Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is a refundable credit. Refundable credits can actually increase your federal refund. Think of EITC as a ‘payment’ the Federal government gives to low- to moderate- income workers to get a break when they do their taxes. The catch is not everyone qualifies for EITC. Let’s go over the basics of qualifying for EITC on your tax return. Just as everything in life, you can’t win if you don’t try or in this case you can’t qualify for EITC if you don’t file a tax return. In some cases, you may qualify for EITC even though you aren’t required to file. If you don’t file for it, you won’t get it. The basic guidelines that everyone must follow are your adjusted gross income (AGI) must be below $48,362, have a valid social security number, cannot file Married Filing Separately, must be a U.S. citizen or resident alien all year, cannot file Form 2555 or Form 2555-EZ, investment income must be less than $3,100 and you must have earned income. AGI and earned income restrictions are based on whether you have children or not. With three or more qualifying children, you must make less than $43,352, or $48,362 if married filing jointly. For two qualifying children, it’s less than $40,363, or $45,373 if married filing jointly. With one child, it’s less than $35,535, or $40,545 if married filing jointly. With no children, the amount is $13,460, or $18,470 if married filing jointly. The number of qualifying children you have also affects the maximum amount of earned income credit you can receive on your tax return for this tax year. Three or more qualifying children may give you $5,666 in EITC. Two may give you $5,036; one may give you $3,050 and with none you may still be able to get $457. Filing your taxes with TaxSlayer.com makes it a cinch because it does all the necessary calculations for you. Filing online with TaxSlayer.com can really help so you don’t miss credits and miss getting your maximum refund.

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.

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.