Hello again to all. It's been quite some time since I last posted but have been following the forum on and off for the last year. Health issues have kept me quiet lately. Now I'd like to get your thoughts on an upcoming situation I face for 2015 income taxes. It's called planning ahead.
We moved within the last year into a new home in the same area. Had to get a mortgage because our other house was not sold and didn't want to tap an IRA. We had income to cover the new mortgage but it has put us in a bind. Haven't slept well the the past year with a mortgage over our heads and our other house not sold. We now have a contract on that house and it should close within a couple weeks. We could use the proceeds to pay off the mortgage on our new house but I might be missing the boat on 2015 income taxes. For about the last 15 years we have been using the standard deduction as it tough to beat if you don't have a mortgage.
For 2015, we could possibly deduct the following:
* Mortgage interest of about $9500
* Property taxes on new house-about $3500
* Property taxes on old house-just paid 2014 taxes of $2500
Those items alone gets us past the standard deduction. Then we would be able to deduct some closing cost on sale of old house (state tax), deductions like charitable contributions and big one like a theft loss. Our home was burglarized in January and they got about $25000 in jewelry. I don't know much about casualty and theft ,loss deductions and how it would affect our deductions. But, it's something I'm considering.
On the other hand, I really sleep good when I don't have a mortgage over my head. I've worked my way down to the 15% tax bracket and wonder is the hassle of itemizing is worth all the trouble. Just wondering. Any thoughts on this subject?
We moved within the last year into a new home in the same area. Had to get a mortgage because our other house was not sold and didn't want to tap an IRA. We had income to cover the new mortgage but it has put us in a bind. Haven't slept well the the past year with a mortgage over our heads and our other house not sold. We now have a contract on that house and it should close within a couple weeks. We could use the proceeds to pay off the mortgage on our new house but I might be missing the boat on 2015 income taxes. For about the last 15 years we have been using the standard deduction as it tough to beat if you don't have a mortgage.
For 2015, we could possibly deduct the following:
* Mortgage interest of about $9500
* Property taxes on new house-about $3500
* Property taxes on old house-just paid 2014 taxes of $2500
Those items alone gets us past the standard deduction. Then we would be able to deduct some closing cost on sale of old house (state tax), deductions like charitable contributions and big one like a theft loss. Our home was burglarized in January and they got about $25000 in jewelry. I don't know much about casualty and theft ,loss deductions and how it would affect our deductions. But, it's something I'm considering.
On the other hand, I really sleep good when I don't have a mortgage over my head. I've worked my way down to the 15% tax bracket and wonder is the hassle of itemizing is worth all the trouble. Just wondering. Any thoughts on this subject?