Beat the tax man with these valuable deductions, credits and exemptions. What you need to know before you file.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Are you cross-eyed trying to figure out which tax breaks you can take this year?
You’re not alone. And we have Congress to thank for it.
The income tax code – 1.3 million words long, or well more than twice the length of Tolstoy’s “War and Peace“ – includes thousands of tax breaks for individuals and businesses, according to the Tax Foundation.
And it’s not as if these breaks – or their eligibility requirements – are set in stone. To the contrary. Since 1986, lawmakers have made roughly 15,000 changes to the tax code. So there are always new tax breaks, expiring ones and little known or confusing ones to consider each tax season.