| Author |
Message |
Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Monday, January 29, 2018 - 5:12 pm 
š
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Dogdoc
Member
09-29-2001
| Monday, January 29, 2018 - 5:24 pm
Thank you Sea. I am so 
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Colordeagua
Member
10-24-2003
| Tuesday, February 06, 2018 - 6:56 am
Tax questions have been going here?
Simple basic question -- In this new tax year, are monetary and item donations to charities such as Salvation Army deductible as they have been in the past? Thought I heard they no longer are.
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Roxip
Member
01-29-2004
| Tuesday, February 06, 2018 - 9:09 am
Doing some quick reading, it appears that they are still deductible as in the past. The issue is whether the amount of benefit one receives from it equals the difference one gets in the standardized deduction. That part is all Greek to me, but basically you can still take credit for your charitable deduction.
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Kitt
Member
09-05-2000
| Tuesday, February 06, 2018 - 9:21 am
What Roxip said. The donations themselves are still tax deductible but (as always) you only get a benefit from them if your total itemised deductions (charitable + state taxes incl property taxes + mortgage interest etc.) is more than your standard deduction. As the standard deduction is going up to $12,000 single or $24,000 married, then a lot of people who used to itemise no longer get an advantage from doing so, especially as the "state taxes incl property tax" part is capped at $10K.
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Colordeagua
Member
10-24-2003
| Tuesday, February 06, 2018 - 9:38 am
Thanks. I'll continue to donate and keep record of donations, but don't know that it will add up to enough.
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Dipo
Member
04-23-2002
| Tuesday, February 06, 2018 - 11:27 am
Colordeagua, do you currently itemize? or just take the standard deduction.
I always itemize because by the time I pay my health insurance premiums I can exceed the personal deduction so everything else will still be deductible.
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Mack
Member
07-22-2002
| Tuesday, February 06, 2018 - 12:17 pm
Looks like weāll fall just barely below the new standard deduction for tax year 2018 so if Iām reading the law right weāll not be itemizing. We do donate to charities like breast cancer, abused spouses, children with cancer, animal rescue, and mental health and will continue to do so. Since Iām not absolutely sure how the new tax law will work Iāll keep the same records at least in 2018. Some local charities are worried that there are at least some people who are on the fringe like us will not donate as much as it will not be a tax benefit.
Will say friends in Georgia and my son in California are already very concerned about the write off limitations put on the combination property and state income tax. Thatās going to bite both of them in the backside as they both have substantial property taxes that just alone put them over the limitation. Luckily while Texas has high property taxes thereās no income tax so the $10,000 ceiling doesnāt hit us as weāre just under that. Of course with the new standard deduction thatās a mute point for us. Maybe Iām reading the new law wrong but I see next tax year as a rude awaking for lots of people.
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Dipo
Member
04-23-2002
| Tuesday, February 06, 2018 - 12:20 pm
Yep, Mack a bunch of people who are thrilled with the new tax changes are going to have a different tune when they actually have to apply them.
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Dipo
Member
04-23-2002
| Tuesday, February 06, 2018 - 12:25 pm
Tax Q: If the government shuts down AGAIN, that means tax refunds won't be processed, correct?
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Kitt
Member
09-05-2000
| Tuesday, February 06, 2018 - 1:20 pm
We've been told that most processing won't be affected, but if you have a situation where your tax return gets pushed from the normal line to a "needs review" type line, then that process will be slowed down or possibly stopped.
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Kookliebird
Member
08-04-2005
| Tuesday, February 06, 2018 - 1:25 pm
I am thinking that the actual tax refunds would be delayed. You can't spend money without a budget. If they are not paying government workers, why would they issue tax refunds.
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Kookliebird
Member
08-04-2005
| Tuesday, February 06, 2018 - 1:30 pm
I live in Oregon. Between the Oregon Property tax and State income tax, I will exceed the federal limitation and will not be able to deduct part of it.
Just be aware that some states will be making changes to their state tax laws because of the new federal tax law. For example, in Oregon, if you depreciate property, plant or equipment for a business, they are already looking to divert from the Federal law of 100% deductible in the year placed in service. Previously, Oregon defaulted to the Federal depreciation rules. They will change the state law to eliminate the default and enact their own depreciation rules.
I'm sure that there will be other instances on a state by state level. I only know about Oregon.
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Dipo
Member
04-23-2002
| Tuesday, February 06, 2018 - 2:06 pm
All the fed changes are going to make an enormous amount of state changes which will make the tax laws even more complex.
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Kitt
Member
09-05-2000
| Tuesday, February 06, 2018 - 3:45 pm
I think refunds will be okay for a while. The shutdown doesn't stop the government spending money, it stops them spending money that wasn't part of their previous allocation. Refunds are essentially getting your own money back, so surely (ha, maybe I'm just naive!) there's a budget for that for at least the short term. Depends how long it lasts I guess.
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Kitt
Member
09-05-2000
| Tuesday, February 06, 2018 - 3:47 pm
California looked at instead of paying state taxes, you could opt to donate the same amount to a new California charity, so that you could continue to deduct it. I'm pretty sure the federal government has a way to stop that!
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Kookliebird
Member
08-04-2005
| Tuesday, February 06, 2018 - 4:40 pm
Not only will refunds be delayed, if a shutdown drags on they cut be put on hold indefinitely because the government simply wonāt have the money to pay tax return filers.
In other words, no tax refunds during a government shutdown.
http://www.cpapracticeadvisor.com/news/12395780/2018-irs-income-tax-refunds-could-be-delayed-by-government-shutdown
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Dipo
Member
04-23-2002
| Tuesday, February 06, 2018 - 5:09 pm
Good thing I took a withdrawal from my retirement. I can reimburse my savings with my refunds, whenever it comes.
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Romarr35
Member
02-16-2009
| Wednesday, February 07, 2018 - 9:27 am
colordeague-how is your hip healing? Sorry if this isnt the right place to ask.
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Mack
Member
07-22-2002
| Wednesday, February 07, 2018 - 9:52 am
Kitt - Iām sure many states with state income tax are going to look at how they might circumvent the new tax law. Not sure such attempts will stand up in court. The states and the Feds could be tied up for years in court if it comes to that. Personally though not impacted by the $10,000 limit I think thatās quite low. Doesnāt take a really high paying job or a mega mansion to get to the $10,000 combined limit.
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Kitt
Member
09-05-2000
| Wednesday, February 07, 2018 - 10:20 am
Yeah, we're in the CA Bay area. Our state and property taxes are probably $35K. Now we're only going to be able to use $10K. Maybe the AMT rules will make things a bit nicer.
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Mack
Member
07-22-2002
| Wednesday, February 07, 2018 - 10:50 am
Son lives in San Francisco on Sutter Street. He has a top floor condo that he got a great buy on, at least in the San Francisco definition of āgreatā, from an elderly couple but I assume his property taxes are pretty high and probably alone puts him over $10,000.
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Kookliebird
Member
08-04-2005
| Wednesday, February 07, 2018 - 10:59 am
Kitt - some of the AMT rules have changed, as well. So, you better check to see if those changes affect you.
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Kookliebird
Member
08-04-2005
| Wednesday, February 07, 2018 - 11:01 am
I live and work in downtown Portland. Combined State and Property taxes are above $17k. It does not take much here, as Oregon likes to tax. Property taxes alone are near $6k for me.
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Karuuna
Board Administrator
08-30-2000
| Wednesday, February 07, 2018 - 11:12 am
I was wondering about this.
The new tax withholdings are based on the standard deduction, aren't they? So those that are getting less taxes will be fooled if they had itemized previously and their itemized deductions were higher than what they are allowed now?
And they will owe a big bill in April next year?
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