Excerpt from: Don't Mess with Taxes (click for full article)
Here are the 13 above-the-line deductions found on the 2012 version of Form 1040.
Line 23, Educator expenses:
Teachers and other qualified school employees can write
off up to $250 of unreimbursed personal money spent last year on
classroom supplies.
Line 24, Certain business expenses:
This applies to special job categories -- military reservists,
performing artists and fee-basis government officials. You'll need to also fill out Form 2106 or 2106-EZ.
But that little bit of extra work is still better that what's required of other
workers with unreimbursed employee expenses. They still must claim them on Schedule A and meet that deduction's 2 percent threshold.
Line 25, Health savings accounts:
Here you can write off your contributions to one of these medical
coverage plans, commonly referred to as HSAs. You'll need more
paperwork here, too, Form 8889.
Line 26, Moving expenses: Under certain circumstances, many of your relocation costs can be deducted from your gross income on this line. Fill out Form 3903 to determine the deductible amount.
Line 27, Self-employment tax:
If you worked for yourself, either full-time or as a side job to bring
in some extra spending money, you likely had to pay self-employment
tax. Half of that amount can be subtracted here.
Line 28, Self-employed retirement plan contributions:
Staying in the be-your-own-boss vein, if you were able to contribute
to a retirement plan (e.g., SEP-IRA or Keogh), note that amount here.
Line 29, Self-employed health insurance premiums: One more break for the independent worker. If you paid for your own medical policy, those premiums are fully deductible here.
Line 30, Early savings withdrawal penalties: If you had to cash in a CD and paid the price at your bank, you now can write off that fee.
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