entire publication about it. If not, there is certainly a chapter somewhere to help you do your taxes online. This list includes only a few of the many publications found within our software.

Even if you are not the owner of a small business, you may be able to take tax deductions on the business use of your home as an employee. The rules are very similar to those for a small business owner. 1. As you complete your tax return, keep in mind the area of your home must be used as a principal place of business, such as a place for doing paperwork, meeting with clients or working on projects. 2. For you to take the tax deduction, the area must be used for regular and exclusive use, not just once every so often. In other words, you must use it for business purposes often, and it has to be a dedicated space, not a domestic area that you happen to do some work in. 3. You must use your home for the convenience of your employer. 4. You can’t get rent from your employer for the use of a portion of your home to conduct his or her business. When you deduct home office business expenses, you are actually determining the percentage of your home that you use for business and allocate that portion of the home as a business expense. Other business use of home expenses includes utilities, mortgage interest, depreciation, repairs and insurance. You may take these tax deductions regardless of whether you own your home or rent. Keep these things in mind to increase your tax deductions if you are eligible to the business use of a home deduction.