Key Changes In Place For Arizona Tax Returns Filed This Year

ARIZONA — With the Arizona and federal income tax return filing season beginning yesterday, many are still awaiting their end-of-year tax documents from employers, lenders, banks, charities and others. In the meantime, here’s what you need to know about the Arizona income tax changes effective now for tax-year 2019 income tax returns. The changes are:

• Arizona standard deduction amounts will now match the federal amounts: $24,400 for married filing jointly, $12,200 for married filing separate or single, and $18,350 head of household.
• State dependent and personal exemption amounts were removed.
• A tax credit of $25 is enacted for each dependent age 17 and older, while a tax credit of $100 is available per child dependent age 16 and younger. This credit cannot be claimed by those with Federal Adjusted Gross Income (FAGI) of more than $200,000 for head of household, single or married filing separately. For married filing jointly, an income more than $400,000 inactivates this credit.
• Arizona taxpayers can raise their standard deduction by one-fourth the monetary value of their charitable donations "that would have been claimed as an itemized deduction," according to Arizona Department of Revenue officials.

Additionally, for tax-year 2019, there are now four rather than five tax brackets in Arizona:

Single:

$0 - $26,500: 2.59 percent

$26,501 - $53,000: 3.34 percent

$53,001 - $159,000: 4.17 percent

$159,001 and more: 4.50 percent

Married:

$0 - $53,000: 2.59 percent

$53,001 - $106,000: 3.34 percent

$106,001 - $318,000: 4.17 percent

$318,001 and more: 4.50 percent

Arizona Department of Revenue officials say electronically filing income taxes is a more secure and efficient way of filing; it also results in taxpayers receiving their income tax refunds about two weeks faster than mail-ins.

The deadline to file your state and federal income tax returns is April 15.