Returning Value Blog

Home  sale exclusion remains intact

Although Congress threatened to reduce the benefits of the home sale exclusion, the final version of the new Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) did not include a crackdown. As a result, if you sell your home at a huge profit and qualify under the existing rules, you can still exclude up to $250,000 of your gain—$500,000 if you’re married and file a joint return—from the sale of your home.

Under the new tax law, you can’t deduct hobby expenses.

Do you know who received the first Social Security check and for what amount?

New law creates retroactive tax break

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) repeals or cuts back many deductions on personal returns (see “Last Chance for Key Tax Deductions”), but the medical expense deduction survived the chopping block. In fact, the new law temporarily enhances the deduction, retroactive to the 2017 tax year. In other words, you can benefit from this tax-favored treatment on the 2017 return you file in 2018.

Opportunities vanishing after 2017 returns

The new tax law enacted at the end of last year—the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA)—provides numerous tax changes for individuals, including tax rate cuts and a higher standard deduction. Significantly, the TCJA also eliminates or modifies certain deductions, including the majority of itemized deductions, beginning in 2018. As a result, fewer taxpayers are expected to itemize returns in the future.

Which countries, states, and individuals give the most to charity?

If reducing your taxable estate is an important estate planning goal, making lifetime charitable donations can help achieve that goal and benefit your favorite organizations. In addition, by making donations during your lifetime, rather than at death, you can claim income tax deductions. But some of your charitable deductions could be denied if you don’t follow IRS rules.

Is your employer withholding enough in taxes?

Protection under annual gift-tax exclusion

Did you make gifts to family members in 2017? As long as the gifts did not exceed the limits for the annual gift-tax exclusion, you should have no federal gift-tax worries. You do not even have to file a gift-tax return. And the annual gift-tax exclusion limit, which has not budged in five years, is finally going up in 2018.

One sure sign that spring is coming: It is time to prepare to file your annual tax return. You can alleviate some of the usual stress if you have your 2017 return professionally prepared, but you still have some work to do. Here are seven practical suggestions to help you spring into action: