Celebrity Tax Expert Roni Deutch Explains The Educator Expenses Deduction And Provides Tax Advice

Dec. 7, 2009 - PRLog -- Roni Deutch published an article on her blog explaining the educator expense deduction and how teachers across the country can take advantage of it.

“Back to school season has already started,” asserted Deutch. “If you are a teacher or educator then you may qualify for valuable deductions. Specifically, through the Educator Expense Deduction, the IRS allows qualifying teachers and educators to deduct up to $250 worth of un-reimbursed teaching expenses. Some examples of expenses that can be included are books, art supplies, paper, crayons, software, etc.”

“Although this time of year is undoubtedly busy for anyone working in education, continued Deutch, “by getting informed ahead of time you will be able to reduce your tax liability as much as possible next tax season.”

Listed below are a few of the tips Deutch published for teachers and educators. To read the full article, check out Back to School Tax Tips for the Educator Expense Deduction via the Roni Deutch Tax Center Tax Help Blog.

Who Qualifies?
According to the IRS, in order to qualify for the deduction a taxpayer must be an individual who worked 900 hours or more teaching kindergarten through 12th grade in a school that provides elementary or secondary education. The deduction is also available to other taxpayers working in the education field including counselors, principals, aides, etc.

Think Outside the Box
In addition to supplies for inside the classroom you can also deduct a handful of other related expenses including gas spent on field trips, subscriptions to academic journals, and even fees paid in union dues.  

Above-the-Line
This is an above-the-line deduction, meaning that you can take advantage of it even if you do not itemize your return. They are also generally more advantageous than below-the-line deductions. First, they are subtracted from a taxpayer's gross income, rather than adjusted gross income (AGI). Second, above-the-line deductions are not subject to income-sensitive phaseouts or limitations. Certain below-the-line deductions, by contrast, are phased out for wealthy taxpayers and/or may be taken only if they exceed a certain percentage of AGI.

Roni Deutch published an article on her blog explaining the educator expense deduction and how teachers across the country can take advantage of it.

“Back to school season has already started,” asserted Deutch. “If you are a teacher or educator then you may qualify for valuable deductions. Specifically, through the Educator Expense Deduction, the IRS allows qualifying teachers and educators to deduct up to $250 worth of un-reimbursed teaching expenses. Some examples of expenses that can be included are books, art supplies, paper, crayons, software, etc.”

“Although this time of year is undoubtedly busy for anyone working in education, continued Deutch, “by getting informed ahead of time you will be able to reduce your tax liability as much as possible next tax season.”

Listed below are a few of the tips Deutch published for teachers and educators. To read the full article, check out Back to School Tax Tips for the Educator Expense Deduction via the Roni Deutch Tax Center Tax Help Blog.

Who Qualifies?
According to the IRS, in order to qualify for the deduction a taxpayer must be an individual who worked 900 hours or more teaching kindergarten through 12th grade in a school that provides elementary or secondary education. The deduction is also available to other taxpayers working in the education field including counselors, principals, aides, etc.

Think Outside the Box
In addition to supplies for inside the classroom you can also deduct a handful of other related expenses including gas spent on field trips, subscriptions to academic journals, and even fees paid in union dues.  

Above-the-Line
This is an above-the-line deduction, meaning that you can take advantage of it even if you do not itemize your return. They are also generally more advantageous than below-the-line deductions. First, they are subtracted from a taxpayer's gross income, rather than adjusted gross income (AGI). Second, above-the-line deductions are not subject to income-sensitive phaseouts or limitations. Certain below-the-line deductions, by contrast, are phased out for wealthy taxpayers and/or may be taken only if they exceed a certain percentage of AGI.

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Roni Deutch has built her reputation as one of the most successful tax lawyers through hard work and dedication to the needs of taxpayers. Her competitive spirit and insatiable work ethic have made her a household name with one out of three American adults knowing the name Roni Deutch. Through her years of practice, she saw that many of her clients' tax problems were caused by sloppy and unprofessional tax return preparation. Ms. Deutch decided it was time to put her experience to work for taxpayers across the country. Roni Deutch Tax Center is now filling the need for competent tax return preparation. In the February 2009 edition of the Entrepreneur Magazine, Roni Deutch Tax Center is in the top 2% of the fastest-growing franchises out of over 3,000 franchise concepts in the country.