It's That Time of Year Again...

Hi everyone,

Tax season is upon us and with the new tax changes it can make this time of year even more stressful than it already is.

I wanted to share an article with you that my CPA sent to me that includes a lot of information that may aid you during this tax season.

I don’t think that I am alone when I say that I was confused when this new tax bill was rolled out. There are so many changes with impacts on individuals as well as families, that people were left scratching their heads and wondering what was going on.

I am by no means a tax advisor but I believe that by sharing this information with you, it may make this time of year a little less stressful.

Please be sure to consult with your tax advisor before making any moves or changes when it comes to your finances.

The 2018 Tax Changes and How They Affect YOU

Here is how the U.S. tax system is changing for 2018 and beyond.

President Trump recently signed the tax reform bill into law, and it makes major changes to the U.S. tax code for both individuals and corporations. In fact, the bill represents the most significant tax changes in the United States in more than 30 years. Here's a guide to all of the changes that will go into effect -- the new tax brackets, modified deductions and credits, corporate tax changes, and more.

When this goes into effect, and when you'll notice the changes

To be clear, unless noted otherwise, the changes made by the tax reform bill go into effect for the 2018 tax year, which means you'll first notice them on your tax return that you file in 2019.

However, you can expect to see a change in your paychecks after Jan. 1, as employers will modify their withholdings to adapt to the newly passed 2018 tax brackets.

The “New” 2018 tax brackets

Marginal Tax         Single              Married Filing Jointly         Head of Household            Married Filing

      Rate                                                                                               Separately

       10%              $0-$9,525                      $0-$19,050                   $0-$13,600                    $0-$9,525

       12%              $9,525-$38,700           $19,050-$77,400          $13,600-$51,800         $9,525-$38,700

       22%              $38,700-$82,500         $77,400-$165,000        $51,800-$82,500         $38,700-$82,500

       24%              $82,500-$157,500       $165,000-$315,000     $82,500-$157,500       $82,500-$157,500

       32%              $157,500-$200,000     $315,000-$400,000     $157,500-$200,000     $157,500-$200,000

       35%              $200,000-$500,000     $400,000-$600,000     $200,000-$500,000     $200,000-$300,000

       37%              Over $500,000               Over $600,000              Over $500,000              Over $300,000

For comparison, here are the tax brackets that were set to take effect under previous tax law.

Marginal Tax      Single                   Married Filing Jointly      Head of Household       Married Filing

      Rate                                                                                                    Separately

       10%              $0-$9,525                      $0-$19,050                   $0-$13,600                    $0-$9,525

       15%              $9,525-$38,700           $19,050-$77,400          $13,600-$51,850         $9,525-$38,700

       25%              $38,700-$93,700         $77,400-$156,150        $51,850-$133,850       $38,700-$78,075

       28%              $93,700-$195,450       $156,150-$237,950     $133,850-$216,700      $78,075-$118,975

       33%              $195,450-$424,950     $237,950-$424,950     $216,700-$424,950     $118,975-$212,475

       35%              $424,950-$426,700     $424,950-$480,050     $424,950-$453,350     $212,475-$240,025

       39.6%           Over $426,700             Over $480,050              Over $453,350             Over $240,025

The marriage penalty is (mostly) gone

One thing to notice from these brackets is that the so-called marriage penalty, is almost absent.

If you're not familiar, here's a simplified version of how the marriage penalty works. Let's say that two single individuals each earned a taxable income of $90,000 per year. Under the old 2018 tax brackets, both of these individuals would fall into the 25% bracket for singles. However, if they were to get married, their combined income of $180,000 would catapult them into the 28% bracket. Under the new brackets, they would fall into the 24% marginal tax bracket, regardless of whether they got married or not.

In fact, the married filing jointly income thresholds are exactly double the single thresholds for all but the two highest tax brackets in the new tax law. In other words, the marriage penalty has been effectively eliminated for everyone except married couples earning more than $400,000.

Standard deduction and personal exemption

The standard deduction has roughly doubled for all filers, but the personal exemption has been eliminated. For example, a single filer would have been entitled to a $6,500 standard deduction and a $4,150 personal exemption in 2018, for a total of $10,650 in income exclusions. Under the new tax plan, they would just get a $12,000 standard deduction. Is it better? Yes. But it's not really "doubled."

Tax Filing Status                               Previous Standard Deduction         New Standard Deduction

Single                                                     $6,500                                                             $12,000

Married Filing Jointly                          $13,000                                                           $24,000

Married Filing Separately                   $6,500                                                              $12,000

Head of Household                             $9,350                                                              $18,000

Capital Gains Taxes

The general structure of the capital gains tax system, which applies to things like stock sales and sales of other appreciated assets, isn't changing. However, there are still a few important points to know.

For starters, short-term capital gains are still taxed as ordinary income. Since the tax brackets applied to ordinary income have changed significantly, as you can see from the charts above, your short-term gains are likely taxed at a different rate than they formerly were.

Also, under the new tax law, the three capital gains income thresholds don't match up perfectly with the tax brackets. Under previous tax law, a 0% long-term capital gains tax rate applied to individuals in the two lowest marginal tax brackets, a 15% rate applied to the next four, and a 20% capital gains tax rate applied to the top tax bracket.

Instead of this type of structure, the long-term capital gains tax rate income thresholds are similar to where they would have been under the old tax law. For 2018, they are applied to maximum taxable income levels as follows:

Long-Term Capital   Single Taxpayers   Married Filing Jointly      Head of Household   Married Filing Separately Gains Rate  

0%                        Up to $38,600           Up to $77,200               Up to $51,700               Up to $38,600

15%                      $38,600-$425,800   $77,200-$479,000        $51,700-$452,400       $38,600-$239,500

20%                      Over $425,800          Over $479,000              Over $452,400              Over $239,500

Finally, the 3.8% net investment income tax that applied to high earners remains the same and with the exact same income thresholds. If Congress is successful in repealing the Affordable Care Act, this could potentially go away, but it remains for the time being.

Tax breaks for parents

The personal exemption is going away, which could disproportionally affect larger families.

However, this loss and more may be made up for by the expanded Child Tax Credit, which is available for qualified children under age 17. Specifically, the bill doubles the credit from $1,000 to $2,000, and also increases the amount of the credit that is refundable to $1,400.

In addition, the phase-out threshold for the credit is dramatically increasing.

Tax Filing Status                   Old Phase-out Threshold           New Phase-out Threshold

Married Filing Jointly                 $110,000                                      $400,000

Individuals                                   $75,000                                         $200,000

If your children are 17 or older or you take care of elderly relatives, you can claim a nonrefundable $500 credit, subject to the same income thresholds.

Furthermore, the Child and Dependent Care Credit, which allows parents to deduct qualified child care expenses, has been kept in place. This can be worth as much as $1,050 for one child under 13 or $2,100 for two children. Plus, up to $5,000 of income can still be sheltered in a dependent care flexible spending account on a pre-tax basis to help make child care more affordable. You can't use both of these breaks to cover the same child care costs, but with the annual cost of child care well over $20,000 per year for two children in many areas, it's safe to say that many parents can take advantage of the FSA and credit, both of which remain in place.

Education tax breaks

Earlier versions of the tax bill called for reducing or eliminating some education tax breaks, but the final version does not. Specifically, the Lifetime Learning Credit and Student Loan Interest Deduction are still in place, and the exclusion for graduate school tuition waivers survives as well.

One significant change is that the bill expands the available use of funds saved in a 529 college savings plan to include levels of education other than college. In other words, if you have children in private school, or you pay for tutoring for your child in the K-12 grade levels, you can use the money in your account for these expenses.

Mortgage interest, charitable contributions, and medical expenses

These three deductions remain, but there have been slight tweaks made to each.

First, the mortgage interest deduction can only be taken on mortgage debt of up to $750,000, down from $1 million currently. This only applies to mortgages taken after Dec. 15, 2017, preexisting mortgages are grandfathered in. And the interest on home equity debt can no longer be deducted at all, whereas up to $100,000 in home equity debt could be considered.

Next, the charitable contribution deduction is almost the same, but with two notable changes. First, taxpayers can deduct donations of as much as 60% of their income, up from a 50% cap. And donations made to a college in exchange for the right to purchase athletic tickets will no longer be deductible.

Finally, the threshold for the medical expenses deduction has been reduced from 10% of AGI to 7.5% of AGI. In other words, if your adjusted gross income is $50,000, you can now deduct any unreimbursed medical expenses over $3,750, not $5,000 as set by prior tax law. Unlike most other provisions in the bill, this is retroactive to the 2017 tax year.

The SALT deduction (State and Local Taxes)

The final version of the bill keeps the deduction, but limits the total deductible amount to $10,000, including income, sales, and property taxes.

Deductions that are disappearing

While many deductions are remaining under the new tax law, there are several that didn't survive, in addition to those already mentioned elsewhere in this guide. Gone for the 2018 tax year are the deductions for:

Casualty and theft losses (except those attributable to a federally declared disaster)

Unreimbursed employee expenses

Tax preparation expenses

Other miscellaneous deductions previously subject to the 2% AGI cap

Moving expenses

Employer-subsidized parking and transportation reimbursement

Obamacare penalties will be going away

The tax reform bill repeals the individual mandate, meaning that people who don't buy health insurance will no longer have to pay a tax penalty.

It's worth noting that this change doesn't go into effect until 2019, so for 2018, the "Obamacare penalty" can still be assessed.

The pass-through deduction -- does it apply to you?

The new tax code makes a big change to the way pass-through business income is taxed. This includes income earned by sole proprietorships, LLCs, partnerships, and S corporations.

Under the new law, taxpayers with pass-through businesses like these will be able to deduct 20% of their pass-through income. In other words, if you own a small business and it generates $100,000 in profit in 2018, you'll be able to deduct $20,000 of it before the ordinary income tax rates are applied.

There are phase-out income limits that apply to "professional services" business owners such as lawyers, doctors, and consultants, which are set at $157,500 for single filers and $315,000 for pass-through business owners who file a joint return.

Alternative minimum tax

The alternative minimum tax, or AMT, was implemented to ensure that high-income Americans paid their fair share of taxes, regardless of how many deductions they could claim. Essentially, higher-income households need to calculate their taxes twice -- once under the standard tax system and once under the AMT -- and pay whichever is higher.

The problem is that the AMT exemptions weren't initially indexed for inflation, so over time, the AMT started to apply to more and more people, including the middle class, which it was never intended to affect.

The tax reform bill permanently adjusts the AMT exemption amounts for inflation in order to address this problem, and makes them significantly higher initially in 2018. Here's how the AMT exemptions are changing for 2018.

Tax Filing Status                   2017 AMT Exemption Amount                    2018 AMT Exemption Amount

Single or Head of Household            $54,300                                               $70,300

Married Filing Jointly                          $84,500                                               $109,400

Married Filing Separately                   $42,250                                               $54,700

In addition, the income thresholds at which the exemption amounts begin to phase out are dramatically increased. Currently, these are set at $160,900 for joint filers and $120,700 for individuals, but the new law raises these to $1 million and $500,000, respectively.

A different way to calculate inflation

Perhaps one of the most significant, but least talked-about, provisions in the new tax bill is the switch in the way inflation is calculated.

Under the previous tax law, inflation is measured by the consumer price index for all urban consumers, also known as the CPI-U, which essentially tracks the cost of goods and services that affect the typical household.

The new law adopts a metric called the Chained CPI. My colleague Sean Williams does a great job of explaining the Chained CPI, but essentially the key difference is that the Chained CPI assumes that if a particular good or service gets too expensive, consumers will trade down to a cheaper alternative.

The effect is that the Chained CPI grows slower than the traditionally used CPI-U. This means that tax bracket thresholds will rise slower, as will other IRS inflation-sensitive numbers, such as eligibility limits for certain deductions and credits.

The estate tax exemption

The estate tax already applied to a small percentage of households. Essentially, the 40% estate tax rate applied only to the portion of an estate that was valued at $5.6 million or more per individual, or $11.2 million per married couple.

However, the new tax law exempts even more households by doubling these exemptions. Now, for 2018, individuals get a $11.2 million lifetime exemption and married couples get to exclude $22.4 million. As you can probably imagine, this won't leave too many families paying the estate tax.

Most of the individual tax breaks are temporary

So far, we've discussed the tax changes that will affect individuals. It's also important to point out that most of the changes to individual taxes made by the bill are temporary -- they're set to expire after the 2025 tax year.

The notable exception is the change to the Chained CPI as a means to calculate inflation. In simple terms, this means that the income thresholds for each marginal tax bracket will rise more slowly than they previously would, which will presumably make a greater portion of each worker's income subject to higher marginal tax rates over time.

The combination of the temporary nature of the tax cuts and the permanent switch to the Chained CPI is expected to have the eventual effect of higher taxes on the middle class, as compared to current tax law.

Corporate tax rates

So far, we've discussed individual tax reform, but the most dramatic changes made by the bill are on the corporate side.

For starters, the bill lowers the corporate tax rate to a flat 21% on all profits. This is not only a massive tax cut, but is a major simplification as compared to the 2017 corporate tax structure.

Taxable Income Range                                Marginal Corporate Tax Rate (2017)

$0-$50,000                                                                  15%

$50,000-$75,000                                                         25%

$75,000-$100,000                                                       34%

$100,000-$335,000                                                     39%

$335,000-$10,000,000                                                34%

$10,000,000-$15,000,000                                           35%

$15,000,000-$18,333,333                                           38%

$18,333,333 and above                                               35%

The global average corporate tax rate is about 25%, so this move is designed to make the U.S. more globally competitive, which should in turn help keep more corporate profits (and jobs) in the United States.

In addition to these changes, the corporate AMT of 20% has been repealed.

A territorial tax system

The tax reform bill also changes the U.S. corporate tax system from a worldwide one to a territorial system. Currently, U.S. corporations have to pay U.S. taxes on their profits earned abroad, and the new system will end this effective double-taxing of foreign profits.

Repatriation of foreign cash and assets

As a result of the worldwide tax system, which makes foreign profits subject to the 35% top corporate tax rate, there is about $2.6 trillion in U.S. corporations' foreign profits held overseas.

In order to bring this money back to the United States, the new tax law sets a one-time repatriation rate of 15.5% on cash and equivalent foreign-held assets and 8% on illiquid assets like equipment, payable over an eight-year period.

As I mentioned earlier, I am not a tax expert so please be sure to consult with your tax advisor.

DATA SOURCE: IRS AND tax cuts and JOBS ACT. and JOINT EXPLANATORY STATEMENT OF THE COMMITTEE OF CONFERENCE and matthew Frankel