Tax Tip of the Week | New Tax Laws Benefit Retirees
The tax year of 2018 was the first full year for some tax savings that may benefit retired taxpayers more than some other groups. Some of these possible benefits follow:
1. Higher standard deduction – for those retirees that have paid off their home mortgage may now have difficulty in itemizing their deductions. But, no matter - the new higher standard deduction which has practically doubled from 2017 to 2018 is more likely worth more in tax savings than being able to itemize as before.
2. Taxpayers aged 70 ½ and older may transfer up to $100,000 to charities from their IRAs even if unable to itemize. These contributions may count toward their RMD – BUT, the withdrawal doesn’t count as taxable income. An added benefit is that making donations in this fashion holds down your adjusted gross income which can help save on taxes on Medicare premiums, investment income and social security benefits.
3. Higher gift tax exemptions are available. The annual gift exclusion for 2019 is $15,000. So, any annual gifts made less than $15,000 do not require a gift tax return. Above that amount, a gift tax return is required, but typically, no gift tax is paid, unless working with a high net worth individual that is making lifetime gifts exceeding $11.4 million. A sunset provision exists where in 2026 - gift and estate tax provisions revert back from the $11.4 million to the pre-2018 levels of $5.49 million per person.
The article that follows, Tax Overhaul Gives Retirees Some Relief further discusses the above in greater depth and includes some additional benefits. It was authored by Anne Tergensen and published by the WSJ on April 12, 2019.
- Mark Bradstreet
Taxpayers are now filing their first returns based on the tax law Congress enacted in 2017. For retirees, the largest overhaul of the U.S. tax code in three decades has created new opportunities to cut taxes, along with some potential headaches.
Here are important changes retirees should be aware of and steps they can take to reduce their future tax bills.
1. Higher standard deduction:
Many retirees, especially those who have paid off mortgages, take the standard deduction. For them, one positive change is the near-doubling of this deduction, or the amount taxpayers can subtract from their adjusted gross income if they don’t itemize deductible expenses including state taxes and charitable donations.
For individuals, the standard deduction is $12,000 for 2018 and $12,200 for 2019, up from $6,350 in 2017. For married couples, it is $24,000, rising to $24,400 for 2019, up from $12,700 in 2017. People 65 and older can also take an additional standard deduction of $1,600 (rising to $1,650 in 2019) or $2,600 for married couples. The expanded standard deduction expires at the end of 2025.
2. A tax break for charitable contributions:
Retirees who take the standard deduction can still claim a tax benefit for donating to charity.
Taxpayers age 70½ or older can transfer up to $100,000 a year from their individual retirement accounts to charities. These donations can count toward the minimum required distributions the Internal Revenue Service requires those taxpayers to take from these accounts. But the donor doesn’t have to report the IRA withdrawal as taxable income. This can help the taxpayer keep his or her reported adjusted gross income below thresholds at which higher Medicare premiums and higher taxes on investment income and Social Security benefits kick in. People over 70½ who itemize their deductions can also benefit from such charitable transfers, said Ed Slott, an IRA specialist in Rockville Centre, N.Y.
3. More options for 529 donors:
The new law allows taxpayers to withdraw up to $10,000 a year from a tax-advantaged 529 college savings account to pay a child’s private-school tuition bills from kindergarten to 12th grade.
For parents and grandparents who write tuition checks, saving in a 529 has advantages. The accounts, which are offered by states, allow savers to make after-tax contributions that qualify for state income tax breaks in many states and grow free of federal and state taxes. Withdrawals are also tax-free if used to pay eligible education expenses.
As in prior years, donors who want to give a child more than the $15,000 permitted under the gift-tax exemption can contribute up to five times that amount, or $75,000, to a 529. (They would then have to refrain from contributing for that child for the next four years.)
About a dozen states don’t allow tax-free withdrawals from 529s for private K-12 school tuition, so check with your plan first, said Mark Kantrowitz, publisher of Savingforcollege.com.
4. Higher gift-tax exemption:
The tax overhaul includes a sweet deal for ultrawealthy families. For the next seven years, the gift-tax exemption for individuals is an inflation-adjusted $11.4 million, up from $11.18 million in 2018 and $5.49 million in 2017. For couples, it is $22.8 million, up from $22.36 million in 2018 and $10.98 million in 2017.
Congress also raised the estate-tax exemption to $11.4 million per person today from $5.49 million in 2017. As a result, taxpayers can give away a total of $11.4 million tax-free, either while alive or at death, without paying a 40% gift or estate tax.
Because in 2026 gift- and estate-tax exemptions are set to revert to pre-2018 levels of $5.49 million per person adjusted for inflation, individuals with assets above about $6 million—and couples with more than $12 million—should consider making gifts, said Paul McCawley, an estate planning attorney at Greenberg Traurig LLP.
The sooner you give assets away, the more appreciation your heirs can pocket free of gift or estate tax, Mr. McCawley said.
The Treasury Department and the IRS recently issued proposed regulations that would grandfather gifts made at the higher exemption amount between 2018 and 2025 after the exemption reverts to pre-2018 levels.
5. Less generous medical-expense deduction:
For 2018, taxpayers can deduct eligible medical expenses that exceed 7.5% of adjusted gross income. That means for someone with a $100,000 income and $50,000 of medical or nursing-home bills, $7,500 is not deductible.
In 2019, the threshold for the medical deduction is slated to rise to 10% of adjusted gross income. That would leave the person above unable to deduct $10,000 of medical bills. One way to reduce the pain is to take advantage of the tax break available to people 70½ or older who make charitable transfers from IRAs, said Mr. Slott. Because the donor doesn’t have to report charitable IRA transfers as taxable income, a $5,000 gift would reduce a $100,000 income to $95,000. That, in turn, would mean $9,500 of medical expenses are ineligible for the deduction in 2019, rather than $10,000.
6. Goodbye to Roth re-characterizations:
The legislation ended the ability of savers to “undo” Roth IRA conversions, which had been used to nullify certain IRA-related tax bills.
With a traditional IRA, savers typically get a tax deduction for contributions and owe ordinary income tax on withdrawals. With a Roth IRA, there is no upfront tax deduction, but withdrawals in retirement are usually tax-free. Tax-free withdrawals are attractive since they don’t push the saver into a higher tax bracket or trigger higher Medicare premiums.
Savers can convert all or part of a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA, but they owe income tax on the taxable amount they convert in the year they convert. Until the overhaul, savers could undo a Roth conversion—and cancel the tax bill—within a specific time frame. But under the new tax law, Roth conversions can no longer be undone.
That doesn’t mean converting is no longer worthwhile, Mr. Slott said. But people should be careful to convert only an amount they know they can afford to pay taxes on.
Credit Given to: Anne Tergesen. You can write to Anne Tergesen at anne.tergesen@wsj.com.
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This Week’s Author – Mark Bradstreet, CPA
–until next week.