Earlier this month the U.S. Internal Revenue Service announced tax changes effective for tax year 2009 (so for tax returns filed in early 2010).

Personally, I think some of these would have been nice to use for this tax year, but perhaps one should be grateful for the breaks one gets.

Here they are:

  • The value of each personal and dependency exemption, available to most taxpayers, is $3,650, up $150 from 2008.

  • The new standard deduction is $11,400 for married couples filing a joint return (up $500), $5,700 for singles and married individuals filing separately (up $250) and $8,350 for heads of household (up $350). Nearly two out of three taxpayers take the standard deduction, rather than itemizing deductions, such as mortgage interest, charitable contributions and state and local taxes.

  • Tax-bracket thresholds increase for each filing status. For a married couple filing a joint return, for example, the taxable-income threshold separating the 15-percent bracket from the 25-percent bracket is $67,900, up from $65,100 in 2008.

  • The maximum earned income tax credit for low and moderate income workers and working families with two or more children is $5,028, up from $4,824. The income limit for the credit for joint return filers with two or more children is $43,415, up from $41,646.

  • The annual gift exclusion rises to $13,000, up from $12,000 in 2008.

Published: Oct 31, 2008