But I just checked, @partyof5, and it looks like the child tax credit was in fact doubled and the phaseouts raised to beyond the old phaseouts, so at least for couples in the old 25% marginal bracket this should not be a big deal, and even at the highest marginal rates the pain will be limited.
See here: https://www.fool.com/taxes/2018/01/09/the-2018-child-tax-credit-changes-what-you-need-to.aspx
i can’t remember the last time we used standard deduction. For 2018, whether or not we itemize will be likely be dependent on medical expenses and AGI. If we don’t need any more major dental work ( no dental insurance) and if our investments generated enough income raising AGI and the medical expenses floor , standard. It will be close though.
Only people? No. Try being a single with all the same expenses as a married couple - mortgage, real estate taxes, charitable donations, but you get only $12k standard deduction rather than $24k.
I am thinking I won’t need help doing taxes next year. I will list my income, take standard deductions, calculate taxes and I will be done.
Well, maybe after 2018, we can try doing our own taxes again. We’ve used a CPA for over 30 years.
Deductions are not the main sources of complexity in US income tax. Most of the complexity is defining what is income to be taxed. Plus all of the special tax expenditures for various special interests (e.g. lower rates for capital gains).
That is still “fair” since each person gets 12K whether married or single. But a single person gets the same SALT deduction as a married couple, so the marriage penalty lives on.
Except it is more likely a married couple owns one house and thus a double standard deduction to cover those items that the standard deduction typically covers - mortgage and property taxes being the biggies. A coworker and I made the same amount. He had a wife and child (so 3 people on his taxes), I was single and had 2 kids (so 3 people on my taxes). If we lived in identical houses, he’d get a $24k standard deduction, I’d get $18k as HOH. He’d get a $2k child credit, I’d get (maybe) a $500 credit per child if they were in college. My standard deduction will drop to $12k when the kids are ‘gone’ while his will stay at $24k. Remember, same job, identical houses.
The difference then is that you’re not part of an adult couple. If you had a partner and you were unmarried, you would together get the 24K plus 10K x2 for SALT. If you were married to that partner it would be 24K plus 10K x1 for SALT.
The children are irrelevant here as it seems that his are younger than yours and are pulling in a higher child credit (I think that’s a big problem with the new tax law. It covers adult dependents of all ages miserably).
The single/marriage penalty is something that really can’t be fixed, only minimized.