My husband receives a car allowance with each pay period. He also receives reimbursement for gas and maintenance. But nothing for car insurance. Now it seems the car allowance is taxable income on our W-2 but our H& R Block Tax Provider says it is not being taxed. But when I look at his W2 it shows up on line 1. I’m a little confused??? Can we deduct any of the car allowance off? How do we know if we are getting the full amount in reimbursement compared to the .48 mile reimbursement. Is there a standard way to compare?
Also, is there a depreciation deduction if he is putting a lot of miles on his car for business.
Yes, he keeps a mileage log and records of gas and maintenance reimbursement.

Then why doesn’t Obama propose raising money for his plans by limiting the home mortgage deduction to the amount it exceeds 7.5 % of a persons income( the current threshold for medical deductions)? Why doesn’t he propose to make health costs fully deductible for those that itemize? And for those that don’t have a special box on the 1040 & EZ. This box would be the deduction for the amount paid for a private healthcare policy (defined by the government as a basic plan). The companies that could give the best rates would get the most business. Why can’t the government define a basic policy? They define the minimum car insurance I need to carry?
Are is a power grab more important? If passed into law, what will be the anticipated date that these government subsidy/ rebate taxes paid back to taxpayer plans will go broke in the same fashion that medicare, medicaid, and social security are anticipated to run out of money and need more tax dollars from EVERYONE?
medicare is not efficient with the same outcomes – at the present time there are restrictions in medicare eligible care that you can get if you have private insurance. Medicare accounts for 40% of all US health spending yet covers far less than 40% of the US population. When they say they are going to reduce medicare costs they do it by reducing the amount the reimburse providers (leaving disadvantaged patients to pick up the difference & more providers opting out of providing Medicare services increasing the stress on heavily regulated hospitals.
Advances in medicine are available more widely and sooner in the US than anywhere else and most come from the US.
Part of the problem is the legal system which encourages and allows patients hit the lottery. Depending on the specialty it is possible for 30-45% of a Drs salary to go to malpractice insurance. That money has to come from somewhere and many Drs leave the field when able rather than tolerate it.

I’m 22 and a full time student (16 credits). I pay for my own tuition, books, and other misc. school expenses. I also pay a relatively small monthly "boarding fee" to live at home. My parents are dropping me from their insurance this month. I teach music lessons to get through school and have made close to 10K while taking 16 credits. Can they feasibly claim me as a dependent and keep taking tax reducing "education credits" for me? It doesn’t seem to be adding up. I don’t qualify for medicaid and will have to go without insurance. I also pay my own car bill and car insurance.
It seems to me that this year I should be filing as an independent? It is my concern that because I have made 10K, that should they make me file as a dependent I will need to pay more in taxes than if I filed as an independent? I’ve kept good business logs and think with proper deductions I’d pay a lot less as an independent.
Thanks so far everyone. As far as food and clothes go…that is all me. I usually cook for everyone when I am around. Most of what I eat at the house is breakfast, and even with that if we are out of something I go buy it. I didn’t think I had to make an issue out of it until this. Market value for the room is definitely fair game for them (I pay 200 a month for a room in a 4 bedroom house)…but how many people do you know that would move into a house with 3 other people and live in close quarters? I’ve rarely seen that when I was looking for places, and even then it was an elderly person looking to give board to a yardsman. I’d think it would be a conflict of interest with a teenage daughter in the house? I’ll check out that sheet.

I have a fidelity mycash account to use for my business account. I am getting started as a real estate sales agent. So that I have everything in order for tax time, what are some accounts that I should pay strictly with that account? I figure bills like car insurance, dues and business cards, but what else?