My Dad's Birthday Today

My Dad's Birthday today, March 19th.  Edward Lee Hall would have been 85 today.  Passed away in 2013.  This pic is from probably 1967.  He and my Mom owned an A & W Drive-in Restaurant back in the day.  Loved those cool A & W paper hats.  I'm the fat kid in the middle, along with my beautiful sis, Lynn.

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Tax Break Rewards Homeowners Who Make Home Energy Improvements

If you installed energy-efficient home improvements in 2014, you may be eligible for a $500 tax credit. Among the home improvements that might qualify for the tax credit:

• Doors
• Windows
• Insulation
• HVAC systems
• Water Heaters
• Roofs
• Skylights
• Biomass stoves

Tax credits are valuable because they offset the tax you owe, dollar for dollar. For example, if you owed $10,000 in taxes, a $500 tax credit would reduce what you owe to $9,500.

The Residential Energy Tax Credit had expired at the end of 2013, but just last week, Congress renewed it through 2014. That means you may be able to claim the tax credit when you file your 2014 federal taxes. Congress did not extend the tax credit through 2015.

Warning: It may take a while for the IRS to update its website with information about the renewal, and to post a 2014 version of Form 5695, which you’ll use to claim the credit.

Check the Energy Star website to see if the specific energy-efficiency home improvements you made qualify for the credit. Give that site a few weeks to get updated with the latest information, as well.

The Fine Print

In general, you’ll get a 10 percent tax credit for installing energy-efficiency improvements. But, your tax credit is capped for some items. For example, you can’t claim more than $200 for windows, and a new air conditioner will earn you no more than a $300 tax credit.

There’s also a lifetime cap of $500, so if you took the tax credit in prior years, you have to subtract the credit you claimed from $500. For example, if you took $400 in 2013, you can only take the remaining $100 in 2014.

The cost to install your energy-efficiency improvements may, or may not, be included. For example, window installation is included, but insulation installation is not.

This tax credit applies only to your main principal residence.

Call me if I can be of help in any way!

Ken

951-760-3833

kenahall@gmail.com

Homeowner Tax Tips for Your Best Return: Deducting Mortgage Interest

The mortgage interest deduction is one of the largest tax benefits homeowners get. Here’s what you need to know to take advantage of it:

If you itemize your deductions on Schedule A of Form 1040, you can include the interest you paid on your home mortgage of up to $1 million ($500,000 for married, filing single) as long as you used the loan to buy, build or improve your home.

You can generally deduct the interest on a home equity loan of up to $100,000 ($50,000 for married filing single) used for any purpose, as long as the home equity debt plus your first mortgage don't add up to more than the value of your home.

Get more details about the Mortgage Interest Deduction in Internal Revenue Service Publication 936.

Here are 10 more things you need to know to claim your mortgage interest deduction:

1. In general, you have to be legally obligated to pay the mortgage. In other words, you can’t deduct mortgage interest paid, for example, on your parents' home unless you have a legal duty to pay their mortgage.
2. If you have a high income, the Alternative Minimum Tax can affect your ability to deduct mortgage interest.
3. Your mortgage must be a secured debt, meaning your lender can foreclose on your home if you don’t pay your mortgage.
4. Your home can be a boat, mobile home, house trailer, condominium, cooperative or similar property, which has cooking, sleeping and toilet facilities.
5. You can deduct late payment charges as though they were interest as long as your lender didn't perform a specific service in exchange for the fee.
6. If you pay off your home mortgage early and you have to pay a prepayment penalty, that amount also counts as interest, as long as your lender doesn't charge the fee in exchange for a specific service performed or to cover the cost of something connected to your mortgage (like giving you a payoff statement).
7. If you make annual, or periodic, rental payments on a redeemable ground rent, you can generally deduct them as mortgage interest. Payments made to end the ground lease, and payments for nonredeemable ground rent, aren't deductible as mortgage interest.
8. Reverse mortgage interest generally isn't deductible until it’s paid – and you don’t usually pay interest on a reverse mortgage until you (or your heirs) sell your home and pay off the reverse loan.
9. If you own a cooperative apartment, you’ll get a Form 1098 from the co-op telling you how much interest you paid on any building-wide mortgages. You can deduct that amount along with the interest you paid on your individual unit loan (if you got a mortgage to buy your shares in the co-op).
10. The rules change if you got your mortgage on or before Oct. 13, 1987

If I can help you in any way, give me a call, 951-760-3833.

Ken

kenahall@gmail.com

951-760-3833

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