You’ll also want documentation justifying your deductions, which will help offset some of your income. I recommend summarizing them on the return rather than describing each one in detail, because providing too much information can make the data input cumbersome. In most cases a total in each category would be sufficient to report.

Here are examples of tax deductions:

  • Charitable contributions;
  • Moving expenses;
  • Mortgage and student loan interest;
  • Real estate taxes;
  • State income taxes;
  • Un-reimbursed job expenses.


Organizing your documents and receipts early will help to guarantee no more emergency Tax Day receipt sorting and searching for misplaced documents, which can lead to an inaccurate reporting of income to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The IRS holds you responsible for the accuracy of the information reported, even if you used an adviser, so it is essential that everything be correct.

Eric M. Gashin, CPA is a supervisor at Water & Shuffain PC located in Norwood, MA, a public accounting firm providing tax, audit and business consulting services to individuals and closely-held businesses. Photo © knostpix/Fotolia