TCJA Permanency Act

Summary

Makes a large set of individual income‑tax provisions permanent and changes multiple parts of the Internal Revenue Code. It updates income tax rate tables and inflation adjustments, revises rules for deductions and exclusions (including state and local tax, mortgage interest, moving expenses, and miscellaneous itemized deductions), changes education‑savings rules (529 and ABLE), and alters Alternative Minimum Tax exemptions and phase‑outs. Most provisions apply to taxable years beginning after enactment, with a handful of provisions keyed to specific post‑enactment dates or to deaths/gifts after enactment.

Key Points

• Permanently enacts a broad package of individual tax changes across rate tables, inflation indexing, deductions, credits, and savings rules.
• Limits or ends several itemized deductions and exclusions (for example SALT treatment, certain mortgage interest rules, miscellaneous itemized deductions).
• Restricts moving‑expense tax relief generally and preserves tax‑free moving treatment mainly for active‑duty military who move under orders.
• Makes permanent or updates education‑related tax provisions and rules for 529 college‑savings and ABLE accounts.
• Rewrites AMT exemption amounts, phase‑outs, and inflation adjustments and removes a coordination rule for children’s unearned income.
• Most provisions take effect for taxable years beginning after enactment; a few apply specifically to deaths/gifts or are effective immediately after enactment.
• Will change tax filing decisions for many individuals (itemizing vs standard deduction), affect high‑income and AMT‑exposed taxpayers most, and require IRS guidance and administrative updates.
• Broad permanence of temporary rules means long‑term distributional and revenue effects (impacts depend on baseline law and scoring).

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