Tax Cuts and Jobs Act Provides Significant Tax Changes

On December 22, 2017, President Donald Trump signed into law H.R. 1, commonly known as the “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.” Most provisions affecting individuals are effective for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2017 and expire on December 31, 2025. Most business-related provisions are permanent and are effective for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2017. As described below, this new law, the most significant revision to the U.S. tax code since 1986, includes major changes to the taxation of individuals and businesses.

Tax Brackets and Standard Deduction

Under the new law, the number of tax brackets for individual taxpayers remain the same; however, the rates applicable to the tax brackets are changed to 10%, 12%, 22%, 24%, 32%, 35% and 37% (from 10%, 15%, 25%, 28%, 33%, 35% and 39.6%). The new law also increases the standard deduction to $24,000 for married individuals filing jointly, $18,000 for head-of-household filers, and $12,000 for all other individuals. The standard deduction will be indexed for inflation for taxable years beginning after 2018…

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Whalen J. Kuller is a Partner at Hartman Simons & Wood LLP. For further information, he can be reached at (770) 951-6586 or whalen.kuller@hartmansimons.com.