Personal Expenses, Deductions, and Credits

The vast majority of personal expenses are not allowed as tax deductions. The reason for this is clear: If we were allowed to deduct all of our personal expenses from our income there would be very little left to tax. However, Congress has deemed certain personal expenses important enough (for a variety of reasons) to subsidize and encourage those expenses through deductions and credits in the tax code.

Each of these deductions and credits has varying levels of benefit, based on the way the tax code is written. These variations are also due, in part, to your personal circumstances and the way that they play out on your tax return. Carefully study the chapters in Part VI to learn which of these strategies will bring worthwhile results on your tax return.