Wolters Kluwer Tax & Accounting:

What: The 2018 tax filing season just got more complicated with Congress enacting the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 on February 9. This move extended more than 30 tax breaks through 2017 that had already expired at the end of 2016. To date, the IRS announced that it will accept individual tax returns incorporating eight of the extenders and continues to make modifications to tax forms for the remaining extenders.

Why: With the IRS incorporating these changes nearly a month after the start of tax filing season, many taxpayers may have already filed their returns without claiming tax breaks that they may be entitled to take. These individuals will want to review their returns and possibly file an amended tax return. Other taxpayers who have yet to file will want to review these last-minute changes to benefit from the extended tax breaks.

The more than 30 tax breaks that are retroactively extended for 2017 are wide-ranging in scope and include the following extenders for individual taxpayers which the IRS is currently ready to process to date:

1. Above-the-line deduction for qualified tuition and related expenses

2. Exclusion from gross income of discharge of qualified principal residence indebtedness

3. Mortgage insurance premiums treated as qualified residence interest

4. A $500 lifetime credit for nonbusiness energy property

5. Credit for residential energy property

6. Credit for new qualified fuel cell motor vehicles

7. Credit for 2-wheeled plug-in electric vehicles

8. Waiver of limitations with respect to excluding from gross income amounts received by wrongfully incarcerated individuals

The remaining extenders, where the IRS is still revising forms and software in order to process returns, involve particular industries, activities in American territories, and activities involving American Indians and reservations. Twelve of the remaining extenders affect various aspects of the energy industry.

These extenders are, for the most part, currently only extended for 2017 so it’s important to take advantage of these this tax season. It remains unclear whether Congress will extend them again for 2018.

Who: Tax expert Mark Luscombe, JD, LL.M, CPA, Principal Federal Tax Analyst at Wolters Kluwer Tax & Accounting can help discuss the more than 30 extenders in greater detail and procedures for amending a tax return.

Contact: To arrange interviews with Mark Luscombe or other federal and state tax experts from Wolters Kluwer Tax & Accounting on this or any other tax-related topics, please contact:

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180328005786/en/