I've dug into tax prep in the last few days, and what better way to celebrate than to start a new thread. Looks like both the IRS and Iowa state government begin accepting 2020 tax returns on February 12.
One notable change from the past few years is that the CARES Act from last spring created a $300 above-the-line deduction for charitable contributions even if you take the standard deduction. I tried numerous times to confirm that 1) this deduction would double to $600 for married couples, and 2) whether this was permanent or for 2020 only. On both counts I got conflicting information throughout the year. But the new 1040 instruction book makes it clear: $300 is the maximum whether you are an individual or couple for 2020.
But good news: the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021, probably better known as the stimulus bill Congress passed and Trump signed just after Christmas, includes this same deduction for tax year 2021 and this time doubles it to $600 for married couples filing jointly. Again, I'm seeing conflicting reports about whether this deduction will be permanent. It seems pretty clear to me reading the language of the bill that it will be permanent, but numerous sources report simply that this applies to 2021 and will not be any more specific or go any further than that.
Also a question for tax experts: each year I download all the pertinent tax forms and publications for that year for archival purposes, in case I need to research something later. It's a time-consuming PITA downloading and saving like 50 PDFs and I'm wondering if there's a better way. Even if there's some web site where I could just batch download them would go a long way. Any suggestions?
Happy filing.
One notable change from the past few years is that the CARES Act from last spring created a $300 above-the-line deduction for charitable contributions even if you take the standard deduction. I tried numerous times to confirm that 1) this deduction would double to $600 for married couples, and 2) whether this was permanent or for 2020 only. On both counts I got conflicting information throughout the year. But the new 1040 instruction book makes it clear: $300 is the maximum whether you are an individual or couple for 2020.
But good news: the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021, probably better known as the stimulus bill Congress passed and Trump signed just after Christmas, includes this same deduction for tax year 2021 and this time doubles it to $600 for married couples filing jointly. Again, I'm seeing conflicting reports about whether this deduction will be permanent. It seems pretty clear to me reading the language of the bill that it will be permanent, but numerous sources report simply that this applies to 2021 and will not be any more specific or go any further than that.
Also a question for tax experts: each year I download all the pertinent tax forms and publications for that year for archival purposes, in case I need to research something later. It's a time-consuming PITA downloading and saving like 50 PDFs and I'm wondering if there's a better way. Even if there's some web site where I could just batch download them would go a long way. Any suggestions?
Happy filing.