What items can be included in the sale tax deduction?

[shahzebn]

There are lots of items taxed, but I am not sure if they fall under the sales tax category. I compiled 1200 transactions from my Mint.com, so I have a lot of questions.

I moved this year, and renovated the house I purchased, so I paid a significant amount in material and labor? Includes appliances, tile, countertops, wood, etc.

Gas (0.15 per gallon in texas)

Mattress

General shopping at retailers (Department stores, sears, express, etc)

Grocery Stores (some items are taxed)

Airline tickets

hotel rooms

Car insurance?

Home owners insurance

gas bill (some type of tax there)

water bill (some type of tax there)

electricity bill (some type of tax there)

Wamart\ target (stores that have groceries and non groceries)

Cell phone bill (some type of taxes there)

Passport Fees?

Car services (car wash, oil changes, etc)?

Restaurants?

Entertainment (Movie theatre, live performances, amusement parks, arcades, etc.)

Personal services (Haircuts, Massages)

Subscriptions (Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, etc?)

Parking?

Pharmacy?

Doctors visits?

[DontTaxMe]

I am NOT a tax expert but specifically regarding food - and I assume that includes restaurant take out food, the sales tax portion, here is a direct quote from IRS "2016 Instructions for Schedule A (Form 1040) Itemized Deductions"  "Generally, you can deduct the actual state and local general sales taxes (including compensating use taxes) you paid in 2016 if the tax rate was the same as the general sales tax rate. However, sales taxes on food, clothing, medical supplies, and motor vehicles are deductible as a general sales tax even if the tax rate was less than the general sales tax rate."

[bwa]

You need to either use the IRS' sales tax tables or add up each and every invoice.  It's extremely rare to save enough invoices to be able to support a higher deduction.See the Schedule A instructions from the IRS here:  http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040sca.pdf

They include the following regarding sales taxes (I added the underlining):  "Caution. You must keep your actual receipts showing general sales taxes paid to use this method."

I suspect the reason the IRS doesn't permit just credit card receipts is they don't show what amount of sales taxes were paid. For example, credit card receipts from a grocery or drug store could contain both taxable and non-taxable items. Similarly, credit card receipts at a gas station could include taxable snack items or non-taxable gasoline. (In most states, taxes on gasoline are excise taxes and are not deductible.)

To show the difficulty, comments on some of your items include:

• Gas (0.15 per gallon in texas) - not deductible as it is an excise tax, not a sales tax.
  
• Airline tickets - these are federal excise taxes and not deductible.
• hotel rooms - most lodging taxes, because they are higher than the general sales tax rate, are not deductible.
  
• gas bill (some type of tax there) - utility excise taxes and fees are not deductible.
• water bill (some type of tax there) - utility excise taxes and fees are not deductible.
• electricity bill (some type of tax there) - utility excise taxes and fees are not deductible.
• Cell phone bill (some type of taxes there) - federal and state excise tax fees are not deductible.
  
• Passport Fees? - processing fees are not deductible.
  
• Pharmacy? - it could include taxable and non-taxable items.
• Doctors visits? - I've never seen one that charged a sales tax.
  

[DontTaxMe]

Sorry