Teachers are famous for spending their own money for class supplies and there is good news this year for those teachers. A tax break has been extended to include money spent in 2004. Tax expert Eva Rosenberg runs the web site www.taxmama.com and she says teachers should gather up receipts for money spent in the past year.

"If they keep all of their receipts, they can use the $250 deduction that IRS provides on the front page of the return. If they spend a lot of money, go ahead and use form 2106, the employee business expense deduction form, and include everything else that you spend for class support, supplies, for things that you do for research."

Keep in mind that form 2106 expenses are not a 100% writeoff. These and other miscellaneous expenses have to go above 2% of your adjusted gross income to count on Schedule A. Still, if you have a lot of expenses, give it a try. You'll find a lot of good advice on this subject at taxmama.com.

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