Local accountant: most taxpayers to see modest savings

BELLAIRE – While the majority of changes in the federal tax codes won’t affect the average taxpayer for a year or more following approval by Congress, the most recent set of approved revisions signed into law means most people will start to see changes in their paychecks soon, as new guidelines from the Internal Revenue Service begin to show up in employers' mailboxes. 

All of which has local tax professionals scrambling to learn what the changes will mean to their clients.

Shelly Fay, of Bellaire's Accounting Services, is one of those tax professionals.

"There are changes for the individual taxpayers that are effective this year," Fay said earlier this week.

"Tax rates and brackets have been modified, reducing the rate in the highest tax bracket from 39.6 percent to 37 percent," she said. "Standard deductions will nearly double to $24,000 for the married taxpayer filing a joint return, eliminating the need for most taxpayers to file a Schedule A with their income tax return."

Personal exemptions have been eliminated, but the Child Tax Credit has increased, she noted. "Many deductions have been eliminated."

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