Welcome to the WelchCounsel Blog. We are glad you stopped by and hope you will make your visits regular. This introductory post on the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 is the first in a series covering the current Republican tax overhaul. Congressman Kevin Brady (R, TX) introduced the legislation in the House of Representatives at the beginning of November, and President Trump signed the bill into law less than two months later. Votes were divided along party lines, and the bill provided plenty of content for commentators and pundits, who have continued to pontificate, and, in some cases, drone on and on about the bill and its potential political and economic effects for weeks.
However, all the incessant (and partisan) axe-grinding is pretty much irrelevant if taxpayers, business owners, and consumers do not understand the bill. Certain features of the bill have already gone into effect, with more being phased in over the coming months. Americans should already be planning for those changes, and so this blog will follow a rough chronology based on what will go into effect first and the most key provisions.
Some of these key changes include simple adjustments to tax brackets or rates. Congress changed standard deductions, removed personal exemptions and the corporate AMT, and repealed the ObamaCare tax. These are relatively straight-forward. Congress also created a new—and much more complicated—tax rate for “pass-through” businesses, which may result in some sweeping changes to common tax practices. Over the course of this series we will attempt to explain the tax reform bill in a clear and concise way and we hope readers benefit.