The following are proposed tax changes for Individuals in 2011.

Please call if you think any of these items affect you and you would like to plan for or around them.

Tax proposals for individuals include:

... Extending the Making Work Pay Credit for one year (a tax cut of up to $400 per person ($800 per family)).

... Making permanent the American Opportunity Credit for higher education expenses.

... Extending through 2011 the optional deduction for state and local general sales taxes.

... Increasing the child and dependent care tax credit for families earning up to $113,000 a year.

... Reinstating after 2010 the 36% tax rate for those with taxable income above the following amounts: $250,000 less the standard deduction and two personal exemptions, indexed from 2009, for married taxpayers filing jointly; $200,000 less the standard deduction and one personal exemption, indexed for inflation from 2009, for single filers. Also, the 28% bracket would be expanded so that taxpayers earning less than the $250,000/$200,000 amounts would not see their taxes rise as a result of the increased tax rate brackets.

... Reinstating beginning in 2011 the 39.6% tax rate (it would apply to those with taxable incomes over $373,650 before inflation adjustment).

... Beginning in 2011, a 20% tax rate would apply to long-term capital gains and qualified dividends of married taxpayers filing jointly with income over $250,000 less the standard deduction and two personal exemptions (indexed from 2009) and for single taxpayers with income over $200,000 less the standard deduction and one personal exemption (indexed from 2009). Taxpayers below these income levels would be subject to the rates that currently apply (i.e., 0% or 15% rate) to long capital gains and qualified dividends.

... Beginning in 2011, reinstating for higher income taxpayers the reduction of itemized deductions and the personal exemption phaseout.

... Beginning in 2001, limiting the tax value of all itemized deductions to 28% whenever they would otherwise reduce taxable income in the 36% or 39.6% tax brackets. A similar limitation also would apply under the AMT.

... The 2009 AMT exemption amounts for individuals, as indexed for inflation, would apply for 2010 and future years, and nonrefundable personal credits would offset the AMT as well as regular tax.

... Extending the COBRA premium subsidy to cover workers involuntarily terminated before 2011.

Estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer (GST) taxes would be extended at the levels in effect for calendar year 2009 (a top rate of 45% and an exemption amount of $3.5 million).