The Bipartisan Budget Act signed into law earlier this month is best known for extending funding for the federal government and helping to avoid a shutdown. But it also extended a few tax breaks for individuals.
The Internal Revenue Service just announced that it’s now ready to process 2017 tax returns with three newly extended tax breaks. Your 2017 return is the one due by April 17.
These popular tax breaks technically had expired after tax year 2016, meaning you could no longer claim them. But the Bipartisan Budget Act retroactively renewed them for just one more year. That means you can claim them this tax season — but not after that.
So, if you have yet to file your 2017 return, the IRS says you can now claim these breaks when you file your taxes:
- Exclusion from gross income of discharge of qualified principal residence indebtedness (often, foreclosure-related debt forgiveness), claimed on Form 982,
- Mortgage insurance premiums treated as qualified residence interest, generally claimed by low- and middle-income filers on Schedule A, and
- Deduction for qualified tuition and related expenses claimed on Form 8917.
If you already filed your tax return this year, you still can claim these tax breaks by filing an amended return, Form 1040X.
Just be aware that it can take up to 16 weeks for an amended return to be processed, according to the IRS. Unlike regular tax returns, amended returns cannot be filed electronically.
For more news and tips for the current tax-filing season, check out our other 2018 tax stories.
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