Itemized Deductions

Time Requirement: 20 minutes

Purpose

Itemized deductions are subtractions from a taxpayers' adjusted gross income (AGI) that reduce the amount of income that is taxed. In this lesson, students will learn about itemized deductions, including which expenses taxpayers can include in their itemized deductions. The lesson also explains how to calculate taxable income.

Objectives

• Determine if a taxpayer should itemize deductions
• Determine the type of expenses that qualify as itemized deductions
• Accurately report itemized deductions on Schedule A, Itemized Deductions
• Explain the recordkeeping requirements for claiming charitable contributions

Teaching the Lesson

Refer to the Lesson Plan for helpful instructor notes, visual aids, TaxSlayer® demos, and Internet links.

Refer students who may want to work independently to Publication 4491, Itemized Deductions.

Key References

This lesson refers to the following publications and forms:

• Form 13614-C
• Form 1040, Schedule A
• Publication 4012, Tab F, Deductions
• Publication 17, Part Five, Standard Deduction and Itemized Deductions

All references to materials can be found by clicking the Job Aids and Media buttons. There are also links to helpful tools that can be found on the irs.gov public portal. For this lesson, the student can link to the following sites for additional help:

• Tax Topics – Medical and Dental Expenses
• At a Glance - Is My Home Mortgage Interest Deductible?
• Foreign Tax Credit - Choosing To Take Credit or Deduction

TaxSlayer® Demos and Tutorials

It is recommended to go to the Practice Lab and access the latest TaxSlayer tutorial for this lesson. The TaxSlayer tutorials can be found by going to the Practice Lab and clicking the link for TaxSlayer IRS training.

Publication 4012, Tab F, Deductions, includes instructions and tips on how to report itemized deductions in TaxSlayer.