so i'm not expecting any serious professional help here, but i know some of you are students and musicians

i'm actually getting my taxes prepared later, and i just want to go in with enough information

i know i can write off my tuition up to a certain amount [i think it's 4k this year], but i'm wondering:
have you ever been able to write off books, printers/supplies, computers, and other school related expenses like that?
i've been checking the irs.gov site and it seems like the law is now that unless the books/supplies are a strict requirement for enrollment and attendance, you can't write them off. which seems odd to me, b/c how can you attend class and not have the required texts? the 970 booklet on the site seems to indicate that only a fee paid directly to the school for such supplies is deductible, and not monies paid to either an on campus or off campus bookstore where the professors have books available for class.

also, has anyone ever written off health club expenses [up to a certain amount]? i seem to remember hearing about certain deductions you might be able to take to enroll in a healthclub [i guess b/c they figure it may lower the healthcare system costs].

and finally, for you band/music folks - if you pay for web service at home and a website, have you ever written off those expenses as part of the small business yr technically running?

anyhow, if anyone knows about these things, i'd be greatly appreciative.

You cannot take a deduction or a credit for health club expenses or books/computers etc. Even if you could take deductions for said things, you'd have to have enough to forego your standard deduction...which is $4850 this year. If you owned a business or were self employed you'd be able to depreciate the computer related stuff.

thanks for the heads up.
our stand. ded. is actually 9,700 b/c we file as married/joint
so it would have to be a pretty big list of things to deduct
just figured i'd ask, in case anyone had any experience with this stuff.

I assumed you are single because you're a student. My bad.

ha, no sweat. i actually went back to school last year to finish up my degree.
luckily i have an understanding wife who didnt mind making a few sacrifices.