Tax Filing Tips Missed By Many

• Editor's Note: This is the first of a two-part series identifying some key deductions to remember before you file that tax return for good.

Tax day is April 17, and Kevin VanDyke, president of , with the help of Kiplinger's outlined these areas to keep in mind when filing this year.

• Dividend Reinvestment - Most investors have mutual-fund dividends automatically invested in extra shares, remember that each reinvestment increases your "tax basis" in the fund. That, in turn, reduces the taxable capital gain(or increases the tax-saving loss) when you redeem shares. Forgetting to include the reinvested dividends in your basis results in double taxation of the dividends -- once when they are paid out and immediately reinvested in more shares and later when they're included in the proceeds of the sale. Don't make that costly mistake. If you’re not sure what your basis is, ask the fund for help.

• Out-of-Pocket for charitable work - You can write off out-of-pocket costs incurred while doing work for a charity. For example, ingredients for casseroles you prepare for a nonprofit organization's soup kitchen and stamps you buy for your school's fundraising mailing count as a charitable contribution. Keep your receipts and if your contribution totals more than $250, you'll need an acknowledgement from the charity documenting the services you provided.
  
  If you drove your car for charity in 2011, remember to deduct 14 cents per mile plus parking and tolls paid in your philanthropic journeys.

• Student Loans  - If parents pay back a child's student loan, the IRS treats it as though the money was given to the child, who then paid the debt. So, a child who's not claimed as a dependent can qualify to deduct up to $2,500 of student-loan interest paid by Mom and Dad. And he or she doesn't have to itemize to use this money-saver.

• Job Hunting Deductions - If you're among the millions of unemployed Americans who were looking for a job in 2011, keep track of your job-search expenses ... or can reconstruct them. If you're looking for a position in the same line of work, you can deduct job-hunting costs as miscellaneous expenses if you itemize. Such expenses can be written off only to the extent that your total miscellaneous expenses exceed 2% of your adjusted gross income. Deductible job-search costs include, are not limited to:

• — Food, lodging and transportation if your search takes you away from home overnight.
  — Cab fares.
  — Employment agency fees.
  — Costs of printing resumes, business cards, postage, and advertising.

• Moving expenses to get to your first job in that position - You get this write-off even if you don't itemize.
  
  To qualify for the deduction, your first job must be at least 50 miles away from your old home. If you qualify, you can deduct the cost of getting yourself and your household goods to the new area.
  
  If you drove your own car, your mileage write-off depends on when during 2011 you moved. For moves from January 1 through the end of June, the standard mileage rate is 19 cents a mile; for moves during the second half of the year, a 23.5 cents a mile rate applies. In either case, boost your deduction by any amount you paid for parking and tolls.

Check back with Bloomfield Patch next week to see five more deduction tips you or your accountant don't want to miss.