Filing taxes can be daunting. What is deductible seems to always be a mystery or a surprise. Here are 6 tips to help you when filing your 2012 taxes Brady style:
1) Medical Expenses – Here’s something Carol Brady (and maybe even Kitty Carryall) would have appreciated: breast pumps are now tax deductable! They are considered a medical expense, along with all doctor visit co-payments (i.e. dueling house calls of Dr. Porter and Dr. Cameron to treat the kids measles), dental costs (Marcia’s braces), and vision costs (Jan’s glasses) and other medical related expenses.
2) Child Care – Moms who utilize day care services can now claim up to a $600 credit for daycare services for their kids; however, we don’t think the defunct “Greg and Marcia Day Care Service” would qualify since they were inept at preventing Cindy’s sniffle’s from jeopardizing a night out to the theater for Mike and Carol.
3) Tuition – We never saw the ramifications for Carol and Mike of sending six kids to college. However, if your kids are post Westdale High, and attending college or trade schools, the tuition fees, supplies and books can get you a tax credit of up to $2500.
4) Donations – Tired of hand me downs, and convinced nobody loved him, Bobby decided to run away; however, those hand me downs were worth something! All those items that you donated last year, including jeans, sweatshirts, sporting equipment that the kids no longer wear or use can be deducted, so long as you document each item donated and get a receipt from the charity
5) Child Tax credit – $1000 per child under age 17. Well, we all know that Mike made a fortune as a talented architect, despite his almost thwarted lucrative courthouse contract; however, the Brady’s would still have been able to claim a $6,000 tax credit for their bunch, enough to pay for a new nose job for Marcia or a new Kazoo for Bobby!
6) Michigan Education Trust – If only Mike and Carol and the bunch lived in Michigan! Contributions made to this fund are deductable on the state of Michigan income tax return. True, the Brady’s did give back, i.e. Mike’s donation to bail out the “Silverplatters” and Cindy’s idea to put on a backyard production of “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” for Mrs. Whitfield’s retirement; however, if they lived in Detroit, those donations might have benefited the Brady’s more if they were given to one of Michigan’s most noble organizations!
Nick Jungovic is an enrolled agent with Swan Income Tax, a family owned and operated tax business serving the Detroit area for over 30 years. Visit Swan at www.swanincometax.com
