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Just Be an Average Joe or Josephine
When it comes to deducting expenses on your personal tax return, it pays to be “average.” Reason: If you are claiming unusually high deductions for someone in your income group, the IRS may “red flag” your return. It could even be enough to trigger an audit.
That does not mean you should shy away from deducting legitimate expenses on your return. But you should be prepared to substantiate your deductions if they are substantially higher than the national average.
How do you stack up against other taxpayers? The IRS released a complete set of statistics for the 2002 tax year in its Fall 2004 Statistics of Income Bulletin. Here's a sample to see how you compare.
Adjusted gross income (AGI) |
Charitable donations |
Taxes |
Interest |
Medical expenses |
$15,000–$30,000 |
$ 1,890 |
$ 2,327 |
$ 6,453 |
$ 5,890 |
$30,000–$50,000 |
$ 2,006 |
$ 3,187 |
$ 6,850 |
$ 4,994 |
$50,000–$100,000 |
$ 2,530 |
$ 5,173 |
$ 8,364 |
$ 5,672 |
$100,000–$200,00 |
$ 3,875 |
$ 9,785 |
$11,825 |
$10,969 |
$200,000 and up |
$17,354 |
$35,815 |
$21,998 |
$28,305 |
Note: These averages only take into account taxpayers who claimed the specific deductions on their returns. For instance, only about 5% of individual taxpayers qualified for medical expense deductions in 2002.
When it comes to deducting expenses on your personal tax return, it pays to be “average.” Reason: If you are claiming unusually high deductions for someone in your income group, the IRS may “red flag” your return. It could even be enough to trigger an audit.
That does not mean you should shy away from deducting legitimate expenses on your return. But you should be prepared to substantiate your deductions if they are substantially higher than the national average.
How do you stack up against other taxpayers? The IRS released a complete set of statistics for the 2002 tax year in its Fall 2004 Statistics of Income Bulletin. Here's a sample to see how you compare.
Adjusted gross income (AGI) |
Charitable donations |
Taxes |
Interest |
Medical expenses |
$15,000–$30,000 |
$ 1,890 |
$ 2,327 |
$ 6,453 |
$ 5,890 |
$30,000–$50,000 |
$ 2,006 |
$ 3,187 |
$ 6,850 |
$ 4,994 |
$50,000–$100,000 |
$ 2,530 |
$ 5,173 |
$ 8,364 |
$ 5,672 |
$100,000–$200,00 |
$ 3,875 |
$ 9,785 |
$11,825 |
$10,969 |
$200,000 and up |
$17,354 |
$35,815 |
$21,998 |
$28,305 |
Note: These averages only take into account taxpayers who claimed the specific deductions on their returns. For instance, only about 5% of individual taxpayers qualified for medical expense deductions in 2002.
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