The House and Senate conference committee report (legislative text and Joint Committee on Taxation estimate) and the conference committee’s Explanatory Statement are both available for download.
The bill changes everything – how individuals, businesses, estates, nonprofit organizations, etc. are taxed, including tax rates, tax deductions, credits, and more. It is the most massive tax law change since 1986. To put it in a form of an analogy – if the current tax law is a map; we just got a whole new map. Now we have to determine what directions you need to reach your destination (lower tax liability).
Needless to say, the goal of simplicity was not reached. What was accomplished, was simply a change in the rules – lowering rates, removing deductions and creating new calculations to determine taxable income for all types of taxpayers.
The final bill is a $1.4 trillion tax cut where the majority of the corporate tax changes being permanent and the individual tax changes being temporary (generally expiring 12/31/25).
As you review the following high-level bullet point summary, please keep in mind that there are many other changes within the bill that are not mentioned below. We are attempting to highlight the changes we believe to have the broadest impact. With that said, every situation is different and will require analysis to determine the impact and identify what actions you should take to mitigate any unintended consequences (larger tax liability). Other changes not mentioned below may have an impact on your tax situation.
As we approach December 31st, there may be actions you need to take to mitigate any negative impact or take advantage of opportunities. There will also be actions you need to take in the first few months of 2018 and throughout 2018 as regulations and further details of the tax law changes are revealed.
Please reach out to your tax advisor to discuss what matters to you.