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Breaking Down
Tax Reform
The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act
ROBERT KISS, ESQ.
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 is
the most significant tax reform legisla-
tion in a generation. Unfortunately, like
all tax legislation, compliance with these
new provisions will still require taxpay-
ers to seek guidance from their advisors
since the goal of achieving simplicity in
our tax code does not appear to have
been attained.
To understand the full impact of this
new legislation, it’s important for us to
break down how it will affect two groups:
individuals and businesses.
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WEST VIRGINIA EXECUTIVE
The Impact on Individuals
Because these are changes that affect
us all, let’s begin with what’s new and
what has changed in the tax code for
individual taxpayers. The changes, which
went into effect January 1, 2018, include:
• Lower tax rates in general
• An increase in the standard deduc-
tion to $12,000 for individual filings
and $24,000 for joint filings
• The elimination of personal ex-
emptions
•
Retention of the alternative mini-
mum tax, or AMT, for individuals
but with an increased threshold so
fewer taxpayers will pay it—exemp-
tion amounts are $109,400 for joint
filers and $70,300 for single filers
While these items are fairly simple, not
all changes resulting from the Tax Cuts
and Jobs Act of 2017 can be as easily
defined. The following are new items or
revisions to existing code that require a
bit more explanation.