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To: Paul Senior who wrote (60224)	12/21/2017 2:18:29 PM
From: Grommit	Respond to of 78953

FIFO -- you are right. well, i sold a couple of things that i would have held longer, but most of my sales were pulling some january sales into this year. that gives me more wiggle room in 2018. and since i hit an new medicare bracket, i had room to convert more ira to roth.

To: Paul Senior who wrote (60224)	12/21/2017 3:57:01 PM
From: Grommit	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 78953

ATO. Ha! Earlier today I sold 400 shares of ATO that I would have held longer. Sold them at 86.49, a small gain from 83.91 purchased 90 days ago. And I just bought them back at 84.986. So I have a realized a $1,022 gain that I will pay taxes on, but offset with $590 more cash that covers the taxes, and I now have a $430 higher tax basis for future. No one was injured in this transaction. That was the only one that I would kept longer if I wasn't stupid about FIFO. The others would have been sold in January. I normally don't post details, but this was lucky and cute. grommit

To: Paul Senior who wrote (60224)

12/21/2017 5:09:24 PM

From: upanddown

Respond to of 78953

===
Lot of talk that the standard deduction goes to $24K from $12K. Not so much talk that I hear that the personal exemption ($4050) goes away. For a family of four (joint filers), who don't itemize, that results in an additional $12K (12k to 24k) that doesn't have to be taxed, but (4x$4050) = $16k that does.

It is very deceptive to talk about doubling the standard deduction without mentioning that personal exemptions disappear. These are consecutive line items on a 1040 that both reduce taxable income. For a couple w/o children, those two items combined go from (12,700 sd + 8100 exemp = 20,800) to (24,000 sd + 0 exemp). An increase but hardly a doubling.

Families with dependent children do better with the now $2000 child credit.

I paid my Apr 2018 property taxes early so I can deduct them in 2017.

It appears that it will no longer be an advantage for me to itemize in 2018 after 41 years of itemizing since I first bought a house in 1976.

To: Paul Senior who wrote (60224)	12/22/2017 12:12:27 AM
From: Lazarus	Respond to of 78953

Six kids and a stay-at-home was a wonderful tax shelter. A big family has its benefits.

To: Paul Senior who wrote (60224)	12/22/2017 10:08:33 PM
From: Keith J	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 78953

I roughly calculated we would have about $9k in additional AGI as a result of the tax change (loss of exemptions and changing from itemized deductions to standard deduction). No kids impacting our return (which as long as they were under 17 would likely reduce overall tax due). But despite this, our overall tax due would go down over $1500 if I calculated correctly - because of the lower tax rates. Not that everyone will have the same result. But I do think the drain on the Treasury will be more than anticipated. KJ