I just got a house. The interest is 900 a month,the taxes etc 150-200. I wanna get a little extra on my check.

Question

Its me and my wife in the house and i am gonna change the exemptions to married,but can i do married plus 3 and be safe? I will also be writing off auto repairs and gas,since i use my vehicle to drive aboot 400 miles a week.

Answer 1

those amount are close to to my mortgage - a lot depends on your income and what you are currently claiming on your w-4 - also does your wife work?

You might not actually get much tax benefit from the house this year - you rarely do until the first full calendar year . For 2009, you should easily go over the standard deduction, so you'll save additional taxes in 2009 on, but without seeing your 2007 tax return, I can't give a more detailed answer.

I'm single and claim single and 4 and still get money back. see what kind of refund you get and talk to an accountant or someone knowledgeable with taxes at work for 2009 and on. When you say you are writing off gas and auto repairs, how are you doing that with a paycheck job? you can't deduct mileage for commuting expenses, which the IRS considers your first and last trip of each day.

Answer 2

Taxes ETC?  The ETC probably isn't deductible. If your interest and taxes come to $1050 a month, and you just bought the house so will only have half a year or less, leave your allowances where they are - the house isn't likely to give you enough to itemize this year unless you are already itemizing due to other deductions, which is unlikely.

Next year, the house might give you enough of a deduction to add one or two allowanceas to your W-4, depending on what other deductions you have.  You only get a tax benefit from the amount that your itemized deductions are over the standard deduction, and for a joint return the standard is $10,900 for 2008 and is likely to be higher for next year.

As to the car expenses, you don't give enough info to know if it will help you at all on your taxes.  You can only deduct miles that are driven for business, not personal miles or commuting (home to work and back) miles - and if you are an employee, even then you can only deduct the amount that's over 2% of your adjusted gross income.

Answer 3

You are going to take 5 exemptions on your paycheck, even though its just you and your wife, with no kids?  Thats way too many, and you're likely to get an underwitholding penalty if you try that.  A mortgage helps, but it doesnt help that much, especially if your interest is only $900 a month.

What makes you think that you can write off auto repairs and gas on your vehicle?  If it is just for normal commuting, you cant do that.  You're going to need to be real careful about that, to be sure what you are doing is a legal deduction- writing off vehicle expenses tends to be a red audit flag. Just because you drive a lot doesnt make it a valid deduction.