Company highlights tax benefits for homeowners
March 23, 2009 by Personal Liberty News Desk
Among the few bright spots in the current economy are some tax breaks that homeowners may want to keep in mind during this tax filing season.
In addition to real estate tax benefits that can be applied to 2008 income tax returns there are also benefits that will be available for 2009, according to Jackson Hewitt Tax Service, an industry insider.
"Homeowners want to make sure that when they visit with the tax preparer, they bring along all pertinent home-related documents," says Mark Steber, vice president of tax resources at Jackson Hewitt.
"Knowledgeable tax preparers will not only walk [them] through the credits and deductions they may qualify for this year, but also alert them to the documents that will be important [in 2009]."
This year’s benefits include an additional standard deduction for homeowners who are not eligible to itemize deductions. For 2008, they can increase their standard deduction amount by the lesser of either the real estate taxes paid in 2008 or $500 ($1,000 if married and filing jointly).
A first-time homebuyers credit of $7,500 is also available this year.
For 2009, there are new benefits to those who want to make improvements to their homes.
They include an energy credit whereby homeowners can claim 30 percent of the cost for energy-saving improvements to their main home.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, more than 67 percent of U.S. residents owned homes at the end of 2008.
Hi all;
first of all I sit hear reading all these comments and I can’t believe how out of touch so many people are with the real world around them. First of all if you can’t see what this “drunk with power” leader and his cohorts have done in less than 3 months, than you are either blind or worse.
He and his out of control lap dogs in both the House and the Senate have just about destroyed our way of life. The founding fathers made sure when they wrote the constitution that there would never be any branch of the government that would ever have complete power. That is all gone now, there is no checks or balance between the legislature and the Executive branches. They are in bed and again “drunk with power”. Also look at what the “shadow” is doing now, he can’t even get the votes he needs from his own party to pass this travesty of a 5 trillion (5,000,000,000,000) dollar budget, so what does he do, he goes to you fools and tells you to go door to door and beg people to support him. This so called leader has made a mockery of the office of the president and other nations are looking at him as a fool.
I myself am fed up to my eyeballs with all of them and have decided to start a grassroots effort, generated a petition and getting signatures. Will ride my bicycle from San Diego, Ca to Washington D.C. and dump hopefully thousands of these signed petitions on the steps of the White House and Congress. I’m no Joe the Plumber, but I’m one determined individual and all you liberal Obama lap dogs can shake in your boots. There is a growing hatred out there that will spill over. It is just a matter of time.