Last week I spent three fantastic days at the IRS Nationwide Tax Forum! Many new tax laws and changes to the tax forms are slated for the next filing season. The amount of new information, procedural changes and tax form modifications discussed was at times, overwhelming. The increasing number and types of new tax scams mentioned was downright scary.
The two simplest main tax forms, the 1040A and the 1040EZ are gone! Everyone will file a form 1040 this year. Many itemized deductions have been eliminated. The deductions for employee business expenses, gambling losses, brokerage fees and most home equity loan interest are gone. The deduction for children as dependents has also been eliminated. Other changes include a new deduction for “other dependents” such as an elderly parent who lives with you.
Over 450 IRS forms and publications are being revised for the upcoming tax filing season. This will make it very hard to prepare your own taxes since it will be almost impossible to use the prior year forms as a guide.
There are so many more tax related changes I could write about. They will be the subject of future blogs. Stay tuned….