I intentionally avoided discussing the new tax law over the past several months as it went back and forth between the House and the Senate and was lied about in the press. Besides the heavy doubts surrounding the ability of the GOP in DC being able to pass any significant legislation, it would have been a big waste of everyone’s time dissecting and analyzing provisions that wouldn’t become part of the actual law.

With all of the promises that this latest reform of the tax code would make everything so simple and fair that doing our taxes would be so much fun, this gave me such a case of deja vu because it exactly mirrored the analogy I have been using for decades to describe how tax laws are created and the changes they undergo as they move through the legislative processes.  The poster I designed decades ago to graphically illustrate this is just as relevant to this latest handiwork by our rulers as it was back in the 1980s.     

Now that a unified bill has been passed and signed into law, it’s time to take some serious looks at exactly what it contains.  Just like our rulers in DC who voted on this bill, those of us in the real world don’t have time to read and try to interpret all 500 or so pages of the actual legislation; so we rely on professionals who have done that and produced easy to follow summaries.

While there is a very good chance that many people will save some money on their tax returns because of the new law, the actual amounts will vary on a case by case basis.  The figures being bandied about by our rulers in DC, as well as the calculated "costs" of the new law have been pulled out of their recta, as are all such predictions from everyone in DC, including the GAO, OMB, CBO, WTF, et al.  They have never been right when it comes to comparing their supposedly detailed calculated predictions with the real world results and there is there is absolutely no reason to expect these latest predictions to be any more accurate.   

One thing is certain.  This new law does not simplify the tax game one bit.  As always, every attempt by our rulers in DC to make taxes so simple that we practitioners will have no more work ends up doing the exact opposite.  It’s another case of increased job security for those of us in the tax profession.  All of these new changes to the Tax Code actually give us many more more opportunities to help clients structure things to save on the amount of taxes they pay. 

There may be some different rules for the Tax Game, but there are still plenty of ways to "game the system," to borrow a favorite phrase of the Left.  Even with robots and other forms of automation taking over various occupations, there is no way any kind of artificial intelligence can replace the tax saving abilities of a skilled and knowledgeable professional tax advisor, especially one who utilizes the tax savings strategies of the TaxCoach system. 

As I have done in previous years when significant new tax laws have been enacted, I am planning to post links to handy summaries of those laws to share with readers.  If anyone has seen a good summary that they would like to share, please send me a link to it and I will include it here. 

While the pickings are a bit sparse right now, during the traditionally slow holiday season, I do know that most tax research services, including the fine folks at TaxCoach, are planning to release their analyses in the early part of January.

Here is what I have come across so far:

From my favorite tax reference service, The TaxBook – 19 Page PDF Summary

From Forbes: Tax Geek Tuesday: Making Sense Of The New ‘20% Qualified Business Income Deduction‘ (31 page PDF version)  Thanks to Ohio CPA Dana Stahl for passing this along to me.

From TaxCoach: They are planning a lot of detailed guides, which I will be sharing here.  Here is their first one page summary.  

From RIA (another thanks to Dana Stahl):

Special Study on Business Tax Changes in the "Tax Cuts and Jobs Act" (20 page pdf)

Special Study on Individual Tax Changes in the "Tax Cuts and Jobs Act" (23 page pdf)

Special Study on S corp, partnership & other changes in the "Tax Cuts and Jobs Act" (11 page pdf)

A new two page brochure from The TaxBook.

The National Association of Realtors has published an analysis of the new tax law as it affects Realtors, homeowners and real estate investors.  I learned about this 1/31/18 from the weekly marketing webinar with the TaxCoach group, which has been on the forefront of learning how to utilize the new tax law to help clients minimize their taxes. 

     23 Page PDF downloadable version

     Web Version

From Intuit: Tax Reform Law: What Clients Should Know  (1 page PDF)