In addition to extending the Bush tax cuts, providing relief from the AMT, and cutting the payroll tax by two percentage points, the recently enacted “Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010” (Tax Relief Act) extends a host of other important tax breaks for businesses and individuals. This summary is to give you an overview of these key tax breaks that were extended by the new law. Please call our office for details of how the new changes may affect you or your business.
Congress has approved, and President Obama is expected to quickly sign, a multi-billion dollar tax cut package, the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization and Job Creation Act of 2010 (2010 Tax Relief Act) (H.R. 4853). The new law follows through on the framework agreed to December 6 by President Obama and GOP leaders in Congress. The 2010 Tax Relief Act extends the Bush-era individual and capital gains/dividend tax cuts for all taxpayers for two years.
Following are details regarding two key provisions in the recently enacted “Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010.” The provisions extend partial relief to individual taxpayers from the alternative minimum tax, or AMT. Earlier temporary measures to deal with the unintended creep of the AMT's reach expired at the end of 2009, meaning that more than 20 million additional taxpayers would have faced paying the tax on their 2010 returns without the new relief.
The estates of wealthy individuals who died in 2010 didn't pay any federal estate tax, but that situation is about to change. Under the recently enacted “Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010,” the federal estate tax, which disappeared for 2010, springs back to life in 2011 and is imposed at the top rate of 35% of the estate's value after the first $5 million. Following is a brief overview of the new law.
