Washington, D.C.-Tax rate brackets and various tax benefits will remain unchanged or change only slightly in 2010 due to low inflation, and many pension plan limitations will remain unchanged, according to the Internal Revenue Service.
By law, the dollar amounts for a variety of tax provisions must be revised each year to keep pace with inflation. As a result, more than three dozen tax benefits are subject to inflation adjustments each year, but because recent inflation factors have been minimal, many of these benefits will remain unchanged or change only slightly for 2010.
Key provisions affecting 2010 returns, filed by most taxpayers in early 2011, include the following:
* The value of each personal and dependency exemption available to most taxpayers is $3,650, unchanged from 2009.
* The new standard deduction for heads of household is $8,400, up from $8,350 in 2009. For other taxpayers, the standard deduction remains unchanged at $11,400 for married couples filing a joint return and $5,700 for singles and marrieds filing separately. Nearly two out of three taxpayers take the standard deduction, rather than itemizing deductions.
* Various tax bracket thresholds will see minor adjustments. For example, for a married couple filing a joint return, the taxable income threshold separating the 15 percent bracket from the 25 percent bracket is $68,000, up from $67,900 in 2009.
* The annual gift tax exclusion remains unchanged at $13,000.
The IRS also announced cost-of-living adjustments applicable to dollar limitations for pension plans and other items for tax year 2010. Code Section 415 of the Tax Code provides for dollar limitations on benefits and contributions under qualified retirement plans. Code Section 415(d) requires that the IRS commissioner annually adjust these limits for cost-of-living increases. Other limitations applicable to deferred-compensation plans are also affected by these adjustments under Code Section 415.
The limitations that are adjusted by reference to Section 415(d) will remain unchanged for 2010. This is because the cost-of-living index for the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2009, is less than the cost-of-living index for the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2008, and, following the procedures under the Social Security Act for adjusting benefit amounts, any decline in the applicable index cannot result in a reduced limitation.
Effective Jan. 1, 2010, the limitation on the annual benefit under a defined-benefit plan under Section 415(b)(1)(A) remains unchanged at $195,000. For participants who separated from service before Jan. 1, 2010, the limitation for defined-benefit plans under Section 415(b)(1)(B) is computed by multiplying the participant's compensation limitation, as adjusted through 2009, by 1.0000.
The limitation for defined-contribution plans under Section 415(c)(1)(A) remains unchanged for 2010 at $49,000.
