2018 Tax Act: Individual Returns - Standard Deduction

The standard deduction or the so-called zero bracket amount has been doubled starting after December 31, 2017.  The standard deduction for joint returns for surviving spouse will be $24,000.  A married individual with at least one qualifying child will be 18,000 and single filers $12,000.  Additional standard deductions for the blind and elderly was retained for 2018.

In 2018 the Tax Policy Center reported that 4.2M people will no longer pay Federal income taxes.  Under current law, 43.4% of households will pay no Federal income taxes or get net refunds in 2018.  Therefore, somebody must pay these taxes and absorb what had been paid-in inthe past.  Basically, the only permanent tax changes were for C-Corporations. 

The taxes being reduced by the corporations must be absorbed by individual tax changes.  This was supposed to be a tax zero act overall.  Personal exemptions starting 2018 will be suspended until 2026.  Therefore, household of four could potentially break even with the standard deduction increasing and there no longer being personal exemptions.