Before You Fill In Form 1040
- See How To Avoid Common Mistakes on page 50.
- If you were in the Balkans or the Persian Gulf area (for example, you participated in Operation
Joint Forge or Operation Allied Force), see Pub. 3.
Capital Gain Distributions-- No Schedule D for Many People!
You may not have to file Schedule D just to report your capital gain distributions. See
the instructions for line 13 on page 22.
If you do not have to file Schedule D, be sure you check the box on line 13.
Child Tax Credits
If you have a child who was under age 17 at the end of 1999, you may be able to claim
either or both of these credits:
- The Child Tax Credit.
- The Additional Child Tax Credit.
The total of these credits can be as much as $500 for each qualifying child. To find
out if you have a qualifying child, see the instructions for line 6c, column (4), on page 19.
Figure the child tax credit first. See the instructions for line 43 on page 33.
If you have three or more qualifying children and you are not able to claim the full
$500 child tax credit for each child, you may be able to claim the additional child tax credit.
See the instructions for on page
48. The additional child tax credit is refundable; that is, it may give you a refund
even if you do not owe any tax. Use Form 8812
to figure this credit.
Student Loan Interest Deduction
If you paid interest on a qualified student loan, you may be able to deduct up to $1,500
of the interest on line 24. See the instructions for line 24 on page 26.
Self-Employed Health Insurance Deduction
You may be able to deduct up to 60% of your health insurance. See the instructions
for
line 28 on page 28.
Did You Convert Part or All of an IRA to a Roth IRA in 1998?
If you did and you chose to report the taxable amount over 4 years, you must report the amount
that is taxable in 1999 on line 15b. See
1998 Roth IRA Conversions on page 22.
IRA Deduction Allowed to More People Covered by Retirement Plans
You may be able to take an IRA deduction if you were covered by a retirement plan and your modified adjusted gross
income is less than the amount shown below that applies to you.
- Single, head of household, or married filing separately and you lived apart from your spouse for all of 1999--$41,000.
- Married filing jointly or qualifying widow(er)--$61,000.
See the instructions for line 23 on page 26.
Tax From Recapture of Education Credits
You may owe this tax if you claimed an education credit on your 1998 tax return and, in 1999, you, your
spouse if filing jointly, or your dependent received:
- A refund of qualified tuition and related expenses, or
- Tax-free educational assistance.
See Form 8863 for details.
Business Standard Mileage Rate
The rate for business use of a vehicle before April 1, 1999, is 32 ½ cents a mile. The rate for
business use of a vehicle after March 31, 1999, is 31 cents a mile.
Earned Income Credit (EIC)
You may be able to take this credit if you earned less than $30,580 (less than $10,200 if you do not have any qualifying children).
See the instructions for lines 59a and 59b that begin on page 38.
New Look for Child Tax Credit and EIC Instructions
You may notice that those instructions look different from the others in this booklet.
We are trying this new approach as a way of simplifying our instructions to serve you better.
To help us evaluate the effectiveness of the new instructions, we are interested in hearing your
comments. See page 54 for details on how to send us your comments.
Photographs of Missing Children
The IRS is a proud partner with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
Photographs of missing children selected by the Center may appear in this booklet on pages
that would otherwise be blank. You can help bring these children home by looking at the
photographs and calling 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678) if you recognize a child.
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