The biggest factor in who gets audited is income. Higher incomes are more likely to itemize, but the data doesn’t really

Feb 26, 2024
12:18:04pm

cheezedawg Properly rated

show that the itemizing itself increases the chances of an audit as much as the income does. The higher incomes are also more likely to be business owners, and they do get audited more.

Report problem with this ad

cheezedawg

Bio page: cheezedawg
Joined: Oct 4, 2007
Last login: Jan 6, 2025
Total posts: 71,201 (17,931 FO)

Report problem with this ad

Messages

Author

Time

I'm a little surprised how few people take the charitable mileage deduction for

Skeptical Optimist

2/26/24 11:53am

Giving more taxes is the least I can do. If anything, I want to pay more.

Sparkling Delirium

2/26/24 11:55am

RE: Giving more taxes is the least I can do. If anything, I want to pay more.

cheezedawg

2/26/24 11:58am

You live 25 miles from the church building? Dang. But good reminder.

garyfan

2/26/24 11:57am

even if people calculated it most won't exceed the standard deductions anyway

Mayor of Cougartown

2/26/24 11:57am

I would assume that most active LDS Members itemize their deductions because

Skeptical Optimist

2/26/24 11:59am

Seriously, I've never taken the standard deduction in 25+ years of filing taxes. Tithing, property tax, state tax, and

Colorado

2/26/24 12:14pm

That was me until we paid off the house and retired. Kids are gone. Deductions

O Gaucho

2/26/24 1:01pm

I remember when my parents took the standard deduction for the first time in many decades. It happens.

cheezedawg

2/26/24 1:04pm

lol wut? I haven’t taken the standard deduction in decades.

cheezedawg

2/26/24 11:59am

awesome, but you're an outlier.

Mayor of Cougartown

2/26/24 12:02pm

Itemizing your deductions doesn’t make you a target for an audit. It’s way more common than you think.

cheezedawg

2/26/24 12:06pm

I'd run that by a tax accountant. I've very much heard the opposite including

Mayor of Cougartown

2/26/24 12:13pm

The biggest factor in who gets audited is income. Higher incomes are more likely to itemize, but the data doesn’t really

cheezedawg

2/26/24 12:18pm

Pfff not on this board

EQD2

2/26/24 12:14pm

In 2017 the standard deduction increased from $13K to $24K for Married FIling Jointly, and is currently at $27.7K, so

Clark Addison

2/26/24 12:08pm

I’m aware. It’s still around 15% of returns that itemize. Paying tithing gets you a good chunk of the way there.

cheezedawg

2/26/24 12:12pm

$10k for SALT taxes, mortgage interest, charitable contributions, and medical

Skeptical Optimist

2/26/24 12:14pm

Exactly.

Jeremy

2/26/24 12:33pm

The last time I tried to track this, I found I was wasting a lot of time trying to manage when/where/what.

Bob Vance

2/26/24 11:58am

I would feel very comfortable ball-parking this at the end of the year.

garyfan

2/26/24 12:00pm

As long as you have documentation to support it.

cheezedawg

2/26/24 12:05pm

Doesn’t seem that hard to count the trips to activities and special events. That will cover 90% of the miles it seems.

cheezedawg

2/26/24 12:01pm

Talked with an accountant about this. If you ever got audited, they likely will

AggieWeekendCougar

2/26/24 12:01pm

It’s dumb to let the IRS scare you away from claiming deductions that you are entitled to.

cheezedawg

2/26/24 12:04pm

or a stupid accountant

Incentivize

2/26/24 2:38pm

I would fire that accountant.

Skeptical Optimist

2/26/24 12:11pm

What do you think is adequate documentation? A word file you made at the end of

AggieWeekendCougar

2/26/24 12:15pm

The IRS tells us exactly what adequate documentation is.

Skeptical Optimist

2/26/24 12:55pm

Well, good luck to you (and I still question the 13,000 miles)

AggieWeekendCougar

2/26/24 1:43pm

Husband and wife driving independently to various things- 13k seems reasonable

cheezedawg

2/26/24 2:03pm

No, I came up with half of that using the sum total of what he explicitly listed

AggieWeekendCougar

2/26/24 2:14pm

Sunday's will usually have 1-2 trips to the church between stake meetings, ward

Skeptical Optimist

2/26/24 2:42pm

Again, if there is a personal benefit, you can't claim it. Mission prep? If you

AggieWeekendCougar

2/26/24 2:47pm

And that's why I would fire that accountant

Skeptical Optimist

2/26/24 2:56pm

The “personal benefit” that this accountant seems to be referring to is that you are required to subtract the monetary

cheezedawg

2/26/24 3:25pm

It's absurd, but Aggie is right. If you are driving somewhere to do some

garyfan

2/26/24 4:03pm

This seems easy. Mileage to Sunday services is not deductible because, as you point out, that is not mileage for charity

cheezedawg

2/26/24 5:48pm

That accountant sucks.

cheezedawg

2/26/24 3:11pm

This - doesn’t seem worth the potential audit headache

Swish

2/26/24 1:35pm

Take the deduction. Itemizing deductions including this one doesn’t even make this list of top 12 things that increase

cheezedawg

2/26/24 1:40pm

I would MUCH rather take the deduction and have it eventually be disallowed and

Skeptical Optimist

2/26/24 1:44pm

Good call. Trek and girls camp alone for us was almost 800 miles in a two week

Mexicougazul

2/26/24 12:02pm

I have a ton of church meetings... but live only 1.6 miles from the church building. 🙁

brj8

2/26/24 12:02pm

That was a long walk to humble brag you are in a bishopric.

Longseason

2/26/24 12:03pm

I did this for my service missionary daughter.

BPintheCouv

2/26/24 12:04pm

Sometimes you make too much money to get deductions

2FarGone

2/26/24 12:22pm

There is no income limit to charitable deductions

Posting on CougarBoard