The Foreign Service Journal, April 2018

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | APRIL 2018 79 AFSA NEWS a single tax benefit of $12,000 in 2018 ($24,000 married filing jointly). This simplification should be considered along with the new brackets, increased child tax credit (increasing to $2,000 for each child, with a non-refundable deduction of $500 for non-child dependents in 2018), and suspension of miscellaneous itemized deductions to fairly gauge the effect of the new law on one’s tax return. • Suspension of miscellaneous itemized deductions H.R. 1 suspends miscellaneous itemized deductions until the end of 2025. This broad deduction previously allowed itemizers to deduct unreimbursed employee expenses (business liability insurance premiums, depreciation of a personal computer used to produce income, dues to profes- sional societies, educator expenses and much more); tax preparation fees; and “other expenses,” including appraisal fees for casualty losses and charitable contributions, hobby expenses to the extent of hobby income, investment fees and expenses, safe deposit box rentals and more. Members of the Foreign Service who itemized deductions in 2017 should consult a tax professional about other options for deducting expenses incurred for home leave, unreimbursed representational expenses and unreimbursed moving expenses in 2018. The 2016 version of IRS Publication 529 contains a more inclusive list of expenses taxpayers may have once deducted as miscellaneous itemized deductions but that should not be deducted again until after 2025. Several members have expressed concern that some reimbursed or employer-paid employee expenses (like Per- manent Change of Station moving expenses) might become taxable with the suspension of the IRC Section 217 deduc- tion for moving expenses paid by an employer. However, H.R 1 did not touch the IRC Section 912 exclusion for civilian officers and employees for “allowances or otherwise (but not amounts received as post differentials)” paid by the Secretary under the Foreign Service Act. Such allowances include department payments (and reimbursements) of