The Average Tax Return
Deductions
According to the IRS, 63.3 percent of taxpayers claimed the standard deduction, though studies show many of these people would benefit from taking the time to itemize.
Deductions | The Average Tax Return | Comcast.net Finance
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How Do You Stack... Ever wonder how you fit in with the rest of the country? Do you pay too much in taxes? Or too little? Take a look at these tax stats to see how you compare.
(Source: IRS.gov data for 2008 tax returns, the latest year for which stats are available.) -
Income Average adjusted gross income: $60,762. How does your return compare?
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Deductions According to the IRS, 63.3 percent of taxpayers claimed the standard deduction, though studies show many of these people would benefit from taking the time to itemize.
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Tax Preparation You might be surprised to learn that 59.2 percent of Americans hired a paid preparer.
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Electronic Filin... In 2008 62.2 percent of tax returns were filed electronically. Do you file online, or are you still stuck in the stone ages?
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Refunds The average individual refund for tax year 2007 was $2,733. This sizable sum implies that taxpayers should take a long, hard look at their W-4 withholding form.
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Dividend Income Do you have money in the stock market? According to the IRS, 23 percent of Americans listed income from ordinary dividends on their return.
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Dollars and Cent... The IRS says 6 percent of taxpayers reported figures in dollars and cents on the returns they filed in 2008. But don't worry if you aren't one of these detail-oriented citizens... you're allowed to round to the nearest dollar.
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Student Loan Int... 6% of taxpayers deduct student-loan interest on their returns. More filers ought to "hit the books" and take advantage of this valuable benefit.
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Gambling Winning... Have a lucky year? Perhaps you'll be like the 1.4 percent of Americans who listed gambling earnings as a source income.
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Farm Income In 2008, 1.4 percent of Americans listed farm income on their return. Are you one of these hardy few?
