Taxpayers may need to plan ahead for breaks in stimulus bill.

[dkf]

If you ever needed a reason to sit down and do some tax planning, the new $787 billion fiscal stimulus bill -- including some $300 billion in tax breaks -- is a good one.

From an earlier-than-usual red flag on who might fall into the alternative minimum tax this year to a new question on paycheck withholding, the bill President Obama signed Tuesday should prompt taxpayers to consider how best to lower their taxes in the year ahead.

Of course, there are some straight-up tax breaks that don't necessarily require much tax planning per se.

Unemployed people will find their first $2,400 of benefits is untaxed, and they may qualify for reduced health-insurance premiums through their former employer's group plan, or Cobra.

There's the $8,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers who buy between Jan. 1 and Dec. 1, 2009 -- this credit doesn't have to be paid back, unlike the $7,500 perk available in 2008.

more at link...

http://finance.yahoo.com/taxes/article/106600/Stimulating-Work

[Laura PourMeADrink]

1. Man, the Mod Repukes really f'd things up !! Two of the best

provisions in the bill - are now so watered down they will only help a fraction of the people.

The original plan was to have a 15,000 above the line tax credit for ANYONE buying a new or existing house.
They changed it to $8,000 and only included first time buyers. Wow, what a stimulus the former idea was !

The original car deduction - was to allow sales tax and interest deductible for any new car/truck purchased
since 11-23. Now they dropped the interest deductibility and made it only effective as of bill passage

[dkf]

2. I was thinking about the tax credit and I wonder if that wouldn't

have simply raised the price of the house by $15,000. After all if its available to everyone, then sellers know buyers have $15,000 more to spend too.