Floridians can writeoff Sales Tax paid
 

Does anyone know if this is effective 2004 or 2005?

I got a report in December of '04 from our congressman here in Florida and it states that there is a new tax deduction for Floridians:

"Beginning this year, Florida taxpayers can treat sales tax payments as an itemized deduction for federal income tax purposes.

Now, a taxpayer can deduct:

(1) the amount of sales tax paid as demonstrated by receipts or
(2) a standard sales tax deduction (based on the taxpayer's number of dependents and adjusted gross taxable income) found in an IRS-provided table plus sales tax paid on the purchase of boats or motor vehicles."

Just a little info for anyone who hasn't seen this...

Do you have a website for this, because I for one would like to do that, and Im sure my parents would too.

I found this site:
http://www.bankrate.com/overkeyword/itax/default.asp

Here is a direct link to some info on this... it appears it's for Nevada, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and Wyoming

http://www.bankrate.com/overkeyword/itax/20041012a1.asp

Thanks for the info, Ill mail the links to my Dad and have him ask their accountant about it. :)

My sister is a CPA, and that is true, but there are certain restrictions I think. I don't think I could do it because I use the 1040-EZ form to file my taxes.

I always use a 1040... but thats because my parents accountant does my taxes for me.

but yes, Im sure there are restrictions which is why I asked for a site and Im going to tell my dad to speak with their accountant about it before getting all excited. So yes its true, but I want to be well informed on what is true and what isnt.

/Arch13 makes mental note to call his accountant.

But how do we prove what we spent in sales tax this year? Do we have to keep every receipt for every purchase? Becuase that's alot of reciepts.

On the same site, if you click on the link for 'State sales tax paid...' it tells you that if you have your receipts, you can itemize your deductions, OR you can go by a table that they created at: http://www.bankrate.com/brm/frames/h...s-pdf/p600.pdf

If anyone finds out more on this, stipulations, etc., definitely let me know. Would be nice to writeoff an extra 600+ dollars this year.

You can deduct actual sales tax paid (if you can prove the actual amount) or you can look up the "staqndard" amount on the tables the IRS have just released (they just revised the tables so make sure you have the current ones). The deduction is in lieu of state income tax that you may have paid, which is why Florida is probably being mentioned, as they have no sales tax. Also, if you live in a state like Michigan and are retired, the sales tax deduction is the way to go, due to the state's exclusion of retirement income.

we have sales tax. no STATE tax..

but we have sales tax..

Yeah... it definately shows as: You can take your pick whether you want to deduct state income tax OR state sales tax... Florida does not have a state income tax, so I definately know my choice here :)

I really wish I had kept my receipts last year, as I'll only be able to deduct 600-ish without them.

There are several states that can deduct sales tax. Washington being one of them. I think it's only effective for tax years 2004 and 2005. Check the IRS site.

This applies in Louisiana, too. We've always been able to deduct state taxes, optionally being able to deduct state sales taxes is new. My hubby purchased a new vehicle in '04, which is added to the standard deduction.

My absolute favorite website ever at this time of the year is for the source: www.irs.gov. I've been doing our taxes for nearly 10 years, and I've never been steered wrong.