Before 2018 goes.

Here are some things to consider while there's still some time.

What to Expect

This year goes down as the first under the new Tax Cut and Jobs Act (TCJA) and with it came sweeping changes all across the board.

Under the new tax rules, Itemized deductions will be drastically different. Amongst some of the changes, the most commonly used would be the following,

• State and Local Income tax deductions will be now be capped at $10,000.

• Unreimbursed employee expenses, such as home office expense, dues and fees, will no longer be deducted.

The flipside however, is that the rules doubled the standard deductions;

• Single is $12,000

• Married is $24,000

Besides this, personal exemptions are now gone, child tax credits have doubled, and lower tax rates are now going to be applied. One could see how all this taken together could effect us in all sorts of different ways.

Paycheck Calculator

The IRS is encouraging everyone to utilize the withholding calculator here to see how our withholding schedules are faring with the new rules/rates. Have a copy of your most recent pay stubs on hand.

Freelancers/Self-Employed

The new rules still have us paying the dreaded FICA tax on our net earnings from freelancing, but we will have a 20% discount applied to our Qualified Business Income (QBI) for almost all Schedule C filers. Also, if the opportunity exists, it might be a good time to consider going into business for yourself. Business are now also being afforded with lower tax rates and other . Talk to your adviser to see if it's a good

Last minute options

Though planning for the year is ideally done in the beginning, there are still options we could take advantage of.

• Give to charity. If with the new rules we're still itemizing, then giving to charity is one of the easiest way to reduce our taxable income.

• IRA's I usually like to recommend Roth IRA, since the distribution on that is tax free and if we're gonna be taxed, than we might as well be taxed on the small amount we put in than the large amount we take out when retiring. With the new "lower" tax rates now, if we do have a traditional IRA plan, than it might be a good time to consider "back-dooring" it into a ROTH.

• 529 Plans. 529 Plans aren't deductible on the federal side but NYS does allow you to deduct some, if not all, of the amount you contribute to it. Also, with the new tax rules, 529 plans were expanded to allow you to pay for more than just college for the kids, but now also, upto $10,000 per student could be used for public, private and religious elementary and secondary schools.

For Better or For Worse

Don't let taxes rule you, but do take advantage of what you can when you can. With the holiday season in full swing it's not easiest thing to put aside money for some of these things. Don't worry though, just start putting aside a bit from your paycheck moving forward.

#NewYear #TCJA

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