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Lainey

I can't say I noticed any big windfall in my paycheck with tax changes. In 2018 my +1 retired mid year and started collecting SS. I adjusted my own withholding as we didn't know how things would work out. We did OK, with a small return from Federal, a larger return from the state. I know some folks are dealing with losing some of their deductions and itemizing no longer makes sense. They may have a bit of surprise when filing their return. I guess others will too.

ralper

Not exactly. I've done quite a few tax returns so far and I'm finding that while some people are better off, many are owing more than they expected or did in the past. While it's true that some are owing because the withholding tables were tweaked to give the wage earner more takehome pay and an artificial sense of benefit, many are owing more simply because of the changes in the tax code. Many deductions have been eliminated or capped, exemptions while still in place are now 0 and other changes have created greater liability for many taxpayers. The cap on the SALT taxes for one has been a big hurt to many taxpayers in high real estate tax states. The infamous AMT tax, while still in place, has been virtually eliminated giving some relief, but not enough to offset the benefits that were taken away.

Take a look at the Schedule A (Itemized deductions). Where does the taxpayer take the deduction for accounting fees, brokerage fees, estate planning, fees for managed accounts and etc? For many of my clients those were significant deductions.

Whereas the QBI (Sec 199A) was an attempt to equalize the tax rate that small business pays with the benefits given to C Corporations, why were licensed professionals left in the "weeds" at certain income levels? If it's good for a C Corp, it should be good for all business.Those of us who make a living as licensed professionals in small business were left out.

All in all, I think more people are going to be dissatisfied with the results. It's still too early to generalize, but a lot of my clients are unhappy with the results.

ralper

I beg to differ. The withholding tables didn't get out of whack, they were purposely put out of whack to make the tax code look like it was benefiting Joe Taxpayer. I don't mean to get political and I don't want to see this thread exiled to the politics subform, but the tax tables, like so much of the tax code were politically driven. And, the news did report it, but nobody (except for a few of us CPAs) was listening.

windhund116

Actually, I don't watch much of any "mainstream" cable news. It makes me too upset. Doesn't matter which station, same flavored Pablum (specific flavor depends on the network) dished out over-&-over-&-over, "These ppl against those ppl for same unholy reasons."

I haven't gotten into business channels. A lot of news is from foreign sources. I like NHK, for Asian news. Deutsche Welle for European. I'm one of those Luddites who reads newspapers.

hecash

Those that do get a nice tax cut need to smile gently at their grandchildren and say "Thank You".

trapper

Filed ours last week. Used the new 1040 form below.

Heyitsgary

I filed last week. While I'm used to a decent refund for both Federal and State, I only received a state one this year.

When I looked at my effective tax rate from 2017 to 2018, they were nearly identical. So, I guess I had more in each check and less back at the end?

buckeyesue

Trapper, thanks for the chuckle this morning.

I like your new Simplified 1040 Tax Form.

Scooterboy

No hurry, I've still got 41 days!