I don't believe this is correct. I think the AMT was only repealed for businesses but the personal AMT was raised to $1M threshold.

I think the idea of almost doubling the standard tax deduction and eliminating personal exemptions while also eliminating things that used to be deductible (uniforms, union dues, moving expenses, employer required medical exams, per diem differential between reimbursement rate and federal rate) is what is meant by making it less complicated. But it does add complexities such as limits or thresholds on SALT, mortgage interest, and AMT.

Overall, I think its less complicated for most people.

I think the limit was lowered to $750k.

The mortgage deduction limitation went down to 750K, but only for new mortgages. The million dollar limit remains the same. I think you can even refinance a current mortgage and still keep the old limits.

People who had high SALT deductions are definitely screwed.

So no more "pilot-related" "Job Expenses and Certain Miscellaneous Dections D (...unreimbursded employee expense - job travel, union dues, etc..)..??

Those were Line 21 on the Schedule A - 2016, Form 1040.

...those were a lot of small cats-and-dogs everyone chased around and added up each year.

No more deductions for uniforms, union dues, moving expenses, employer required medical exams, per diem differential between reimbursement rate and federal rate. Now we get double the standard deductions. So unless those things added up to more than double of the current standard deduction, you are better off.

Apparently those deductions go away. Quite a bit of irritation on other APC threads.

Not exactly. We also lost ALL exemptions ($4,050 per person, I believe). If you have children and itemized, particularly if you live in a high tax state, you are probably worse off. God forbid you have a lot of kids, you'll pay more for sure with the exemption loss.

That conversation was in regards to complexity. As for exemptions and kids, keep in mind that the new law also doubled the child tax credit to $2k. A credit is worth more than any exemption since that just lowers the taxable income whereas a credit lowers your total tax burden. So even if you have a lot of kids, you'll probably be getting more of tax break. For example, if you are currently in the 33% bracket, that $4050 exemption is worth $1337 in less taxes. With the $2k child tax credit, you get the whole $2k in less taxes. This also makes it less complicated since its a dollar for dollar decrease in taxes rather than trying to figure out the lower tax burden by having to take your possible tax bracket into consideration in order to make that calculation.

Again, every one needs to do their own calculation, but I believe the $2,000 child tax credit along with the expanded brackets and lower rates within these brackets will more than compensate for the loss of the personal exemption.

...Until your kid "ages out" of the "child tax credit"

"To qualify, a child must have been under age 17 (i.e., 16 years old or younger) at the end of the tax year for which you claim the credit. The child must be your own child, a stepchild, or a foster child placed with you by a court or authorized agency."

Most Juniors and Seniors in High School, and College age kids you supported, previously qualified for the exemption --- they won't qualify for the expanded child tax credit

Like most things in life, the affects of these tax changes will be very situational.

Except that the rules to qualify for as a dependent under the current law (not married, child tax credit not being claimed by someone else, not supporting themselves by more than half), is the same under the new law for the "family credit" of $500, refundable. You can use this family credit for dependents other than qualifying children as well. So you still get to keep some, albeit, only one fourth as much.