(bright music)
- As if we don't have enough going on these days,
you got to file a tax return to boot.
Thankfully you have till May 17th,
but there's all these last minute things
we seem to forget all the time.
Lisa Greene-Lewis, CPA, TurboTax expert
is with us right now.
Lisa everyone's scrambling to get their tax return done,
and they often forget a bunch of things.
So let's just rattle through some of them.
And retirement contributions seem to be top of the list.
- Yeah, so, you know, the IRS,
they did push out the deadline to May 17th
to make your IRA contributions.
So don't forget you still have the opportunity to do that
and make an impact on your tax return.
And that's up to $6,000 in contribution,
an additional 1000 if you're 50 and over.
You just want to make sure that you tell the plan provider
that it is a 2020 contribution.
And then also your HSA.
If, you know, you can contribute
to an HSA for yourself or your family
that has been extended to May 17th.
And you may be able to deduct that contribution as well.
And then for self-employed, the SEP IRA, you have more time.
You have until the October 15th deadline
to make a contribution to your IRA
and make an impact on your taxes.
And then in addition, you know, with a SEP IRA,
when you're self-employed, you can contribute more
than like your traditional IRAs.
25% of your net income or up to $57,000.
- Yeah, so make those contributions.
Your retirement will thank you.
And you got to get, want to get that money in the market
and have it invest and work for you.
Charitable contributions are always something
I think people forget.
Aside from always having the documentation,
what else should people remember?
- Yeah, so for charitable contributions, you know,
even if you drove to volunteer,
you are able to deduct your mileage, 14 cents per mile.
So you want to remember that.
I know people contribute year round,
so you want to make sure you have those
acknowledgements from the charities.
And then also just remember
that they have to be a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit
in order to take the deduction.
- Yeah, and last year in particular,
so many people, myself included,
sat home and watched all these, you know telethons
and things like that where they collected money,
and you did it on your phone.
And then the next thing you know, maybe you got an email.
So you need to go back and find all that stuff.
That way you just put it in your tax file, right?
Otherwise there's no real trace to know
that I made a contribution to all the actors' things
that were out this year.
- Right, and I know TurboTax,
we have TurboTax ItsDeductible.
It helps value and track your donations throughout the year.
And it helps you accurately value them
related to what the IRS uses
to value a charitable contribution.
And then also one thing to know,
under the CARES Act for the 90% of people
that now claim the standard deduction,
they can now claim up to $300 in charitable contributions
even if they claim the standard deduction.
- Yeah, that's huge because in the past,
if you took the standard, you couldn't basically declare
your charitable contributions.
Now you can take at least this 300, which is great.
And you brought up one last great point
that people forget all the time, your reinvested dividends.
You want to just explain that?
- Yeah, so you don't want to forget
your reinvested dividends
because that can lower the amount of gain
that you're recognizing and that's taxable.
So you want to add your reinvested dividends
to the cost of your stock that you've sold
or you know, your transaction, to lower your gain.
- Yeah, so hopefully that's on your 1099 from your broker.
If not, you might have to do a little bit of math.
Lisa, there's so much new for 2020.
Where does a taxpayer go for help?
TurboTax has proactive guidance related to the events
that occurred in 2020.
But if you have questions, you can connect live
via one-way video to a TurboTax Live tax expert.
They can either guide you along the way, or new this year,
you can fully hand over your taxes to them
all from the comfort of your home.
- Lisa, these are great tips.
People just need to get organized.
Make sure you get all your deductions that you deserve.
Lisa Greene-Lewis, CPA, TurboTax expert, thank you.
- Thank you.