Deductions You Shouldn't Skip

I know you're probably sick of hearing about taxes, but there's just a few more days and then bye-bye tax return. Unless, of course, you put your return on extension, and then it's just bye-bye 'till August.

Either way, a reprieve is near.

And the upside is, April 15 is a Friday, so you'll be done just in time for happy hour.

But in our pursuit to be your consummate advocate, we don't want you to forget anything. Let's go through a few more items that the pros say many people often overlook.

Bonuses on Last Year's Return

Don't forget any carryover items from last year's return. Check your prior-year capital losses and your charitable contributions for these little golden nuggets.

Here's how they can help you now.

As a refresher, to calculate your net capital gain or loss, you must first net your losses against your gains. Once you wipe out your gains, you can only take another $3,000 in losses.

Let's assume in 2003 you had $5,000 in gains and $9,000 in losses. Once you wiped out your gains, you had $4,000 in losses left. But the rules say you can only deduct another $3,000.

What happened to the remaining $1,000? The balance wasn't lost, it was just carried forward to 2004. Remember, Uncle Sam doesn't want you to get too much of a good thing in any given year.

The good news is that now you can treat that $1,000 loss as if you incurred it in this next year. So use it to offset any gains you had in 2004. And even if you don't have any gains this year, you can still use the carryover loss to offset your taxable income, up to $3,000.

If you had a very large capital loss carryover, and you couldn't use it all this year, you can keep carrying it forward until it's gone or until you die.

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