If you’re like many working Americans, you’re just now pulling together what you need to file last year’s tax returns.
Fortunately, if you’re a nurse, you’re already accustomed to paperwork. And if you’re a traveling nurse, you’re well-versed in staying organized, meeting deadlines and focusing on details. In a perfect world, that means you’ve carefully filed away the necessary documents.
To ensure you’re optimizing your hard-earned income, here are a few tips for completing your 2018 tax returns under the “Tax Cuts And Jobs Act” President Trump signed into law in 2017.
- Unlike last year, you may no longer file deductions for work-related expenses, even if they go beyond the per-diem allotments and stipends provided by your employer. That’s true even if your employer offers lower allotments than recommended by the GSA. Prior to this year, you could deduct everything from travel costs to rental fees to groceries to mobile phone fees associated with your work; that’s no longer allowable since those items are now non-taxable.
- Similarly, tuition expenses associated with higher learning or professional development are no longer deductible.
- Note that income tax brackets have changed significantly. Statistics show most Americans will have logged slightly higher take-home pay due to the lowered income tax.
- You must file a different state tax return for each state in which you’ve worked and lived, observing their different deadlines and updating yourself on any state updates to tax code.
- As in the past, your tax home must be a “permanent” residence where you have lived for at least part of each year. If you bought a home last year, your interest deduction will be capped at $750,000.
- It’s advisable to review all contracts under which you’ve worked, checking for individual tax stipulations.
- More details about the tax changes are provided here.