Should I buy ? ... Should I sell ? I'm sure that a lot of you are
asking yourself that now. Those big day plunges have usually been
followed by higher prices a few months later. Below is a link that
shows the 10 worst drops in the Dow. http://tinyurl.com/3dlan2


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With Tax season starting soon I thought you might want to write
these down .....

The 13 Most Overlooked Tax Deductions

1. State sales taxes. As part of the last-minute tax package last
December, Congress resurrected the chance for taxpayers to deduct
state and local sales taxes. Although all taxpayers have a shot at
this write-off, it makes sense primarily for those who live in
states that do not impose an income tax. You must choose between
deducting state income taxes or state sales taxes and, for most
citizens of income-tax states, the income-tax deduction is a better
deal. You won't find this break mentioned on the tax forms, but
here's how to claim this deduction: Enter your write-off on line 5
of Schedule A and write "ST" on the dotted line to the left of that
line. IRS even has a calculator on its Web site to help you figure
the deduction, which varies by your state and income level

2. $250 educators' expenses. This break, too, lost its place on the
tax forms because it expired at the end of 2005 and wasn't
reinstated until the 2006 forms were set. Still, teachers and their
aides can deduct up to $250 they spent in 2006 for books and
classroom supplies. If you qualify, put your deduction on line 23 of
the Form 1040, the line now used for the Archer medical savings
account (MSA) deduction, and write "E" on the dots to the left. If
you also claim the MSA deduction, write "B" (for both) on the line
and attach a breakdown of how much you're claiming for each. You get
this deduction regardless of whether you itemize.

3. College tuition. You won't find this one on the forms, either,
but you may qualify to deduct up to $4,000 you paid in college
tuition in 2006 for yourself, your spouse or a dependent. This break
can pay off if your income is too high to qualify to claim the Hope
or Lifetime Learning credit. For 2006 returns, the deduction is
taken on line 35 of the Form 1040, the line for the domestic
production deduction. Write "T" to the left of that line. If you're
claiming the production break, too, write "B" on the dotted line and
attach a breakdown of how much you're claiming for each. You also
get to claim this deduction regardless of whether you itemize.

4. Student loan interest paid by mom and dad. Until recently, if
parents paid back a student loan incurred by their children, no one
got a tax break. To get a deduction, the law held that you had to be
both liable for the debt and actually pay it yourself. But now
there's an exception. If mom and dad pay back the loan, IRS treats
it as though they gave the money to their child, who then paid the
debt. So, a child who's not claimed as a dependent can qualify to
deduct up to $2,500 of student loan interest paid by mom and dad.

5. Out-of-pocket charitable contributions. It's hard to overlook the
big charitable gifts you made during the year, by check or payroll
deduction. But the little things add up, too, and you can write off
out-of-pocket costs you incur while doing good works. Ingredients
for casseroles you regularly prepare for a nonprofit organization's
soup kitchen, for example, or the cost of stamps you buy for your
school's fundraiser count as a charitable contribution. If you drove
your car for charity in 2006, deduct 14 cents a mile, unless you
were doing Hurricane Katrina relief work. In that case, you get 32
cents a mile.


DID YOU KNOW : http://tinyurl.com/24bauf



6. Moving expense to take first job. Here's an interesting
dichotomy: Job-hunting expenses incurred while looking for your
first job are not deductible; but moving expenses to get to that
first job are. And you get this write-off even if you don't itemize.
If you moved more than 50 miles, you can deduct the cost of getting
yourself and your household goods to the new area, including 18
cents a mile (and parking fees and tolls) for driving your own car.

7. Military reservists travel expenses. If you are a member of the
National Guard or military reserve, you may deserve a deduction for
travel expenses to drills or meetings. To qualify, you must travel
more than 100 miles and be away from home overnight. If you qualify,
you can deduct the cost of lodging and half the cost of your meals,
plus 44.5 cents a mile (and any parking or toll fees) for driving
your own car. You get this deduction regardless of whether you
itemize.

8. Child-care credit. A credit is so much better than a deduction:
It reduces your tax bill dollar for dollar. So missing one is even
more painful than missing a deduction that simply reduces the amount
of income that's subject to tax. But it's easy to overlook the child-
care credit if you pay your child-care bills through a reimbursement
account at work. Until a few years ago, the child-care credit
applied to no more than $4,800 of qualifying expenses. And, the law
allows you to run up to $5,000 of such expenses through a tax-
favored reimbursement account at work. Now, however, up to $6,000
can qualify for the credit ... but the old $5,000 limit still
applies to reimbursement accounts. So, if you run the maximum $5,000
through a plan at work, but spend more for work-related child care,
you can claim the credit on up to an extra $1,000. That would cut
your tax bill by at least $200.

9. Estate tax on income in respect of a decedent. This sounds
complicated, but it can save you a lot of money if you inherited an
IRA from someone whose estate was big enough to be subject to the
federal estate tax. Basically, you get an income tax deduction for
the amount of estate tax paid on the IRA balance. Let's say you
inherited a $100,000 IRA, and the fact that the $100,000 was
included in your benefactor's estate added $45,000 to the estate tax
bill. As you withdraw the money from the IRA and pay tax on it, you
also get to deduct a proportional amount of the estate tax paid. If
you withdraw $50,000 in one year, for example, you get to claim a
$22,500 itemized


10. State tax you paid last spring. Did you owe tax when you filed
your 2005 state tax return in the spring of 2006? Then remember to
include that amount with your state tax deduction on your 2006
return, along with state income taxes withheld from your paychecks
or paid via quarterly estimated payments.

11. Refinancing points. When you buy a house, you get to deduct
points paid to get your mortgage in one fell swoop. When you
refinance a mortgage, though, you have to deduct the points over the
life of the loan. That means 1/30th a year if it's a 30-year
mortgage -- that's $33 a year for each $1,000 of points you paid.
Not much, maybe, but don't throw it away. And, in the year you pay
off the loan -- because you sell the house or refinance again -- you
may get to deduct all as-yet-undeducted points. You do unless you
refinance with the same lender. In that case, you add points on the
latest deal to the leftovers from the previous refinancing and
deduct the expense ratably over the life of the new loan.

12. Reinvested dividends. This isn't really a deduction, but it is a
subtraction that can save you money ... and this is the break former
IRS Commissioner Fred Goldberg told Kiplinger's that lots of
taxpayers miss. If, like most investors, you have mutual fund
dividends automatically invested in extra shares, remember that each
reinvestment increases your "tax basis" in the fund. That, in turn,
reduces the taxable capital gain (or increases the tax-saving loss)
when you redeem shares. Forgetting to include the reinvested
dividends in your basis -- which you subtract from the proceeds of
sale to pinpoint your gain -- means overpaying your tax.

13. Jury pay paid to employer. Here's a break that's not as easy to
miss this year as in the past: Jury pay you turned over to your
employer. Some employers continue to pay employees' full salary
while they are doing their civic duty but ask that they turn over
their jury fees to the corporate treasury. The only problem is that
the IRS demands that you report those fees as taxable income. You've
always had a right to deduct the amount, so you weren't taxed on
money that simply passed through your hands. But this is the first
year the tax forms include a line dedicated to this deduction. Enter
it on line 13 if you file the Form 1040A or on line 34 if you use
the full-fledged 1040.


From Kiplinger.com