scrabbler1
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- Joined
- Nov 20, 2009
- Messages
- 6,705
While working on my taxes, I found something strange. Could it be an error in the tax instruction booklet for Form 1040? Or is it just a quirk which didn't exist in prior years?
In prior years, the tax brackets in the rate schedules shown near the very end of the main instruction booklet were the same as the implied tax brackets shown in the Qualified Dividends and Capital Gains Tax worksheet. The brackets in both sections were indexed, so they rose a little bit each year. But they did match each other.
This time, however, they don't quite match. On page 40 of the instruction booklet is the QDCGTW, the amount to enter on Line 8 is $38,600 for single, and $77,200 for MFJ, for example. These are used to determine how much investment income is taxed at 0%. But in the tax rate schedules shown on Page 113 of the same booklet, those tax brackets are $38,700 and $77,400. Why are they slightly different this time?
I only noticed this because in the skeleton spreadsheet I use to do the calculations, I enter the income cutoff once and cell address it later, so I don't have to remember to change the same number twice when I update it from one year to the next.
If these seemingly identical tax brackets are now a little different, is there a reason for it? Or did the IRS somehow make a mistake by creating slightly different tax brackets which had been the same in prior years? I guess I'll have to change my spreadsheet to break the link between two income amounts which had always been the same before.
In prior years, the tax brackets in the rate schedules shown near the very end of the main instruction booklet were the same as the implied tax brackets shown in the Qualified Dividends and Capital Gains Tax worksheet. The brackets in both sections were indexed, so they rose a little bit each year. But they did match each other.
This time, however, they don't quite match. On page 40 of the instruction booklet is the QDCGTW, the amount to enter on Line 8 is $38,600 for single, and $77,200 for MFJ, for example. These are used to determine how much investment income is taxed at 0%. But in the tax rate schedules shown on Page 113 of the same booklet, those tax brackets are $38,700 and $77,400. Why are they slightly different this time?
I only noticed this because in the skeleton spreadsheet I use to do the calculations, I enter the income cutoff once and cell address it later, so I don't have to remember to change the same number twice when I update it from one year to the next.
If these seemingly identical tax brackets are now a little different, is there a reason for it? Or did the IRS somehow make a mistake by creating slightly different tax brackets which had been the same in prior years? I guess I'll have to change my spreadsheet to break the link between two income amounts which had always been the same before.