Federal tax reform: What you need to know

By Molly Ryan Kowaleski, OSCPA PR & Engagement Manager

Are you aware of all the changes made under the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA)? If not, you’re going to want to make some room on your calendar to hear from Tracy Monroe, CPA, MT, at the Cleveland Accounting Show on Oct. 17-18, or the Columbus Accounting Show on Nov. 8-9.

Monroe, a tax partner at Cohen & Company in Akron, will discuss both business tax planning and individual tax planning.

“There are a lot of new and different provisions in the TCJA, so I will focus on providing a general update on the ones that will most impact individuals, estates and trusts,” Monroe said. “And, once we have the framework of the new law and what has changed, we’ll look at the planning opportunities now available for practitioners and their clients.”

A few changes Monroe plans to discuss:

• Tax rates
• Itemized deductions
• Child tax credit and family tax credit
• 529 savings plan changes
• Charitable contributions
• Retirement planning basics
• Health savings accounts

On the business tax planning side, she said the biggest change is the corporate tax rate reduction from 34% to 21%.

“Many of us are doing the analysis or the planning around ‘is a business better off as an S-corp or a C-corp?’” she said. “There are a lot of opportunities for planning.”

She also will cover:

• The qualified business tax deduction (Section 199A)
• Bonus depreciation (Section 179)
• The R&D credit
• Taxation of foreign income
• Ohio small business deductions and municipal income tax changes

Monroe noted that while tax reform is permanent for businesses, the individual changes remain temporary unless/until “Tax Reform 2.0” is enacted. The House passed the bill last week, but the Senate is not expected to take it up until after the midterm elections in November.

“I’ve done a lot of presentations for OSCPA over the years and I feel like, up until this year, it was a lot of speculation,” she said. “But this year, we have a law. We have massive changes that provide a lot of opportunities for professionals to work with their clients on some really cool tax consulting projects.

“So, if you’ve enjoyed my presentations in the past, this one is going to be even better. We have so many new, cutting-edge rules that you need to make sure you’re on top of to better serve your clients.”

Want more? The 1040 Individual Tax Tune-Up is coming to Fairfield Oct. 31 - Nov. 1, Columbus Nov. 12-13 and Independence Nov. 14-15. The Business Entity Tax Tune-Up will be in Columbus Oct. 29-30, Independence Nov. 1-2 and Fairfield Nov. 15-16. Our MEGA Tax Conference is Dec. 10-11. Check out all the CPE opportunities available now at store.ohiocpa.com.