14 last-minute deductions to include on your tax return

Jeanie Ahn
·Senior Producer/Reporter

If you haven’t filed your taxes already, you only have one more weekend to get it done before the April 17 tax deadline. To help answer your last-minute filing questions, we invited tax experts and members of the New York State Society of CPAs Sheila Brandenburg and John Lieberman back for a second Q&A session this week. You can watch all 25 of the questions they answered in the video above.

[Related: Countdown to tax day: 19 of your questions answered]

Although most of the significant changes brought about by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 will not affect how you file this year, it has heightened confusion around what can and cannot be deducted on your 2017 return.

Not surprisingly, many of you asked for a reminder of what some of your last-minute write-offs could be. From the questions answered, below is a quick breakdown of some deductions you can still make before the deadline:

What IS deductible for 2017:

  • State and local taxes (for 2018, they are capped at $10,000)

  • Miscellaneous deductions and unreimbursed employee expenses like: job hunting expenses, safe-deposit boxes, subscriptions, dues, moving expenses, vehicle expenses, parking and transportation, tolls, impairment-related work expenses

  • Charitable contributions

  • Casualty losses (clothing, furniture and transportation)

  • Tax prep fees

  • Alimony paid

  • Self-employed health insurance (medical, dental, and long term care insurance)

  • Qualified medical expenses that exceed 7.5% of your adjusted gross income

  • Mortgage interest and real estate property taxes

  • Investment interest

  • Student loan interest

  • Hobby and gambling losses

  • Qualified education expenses like tuition and childcare (but not college application fees because you’re not attending the school yet)

  • Contributions to a health savings account (as long as you have a high deductible plan)

Remember, no one gets out of paying what they owe on time. If you owe the IRS money, 90% of the balance is due by the original tax deadline. Filing for an extension only gives you an extra 6 months to file your return, making your new deadline Oct. 15 of this year.

[Related: How to file for a tax extension before the deadline]

Jeanie is a reporter and senior producer at Yahoo Finance. Reach out by email jeaniea@oath.com; follow her on Twitter @jeanie531.

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