The Dove Firm PLLC

The Treasury Department’s new tax withholding tables, based upon the recently passed tax reform bill, went into effect for all employers on February 15, 2018. That means that about 90% of all employees will see a decrease in tax withholding from their paychecks, resulting in an increase in take-home pay. The amount of the tax savings will of course vary from individual to individual, but as an example, a single taxpayer earning $50,000 a year will see his/her take-home pay go up by a little under $200 a month because of the lower withholding called for by the tax law changes.

The federal ABLE (“Achieving a Better Life Experience”) Program, signed into law in December, 2014, was created to encourage and assist individuals and families in saving funds for the purpose of supporting individuals with disabilities. The Texas ABLE program, enacted a year later and administered by the Texas Comptroller’s Office, is not yet open for enrollment, but the Texas Comptroller announced on February 16, 2018, that significant progress had been made on implementing the program. The program manager is completing the marketing, enrollment, and record-keeping websites and developing program material. No date has yet been announced as to when the Texas program will be open for enrollment. In the meantime, however, eligible Texas residents can open an account in any state with an active ABLE program that accepts out-of-state residents. Over twenty states currently have active ABLE programs, and most of those programs will accept Texas residents. Of further note, there have been som...