I'm trying to figure out if any of my deductions are eligible to be carried forward to next year (see details). Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[compellingstateinterest]

I took a variety of deductions for 2016, including business expenses and loss (on Schedule C), charitable donations, medical expenses/health insurance premiums I paid for out of pocket, and job-seeking expenses.

However - partly because most of my income was just unemployment benefits - TurboTax is indicating a high audit risk.

If I delete the above deductions, I can bring the audit risk down to low... and still have enough other deductions (mortgage interest, etc.) that I don't owe any taxes.  But is it worth keeping those deductions on in the hopes that they'll carry forward to next year?

The only deductions where I couldn't claim the entire amounts were medical expenses and job-seeking expenses.  I was able to claim the entire amounts for my business expenses and charitable donations.

Do I even have any eligible carryforwards?  Thanks!

[DianeW · Accepted solution]

The deductions that can be carried forward, if applicable, are the donations if they are made to a qualifying organization. Their is a "50%" rule which is a limitation on charitable deductions that they cannot exceed 50% of your adjusted gross income (AGI), and for certain kinds of donations only 30% or 20% thereof.

If they are carried forward then on the following year that amount is used first, then new donations are applied to your deductions with the same limitation above.

If you don't meet the 50% rule, there is no carry forward.  What is a qualified charitable organization?

When a business reports operating expenses on its tax return that exceed its revenues, a net operating loss (NOL) has been created. An NOL can be used in some other tax reporting period as an offset to taxable income, which reduces the tax liability of the reporting entity. (First it is carried back and the forward unless you elect to forego the carryback).

It's always best to put everything on the tax return so that you obtain the maximum benefit and TurboTax optimizes your entries for the best outcome for you.

If these situations occur it's not unusual for TurboTax to show that you have some audit risk.  Remember your tax return is showing only income earned or, in your case unemployment, in the current year and deductions you paid. The money that might be in savings available to spend on deductions isn't reflected. Likewise, credit card charges are unknown until audit. 

You must use your expenses in the year paid to determine if there is any carry forward tax benefit. TurboTax will alert you if this applies to you.

[compellingstateinterest]

Thank you very much for that detailed explanation, Diane!  That's very informative.  Both my charitable donations (just some books and DVDs to my library) and my NOL are pretty small, both under $1000.  Is there any point to leaving the job-seeking expenses and out-of-pocket medical expenses/health insurance premiums on there if they're just raising my audit risk?  Those can't be carried over, from what I understand, and I owe no taxes with or without them...

[DianeW]

If you are receiving no benefit, it's up to you if you want to remove the expenses.

[compellingstateinterest]

Got it, thank you again, Diane.