2015 Tax Changes for the Tax Season

The Internal Revenue Service announced on 30th October, 2014 that there was an annual inflation in the United States of America and they made more than 40 adjustments on the tax provisions. The following 2015 tax changes have been outlined on the Revenue Procedure 2014-61. If you unsure how to file your taxes with these new changes, consider using a tax program like TaxAct 2014.

According to the Internal Revenue Service, 39.6% of the new tax rate affects unmarried individuals whose income is more than $413,200 as well as married couples whose income exceeds $413,200. In addition to this, the standard deduction for the unmarried will rise to $6,300 while for the married couples whose returns are not the same will rise to $12,600. On the other hand, standard deduction for married couples who fill the same returns will have their standard deduction rise from $6,200 to $12,400. On the same note, each household head will have his/her standard deduction increased from $9.250 to $9,100.

When it comes to personal exemption, as compared to $3,950 that was for the year 2014 it will be expected that in 2015 this will rise to $4,000. However, this will not be realized at once and it will be subjected to a number of phases starting from $258,250 for the unmarried and $309,900 for married couples who fill the same tax returns. The last phase will be $380,750 for the unmarried and $432,400 for couples who are married and they fill the same tax returns.

In terms of the Alternative Minimum Tax exemption, it will be $53,600 for the unmarried and $83,400 for married couples filling the same tax returns for the year 2015. This shows that there is a significant increase as compared to 2014 which was $52,800 for the unmarried and $82,100 for the married couples filling the same tax returns. The Alternative Maximum Earned Income Credit for the year 2015 will be $6,242 for tax payers with more than three children. This is a significant increase as compared to the year 2014 whereby the Alternative Maximum Earned Income Credit was $6,143 for taxpayers with more than three children.

2015 Tax Changes photo
Photo by DonkeyHotey 2015 Tax Changes

Furthermore as compared to 2014 whereby Estates of Decedents who died were given a basic exclusion of $5,340,000 this basic exclusion for Estates of Decedents who will die in 2014 fiscal year will be increased to $5,430,000. In addition to this, the exclusion from tax on a gift for non-US spouse will be increased from $145,000 (2014) to $147,000 in the year 2015. In addition to this, $99,200 foreign earned income exclusion for the year 2014 will rise significantly in 2015 to $100,800. Furthermore, the maximum credit will be phased out depending on the number of full-time employees. Lastly, the annual dollar limit of employee contribution to Flexible Spending Arrangements will rise from $50 to $2,550 in 2015 fiscal year.

How TurboTax Can Help You With Obamacare Taxes

Nearly Half Of All US Residents Don’t Know That They Have To Report The Status Of Their Health Insurance On Their 2014 Tax Returns

A recent survey has revealed that nearly half of US residents (approximately 48%) do not know that they are supposed to report their health insurance status on their tax returns for 2014. With tax time just around the corner, the Health Survey by Intuit TurboTax (Nasdaq: INTU) that was performed by Harris Poll over 2,000 US resident shows that by majority, Americans are still not aware of the connection between their 2014 taxes and their health care status.

As per the Affordable Care Act, 2015 is the first year that US residents are required to show proof of qualifying coverage when filing their taxes and if they fail to do so, they will face tax penalties. Although many uninsured adults within the US (about 62%), know that those without coverage will pay penalties according to Obamacare Taxes, 87% of this same demographic do not know that the deadline for avoiding this tax penalty passed some time ago. Any coverage secured during the current enrollment period, which ends in February of 2015, will only be applicable for tax returns filed in April 2016.

Most people who lack health coverage (56%), also don’t know that uninsured people who meet this criteria could be qualified for an exemption from the penalty that Obamacare Taxes entails.

Almost half of US residents (45%) do not know about the premium tax credits that help make coverage less costly for families that are at low to moderate income levels.

Sacha Adam, the product leader for TurboTax 2014 says that these figures show that people are still not aware of the full implications of Obamacare taxes. According to Adam, TurboTax 2014 is committed to bridging this gap by supplying people with a number of free resources that are easy to use and that help them to learn more about thee connection between their health care choices and their taxes.

One major offering from TurboTax 2014 that is designed to assist taxpayers with Obamacare Taxes is a free resource that can be found at TurboTaxHealth,com. This can be used to determine whether or not people are eligible to receive low-cost coverage and to learn what penalty must be paid if coverage has yet to be secured. The TurboTax Exemption Check is also here, which allows people who do not have coverage to quickly determine whether or not they are exempt from the ACA penalty and then people can then apply for this exemption.