Big tax law changes always bring big rumors. But before you assume Social Security is now tax-free or that you’re getting a $40K deduction just for breathing, let’s set the record straight on what this new bill didn’t actually do.

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Speaker 1:

The big tax law changes always bring rumors, so before you get too hyped up or worried about anything, we thought we'd have a little fun and debunk some of the Big Beautiful Bill myths this week on the podcast. Let's get into it.

Hey everybody, welcome into Retirement Planning - Redefined with John and Nick from PFG Private Wealth. And one more time, we thought we would revisit the Big Beautiful Bill, the OBBBA conversation. I like saying OBBBA, it's just fun. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Guys, just kind of hopefully maybe dispel some of these things, continue to have questions all throughout the year as we're closing out the year we're just trying to knock down some of those worries or some of those fears that people still have. So let's set the record straight a little bit. We'll have some fun with this. You guys can be myth busters on this episode, if you will. John, what's going on my friend? How are you?

John Teixeira:

Not too much. Just wondering if Nick gave my phone number to a list because all of a sudden today I'm getting bombarded with, "Do you need a driveway cleaned?" And some random stuff. So I think I'm getting punked.

Speaker 1:

Oh man, it's that time of the year. It seems like spam calls have gone just through the roof for the last couple of months, so I don't know.

Nick  McDevitt:

My hypothesis on that is I feel like businesses are slowing down and they're kind of going back to their-

Speaker 1:

They're getting creative too.

Nick  McDevitt:

Yeah, they're going back to their list client lists or different marketing tools. I feel like I've gotten re-added or added to a hundred new email lists in the last three weeks. So it's interesting.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it's a weird thing. And the text thing and the email, it's like they have so much access to you. Constantly getting stuff and of course the phones are always listening, so you just get all this weird stuff. But I'm with you, John, same thing. Would you like to sell your house?

John Teixeira:

No. Nick complained about it a couple of weeks ago and I was like, "I'm not getting too much." And all of a sudden I think he's like, "Well, if I got to deal with it, John's got it too." So.

Speaker 1:

Either that or your phone was listening and said, "Oh, you're not getting it? We'll get one, then. Here it goes."

John Teixeira:

It could be that one too.

Speaker 1:

All right, let's jump into a few myths. We'll have some fun here. Myth number one, Nick, Social Security is no longer taxed.

Nick  McDevitt:

Kind of for some. So just like most things, there's nuance to it. If your income falls within the threshold of where single or married filing jointly and singles, I think the 75,000 married filing jointly is the 150, then you actually get a $6,000 tax credit to help offset taxes that you may owe on your social security income. But it's not something that line item wise is gone. So for most people, up to 85% of their social security income is includeable in their overall taxable income. So this is a way that that amount can get reduced dependent upon the overall situation.

Speaker 1:

So technically no, they did not remove social security tax, but they're for certain brackets in certain age groups for a couple of years, you can definitely reap a benefit. So do that. But yeah, it didn't go away unfortunately. Myth number two, John, the new tax law means tax cuts for everybody.

John Teixeira:

Unfortunately not for everybody. Like we talked about in the last episode, the senior citizen tax deduction above the age of 65 is those single will get six, joint will get 12, but that's not even for everyone above 65. Well, because if you income level's too high, you also don't qualify. So not for everybody. And then even the SALT deduction, which Nick went into last episode as well, if your state doesn't have income tax, certain situations work for you, certain situations, and everyone's a case-by-case scenario here. So not for everybody. Some people might not see any tax benefits from this, but some people might see quite a bit.

Speaker 1:

Okay. All right. Nick, myth number three, the tax brackets are permanent, so I'm groovy. We're going to stay in this low tax bracket forever.

Nick  McDevitt:

Yeah, it'd be nice if things work that way, but as we know when it comes to taxes or really anything involving government or legislation, we can count on there being change at some point in the future. So although if people read through documents and they see, hey, this adjustment in brackets is now permanent, that's just kind of referring back to when they were originally reduced. There was a sunset provision that it had to get renewed at a period of time in the future. And so that's what happened is it was essentially renewed and locked into place, but a new president or a new Congress can adjust that and change that in the future. And based upon debt and all that kind of stuff, were of the opinion that at a certain point in time there will definitely be some changes. And the reality is that most likely they will be higher taxes.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, they changed their mind as the wind blows and what they do with it. Right? So, all right, myth number four, John, we didn't really talk about the estate tax too much on that prior episode where we talked about some things, but they actually raised it up a tick, made it a nice even number. So it's a $15 million estate tax exemption, which means estate planning doesn't much matter anymore because most people aren't going to get to that level. What's your thoughts?

John Teixeira:

Yeah, so it's nice they made it a nice even number, just like when they changed the RMDH from a 70 and a half to a nice even number there. So we like simplicity here. But yeah, it doesn't mean estate tax planning doesn't matter anymore because certain states do have their own estate tax themselves. We live in Florida here.

Speaker 1:

Good point.

John Teixeira:

So we don't have to worry about that. But depending on the state you live in, important to understand what those estate taxes are.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that's a federal estate. Yeah, that's a great point. Yep.

John Teixeira:

Yep. So that's the federal level there, 15 million. So yeah, just make sure you understand where it is. And just because the exemption went up doesn't mean you don't need estate planning because we've come across some people that definitely needed to structure their assets correctly to make sure that Uncle Sam doesn't get all of it and also it goes to the right places. So.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it's much more than just the tax is a good estate plan, so definitely you want to have the other pieces covered as well. So just because the number's high doesn't mean you don't need an estate plan. And you don't have to be a Rockefeller to need estate plan. A lot of people kind of surprised by the fact of what an estate plan can do for them. Just average everyday folks, it can still be very beneficial. So something to certainly consider.

Nick, we talked a little bit about the car loan interest on that prior one, but so I googled basically just common misconceptions about this, and that's how I'm wording these based on how some of these questions came up. So it's like, "Car loan interest is now fully deductible," and that's how with the internet and everything, that's how things get run amok. People think, "Oh, no, no, I totally saw that. Car loan interest is fully deductible. So great, I'm going to go out and buy a car and be able to write off the interest." But that's not the whole story.

Nick  McDevitt:

For sure. There are definitely... So there's a cap as far as the amount that can be deducted, it's about $10,000. From a deductibility standpoint, it is a temporary thing and there are certain thresholds from the perspective of income can't exceed a hundred thousand. And then the rules about the final assembly being the US for the vehicle. So it's not a blanket something that, just like anything else when it comes to rules and laws, especially on taxes, the devil's in the details and you want to make sure you have a full understanding of what it looks like. And on top of that, the reality is that a tax deduction is not usually a reason to spend money if you don't need something. So that's kind of like the famous last words of, "Yeah, but there's a tax deduction." But also if there's a cash flow issue, then it may not make sense. So just like anything else, you want to be smart about the decision.

Speaker 1:

Yeah. And I'll take this last one, John for a little bit. Myth number six, it was really around the itemizing. "I can skip itemizing and still get deductions for charity giving." And I think people confuse the itemization and QCDs. And so I think there's a little bit different disinformation there and there is some above-the-line stuff. So just hit me with that one real quick.

John Teixeira:

So you can make the deductions with charitable gifting. And it's just recapping last episode, it's capped at 1,000 for single in 2,000 for couples. So you can get the standard deduction and go ahead and get these additional deductions for giving to charity without itemizing.

Speaker 1:

And I think for a lot of people, especially if you're making good money, they think, "Hey, I don't need the RMDs," especially for a lot of your client base. "I got to pull this RMD. I don't want to, but I have to. The government's making me. How can I maybe be charitably inclined but also be effective from a tax standpoint?" And that's where the confusion with the QCD comes in. Because you can satisfy that RMD by doing a QCD.

John Teixeira:

Yeah, these are... Yeah, thanks for clarifying.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

John Teixeira:

Yeah. These are two separate things here. The QCD is its own strategy and definitely take advantage of that if you are not, it's a great way to do it. And just let's kind of recap that strategy, Although it's not part of the bill here, but what you want to do is have your... Once you're above the age of 70, you can take advantage of it and you want the check or distribution that's coming out of the retirement plan to go pre-tax, let's emphasize that pre-tax, go directly from the retirement account to the charitable institution. So it has to be check made payable to that institution. They don't need to get it directly. I have some clients that will get it mailed to their house as long as it's written out to that institution. And the example, they go to church and they feel good about actually handing the check in.

And full disclosure, when you're doing your taxes, I don't want to say all, but most financial institutions aren't basically telling the IRS what you did. When you do your taxes, you actually need to say, this is what you did. So the 1099 will kind of reflect a little bit of that, but you have to actually tell your CPA, "I did this." Because if you do not, you will not get that tax deduction.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, no, for sure. And that's why I wanted to ask you that because it does get confusion around what the tax law changes were with the above line charitable deductions or gift giving and the QCDs, so there was definitely some confusion there. So thanks for clearing that up. And again, that's the whole point, right? Anytime there's legislation, it always brings confusion. So having a good strategy, a good plan, and a good team in place to help you deal with this stuff because dealing with it every day is a lot easier than us who just only see the headlines and whatnot. So if you need some help, reach out to John and Nick, get onto the calendar at PFGPrivateWealth.com, that's PFGPrivateWealth.com and schedule some time for yourself today. And with that, guys, thanks so much for hanging out. I hope everybody has a great holiday season. Don't forget to subscribe to the podcast on Apple or Spotify or whatever podcasting app you enjoy. Retirement Planning - Redefined with John and Nick from PFG Private Wealth. We'll see you next time.