Today is February 1. If you get paid this week, you might be pleasantly surprised to find more money in your paycheck. If not, it's likely on the way.
Tax cuts and reforms in the tax bill passed in December are kicking in this month. Nine out of ten (90 percent of workers) who receive a paycheck are expected to see more take-home pay.
According to the recently-released new withholding tables from the IRS, the tax rates and brackets for Americans have changed and employers are required to begin using them. The new tables also reflect other changes such as increases to the standard deduction – which was nearly doubled – and the repeal of personal exemptions.
The IRS has alerted all employers in the country that they must begin using these new rates immediately, but no later than February 15, 2018.
Curious about how much your tax rates have changed? You can figure out how much your tax rate is and how much your employer should withhold in income taxes based on your filing status — married, single, or head of household — and how frequently you are paid (such as weekly, biweekly, semimonthly, monthly, or annually).
So far, we’ve seen that the Tax Cuts and Jobs bill triggered a tsunami of unexpected new bonuses and benefits for workers at big and small companies. From increasing pay to creating multi-million-dollar educational initiatives for their workers to providing new paid leave benefits, swaths of American workers have received after-Christmas gifts in January.
Now, it’s time for just about every worker to get a tax cut. And it's real money – not just crumbs as House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi called them. The Tax Policy Center finds that there will be tax relief for all income groups this year and that 80 percent of tax units will receive a tax cut of $2,140 on average.
Americans are warming to tax cuts despite the efforts of those on the left and the media to smear this tax relief. Now, Americans will have even more to be excited about. Keep an eye on your paychecks.