Monday Money Tip: Do your homework before filing

Accounting firms issue tax publications that are handy jungle guides to filing your returns, maximizing deductions, and bunching up year-end expenses.

Grant Thornton recently issued its guide, and you can download it for free at http://goo.gl/ZIVL2F. Eisner Amper has a free online guide, as well, at http://goo.gl/drrZkc.

PICPA, the Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants, offers educational tax seminars for professionals (details at http://goo.gl/A1i4yL).

For us nonprofessionals, here are some basic tips as the tax year rolls toward the end:

Don't squander your gift-tax exclusion. You can give up to $14,000 to as many people as you wish in 2014, free of gift or estate tax. The clock resets, so you get a new gift-tax exclusion annually. If you combine gifts from your spouse, you can give up to $28,000 per beneficiary, per year. For example, a couple with three grown children who are also married could give each couple $56,000, for a total of $168,000 gift-tax-free in a single year. Even more could be given tax-free if grandkids are included.

Understand the new home-office deduction safe harbor. You can deduct some of the cost of your home if you use it as your principal place of business or use it to meet clients and customers in the normal course of business, or if your office is a separate structure not attached to your house. The amount of this deduction has long been a source of controversy, but the Internal Revenue Service has a new safe harbor this year that allows you to deduct up to $5 per square foot of home office space, up to $1,500 per year.

Take advantage of retirement account tax savings. It's not too late to increase contributions. Traditional accounts like 401(k)s or individual retirement accounts (IRAs) still offer some of the best tax savings. Contributions reduce your taxable income, and you don't pay taxes until you take the money out at retirement. The 2014 contribution limits are $17,500 for a 401(k) and $5,500 for an IRA (not including catch-up contributions for those 50 years of age and older).

Bunch itemized deductions. Many expenses can be deducted only if they exceed a certain percentage of your adjusted gross income (AGI). Bunching expenses in one year helps you exceed those levels.

Consider scheduling expensive, non-urgent medical procedures in a single year to exceed the 10 percent AGI floor for medical expenses (7.5 percent for taxpayers age 65 and up).

To exceed the 2 percent AGI for miscellaneous expenses, bunch professional fees such as legal advice and tax planning, as well as business expenses such as travel and vehicle costs.