well its almost that time again. i'm looking for info on deductions that you can include on schedule a. maybe someone knows of some that i don't. looked at irs info, but sometimes i miss things. thanks.

-- loretta in iowa park,tx (johnray@wf.net), December 11, 2001

Answers

Wife uses Turbo tax Deluxe (I belive there is a plain turbo tax that only does simple 1040 forms but could be wrong),to do ours and it includes everything you need to do anything. The Turbo Tax Deluxe cost 30 to 50 for the federal and 30 for the state. It is also available over the internet. She uses it to dothe personal, farm, rental, and business both federal and state. You need to wait untill closer to tax time so you don't have to down load the final forms. Also the cost gets cheaper closer to time. It enables you to import last years infromation into this years program. This eliminates duplicate data entry (something the wife hates). Keeps you from skipping over something you did last year and forgot this year. Am sure there are other programs have used this one for years and am happy and not in jail. It also allows you to do tax estamation and qarterly filing if you need to. David

-- David (bluewaterfarm@mindspring.com), December 11, 2001.

I wholeheartly agree with Turbo Tax Deluxe. I have used it for several years to do our taxes and love it. We have a farm (sched F), a business (sched C), plus earned income and it handles it all and the tax books are online so you can look things up that you might have questions on.

Plus I have used their online filing for the past couple of years and the refund is in your account in about 10 days or less.

-- beckie (none@this.time), December 11, 2001.

Get a copy of Publication 17 fron the IRS. It will tell you what you can and can't deduct on a scheduoe A or any other form for that matter. Each taxpayer can get 1 from the IRS. You may also download Pub 17 from the following site:

http://www.irs.ustreas.gov/ind_info/index.html

scroll down, Pub 17 is at the right side most of the way down.

One thing to consider. Many of these deductions are subject to a percentage of your income, therefore many people don't qualify for them.

Hope this helps. More questions, just ask.

Talk to you later.

-- Bob in WI (bjwick@hotmail.com), December 11, 2001.

Something I forgot to mention we replaced our accountant with the Turbo Tax Delux. Last year we had our taxes prepared by our accountant it was over a thousand dollars. Fifty dollars was sure a savings. David

-- David (bluewaterfarm@mindspring.com), December 11, 2001.

Thats not an accountant !!! He was a robber .I pay under 100.00 for are farm taxes and thats state and federal.

-- Patty {NY State} (fodfarms@hotmail.com), December 11, 2001.

Patti; At the time we quit the accountant we had the farm two full time jobs, way to many rental units, and three different buisnesses. I almost had a heart attack when it cost over 7 bucks just to mail our federal tax return that year. Now we have cut way back and life is much easier. Was he a crook not really, a necessaty just as an attorney, both make a living like a parasite, living off the work of others

-- David (bluewaterfarm@mindspring.com), December 11, 2001.

We, also use the Turbo Tax program, and love it! You can work on it, take a break, do it whenever you have a minute or two, or sit down and do the entire thing, then submit it online if you wish, and you get notification of acceptance from the IRS within 24 hours, unless they find some problem with your tax preparation, and you shouldn't have any problems, as the program alerts you whenever something is not quite kosher. More than worth the cost, which is also deductible. Incidentally, hubby did a "mystery shopper" job last year, checking on a well known tax preparation company. Had the same taxes prepared by three different "trained professionals", and all three made glaring errors. Two would have cost the person submitting the returns more than $700 in lost refunds! Sure was an eye opener for me. Jan in CO

-- Jan in CO (Janice12@aol.com), December 11, 2001.