SUNBURY – There are some taxpayers and businesses may be happy about the new tax law, and there are some who won’t be happy, so says one local expert. Individuals taxpayers are already having less money withheld from their paychecks and businesses are paying lower tax rates.
The GOP tax overhaul is killing some deductions people are used to, “Talk with your tax professional this year, see how the tax cuts for next year will affect you. What we’re doing in our office, we’re actually doing four projections, taking the information from this year’s tax return, projecting it forward to see just what impact the new tax law changes will have for our clients.”
Lamont Masser owns eight of the Valley’s H & R Block offices and he said there will definitely many people who will keep more of their money from the federal government, but for some people expecting the usual deductions, they’ll be disappointed, “The standard deduction is just about doubling, for a single taxpayer, the standard deduction is going up to $12,000. For a married couple its $24,000. And while this sounds like a really great tax break.
He said, “The flip side is that all personal exemptions and dependent exemptions have been repealed. Those exemptions have been $4,050 per person on the return, now that’s going to be zero. There will be no person exemptions or dependent exemptions.”
As Masser mentioned, the standard deduction is doubling, while personal and dependent exemptions are repealed. Additionally, he said the child tax credit is increasing. If you itemize, some things like union dues, meals, travel costs, are repealed. Additionally, a new dependent credit is new, an up to $500, kids over age 17 and other categories of adult children and senior parents.
He said at their offices, it’s free to answer questions. He says, when it comes to taxes, you don’t know what you don’t know, so it might be worth to get a free tax check from an H & R Block office.
Masser notes, that like many employers locally, they are looking for employees to be tax preparers. Masser said for the right person, it’s an ideal job for which they will train you to prepare taxes. He is owner of Sunbury, Selinsgrove, Danville, Elysburg, Shamokin, Halifax, Lykens and Elizabethville.
