2018 Federal Income Tax Changes: What Helps? What Hurts?

I was a Registered Tax Return Preparer (RTRP) and a partner in 3 national brand tax preparation stores in Pennsylvania for over 10 years.

2018 Federal Individual Income Tax Changes

2018年12月15日，国会通过，特朗普总统签署了法律，在过去30年中签署了联邦税法的最重要变化。虽然业务有很多变化，但对个人税法也有重大变化。据估计，65％的纳税人将看到他们的联邦税收减少，6％的税收将会看到他们的税收增加，其余的将没有变化。

Every taxpayer is a unique situation. Many changes will help most individuals, some will hurt, and some will have no effect. Review the changes and see what changes are good and which ones are bad for you.

新的税率

虽然税收括号数保持不变（七），但新的税法主要降低了税率。请参阅下表对于2018年的新边际税率。在较高的税收托架中，35％和37％，菲尔斯实际上可以在他们的一些收入上支付更高的边际税率，而不是在旧费率下。

The Good:In general, lowering the tax rates and raising the cut-off for each tax bracket should result in lower tax rates for almost everyone if their income and filing status stays the same. Single filers earning under $200,000 and those filing MFJ (married filing jointly) earning under $400,000 should see their income tax go down.

For most MFJ filers, the marriage penalty has essentially been eliminated. For the lowest 4 brackets, the thresholds for married filers are exactly twice the thresholds for single filers. Married filers earning $400,000 will pay the same tax rate as 2 single filers each earning $200,000. The penalty returns for married couples in the two highest tax brackets.

The Bad:As noted above, upper income earners at the higher marginal tax rates (35% and 37%) could actually pay higher taxes than under the old rate if nothing else changes in their tax situation. However, new lower rates in the lower tax brackets and other changes from the law could minimize or even possibly eliminate this tax increase for some of these higher income taxpayers.

2018年的新税率

Eased the Burden of the AMT

The Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) was designed to insure that wealthy tax payers paid their fair share of income tax by limiting some of the deductions they were claiming. Because AMT exemptions were not indexed for inflation, more and more taxpayers at lower and lower incomes were hit with higher tax bills. Many middle class families, for which the original law was never intended to affect, were drawn into the AMT.

新税法消除了数百万美国人的AMT。通过将AMT豁免增加到70,300美元的单一文件，为MFJ文件的109,400美元，纳税人将被此额外的所得税击中。在未来，AMT豁免将被索引为通货膨胀。单一文件的豁免金额的收入门槛也明显增加至500,000美元，为MFJ申报人提供1,000,000美元。

The Good:税法变革消除了数百万中产阶级美国人的额外税收，而不是最初意图影响。

The Bad:这种变化似乎似乎没有太大的缺点。虽然税法没有消除每个人的税收，但它可能只适用于具有非常高收入的纳税人。这些纳税人仍然需要两次纳税申报表，并支付此额外的所得税。

增加标准扣除

The Standard Deduction almost doubles to $12,000 for Single filers and to $24,000 for MFJ. About 30% of filers itemized deductions under the old tax law. This number should be reduced substantially under the new law. Many deductions were eliminated, but several remain.

As discussed below, deductions for state and local taxes (SALT) remain albeit limited to a maximum deduction of $10,000. Deductions for charitable giving as well as medical expenses also remain.

Deductions that did not survive include those for unreimbursed employee expenses, tax preparation fees, miscellaneous deductions limited to the 2% AGI cap, moving expenses, employer-subsidized parking and transportation reimbursement, as well as some casualty and theft losses.

The Good:少数纳税人将逐项列出，他们将被解释为保留负担。

The Bad:随着标准扣除的增加，消除了个人和依赖豁免（见下文）。拥有超过2家受害者的纳税人可以看到这有助于增加税收。

消除个人和依赖的豁免

虽然新的税法增加了标准扣除，但它淘汰了2018年的4,150美元的个人豁免。

The Good:随着标准扣除增加，纳税人可能会更好地提高豁免。通过淘汰赛失去个人豁免的高收益纳税人也可能受益或至少在其税收票据中有几点或没有变化。

The Bad:有大家庭的纳税人将失去他们的所有个人豁免，但其中一些损失可以随着儿童税收抵免的增加而弥补。

盐限制在10,000美元

State and Local Tax (SALT) deductions are limited to $10,000. Besides state and local income taxes, this limit also includes real estate taxes. It is the same limit for single and married filers (no doubling for married couples). Tax payers who used the standard deduction previously aren't likely to be affected by this change. Many lower income taxpayers, particularly those living in lower tax states, likely won't exceed this limit.

The Good: For most tax payers, this change is at its best, or worst, neutral. Taxpayers earning between $200,000 to $500,000 and who fell into the AMT under the previous law usually had these deductions limited or eliminated anyway.

The Bad:If you are a high income earner, particularly in a high tax state, and you itemize, you aren't going to be able to deduct all of the state, local, and real estate taxes you pay if the total exceeds $10,000. Taxpayers earning under $200,000 or over $750,000 who took SALT deductions in the past but didn't fall into the AMT are likely to be affected by the new limit.

家庭抵押贷款兴趣有限

根据新法律，利率扣除将仅限于新的家庭债务为750,000美元，下降1,000,000美元。

The Good:Nothing changes for those with mortgages originated before December 15, 2017.

The Bad:购买昂贵的房屋或富有的纳税人even taxpayers with more modest incomes that purchase homes in expensive real estate areas after December 15, 2017, may not be able to deduct all of their mortgage interest.

Changes to Equity Line of Credit Interest Deductions

There are also some changes to the rules for deducting Home Equity Line of Credit interest for those taxpayers that originated these loans after December 15, 2017. The interest can only be deducted if the loan was used to purchase or improve the property securing the ELOC.

The Good:仍可扣除贷款的HELOC贷款的利息，高达100,000美元，已被用于购买或改善贷款所保护的财产。

The Bad:Interest on HELOC is no longer deductible if the money was used to pay for a car, vacation, college expenses, or anything else. You can not deduct the interest if the loan money was used to to purchase or improve another property.

Increased Child Tax Credit

The new law doubles, from $1,000 to $2,000, the Child Tax Credit. In addition, the portion refundable increases from $1,000 to $1,400. There is also a new $500 nonrefundable credit for dependents other than children. Even more families will be eligible for this benefit because the income threshold for phaseout of this tax credit increases from $110,000 to $400,000 for a married couple.

The Good:这一切都很好：信贷增加，可退还的信贷，其他家属的信贷，更多的纳税人符合条件。基于收入限制，除了非常高的收入者，大多数有孩子的家庭将从这种变化中受益。

The Bad:这种税法变革似乎似乎没有伤害任何人。

Health Insurance Tax Penalty

The tax bill eliminated the tax penalty for not having health insurance but it does not go into effect until December 31, 2018. Affected taxpayers will not see this change until they file their 2019 taxes.

The new law also decreased the level of income above which you can deduct out-of-pocket medical expenses. Now, you can deduct these medical expenses to the extent that they exceed 7.5% of your adjusted gross income (versus having to exceed 10% under the old law).

The Good:There is a lower threshold, 7.5% of AGI, to deduct out of pocket medical expenses.

The Bad:直到2019年，没有健康保险的罚款并没有生效。德赢vwin000

Changes for Self-employed and Small Businesses

随着公司税率下​​降到21％，还有额外的税法变更，帮助小企业主和自雇人士。纳税人从合作伙伴关系，军队或唯一所有者赚取一些或全部收入（“通过实体”），法律创造了新的20％扣除。

Medicare Surtax Remains

高收入人员仍然受到额外的3.8％Medicare Surtax。净投资收入或调整后收入高于200,000美元（单身）或250,000美元（MFJ）的租赁额度额外的3.8％的医疗保险税。这是对高收入者投资回报的医疗保险税。

High income taxpayers with income above $200,000 (Single) or $250,000 (MFJ) are also subject to 0.9% additional medicare tax on earned income above these thresholds. This is an additional medicare tax on the earned income of high earners.

新税法，好还是坏？

This article is accurate and true to the best of the author’s knowledge. Content is for informational or entertainment purposes only and does not substitute for personal counsel or professional advice in business, financial, legal, or technical matters.

Comments

Aurelio Locsinfrom Orange County, CA on January 27, 2019:

I like the increase in the standard deduction, which actually comes to more than all my other deductions combines. So hopefully, for 2018, I'll be getting more money back.

Shivaraja0023.on January 22, 2019:

Thank you

Mark Shulkosky（作者）from Pennsylvania on January 22, 2019:

似乎随时他们试图让它更容易，他们使它变得更加复杂。

Mark Shulkosky（作者）from Pennsylvania on January 22, 2019:

I'm sorry. I cannot answer specific tax questions. You have a complex tax question and I would recommend you contact a tax professional that can address you specific situation.

利兹韦斯特伍德2019年1月22日从英国：

Your tax system looks as complex as ours in the UK.

Shivaraja0023.on January 22, 2019:

I am Indian worked in Malaysia 3 years my salary is 5000 per month, 4th year I renewed my contract worked then I work only 3 months then I cancelled my visa then how much I have to pay tax, Have to pay any penalty?

Liz Eliasfrom Oakley, CA on January 21, 2019:

My income is below the threshhold of even being required to file at all; I won't see any changes, negative or positive.