Year-End Tax Income Planning: Qualified Business Income (QBI) Deduction

The top tax rate for C Corporations has been reduced from 35% to 21%. In order to place individual business owners and passthrough business owners in a similar tax rate situation, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act 2018 (TCJA) added a 20% qualified business income deduction. For service businesses, such as consulting, accounting, financial services, health, and law, the deduction is limited for taxable income over $315,000 for joint filers (or $157,500 for single filers and trusts) and completely phased out for taxable income over $415,000 for joint filers (or $207,500 for single filers and trusts).

Standard vs. Itemized Deduction Changes

One of the most notable changes with the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act 2018 (TCJA) is that the standard deduction has increased to $24,000 for joint filers (and $12,000 for single filers), meaning that the total amount of your itemized deductions must be greater than $24,000 to get a tax benefit. However, you may still be able to benefit from your itemized deductions by applying a bunching strategy to charitable contributions and medical expenses, even though certain itemized deductions have been limited or eliminated for 2018.