Theresa Arndt, CPA

We have just seen the biggest tax overhaul in 30 years.   The final version rewrites the tax code in dozens of ways, eliminating deductions, changing rates, and creating brand new benefits for certain taxpayers, such as business owners.  With 479 pages of brand new tax law how can you know how the tax bill will affect you and your family? How exactly would these changes affect me? It depends on where you live, what you do and how big your family is. You're more likely to get a tax increase if you live in a high-tax state or lean heavily on deductions—such as unreimbursed employee expenses—that will be eliminated under the bill.  To see how Americans fare across different incomes and circumstances, Bloomberg turned to Tim Steffen, director of advanced planning at Baird Private Wealth Management. His eight scenarios examine only 2018 wage and pass through income from an S corp or partnership that you own and how taxes owed on those earnings wou...

Many of you are asking where we stand on tax reform for next year and how will it affect your taxes.   Here is what we know right now… 2017 Tax Reform: Key differences between the Senate and House tax bills The Senate and the House have each passed their own version of the “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.” The two versions of the bill have many similar provisions, but they also have a number of key differences that will have to be reconciled by the Conference Committee as the two bills are merged into a single piece of legislation. It is unclear at this point how these differences will be resolved.  There is a general inclination that the Senate's provisions carry slightly more weight since the Senate is subject to budgetary restraints as part of the reconciliation process and there is less flexibility to make changes to their bill. The House voted on December 4 to go to conference with the Senate to reconcile the two bills and the Senate is expected to name conferees...