| Death and taxes. You can try to
fight them both tooth and nail, but at the end of it all, it’s a
losing proposition. Especially when it comes to taxes, the
government is going to want its fair share cut of your salary and
business profits one way or another, whether you like it or not.
Rather than engage in tax evasion and possibly live
the remaining years of your life on the run as a tax fugitive from
the long arm of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), you might as
well confront the issue of taxes head on. All we can do is try our
best to understand how income taxes work and take reasonable steps
to minimize their effects on our financial lives as much as
possible. One of the most introductory ways to plan for the
effects of income taxes is to recognize how the various marginal
rates are applied to the corresponding tax brackets. Because the
United States does not yet currently engage in a flat tax system,
our taxable incomes are broken down into different taxation ranges
with specific taxation percentages assessed depending on where they
fall along the tax bracket spectrum. Although our 2010 tax returns
won’t be filed until April 15, 2011, for planning purposes, it’s
always good to find out the new changes to the tax code as early as
possible. Let’s examine some of the upcoming tax rate changes that
are being projected for 2010 and compare them to the previous year’s
2009 tax brackets.
Projections Of New IRS Tax Rates Have Historically Been
Extremely Accurate
Year
after year, even before the official IRS income tax brackets are
released, a select number of tax experts have gotten together and
crunched a determinative number of officially released statistics by
governmental agencies – to project and extrapolate the upcoming
year’s tax brackets. Year after year, the tax rate predictions
released by these groups have yielded results in advance with near
100% accuracy. Such an income tax bracket projection ahead of time
is possible because many of the major tax code numbers are pegged to
officially released inflation statistics – including the standard
deduction, the personal exemption, the actual income ranges of the
tax brackets, and contributions limits for the investment retirement
accounts (both the Traditional and Roth IRA account).
One of these tax prognosticating groups is the Tax Foundation, a
Washington D.C. think tank which collects data and publishes
research studies on federal and state tax policies. The other
notable group operates under the auspices of the Wall Street Journal
and is comprised of a merry band of private tax professionals and
economists – namely William E. Massey, a senior tax analyst from the
Tax and Accounting arm of Thomson Reuters; George Jones, a senior
federal tax analyst from CCH; and James C. Young, an accounting
professor from Northern Illinois University. For numerous years now,
both the Tax Foundation and the Wall Street Journal group have
consistently released to the public very accurate, albeit
unofficial, early bird peaks at the following year’s projected
income tax brackets based on available financial data – well in
advance of the official IRS releases. If you∙re eager to get a
head start on tax year 2010, read on.
IRS Tax Rate Schedule Updates For Tax Year 2010
This year, citing a very sluggish economy and extraordinarily low
inflation rates for 2009 to which upcoming 2010 tax rates shall be
pegged to, the Tax Foundation and associated
experts are predicting very little year to year change for the 2010
federal tax brackets. If there’s anything good that came out of this
global economic recession that has been plaguing us for the entirety
of 2009 – it’s that the combination of low gas prices, depressed
consumer spending, and high jobless numbers with so many people
filing for unemployment – have enabled inflation
rates to stay quite low during the span of 2009 – at a mere 0.19%.
Just compare that to the incredibly high inflation rate of 4.26%
during the previous year of 2008 when gas prices were skyrocketing,
and it’s clear the recent sudden and precipitous drop in inflation
has been extremely unprecedented.
As a result of low inflation, for the most part the 2010 tax
bracket ranges will likely stay relatively unchanged. As noted by
the tax pundits, for the very first time since the IRS started to
index the official federal income tax rates to inflation during the
mid 1980’s, taxpayers will get virtually no significant benefit from
inflation in 2010. As such – year 2010 tax brackets, standard
deductions, personal exemptions, and even retirement account
contribution limits will see very little (if any) alterations from
prior year numbers.
I will update the table below to reflect the official IRS tax
rates for 2010 if decidedly different numbers are ultimately
released by the IRS. However, with tax bracket projections by the
experts having enjoyed a near perfect accuracy rate for quite a few
years now, I don’t have any reason to doubt that the displayed
figures below will ultimately wind up as official.
Federal Income Tax Brackets For 2010 – Based On Taxable
Income Ranges
Tax Rate
|
Married Couples
Filing Jointly
|
Most Single Filers
|
| 10% |
Not over $16,750 |
Not over $8,375 |
| 15% |
$16,750 ∓ $68,000 |
$8,375 ∓ $34,000 |
| 25% |
$68,000 ∓ $137,300 |
$34,000 ∓ $82,400 |
| 28% |
$137,300 ∓ $209,250 |
$82,400 ∓ $171,850 |
| 33% |
$209,250 ∓ $373,650 |
$171,850 ∓ $373,650 |
| 35% |
Over $373,650 |
Over $373,650 |
|
Beyond some slight numerical shuffling of the taxable income
ranges, there will not be too many significant tax changes from 2009
into 2010. Here is a breakdown of the
projected changes
(if any) for 2010 as they compare to the prior year:
- Personal Exemption:
No change. For the
very first time, the standard exemption for 2010 will not be going
up and will stay unchanged at $3,650, the same as it was in 2009.
- Standard Deduction:
No change, except
for Head Of Household filers. The standard deduction for married
couples filing jointly will remain unchanged at $11,400. For those
filing as single, the standard deduction will remain at $5,700 as
well. However, Head of Household filers will see a slight increase
by $50 – from $8,350 (year 2009) to $8,400 (year 2010).
- Overall Tax Bracket Thresholds:
Will increase
across the board for all tax filing statuses, albeit at a
significantly lower amount compared to past tax year increases.
- Annual Gift Tax Exclusion Amount:
No change. For tax
year 2010, the current gift tax exclusion limit of $13,000 will
stay the same. Often overlooked by most taxpayers, the gift tax
stipulates that gift givers must pay a special tax on gift amounts
that exceed a certain amount per year.
- Traditional and Roth IRA Contribution Limits:
No change. Despite
the fact that IRA and Roth IRA contribution limits did not rise in
2009 in response to strong inflationary pressures in 2009, there
will still be no corresponding change in the maximum contribution
limits to individual retirement accounts for 2010. The standard
IRA contribution limit for 2010 will remain unchanged at $5,000.
The catch up contribution limit for those 50 or older will remain
at $6,000 as well.
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