Dear international students and office workers, have you filed your taxes? When I filed my tax returns this year, I experienced a rollercoaster-like mood. I didn't expect to get too much tax refund, but I got quite a lot of money. It turns out that there are the following 48 tax deductions that are easy to overlook. I believe that many people, like the editor, don’t know.

Those must-know terms for tax filing

Before we start, we need three terms of popular science:

Tax Deduction: Reduce your tax income, thereby reducing the percentage of tax deductions. For example, if your tax return is $80,000 and you have a $2,500 deduction, then your tax return is $77,500.

Tax Credit: Reduce the amount of your tax supplement. Tax credits are deductions directly from your tax deductions. For example, if you want to make up tax of $1,500, but you have a tax credit of $500, then you only need to make up to the IRS $1,000 in the end.

The 2% principle: Although the editor will list a list of tax deductions, most of the deductions will only apply if you spend more than 2% of your adjusted income.

Loan and housing relief

1. Loan Insurance

The interest on private mortgage insurance is tax-exempt, but this only applies to policies after 2007.

The loan interest is tax-free, the tax-free loan amount is less than 1 million, and the single-person tax-free loan amount is the loan interest under 500,000.

2. Prepaid mortgage interest

The prepaid interest on your purchase or construction of your house is exempt from tax.

3. Property tax

Property tax is assessed based on the value of your house. The more expensive your house, the more property tax you have to pay. However, the amount of property tax you pay can be used as a federal tax refund.

4. Home equity loan interest

If you use a home equity loan to renovate your house or buy a house, the loan interest you pay is tax-deductible.

5. Tax exemption for selling houses

If you sold your house in 2016 and earned income, the couple can file a tax return together and the income will be tax-exempt.

6. Renovation of energy-saving houses

2016 is the last year you can apply for tax exemption for the installation of energy-saving house renovation equipment, including energy-saving windows, solar water heaters, etc.

7. House renovation for medical reasons

If you are due to medical reasons, carry out house renovations. Including the addition of wheelchair ramps, etc., you can treat these expenses as tax-free for medical-related items.

Education tax exemption

8. Student loan interest

The loan interest you pay is tax-free up to $2,500

9. Tuition

You and your spouse, or your dependants, can enjoy up to $4,000 in tax exemption, but this only takes effect if you are not anyone's dependant.

10. U.S. Opportunity Tax Credit

Each 4-year university student can receive a tax credit of up to $2,500. However, this tax credit will expire in 2017. At the same time, the adjusted income will be between $160,000 and $180,000 for a couple's joint tax return family, and between $60,000 and $80,000 for a single person. This part of the population will be excluded.

11. College education savings account

Currently 33 states provide residents with full or partial tax exemption for college education savings accounts. For example, in Arizona, a couple’s home can get as much as $4,000 tax-free.

12. Kindergarten, nanny, summer camp fee credit

If you pay for kindergarten, babysitting, and summer camps for your dependents under 13 years old (or disabled), you can get a tax credit of up to 35% of the expenses. The tax credit for immigrant dependents is $3,000. Two or more are 6000 dollars.

13. Educational expenses related to work

You can get up to 2% tax exemption for your work-related education expenses.

14. Self-study fees and scholarships are exempt from tax

It depends on each state. Some states can provide tax exemption for self-study expenses or tuition scholarships

Gift tax exemption

15. Cash donation

When you declare this tax exemption, you must provide a handwritten certificate of acceptance of the donation agency. At the same time, the tax allowance is 50% of adjusted income.

16. Non-cash donations

The goods you donate can be tax-free at the corresponding market price.

17. Charity Expenses

If you have travel, accommodation, meals, and even gasoline expenses due to charitable services, you can get tax exemption for this part.

Tax exemption for medical-related expenses

18. Medical or dental expenses

If your medical or dental expenses exceed 10% of your adjusted income, the excess will be tax-exempt.

19. Medical insurance

If your medical insurance expenditure exceeds 7.5% of your income, then medical insurance premiums can be tax-exempt.

20. Self-employment medical insurance

If you are self-employed in 2016 and pay for medical insurance, you can declare tax exemption for medical, dentist, and long-term care insurance expenses.

21. Vision and hearing equipment

If you wear glasses, buy contact lenses, or hearing aids, but they are not covered by your insurance, and you are not paying with a medical savings account or flexible consumption account, you can apply for tax exemption.

Small business tax exemption

22. Tax exemption for home offices

If you use your house as an office, you can get tax exemption if you meet the following conditions:

This is your main office

This is the main place for you to meet guests

This is where you store goods

This is the nursery

This is a leased place.

23. Operating expenses

If you run a business and need to pay for advertising, office equipment, maintenance and other expenses, this part of the expenses can be declared for tax exemption. The tax exemption for the first year is as much as $5,000.

24, business entertainment

If you engage in commercial entertainment activities in order to please specific customers, if the entertainment activities are related to business operations, or occur before or after the business meeting, you can declare tax exemption, up to 50% of the tax exemption.

25. Due to public vehicles

As long as the car is used for work reasons, your car loan interest, registration fee, property tax, parking fee, standard mileage rate, etc. can be tax-free, but you need to prove that they are used for commercial purposes.

26. Official travel expenses

If your employer has not reimbursed your travel expenses for official business. Your official travel expenses, including your visa fees, etc., can be declared tax-free for official travel expenses.

27. Interests related to business operations

If you are purchasing for your corporate financing business, interest and shipping costs are tax-free. The same applies to personal loans used for business operations.

28. Corporate donations

If your business is a partnership, limited liability company, or small company, and your business has made a charitable donation, you can transfer that donation to your personal tax refund. The same applies to non-cash donations, such as donations of old furniture or old business equipment.

29. Telephone expenses

If you are a self-employed person, you can get tax exemption for the part of the phone you use for business purposes.

30. Social Security Tax

If you are an employee, you cannot apply for tax exemption because 15.3% of the social security tax is shared between you and your employer. But if you are self-employed income, the 15.3% self-employment safety tax is fully paid by you, and you can declare half of the tax exemption.

Work-related tax exemption

31. Work uniform

If your boss requires you to wear a uniform to work, the expenses you spend on work uniforms can be tax-free. Remember, uniform means that it cannot be used in other public occasions.

32. Union fees

If you are a union member, you need to pay union fees, which are tax-free.

33. Military travel expenses

If you travel more than 100 miles to provide corresponding services due to military citation, the corresponding transportation, board and lodging expenses can be tax-free.

34. Job hunting expenses

If you need to travel, stay, or even print your resume to find a job, regardless of whether you get the job in the end, this part of the fee can be tax-free.

35. Subscribe to professional journals or publications

If you subscribe to professional journals or publications for work, you can get tax exemption if the boss does not reimburse the expenses.

36. Tax exemption for teacher expenses

Teachers can get up to $250 in credits for classroom equipment expenses. If both families are teachers and file a joint tax return, they can get a credit of up to $500.

Tax exemption for professional services

37. Legal fees

If you pay legal fees to seek alimony, maintenance of work, and tax-related legal advice, this part of the expenditure can be tax-exempt.

38. Asset Management Fee

If you need others to help you manage your investment, you need to pay consulting fees, software fees, online fees, and even transportation fees for meeting with the consultant. These fees may be tax-free.

39. Tax-related expenses

If you have expenses incurred due to tax filing, such as finding an accountant, DIY software tax filing, etc., if the amount of these expenses exceeds 2% of your adjusted income, this part can be tax-free.

(The picture comes from Tax Masala, the copyright belongs to the original author)

Retirement or investment tax exemption

40, 401(k) or other retirement accounts

Regardless of whether you have a 401(k) account for ordinary work, a 403(b) account for churches, schools, and non-profit organizations, or participate in the 457 deferred payment plan, the part you pay is tax-free.

41. Individual retirement account expenditure

If you or your spouse or employer does not have a relevant support plan, the full amount of your personal retirement account can be tax-deducted. The tax allowance for each person in 2016 is $5,500. Reminder, this does not include ROTH personal retirement accounts.

42. Early withdrawal penalty

If you pay a penalty for early withdrawal in your retirement account or deposit in 2016, this part may be tax-exempt. As a reminder, this does not apply to loans from your retirement account.

Other tax-free items

43. Car registration fee

It depends on which state you live in and how your state calculates the car registration fee, which may be tax-exempt.

44. Loss of property

If your home, household goods, or car is damaged and the insurance does not cover it, the amount of loss can be tax-deductible.

45. Hobby expenses

If you have a hobby that is not used for profit, part of your expenses for the hobby can be tax-deductible.

46. Alimony

If you pay alimony not for raising children, but for divorce or marriage decree, this part of the expenditure can be tax-free.

47. State and local income tax and state and local sales tax

If your state does not have income tax, you can claim to deduct this part of the cost.

48. Last year's tax arrears

If you owed taxes the year before, but you paid in 2016, the part you paid may be tax-deductible.

Seeing this list, the editor is really late to see each other, but it's better to be late than never, so let's take advantage of it!

This article was originally created by Shirmy, editor of the North American Money-Saving Express. The content is compiled from the moneypeach website and suggested by consulting professionals. The copyright belongs to the original author.

【Liuxue86.com-Immigration Policy】

The United States has recently announced its bad experience and water reform policies. Do you know what impact these tax reforms have on the US housing market? This is all about everyone's vital interests in buying and investing in the United States. Next, let's work with the editor of Study Abroad Network to understand the impact of the new U.S. tax reform policy in 2018 on U.S. real estate.

The Republicans of the United States announced a new tax reform proposal on November 1. It is expected that some taxpayers will still be able to deduct State and Local Tax (SALT) if they adopt the parallel tax method when filing federal income taxes. .

The chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Republican Kevin Brady, said that some of the SALT deductions were retained at the request of Republicans in certain states. If some taxpayers have paid real estate tax in the state or locality, they can still list deductions in the federal income tax return to reduce the burden. Current taxpayers can list state and local taxes that can be deducted, including real estate tax and income tax (or sales tax).

But the Treasury Department estimates that these listed deductions will reduce federal government revenue by approximately US$111 billion this year and US$1.5 trillion in revenue over the next 10 years. Originally, the tax reform plan announced by the White House and Congressional Republicans in September planned to abolish the enumerated deductions for state and local taxes to compensate for the impact of the federal tax cuts in corporate and individual tax rates.

But some tax-heavy states lobbied vigorously, saying that they cannot be cancelled. Although California had opinions but did not say anything, Republicans in New Jersey and New York threatened that if they could not retain at least some of the state and local tax deductions, they would oppose the tax reform proposal.

U.S. state and local average tax deductions: On average, wealthy states have larger state and local tax deductions

 California benefited greatly

California has the highest personal income tax rate in the United States. Californians can list the benefits of deducting state income tax. Last year, California’s highest income tax rate was 13.3%, compared to approximately 9% in New York and New Jersey.

California's property tax is not high compared to other states, because Bill 13 passed in 1978 imposes many restrictions on the collection of California property tax. However, it is certainly good for taxpayers to retain the enumerated deductions for property tax. According to data from WalletHub, a private financial website that analyzes property taxes this year, California's property tax is tied for the 17th lowest in the United States, while New Jersey has the highest property tax in the United States.

According to the California Franchise Tax Board, in 2014, Californians cited $70 billion in SALT income tax deductions, but only $27 billion in SALT real estate taxes (personal property taxes, etc.) were deducted. However, Jared Walczak, a senior analyst at the Tax Foundation, a non-profit organization, said that California still benefits greatly from the SALT real estate tax deduction, but it is smaller than the overall SALT deduction.

According to the US Tax Foundation (US Tax Foundation) data, in 2015, California's overall SALT listed deduction accounted for 20% of the nation's SALT listed deductions, ranking first in the United States. In contrast, California's real estate tax deduction only accounts for 15% of the national real estate tax deduction.

New York, New Jersey, etc. have benefited more

Walzac said that retaining the enumerated deductions for real estate tax would benefit more states such as New York and New Jersey, because real estate taxes in these states account for a larger personal tax burden. Especially in the northeastern states, property taxes are higher than California.

Property tax accounts for a large part of the personal tax burden, so keeping the property tax enumerated deductions will benefit New York State more

According to tax fund data, for California households with an annual income of more than $500,000, the SALT listed deduction accounted for 7.1% of their adjusted total income, while the property tax deduction only accounted for 1.1% of their total income.

According to tax fund data, in 2015, in the ranking of SALT deductions as a percentage of total state income, California only ranked fourth, and the top three were New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. In the ranking of property tax SALT deductions as a percentage of total state income, California ranks 12th.

However, compared to the overall SALT deduction, the real estate tax deduction is more beneficial to middle-class families in the United States, because the real estate gap is not comparable to the American income gap.

Walzac said that some wealthy Americans have an annual income 10 times the median income, but their houses are unlikely to be 10 times the value of a median family house.

【Liuxue86.com-Immigration Policy】

According to an official from the White House, US President Trump plans to issue a tax reform proposal later on Wednesday. Let’s talk about the latest tax reform policy for U.S. immigration in 2018 by studying abroad. Let’s take a look at the policy changes.

The tax reform plan announced this time will be a large-scale tax cut and reform action in the history of the United States, which will greatly reduce personal income and corporate taxes. This plan is not a guiding plan, but is the guiding principle of the new government's tax cut plan. Through this, it can be seen that Trump's determination to cut taxes, high-asset groups and small and medium-sized enterprises can profit from it.

The following is the original text of the White House tax reform speech

Headline: 2017 tax reform for economic growth and American jobs

Subtitle: Larger personal and corporate tax cuts in U.S. history

The goal of tax reform

·Developing the economy and creating millions of jobs

·Reduce our tax burden

·Provide tax relief for American families, especially middle-income families

·Reduce the corporate tax rate, from one of the countries with higher corporate tax to one of the lower countries in the world

tax reform

·Tax cuts for American families, especially middle-income families

1. Reduce the tax level from 7 to 3, respectively 10%, 25% and 35%

2, double the tax threshold

3. Provide tax relief and related nursing expenses for families with children

·Simplify

1. Excluding tax incentives for the richest taxpayers whose main beneficiaries are.

2. Protect house ownership and reduce taxes for charitable donations.

3. Abolish the alternative lower tax.

4. Abolish the inheritance tax.

·Repeal the 3.8% Obamacare tax, which hurts small businesses and investment income.

Corporate tax reform

The corporate tax rate is set at 15%

·Implement a territorial tax system to create a level playing field for U.S. companies

·A lump-sum tax on the return of trillions of dollars in overseas assets

·Eliminate tax deductions for special benefits

Implementation process:

Throughout May, the Trump administration will hold hearings with stakeholders to accept their feedback, and will continue to work with the House of Representatives and the Senate to develop a plan that can pass both the Senate and the House of Representatives, which can provide substantial tax breaks and create job opportunities. , The tax reform bill that makes the United States more competitive. On Wednesday night, U.S. Treasury Secretary Mnuchin said that the government will announce details of the tax plan later on Wednesday.

This news is good news for those who are considering immigrating to the United States, but it is also because of this good news that a larger immigrant army may join the competition. Immigrate to the United States, hurry up!

Those commercial high-asset customers don’t have to worry anymore. Even if the U.S. does not change its tax system, China’s personal tax rate is much higher than that of the U.S.!

 So how do business customers immigrate to the United States in one step? Let me share a few practical cases!

 EB-1A outstanding talent

Occupation: Health Products Entrepreneur

Trial cycle: 5 days

Signing date: July 20, 2016

Submission date: November 4, 2016

Approved date: November 9, 2016

Customer conditions:

* Have a patent for drug invention

* Published many professional articles and accepted reports from well-known domestic media

* served as a reviewer for two journals

 This famous entrepreneur was born in 1962 and is now 55 years old. However, there is no age requirement for the EB-1A project, so that every outstanding talent who recognizes the United States has no worries about immigration!

Occupation: Entrepreneur

Trial cycle: 9 days

Signing date: July 20, 2016

Submission date: November 7, 2016

Approved date: November 16, 2016

 Whether (feeding): One-time approved

Customer conditions:

* Main leadership positions: Chairman of the Provincial Association, CEO of the company

* Accept many domestic mainstream print media reports and interviews

* Multiple invention patents, for self-use by the enterprise and good sales performance

Clients only have a primary school degree. EB-1A application degree is not a mandatory requirement. The global professional copywriting team has rich experience and professionalism, and is good at tapping the potential conditions and advantages of clients, allowing the applicant's family to obtain American status so quickly.

NIW National Interest Exemption

Occupation: founder and general manager of a small commodity manufacturing company

Trial cycle: 4 months

Signing date: November 20, 2016

Submission date: February 9, 2016

Approved date: June 26, 2016

Application conditions:

Bachelor degree, self-employed after graduation, has been more than 10 years

Individuals and companies have 7 appearance and utility patents, which are applied to their own company’s products

I have 3 media reports on the Internet

The company also has some regional awards and honors in the industry

As the applicant has low academic qualifications, we emphasized his management experience and ability to run a company from scratch for many years in the application. Compared with other entrepreneurs, the applicant himself also has a patent. Compared with most entrepreneurs, he can use the free time of managing enterprises to conduct product research and development. This kind of professional research ability is also rare.

Occupation: Chairman and CEO of a financial company

Trial cycle: 10 months

Signing date: April 20, 2015

Submission date: September 9, 2015

Approved date: July 5, 2016

Whether (feeding): One-time approved

Application conditions:

Master's degree

Author of 2 books and 3 articles, but a long time ago

Media reports

The applicant's monographs and articles are relatively remote, but there are a lot of media reports on the achievements of the client in the industry. Although only this requirement is reported, it is sufficient for the NIW application requirements. The lawyers and copywriters are based on the client's industry situation and clients. I made a comparative description of personal industry performance, discussing his future contribution to the United States and being a rare talent, he will eventually pass without supplementary materials.