Tax law gives bigger break for most individuals; doubles standard deduction and child tax credit
Workers should start seeing the changes in their paychecks in February once the
"For most individuals there's not a lot of planning and changes you can do," said
The new law doubles the standard deduction, although the personal exemption is going away, which could disproportionally affect larger families.
With a higher standard deduction, a growing majority of Americans are expected to simply take the standard deduction and not itemize their tax returns. That will simplify returns for many taxpayers, although it could discourage some people from giving as much to charity or buying real estate. Those who take the standard deduction don't itemize items such as mortgage interest payments or many charitable contributions.
Even for those who do itemize, the new law limits the deduction on mortgage interest to the first
Current mortgage-holders aren't affected, however, and
"There will be some impact from the tax change, but it obviously could have been much worse for us; and overall I still think we'll have another good year in 2018 even with these changes," said Greater Chattanooga Realtors President
Taxpayers can deduct no more than
"As far as planning goes on the individual side, drastic measures might be a little premature because a lot of these changes are scheduled to sunset in 2025, and unless another law comes around, it will revert to the way it was before," Shears said.
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