Quote:
Originally Posted by JEEPONLY
The BEST way to figure your standard deduction is to follow Publication 501- there are so many variables between single, married, head of household (plus other filing modes), as well as over 65 OR blind, over 65 AND blind, you or/and your spouse- and on and on.
Another note- isn't the actual tax payment savings created by your tax bracket, not the entire, extra $400.00 increase in the standard deduction?
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You are making it too complicated. The base standard deduction is adjusted yearly based on inflation. They announce the change every year. As far as I know, neither being blind or over 65 is indexed to inflation. Further, except the year you turn 65, the status doesn't change. Mostly you are blind or you are not. Also, your filing status probably doesn't change. If you claimed married last year, you probably will this year.
On top of all that, when I gave my example it was for
ME. I know blindness, age, and filing status claimed are stable for my return. I know the standard deduction for my claimed filing status is increasing by $400 this year.
Further, I am not talking about less TAX being paid. The prior discussion was about how much of the tax you can DEDUCT (and limits). IF I itemized, I would be able to claim $200 more, the amount of the tax increase. However, the standard deduction is going up $400, twice as much. I never claimed I was getting a refund equal to my tax increase. As you say, the amount of money actually saved in taxes varies based on bracket and other factors. However, I am fairly confident that deducting an extra $200 will save me a bit of extra money in taxes as well.
And mostly I was just tweaking FLL who was griping about the limits on SALT taxes.
BTW, note that the SALT limits also apply to state and local INCOME taxes, neither of which NH has. You CAN deduct any NH interest and dividend tax you have to pay. No capital gains tax in NH.