There are two potential shortcomings with your situation. Let's handle them one at a time.
First, buying a house and property tax does qualify.
However, there can be any number of reasons it doesn't show up on
your Schedule A (Itemized Deductions).
One common reason is that your total itemized
deductions (Property Tax, Mortgage Interest, Charitable Donations and State
Income Tax) don't add up to more than the standard deduction for your filing
status. More info about your situation would be needed to know for sure.
Especially for first-time homebuyers, timing
is everything. If you buy a house towards the end of the year, the home owner
deductions (Mortgage Interest and Property Tax) won't add up to anything
significant or helpful in the few months that you owned it. In fact, if you
bought in November, your first mortgage payment is sometimes not until January.
That's no help for this tax filing.
However, if you bought in January or
February, you have 11 or 12 months for that interest to accumulate and help you
in your taxes.
Unfortunately, according to the IRS, you can't take any repairs or improvements to a house you personally use.
Here is some info on closing costs
from your HUD statement that may help:
You can deduct any taxes paid or mortgage
interest as part of your closing costs and reported on your HUD-1.
The following lines may vary as the official
HUD form changes over time: http://www.hud.gov/offices/adm/hudclips/forms/files/1.pdf
·
210 - City/town taxes
- Deductible as itemized deduction on Form 1040 schedule A
·
211 - County taxes
- Deductible as itemized deduction on Form 1040 schedule A
·
801 - Loan
Origination Fee - Deductible as itemized deduction ('points') on Form 1040
schedule A
·
802 - Loan Discount
- Deductible as itemized deduction ('points') on Form 1040 schedule A
·
901 - Daily
interest charges - Deductible as itemized deduction - this interest typically
included in year end interest statement (Form 1098)
·
1004 - Property
taxes - Deductible as itemized deduction when paid from escrow; can be added to
property taxes on your 1098 to indicate total amount of property tax paid for
the year.
Here are the standard deduction amounts for
2016. (Your itemized deductions need to exceed this number in order for them to
help you and trigger a Schedule A on your return.)
Filing Status Standard Deduction
Single $6,300
Married Filing Jointly $12,600
Married Filing Separately $6,300
Head of Household $9,300
Qualifying Widow(er) $12,600
Next, maybe using some of the shortage on your mileage reimbursement may help.
Remember that there are plenty of other possible employee expenses that you're entitled to deducted:
- Home office
costs. The office must be your principal place of business and be for the
convenience of your employer—not just helpful in conducting your job.
- Job search
expenses in your current occupation, even if you don’t land a new job.
This includes everything from the cost of producing and copying your
resume to travel expenses you incur while interviewing or searching for a
job.
- Legal fees
related to doing or keeping your job.
- The cost of a
passport for a business trip.
- Union dues
and expenses. However, you cannot deduct the portion of the fees that pays
for sick, accident or death benefits or for a pension fund, even if the
fees are required dues.
- Work clothes
and uniforms that are not suitable for everyday use and are a condition of
your employment.
- Tools
(including the business use of your cell phone and internet)
- Dues or
subscriptions to professional societies
- Licenses
- Travel and
meals for business, including DOT per diem
- Excess
educator expenses
- Education
that either maintains or improves job skills or is required to keep your
salary or job.
This
is how to enter your partially reimbursed mileage. A short explanation follows.
Enter
all your business miles and expenses here:
·
Go to Federal Taxes,
·
Click Deductions and Credits,
·
Select I'll choose what I work on
·
Select Job-Related
Expenses under Employment Expenses.
Enter ALL
business miles driven and vehicle information first in the interview questions.
Then, it will ask for reimbursement information.
You
can potentially write off the mileage driven for work minus the mileage
you were reimbursed for. As an employee, you can deduct unreimbursed vehicle
expenses as job expenses, but you must be able to itemize your deductions
For
instance, the IRS standard mileage rate is $.54/mile. If you drove 10,000 miles
($5,400 at the standard 2016 IRS rate) but the company only reimbursed you
$4000, you could deduct the additional $1,400 as an unreimbursed business expense. Of
course, you would enter your additional business expenses (cell phone, office
supplies, Meals & Entertainment).
If
you own a fairly expensive vehicle or lease it and you drive a high percentage
for business use, you may consider take the actual expenses instead of the
standard mileage rate. The reimbursement would be the same.
Here's a good explanation on how the actual expense method works:
https://ttlc.intuit.com/replies/5681258
