The Bush tax cuts expire 12/31/10
Congress lets 50 tax breaks expire
Key tax breaks are mired in limbo, leaving individuals and businesses in a bind. Extensions are expected later, but in these tight times, nothing is certain. By Forbes.com
When members of the U.S. Senate headed home last week, they left the future of 50 individual and business tax breaks in limbo. All of the breaks expire at the end of 2009.
Among them are the research tax credit and an annual alternative minimum tax "patch," which keeps 23 million additional middle-income Americans from being forced into calculating and paying the dreaded AMT. (For 2009, with the patch in place, 4 million upper-middle-income and high-income families will pay the AMT.)
Most of the fading-out 50 can, and probably will, be reauthorized retroactively, creating an inconvenience for some taxpayers but not the same sort of mess as Congress' failure to resolve the future of the estate tax. The estate tax will expire Dec. 31, and Democrats are pledging to resurrect it retroactively, leading to all sorts of potential legal problems, as well as some planning opportunities, for wealthy families.
Among the expiring individual tax breaks:
* The deduction for state and local sales taxes for itemizers (which benefits mainly residents of states that don't impose an income tax).
* The additional $1,000 deduction for real-estate taxes for people who claim the standard deduction.
* The $4,000 deduction for college tuition.
* A $250 deduction for teachers who spend their own money on classroom supplies....
More Here: Forbes.com
An attractive date for my early retirement.