Feeling Charitable?

Cash or monetary donations over $250

You’ll need a written acknowledgment from the charity including the amount and date of your contribution. The receipt should also specify ‘no goods or services were received. The receipt has to be dated before the tax-filing deadline.

Noncash donations. A charity will provide a form acknowledging a gift of, say, clothes or furniture, but it’s up to you to determine the value. You can deduct the fair market value of the items, which is what you would get for the items based on their age and condition if you sold them. You should keep a picture of the items you give away and making an itemized list of all of them with their value.

Charitable mileage and travel. You can generally deduct expenses for your travel while performing services for a charity, including 14 cents per mile driven as well as parking fees and tolls.

Mortgage

The maximum amount of debt available to be deducted is limited to $750,000. Mortgages that existed as of December 14, 2017 will continue to receive the same tax treatment as under the old rules. Additionally home equity loan interest up to $100,000 can be deducted but only if it is used to buy, build or improve a qualified home.

Real Estate Losses

If you have passive rental properties you can deduct up to $25K per year off your other income as long as your adjusted gross income(AGI) is below $150K.

Passive losses from rental real estate activities which are not allowed in the current year are carried forward indefinitely until used up.

Have a foreign account?

If you have an interest in a foreign account that is more than $10K you must report it on form 114(FBAR). It is filed through FinCEN’s BSA e-filing system on or before April 15 of the year following the calendar year being reported The FBAR must be filed electronically through FinCEN’s BSA E-Filing System. The FBAR Form 114 is not filed with a federal tax return.

Generally, U.S. citizens, resident aliens and certain nonresident aliens must report specified foreign financial assets on Form 8938 if the aggregate value of those assets exceeds $50,000 on the last day of the tax year or $75,000 at any time during the tax year.