JFoster Wrote: They definitely did this on purpose, perhaps to cover some sort of oversight in 2018. I would say that it's truly a possibility. Either way, it goes to show how much the government can really be a money pit for tax payers, especially for those who are put between a rock and a hard place such as this. No telling how many people this caught off-guard. Having no anticipation for such a thing could really make or break you during tax season.

JFoster Wrote:

So what can you do? Check your health care drug plan options each and every year. Switch plans whenever it makes sense. Remember, Medicare open enrollment is from October 15th to December 7th of every year. Staying on top of this may save you a lot of money in the future.

Higher Premiums Don't Bring Better Specialty Drug Coverage.

This article leads me to assume that if your Medicare D coverage for specialty drugs starts to go up, or even if it doesn't, seriously consider changing over to a Medicare Advantage plan. They are more restrictive in some ways, but way cheaper monthly on average. All depends on the certain drugs you need covered, and where you live.

Maybe this is not news to most people, but for whatever reason when I read about the Trump administration's changes to the tax code I was under the impression the penalty for not complying with the ACA individual mandate was no longer in effect starting 1/1/18. That's incorrect, it's actually 1/1/2019.

The ACA individual mandate is that part of the Obamacare legislation that says if you opt-out of having any kind of health insurance and don't qualify for any exceptions for not having it (like you prove you can't afford it, etc) then you have to pay a monthly tax penalty. That's due when you file your taxes.

And the penalty can really add up. And it was an unpleasant surprise when I realized since I didn't have health insurance in 2018 I would still be on the hook for the penalty. It actually goes away for 2019 filing.

This is besides the point of my feelings if this change is a good thing or not. I am still torn on that. But for any of us that for any number of reasons decided they can forgo health insurance for a full year, this is important to know as tax filing is upon us.

I do want to clarify where I was wrong in the original post.. you do still have to pay a penalty for not having health insurance for 2018 filing, but not for 2019 and beyond. At the moment. I just got done filing my taxes and going without health insurance I most certainly had to pay the price.

That said as a self employed individual (independent contractor) my overall tax burden did decrease, but not substantially. Mine went down like 2.5% from 2017. Its very dependent upon your life situation, what tax brackets you fall into, if you can qualify for write-offs, etc.

Curious, since its filing time, how did your filing fair this year? Did yours increase, decrease or stay about the same once you officially filed?

It definitely was re-designed to get as close to post card size as possible. For sure. The IRS says on their site that 70% of people will benefit from the simplified form by only having to fill out the single simplified 1040. But the rest of us will have to get used to also filing out one or more of the new schedules. So its a mixed bag. If you don't have any special filing needs whatsoever, its an improvement. If you need to itemize anything at all, I think its a bit more cumbersome. Or at least there is a new learning curve.

But like you said, if you are e-filing, the software will do all this work for you in the background and you won't even notice the difference at all. I think they are also banking on that fact.

I was surprised to see Trump play into the cheer and applause for more women being in Congress than ever before. That was far and away the most interesting few minutes of the entire night for me. So much subtext and agendas clashing together in that one moment when everyone started organically chanting 'USA! USA! USA!'. Was a bit surreal to watch. It was partisan and very bipartisan at the exact same time.

Anyone else found this moment super interesting? This was it:

You can tell the left wasn't cheering Trump. They were cheering the rise of women against Trump. Or just cheering women gaining representation in high positions in general. And some on the right were cheering for Trump as if it were his accomplishment. And some seemed to be cheering both. Or just for the USA and its stride making in general. And Trump.. anyone's guess. Seemed to me he was legitimately happy about it as long as there was applause while he was at the podium.

TurboTax - RoboChild CPA

This was another good one from TurboTax this year. But on the more serious side of things, Google did a really good one for Veterans and taxes and job searches that I thought was worth adding here:

Google - Job Search for Veterans

Death and taxes, man. Death. And. Taxes.

H&R Block - Death And Taxes

JaredS Wrote:

In an attempt to work around that, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told House Ways and Means Committee Chair Richard Neal that he will require IRS employees to return to work, without pay, to help with the filing season and to begin issuing refunds.