Don't Mess With Taxes

It's that special tax time of year, when the Internal Revenue Service releases its annual inflation adjustments for more than 50 tax provisions.

This is the first in a series on the 2017 tax year inflation adjustments. Links to the other posts are at this end of this article.

For 2017, the total is 55 amounts changes, ranging from the widely used tax rate tables and income brackets and standard deduction and exemption amounts to the more arcane treatment of dues paid to agricultural or horticultural groups and the tax on arrow shafts.

As much fun as it would be to blog about the $162 exemption on agronomic assessments and 50 cent per shaft arrow tax, I'm going to stick with the more widely use adjustments, at least for the foreseeable future.

And the first item is the 2017 tax rates and income amounts that they cover.

2016 tax rates and income brackets: Thankfully, Congress didn't fiddle with tax rates, so we have the same seven in 2017, starting at 10 percent and topping out at 39.6 percent.

But the income that falls into each rate for the five filing statuses has been bumped up a bit for inflation.

Here are those new amounts for the coming tax year:

2017 tax rates and income brackets

There's one important thing to note about the information in the above table. It applies to the 2017 tax year that begins on Jan. 1, 2017. You'll use these numbers when you file your 2017 taxes in 2018.

Do not -- I repeat, do not -- use the above table for filling your 2016 tax return, which you'll do next year during what will be referred to by the IRS, me and all my colleagues who cover taxes, as the 2017 filing season.

Yeah, I know, the tax terminology is as, if not more, confusing as the tax lows and filing process.

2016 tax rates and income brackets: To file your 2016 return, which is due by April 17, 2017 (yep, another later deadline since April 15 next year falls on a Saturday), you'll use the 2016 tax rates and income brackets, shown below:

2016 tax rates and income brackets

But we do need the 2017 tax year data so that, in addition to working on our 2016 returns, we can make tax moves and plans related to the 2017 tax year.

And if you're interested in more tax year data, the ol' blog's special page lets you look back at tax rates and income brackets through the years.

Enjoy the tax rate tables. I'll be back with more inflation adjusted tax changes for the 2017 tax year.

Here's a preview of what you can expect, with this post listed, too, to provide a full index of the 2017 inflation and taxes series:

1. 2017 tax rates and income brackets
2. Standard deduction amounts, personal exemptions and limitations on itemized deductions and exemptions
3. Retirement, pension plan contribution limits
4. Credits and deductions, including adoption costs and assistance, Lifetime Learning Credit, Earned Income Tax Credit, educators' expenses, interest on education loans and transportation fringe benefits
5. Medical related tax provisions, including contributions to a flexible spending account, health savings account, eligible long-term care premiums and the Affordable Care Act minimal essential coverage penalty
6. Estate and gift tax limits, kiddie tax
7. Alternative Minimum Tax exemption amounts and 2017 Social Security wage base
8. International worker tax issues (foreign income, housing exclusions)
9. Penalties, including failure to file a return, failure to file certain information returns and tax preparer penalties
10. Standard mileage deduction amounts (issued separately, and later, by the IRS)

As I get these additional inflation related items posted, I'll put the links in above so this post will serve as an index and directory for the 2017 amounts.