Late last year, Congress passed the biggest federal tax overhaul in decades, a change which is unofficially referred to as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. Originally intended to simplify tax filings, it did anything but. What do these tax changes mean to individuals with disabilities and their families? The answer depends on where they fall in the tax brackets.

For many individuals and families, the tax savings will be less than had been signaled by Congress and the White House. While individual tax rates dropped slightly and the standard deduction doubled, the personal exemption has been discontinued. Rates for capital gains, qualified dividends and net investment income stayed the same. Many itemized deductions were repealed and those that remain should be weighed against the improved standard deduction, both in terms of actual savings and the increased complexity of the filing process. As a rule of thumb, 2017's tax changes will prove most beneficial to families with adjusted gross incomes of $60,000 or more.

Read the full article, "What the Federal Tax Overhaul Means for Families with Special Needs," written by James M. McCarten.