When the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) Act passed in 2017, we were told that all of the provisions—lower tax rates, much more generous estate tax exemption—would sunset at the end of 2025. That seemed a long way off back then. But now it’s 2024, less than two years before what could be a jarring shift in our tax regime. Soon, the top marginal tax rate is due to revert back to 39.6%. The standard deduction will drop to roughly half of today’s $14,600 (single) or $29,200 (joint). Most significantly, the estate tax exclusion—the amount that can be passed on to heirs without being taxed at the federal level—will drop from $13.61 million this year to somewhere around $6.5 million.

The Internal Revenue Service has (finally!) released the tax brackets for 2024, which are annually indexed for inflation. The top bracket is always the strangest; you would think that the filing joint returns threshold would be double the single filer threshold, as it is for the other brackets, but… Single taxpayers with adjusted gross income of $609,350 will be in the 37% bracket next year, while joint filers making $731,200 or more will fall into that top bracket.