Tracy Hughes

As a Realtor you might have a desk at your brokers office but also use your home substantially and regularly to conduct business. This would qualify you to take the Home Office Deduction. You can take a percentage of your mortgage interest, insurance, utilities, repairs and depreciation. To figure out your percentage your take the area of the home used for business divided by the square footage of your home. This would be the percentage of the listed expenses you can deduct on your schedule C. In this economy every penny counts.

Stay tuned for:

Tax Tips for Realtors - Hiring Your Underage Children to Lessen Your Tax Bill (The Kathy Lee Effect)

Tax Tips for Realtors - Clean Fuel Credit

Tax Tips for Realtors - What is AMT?

Tax Tips for Realtors - Common Expenses for Realtors

As a Real Estate Broker and Tax Accountant I often get asked how long should you retain tax documents. I personally keep everything for 7 years. This adds up to a lot of saved paperwork. So I decided to start saving my tax documents and receipts to pdf files. I keep the current 3 years in paper form and scan the rest. It is good to keep everything for as long as possible. You never know when the IRS will come knocking for that audit.

With the economy in a downward spiral this last year many people changed the withholding on their paychecks to increase their net pay. This may have increased their paycheck for a little while but with tax season approaching they may have a big surprise when they get ready to file. To find out what you should be claiming for exemptions on your payroll go to www.irs.gov.

Working in Real Estate and Insurance it is really important to make sure our clients get the right coverage when buying that new home. One thing most people forget about or don't have enough of is the contents coverage. It is bad enough to go through the loss of your home to fire or other catastrophe to find out that all those prize possessions inside your home are barely covered. Usually it is a nominal fee to elect replacement cost content coverage. Check your policy. You might be surprised at the pay outs for contents.

With only 40% of society being classified in the "excellent credit" category I thought it might be time to pass out a few tips.

1. Keep your credit card balances at 30% of your credit limit. Credit agency's see this as good consumer spending and boost your score up.

2. If your cards are already above 30% call your credit card company and ask them to raise your limit. This will help you close the gap back down to 30%.

3. Get off those pre-approved mailing lists. You can go to www.optoutprescreen.com and opt off those list. The credit agency's sell your good information to credit card company's. Opt out for 5 years and you do not have to even mail anything in. Believe it or not they also see this as good credit behavior and will boost your score.

Stay tuned for more credit tips.