Clients Affected by February Tax Law Change

As discussed in our post on February 13, 2018, the tax law enacted in February made a retroactive change resulting in certain previously-expired provisions becoming available for the 2017 tax year.  The most significant of these extended provisions included:

— The above-the-line deduction for higher education tuition/fees

— The mortgage insurance premiums deduction on Schedule A

— The exclusion of income on the discharge of up to $2 million of home acquisition indebtedness secured by a principal residence

— The $500 residential energy property credit

Now that the filing due date has passed, practitioners should check returns that were filed before this new law was enacted to see if any clients could have benefited from this retroactive rule change.

If the provisions could have provided a material benefit, practitioners can consider discussing with affected clients whether it is cost beneficial to amend the 2017 returns.

Note: These provisions were extended only for the 2017 tax year, and they expired again after the 2017 tax year.  In the future, Congress may further extend these provisions for later tax years, but, as of now, these provisions are not available for tax years after 2017.