New tax bill may delay early returns - Late changes include mortgage insurance deduction, other breaks

The hodgepodge tax bill that limped through the lame duck session of Congress last week was passed so late in the year that it may delay refunds and complicate the returns that millions of Americans will start to fill out next month.

Provisions of the bill, expected to be signed by President Bush this week, are not included on already-printed 2006 tax forms and some of the software programs used by individuals to prepare their returns.

The best advice for eager-beaver tax filers: Wait a bit for the red tape to un-snag.

"It makes it a little difficult from a practical standpoint for the IRS and for individual tax planning," said James Brandenburg, a certified public accountant with Kolb + Co. in Brookfield.

Terry Lemons, an IRS spokesman in Washington, agreed the late changes "could have an impact on refunds for people filing very early." He said the agency is studying the bill, and after it is signed will announce how people can claim the 2006 deductions it contains. People who get paper forms will receive an additional mailing, he said, while electronic filing procedures will be adjusted.

"We are going to do everything we can to minimize the impact," he said.

While the mechanics of the bill are a lump of coal for taxpayers, it contains a nicely wrapped gift long-sought by Milwaukee's MGIC Investment Corp.: deductibility of premiums on some of the mortgage insurance it sells.

The provision is only for 2007 and is among the least costly of the more than 200 changes made in the bill. But it is one of the most far-reaching for individuals.

In addition to the new mortgage insurance provision, the bill also extends some popular tax breaks, including the ability of teachers to take a $250 deduction for out-of-pocket classroom expenses and of college students to write off some tuition. It also makes Health Savings Accounts more attractive.

Both the HSA and mortgage insurance provisions were added at the insistence of U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, Republican from Janesville.

The HSA changes include the ability to make a one-time, tax-free transfer to an HSA from an Individual Retirement Account. Several technical provisions are aimed at making it easier for individuals and businesses to fund HSAs in a timely manner. The accounts allow people with approved high-deductible health insurance policies to pay their own costs from a tax-favored savings account.

The changes "clear away the statutory underbrush that made it more difficult to offer HSAs to people," Ryan said. He predicted they will allow the accounts to triple to covering about 9 million people in two years.

Allowing transfers from IRAs will let people meet their HSA costs more easily, he said, adding that the idea was given to him by a constituent in Kenosha.

The mortgage interest deduction is the result of a five-year collaboration between the industry and Ryan, said Curt Culver, chairman and chief executive officer of MGIC.

In general, mortgage insurance must be purchased by people who buy a house with a down payment of less than 20%. It covers the risk to the lender.

The new law "just changes consumers' perceptions about mortgage insurance, which today have been negative because they see it just as an added expense," Culver said.

Making matters worse from his perspective: Some buyers are being allowed to borrow their down payment through a second mortgage, so they do not need to buy insurance. The perceived advantage of that strategy is that all the mortgage interest is deductible. Making mortgage insurance premiums also deductible should take away some of that edge, Culver said.

Ryan sees the provision as a way to encourage home ownership by lower-income people, who are most often unable to come up with a 20% down payment. For them, insurance is "just part of the price of a mortgage," so it makes sense to allow the premiums to be deducted, he said. Only people with adjusted gross incomes of less than $100,000 can deduct all of their premiums. The deduction is phased out completely for people with adjusted gross incomes of more than $110,000.

The provision contains a potential trap for buyers, said Mark Luscombe, an analyst for CCH, a tax information firm in Riverwoods, Ill. "It will make people more likely to take out mortgage insurance, and maybe that mortgage insurance is more expensive than it needs to be," he said.

Another possible problem is the one-year length of the provision.

Ryan said he wanted to make the deduction permanent, but the cost in tax dollars was too high. According to his office, the one-year provision will cost the treasury about $91 million in lost revenue.

However, both he and Culver said they expect it to be extended by later Congresses, and Luscombe said that is a good possibility.

As for the 3.4 million teachers who claimed the $250 deduction for classroom expenses last year, CCH points out that they must spend another $250 this year to qualify for a deduction on their 2006 returns. "Year-end purchases made while school is out for the holidays will qualify for the deduction, even if they are not used in the classroom until 2007," CCH wrote in a recent report.

Among the other provisions in the bill:

--Extending the ability to deduct state and local sales taxes rather than state and local income taxes.

--Increasing the penalty for frivolous tax return submissions from $500 to $5,000.

--Extending the research and development tax credit for businesses.