After Much Upheaval, a Spring of the Old Ways

December brought significant change to the tax world -- out with some deductions, in with some new deductions and tax rates.

However, now that we are actually into 2018 and all of these changes have taken effect, it’s important to remember: Everything that happened last month is forward-looking only -- in fact, it’s actually unconstitutional for Congress to pass retrospective changes in the tax laws.

Because of this, your 2017 tax returns are going to look pretty similar to your 2016 returns, unless your situation has changed. It’s a little startling because of all of the focus we’ve had on future planning, but for a brief period now, we’re living in two different worlds -- the status quo ante of 2017 compliance and the new, and in some cases very different, world of 2018 tax planning.  

Keep this in mind as you work on your tax info for this spring.