Additional Deductions for Use with Standard Deduction

There are a couple instances where you are able to take additional deductions even if you use the standard deduction on your income tax return.

Additional Standard Deduction Amount for Real Estate Taxes:

• Anyone who utilizes the standard deduction and is an owner of real property (your home!) is entitled to an additional amount to their standard deduction that is equal to the lesser of the actual amount of the property taxes paid or $500/individual or $1,000/joint.

Additional Standard Deduction amount for State Sales & Excise Taxes on Motor Vehicles:

• If the standard deduction is taken, a person may still deduct the amount of state sales and excise paid on a NEW automobile purchased between February 17, 2009, and December 31, 2009, attributed to the first $49,500 of the purchase price. This additional deduction begins to be phased out for higher income taxpayers. For individuals, that is modified adjusted gross income (MAGI - is your adjusted gross income (AGI) in most instances) over $125,000, and $250,000 for married filing joint.

Additional Standard Deduction Amount for Casualty Losses Attributable to Federally Declared Disasters:

• An addition to the standard deduction is available for those in federally declared disaster areas except those in the Midwestern disaster area. The amount available is the taxpayers net disaster loss. Net disaster loss is the excess of personal casualty loss due to a federally declared disaster over personal casualty gains. Essentially, if your insurance didn't cover all of your losses, you may take that amount as as the additional deduction.