What Is New In 2010

If there are additional changes to the 2010 tax law, you can find them at www.irs.gov/form1040.
• The exclusion from income of up to $2,400 in unemployment compensation.
All unemployment compensation you re- ceived in 2010 generally is taxable.
• Government retiree credit.
• Alternative motor vehicle credit for qualified hybrid motor vehicles bought af-
ter 2009, except cars and light trucks with a gross vehicle weight rating of 8,500 pounds
or less.
• Extra $3,000 IRA deduction for em- ployees of bankrupt companies.
• Certain tax benefits for Midwestern disaster areas, including increased Hope
and lifetime learning credits and the addi- tional exemption amount if you provided
housing for a person displaced by the Mid- western storms, tornadoes, or flooding.
• Credit to holders of clean renewable energy bonds issued after 2009.
• Decreased estimated tax payments for certain small businesses.
Roth IRAs and designated Roth accounts Half of any income that results from a roll-
over or conversion to a Roth IRA from an- other retirement plan in 2010 is included in
income in 2011, and the other half in 2012, unless you elect to include all of it in 2010.
The same rule applies to a rollover after September 27, 2010, to a designated Roth
account in the same plan. See Form 8606.
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Due date of return File Form 1040 by April 18, 2011. The due date is April 18,
instead of April 15, because of the Emanci- pation Day holiday in the District of Co-
lumbia—even if you do not live in the District of Columbia.
.
Limits on personal exemptions and overall itemized deductions ended
will no longer lose part of your deduction for personal exemptions and itemized de-
ductions, regardless of the amount of your adjusted gross income (AGI).
For 2010, you
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You now can make a qualified rollover contribution to a Roth IRA regardless of
the amount of your modified AGI.
Self-employed health insurance deduction Effective March 30, 2010, if you were
self-employed and paid for health insur- ance, you may be able to include in your
deduction on line 29 any premiums you paid to cover your child who was under age
27 at the end of 2010, even if the child was not your dependent. For 2010, the line 29
deduction is also allowed on Schedule SE. See the instructions for line 29 that begin
on page 28.
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The 2010 rate for business use of your vehicle is reduced to
50 cents a mile. The 2010 rate for use of your vehicle to get medical care or to move
1
Standard mileage rates
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is reduced to 16 /2 cents a mile.
Personal casualty and theft loss limit re- duced
is limited to the excess of the loss over $100 (instead of the $500 limit that applied
for 2009). See Form 4684.
Each personal casualty or theft loss
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Adoption credit The maximum adoption credit has increased to $13,170. The credit
is now refundable and is claimed on line 71. See Form 8839.
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If you are filing a pa- per return, you may be mailing it to a dif-
ferent address this year because the IRS has changed the filing location for several ar-
eas. See Where Do You File? on the last page of these instructions.
Mailing your return
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Divorced or separated parents A custo- dial parent who has revoked his or her pre-
vious release of a claim to a child’s exemption must include a copy of the revo-
cation with his or her return. See page 16.
.
Alternative minimum tax (AMT) exemption amount increased The AMT
exemption amount has increased to $47,450 ($72,450 if married filing jointly
or a qualifying widow(er); $36,225 if mar- ried filing separately).
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Domestic production activities income The percentage rate for 2010 increases to
9%. However, the deduction is reduced if you have oil-related qualified production
activities income. See page 33.
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Disclosure of information by paid preparers
your return, the preparer is allowed, in some cases, to disclose certain information
from your return, such as your name and address, to certain other parties, such as the
preparer’s professional liability insurance company or the publisher of a tax newslet-
ter. For details, see Revenue Rulings 2010-4 and 2010-5. You can find Revenue
Ruling 2010-4 on page 309 of Internal Rev- enue Bulletin 2010-4 at www.irs.gov/irb/
2010-04_IRB/ar08.html. You can find Revenue Ruling 2010-5 on page 312 of In-
ternal Revenue Bulletin 2010-4 at www.irs. gov/irb/2010-04_IRB/ar09.html.
If you use a paid preparer to file
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First-time homebuyer credit You gener- ally cannot claim the credit for a home you
bought after April 30, 2010. However, you may be able to claim the credit if you en-
tered into a written binding contract before May 1, 2010, to buy the home before July
1, 2010, and actually bought the home before October 1, 2010. Also, certain mem-
bers of the Armed Forces and certain other taxpayers have additional time to buy a
home and take the credit. See page 69.
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Decedents who died in 2010 For special rules that may apply to decedents who died
in 2010, including rules for property ac- quired from a decedent who died in 2010,
see new Pub. 4895.
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Expired tax benefits The following tax benefits have expired and are not available
for 2010.
• Increased standard deduction for real estate taxes or a net disaster loss from a dis-
aster occurring after 2009.
• Itemized deduction or increased stan- dard deduction for state or local sales or ex-
cise taxes on the purchase of a new motor vehicle (unless you bought the vehicle in
2009 after February 16 and paid the tax in 2010).
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Repayment of first-time homebuyer credit If you claimed the first-time homebuyer
credit for a home you bought in 2008, you generally must begin repaying it on your
2010 return. In addition, you generally must repay any credit you claimed for 2008
or 2009 if you sold your home in 2010 or the home stopped being your main home in
2010. See the instructions for line 59 on page 43.
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Preparer e-file mandate A new law re- quires some paid preparers to e-file returns
they prepare and file. Your preparer may make you aware of this requirement and the
options available to you

 

 

 

 

 

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