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Copied from Tax Pro Today: Expired tax breaks Approximately 30 tax breaks that had been given short-term extensions over a number of years expired at the end of 2017. There had been some debate as to whether those tax breaks would continue after the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, but Congress extended them through 2017 in early 2018, resulting in some need to revise software systems and tax forms for the 2017 tax return filing season. Congress is again considering what to do with those expired provisions well after their expiration. The initial proposal had been to extend them retroactively for 2018 and preserve them for 2019. As time passes without enactment, however, the chances increase that many of those expired provisions will not be extended. Another issue that may push some of the tax breaks to the sidelines is that Democrats would prefer that any extension be paid for, but offsetting revenue-raisers appear to be in short supply. Besides a few individual tax breaks, most of the expired provisions relate to energy or to specific industries. Democrats have been working on a more simplified structure for energy tax breaks, focused on renewable energy, and that initiative might replace many of the energy-related expired tax breaks. Lobbying activity continues in an effort to restore a number of these tax breaks, including credits for biodiesel and railroad track maintenance, but, as time passes without action, the number of expired provisions likely to receive retroactive extension, or any extension at all, continues to diminish.

My Dads impression............

You can still get a cordless handset to go with your office phone. Mine came with a desktop phone plus a cordless handset. Local 5.8GHz communication, so it's not wifi-signal-dependent.

I've taken my cordless phone into the bathroom more than once.

I am on everybody's side, and it was not my intention to get into what is good and what is not about the provisions of the law. I was strictly looking at the tax implications for my client based on a situation that he had no control over that is now going to put him into debt to the government for the foreseeable future . I just am flabbergasted at how the IRS and congress have put so much uncertainty into the pricing of the required insurance, and the way you can be punished for not being good at predicting the future. I wish they would put some certainty into the pricing (taxing) model they are using. That way, in November when you go to sign up for the next year, you can make an informed decision on the choice to buy or pay the penalty. If I knew at the beginning of the year that the penalty was 2.5K for not having the insurance, and the cost was 2.5K per month to insure my family, they I could make the choice based on certainty. Right now, there is no way to know what the cost of the insurance really is until you have prepared your tax return. And added up the income of the rest of the family. Can you imagine telling your 17 year old to not get a job after graduating high school because it will increase the cost of your insurance tax? Tom Modesto, CA

On the other hand, I have met other accountants who previously could not get any health insurance due to pre-existing conditions. For people like them, the ACA has been a lifesaver! So, yes it's a PITA, but it's saved the lives of many of our fellow citizens.