TAX CHANGE INFORMATION

In case you haven't heard disabled children no longer receive any extra tax deductions. Perhaps as a group or as individual parents we should write some letters. Read on:

This is from an email from Gina Pola-Money of the Utah Family Voices Family to Family Health Information Center, Utah Parent Center. I wrote and asked for more information about the new 2009 tax changes. It is so through that I think I'll just post it as a quote.

This is the information that we have: The State Disabled Tax Exemption has been eliminated for 2008. This was the exemption which included children qualifying for early intervention or special education. Previously families received a Form TC-40D, which helped families by allowing an extra deduction on their state taxes, this is no longer available. The change came about in the 2008 General Session of the Legislature under H.B.359 (Tax Changes) sponsored by John Dougall and Wayne Niederhauser. If you are concerned as a family or want more clarification about the bill, I would contact Representative John Dougall, since he is the co-chair of the 2009 Health and Human Services Joint Appropriations committee at jdougall@utah.gov or 801-492-1365. It would also be a good idea to send an email or call your local representatives. If you need to find out who they are and their contact information you can go to www.familyvoices.org/lac and type in your address, it will give you all the information for your area. Please let me know if there is more information I can provide or other questions I can answer. Take care

Gina Pola-Money
Utah Family Voices Family to Family Health Information Center
Utah Parent Center

The following information comes directly from the utah tax commission website:

What's New for 2008 Tax Year

New Tax System: Utah individual tax law was changed for 2008. The dual tax calculation system used in 2007 no longer applies (using the lower of the 5.35% rate or the graduated tax rates).
Single-Rate Tax: The 2008 Utah tax rate is 5%.
Deductions Repealed: These deductions are no longer available:
One-half the federal tax,
Disabled dependent exemption,
Adoption expenses,
Health insurance premiums, and
Long-term care insurance premiums.
New Credits: These deductions have changed to nonrefundable credits:
Personal exemptions (not disabled dependent exemption),
Standard or itemized deductions (now used to calculate the taxpayer tax credit),
The Utah Educational Savings Plan (UESP) contributions credit,
The Medical Care Savings Plan (MSA) contributions credit,
The retirement credit, and
The capital gain transactions credit.
New Withholding Tax Form: There is a new Utah form, TC-40W, used to report your Utah withholding tax from forms W-2, 1099, TC-675R, and a Schedule K-1 (for a nonresident shareholder). You will no longer attach withholding tax forms to your Utah return. Not completing the TC-40W may result in processing delays or the credit being disallowed.
Utah Forms Renumbered: These Utah forms have been re-numbered:
The Income Tax Supplemental Schedule is now TC-40A (formerly TC-40S).
The Credit for Income Tax Paid to Another State is now TC-40S (formerly TC-40A).
The Non and Part-year Resident Utah Income Schedule is now TC-40B (formerly TC-40C).
The new retirement tax credit is on form TC-40C.
Interest Rate: The interest rate for the 2009 calendar year is 5 percent. Click here for more information. You can also see previous year interest rates in Publication 58.
Research Credits: Calculating the credit for increasing research activities in Utah and for machinery and equipment used to further research has changed. Also, you may now use these credits in the year you paid the costs instead of the year after.