Happy New Year! Here are some updates about the upcoming 2016 tax filing season. Here is some useful tax information that can help.

  • Keep organized and start securely saving each and every tax form that arrives in your mailbox (both hard copy and soft copies). This can be kept in your filing cabinet at home, as soft copies on your computer or upload to our portal where we have already created a 2016 folder for you (for our existing clients). See https://americanpacifictax.com/portal .

 

  • Reminder: For those taxpayers required to make 2016 quarterly estimated payments, your 4th quarter US estimated tax payment for 2016 is due on or before January 17, 2017. Mail your voucher to the address on the form or payment can be made online here: https://www.irs.gov/payments

 

  • Eligible taxpayers can make IRA (Roth or Traditional) contributions before the April 15, 2017 tax filing deadline and qualify for 2016. The 2016 limits are $5,500 USD and $6,500 USD for taxpayers 50 or older. Taxpayers must have earned income to make qualifying contributions. Please be sure to contact us if you have further questions about making qualifying contributions.

 

  • With Donald Trump taking office January 20, 2017, here are some of his tax proposals for 2017 and future years:
  1. 3 tax brackets 12%, 25% and 33%
  2. Increase of standard deduction by 2 ½ times
  3. Cap on itemized deductions claimed – $200,000 for MFJ
  4. All personal exemptions eliminated
  5. Head of Household filing status abolished
  6. Repeal of 3.8% Net Investment Income Tax & Additional Medicare Tax
  7. Repeal of AMT
  8. Taxation of carried interest as ordinary income

Note that these are only proposals and may or may not take effect.

Please be sure to contact us if you have any questions about your US taxes that we can assist you with. We continue to provide valuable information on our company website blog as well as our Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter pages. Stay tuned and visit our upgraded website live next week.