Minnesota lawmakers are in session, and their next few weeks of action could give taxpayers some new tax breaks.
Gov. Mark Dayton is proposing tax cuts that MIGHT BENEFIT even Minnesotans who already have filed their 2013 returns! If his line-up of tax breaks gets a go-ahead from the entire Legislature, some will apply retroactively to 2013. That’s according to Terri Steenblock, the Minnesota Department of Revenue’s assistant commissioner for individual taxation, and, of course, she should know.
On the governor’s list of tax-reducing actions are
• Allow as much as $190 a year in deductions for student loan interest paid by recent college graduates.
• Allow an exclusion from income for any discharge of debt involving a home. That might happen if a lender forgives part of a mortgage.
• Help teachers who spend their own money for classroom supplies with a deduction of as much as $250 for those personal expenses, which are not deductible now in Minnesota/
• Enable Minnesotans over age 70½ to exclude as much as $100,000 for making a contribution from an IRA to a recognized charitable organization.
Other provisions would align Minnesota’s tax codes closer to federal tax law, simplifying the system.
The bill already has passed the Minnesota House of Representatives, and has landed in the Senate for action.
You might be wondering how taxpayers will receive the benefits under the new law if they already have sent their 2013 returns. (Minnesota has received more than 1 million returns this tax filing season so far.)
Steenblock says the state Department of Revenue actually may just fix the return itself. It also could ask you for more information in a letter and then adjust your return. In some cases, if the agency can’t repair the return itself, it will send the taxpayer a notice and ask for an amended return.
So there are still chances for more tax breaks, even if the 2013 return has gone to the tax collectors. The bill to watch in the Senate is SF 2388. Track it via this link: https://www.revisor.mn.gov/bills/bill.php?b=Senate&f=SF2388&ssn=0&y=2014.