Tax Tips For College Graduates

If you are graduating later this year, it is time to begin planning for your new tax situation. Here are some tax help tips that can be of great help to recent college graduates:

• Once you graduate, you can begin claiming your own exemption, which means you can also begin to deduct interest paid on your student loans. You are able to write off as much as $2,500 a year in interest on college loans.
• The costs you expend while searching for your first job are not deductible, but the costs for searching for subsequent jobs that are still in the same line of work may be deducted. Speak to a tax attorney if you need help figuring out which of your expenses are and are not deductible.
• Moving expenses can be claimed on your return even if they aren’t itemized. In order to deduct your mileage, packing materials, rental and gas for a truck and lodging expenses, your new job must be more than 50 miles away from where you currently live and you must have worked full-time for 39 weeks during the 12 months following the move.
• In general, make sure you are saving money, and that you are making more money than you are spending. This is not the time to begin amassing credit card debt, because the interest will grow and you may find you need to request an offer in compromise or another form of tax help later. You and your credit will be better off, later, if you make sure you are on top of your taxes and finances from the start.