{"id":88,"date":"2018-12-10T19:29:54","date_gmt":"2018-12-10T19:29:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mckaytax.com\/blog\/?p=88"},"modified":"2019-02-20T01:11:33","modified_gmt":"2019-02-20T01:11:33","slug":"2018-tax-changes-announcement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mckaytax.com\/blog\/2018-tax-changes-announcement\/","title":{"rendered":"2018 Tax Changes Announcement"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s that time of year again!&nbsp; Tax season.<\/p>\n<p>We talked a little bit about this in last year&#8217;s newsletter.&nbsp; But here is a reminder &#8212;<\/p>\n<p>The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 brought on the biggest changes in tax law history.&nbsp; Overall, new deductions have been added and some old, common deductions have been completely repealed.<\/p>\n<p>Below, I will highlight some of the big changes for the 2018 tax year &#8212; both for Individuals and for Businesses. Please give me a call if you have questions.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<h2>FOR INDIVIDUALS<\/h2>\n<ol>\n<li>Most tax rates are lowered.&nbsp; For example, rates of 15% changed to 12%, 25% to 22% and 28% to 24%.<\/li>\n<li>The standard deduction almost doubles from 2017. For single filers, the standard deduction increases to $12,000 from $6,350 currently; for married couples filing jointly, it increases to $24,000 from $12,700.<\/li>\n<li>The personal exemptions have been eliminated for 2018.<\/li>\n<li>2% miscellaneous itemized deductions like employee business expenses (meal, business miles, etc.), investment fees, tax preparation fees, etc. have been eliminated.&nbsp; This is as an individual.&nbsp; Sole proprietors, Corporations, and Partnerships can still deduct all ordinary and reasonable business expenses.<\/li>\n<li>The State and local tax deductions are now capped at $10,000.<\/li>\n<li>The child tax credit is doubled to $2,000 for children under the age of 17.&nbsp; This child tax credit is also available to high earners. The income threshold under which filers may claim the full credit is $200,000 for single parents, up from $75,000; and to $400,000 for married couples, up from $110,000.<\/li>\n<li>A credit for non-child dependents is added.&nbsp; This bill allows parents to take a $500 credit for each non-child dependent whom they are supporting such as a child older than the age of 17, an ailing, elderly parent, or a disabled adult child.<\/li>\n<li>If you take out a new mortgage on a <em>first or second<\/em> home you will only be allowed to deduct the interest on debt up to $750,000, down from $1 million in 2017. Homeowners who already had a mortgage in place are unaffected by the change. Interest on home equity loans is no longer deductible.<\/li>\n<li>Elementary and secondary schools tuition can now be paid for with 529 Education Savings Plans.<\/li>\n<li>For those without insurance, The Affordable Care Penalty will apply for 2018 but will not apply in 2019 and forward.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h2>FOR BUSINESSES AND CORPORATIONS<\/h2>\n<ol>\n<li>Owners, partners, and shareholders of S-corporations, LLCs, or partnerships who pay their share of the business&#8217; taxes through their individual tax returns would be lowered by a 20% deduction. The 20% deduction would be prohibited for anyone in a service business &#8212; unless their taxable income is less than $315,000 if married, $157,500 if single.<\/li>\n<li>For 2018 there is a 100% bonus depreciation on new assets with a life of 20 years or less except autos which are limited to a first-year deduction of $18,000.<\/li>\n<li>The corporate rate for C-Corps is now a flat 21% down from 35%.<\/li>\n<li>Entertainment expenses are no longer allowed and 100% deductible business meals are all now 50%<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<blockquote><p>The bottom line is that 95% of you will pay fewer taxes for 2018 than you paid in 2017 &#8211; whether as an individual or as a business<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Please call me for the answers to your questions about early distributions from a retirement fund or planning your retirement. A simple phone call may save thousands of dollars in additional taxes and penalties.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Look for your appointment confirmation and questionnaire to come in the mail by January 5th or sooner.<\/strong>&nbsp;&nbsp;As always feel free to call me anytime for answers to your tax questions (including major events) at no additional cost.<\/p>\n<p>Have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Richard McKay<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s that time of year again!&nbsp; Tax season. We talked a little bit about this in last year&#8217;s newsletter.&nbsp; But here is a reminder &#8212; The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 brought on the biggest changes in tax law history.&nbsp; Overall, new deductions have been added and some old, common deductions have been &hellip; <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mckaytax.com\/blog\/2018-tax-changes-announcement\/\" class=\".blog article .post-content .button\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;2018 Tax Changes Announcement&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":92,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15,16],"tags":[19,18,21,17,20],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mckaytax.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mckaytax.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mckaytax.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mckaytax.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mckaytax.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.mckaytax.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":105,"href":"https:\/\/www.mckaytax.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88\/revisions\/105"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mckaytax.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/92"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mckaytax.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mckaytax.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mckaytax.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}