What The One Big Beautiful Bill Act Will Mean For You And Your Business—An Explain

Forbes

12 hours ago

WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 03: Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) (C) and Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) (2nd R) celebrate with fellow Republican lawmakers after the One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed the House of Representatives at the U.S. Capitol on July 03, 2025 in Washington, DC. The House passed the sweeping tax and spending bill after winning over fiscal hawks and moderate Republicans. (Photo by) Getty Images
The House passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) on Thursday, July 3, with a narrow 218 to 214 vote. With all Representatives showing up despite some dicey weather, the vote proceeded largely along party lines with only two Republicans, Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.) and Thomas Massie (Ky.) voting no. (If you're scratching your head on the math, there are currently three vacancies in the House following the deaths of Sylvester Turner, Raul Grijalva, and Gerry Connolly.)
Earlier in the week, Senate Republicans passed the bill with a 51-50 vote after three Republicans—Sens. Susan Collins (Maine), Rand Paul (Ky.), and Thom Tillis (N.C.)—joined Democrats in voting no. Vice President JD Vance cast the tiebreaker vote.
The 887-page bill now moves to the desk of President Donald Trump, where it is expected to be signed into law.
The bill makes permanent several of the expiring tax cuts contained in Trump's signature 2017 tax legislation—the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA). It would also sweeten some of those cuts. The beneficiaries of the most recent proposal are largely individuals. But that's because in the TCJA, many of the tax benefits for individuals were set to expire at the end of 2025, while the corporate tax breaks were made permanent. In the new bill, some of the tax cuts are again set to expire, typically after the current administration leaves office.
Income Tax Rates. We currently have seven (7) tax brackets: 10%, 12%, 22%, 24%, 32%, 35%, and 37%. The top rate, in particular, reflects a reduction resulting from the TCJA. (You can take a look at how those break down for 2025—as well as other tax items—here.) OBBBA makes those personal income tax rates and brackets permanent.
Capital Gains. If you hold assets for one year or less, any capital gain at sale or disposal is considered short-term and generally taxed at your ordinary income tax rate. If you hold assets for more than one year before disposing of them, your capital gain is considered long-term and is taxed at rates of up to 20%. There is no difference in capital gains rates under OBBBA, but the brackets will be adjusted.
Standard Deduction. The TCJA doubled the standard deduction amounts from the earlier levels, but that was temporary. For 2025, the standard deduction was $15,000 for individuals and married couples filing separately, $30,000 for married couples filing jointly, and $22,500 for heads of household. Under OBBBA, the increased standard deduction is made permanent.
Additional Standard Deduction. Currently, if you are over age 65 or blind in 2025, you can tack on $1,600 to your standard deduction ($2,000 for unmarried taxpayers). Under OBBBA, seniors would be eligible to claim a new, temporary deduction of $6,000 beginning in 2025—the deduction would expire in 2028. The deduction would be available to taxpayers who itemize and those who claim the standard deduction. It phases out at 6% beginning at $150,000 for taxpayers filing jointly and $75,000 for all other taxpayers. Phase-outs mean that the credit is reduced as your income increases. In this case, the deduction will not be available to taxpayers with income exceeding $250,000 for joint filers and $125,000 for all other taxpayers. The deduction would be in effect from 2025 through 2028. This is a stand-in for the 'no tax on Social Security'—there is no separate provision. According to the White House, under current law, 64% of seniors do not pay tax on Social Security benefits and that will bump up to 88% under OBBBA.
Personal Exemptions. Currently, the personal exemption amount for yourself, your spouse, and each of your dependents is zero—that was a change under the TCJA. Under OBBBA, the personal exemption amounts are permanently repealed.
Child Tax Credit. The child tax credit allows families a tax break of up to $2,000 per qualifying child. The child tax credit is income-dependent and subject to phase-out. For married taxpayers filing a joint return, the phase-out begins at $400,000—it's $200,000 for all other taxpayers. In this case, the reduction is $50 for each $1,000 by which your modified adjusted gross income, or MAGI, exceeds the threshold amount. Under OBBBA, the credit will increase to $2,200 per child, adjusted for inflation. The credit remains subject to phase-outs. The bill would also require that the child have a valid Social Security number to qualify—a provision that already exists—and would require both parents to have a valid Social Security number.
Student Loans. Under current law, student loans discharged due to death or disability may qualify for an exclusion from gross income (normally, discharges of debt are considered taxable income). Under OBBBA, this provision would be extended so the tax treatment will not change.
Section 529 Accounts. A section 529 plan is a tax-advantaged savings plan designed to encourage saving for education expenses. As written, earnings in 529 plans grow tax-free, and withdrawals for qualified education expenses are also tax-free. OBBBA allows tax-free distributions from section 529 plans to be used for a number of additional educational expenses in connection with enrollment or attendance at an elementary or secondary school (including private schools and religious schools). The bill would also allow tax-free distributions to be used for additional qualified higher education expenses, including 'qualified postsecondary credentialing expenses'—this is similar to the criteria for the Lifetime Learning Credit.
Pease Limitations. The so-called Pease limitations are named after former Rep. Don Pease (D-Ohio) and cap or phase out some itemized deductions (those include medical and dental expenses, charitable contributions, casualty and theft losses, and gambling losses) once your adjusted gross income (AGI) reaches certain limits. Under the TCJA, there is no overall limit on itemized deductions. Under OBBBA, the Pease limitations are eliminated permanently. In its place, the value of itemized deductions will be limited to 35 cents on the dollar, resulting in a small haircut for taxpayers at the highest marginal rate.
State and Local Tax (SALT) Deductions. Currently, if you itemize your deductions, you can deduct state and local income taxes or sales taxes, and you can deduct state and local property taxes only up to a $10,000 cap, often referred to as the SALT cap. OBBBA raises the SALT cap to $40,000 with a 1% increase in the cap each year but only until 2029 (it goes back to $10,000 in 2030). A phase-down applies for taxpayers with modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) over $500,000—unlike a phaseout, which eliminates the deduction, a phase simply reduces it.
Mortgage Interest Deduction. Currently, you may only deduct interest on acquisition indebtedness—your mortgage used to buy, build, or improve your home—up to $750,000, or $375,000 for married taxpayers filing separately. As a nod towards mortgages in effect before the TCJA, taxpayers with mortgage debt incurred on or before December 15, 2017, may deduct interest on the first $1 million of debt—or $500,000 for married taxpayers filing separately—of combined mortgage debt. Importantly, the deduction for interest on home equity debt (meaning re-fis not related to improving your home) was eliminated. Those caps are set to expire at the end of 2025. Under OBBBA, the new lower mortgage cap is made permanent.
Charitable Deductions. Currently, only taxpayers who itemize can claim charitable donations to qualified charitable organizations as a deduction (additional rules apply). Under OBBBA, the deduction has been expanded to include a permanent 'above-the-line' deduction for taxpayers who do not itemize their deductions. Beginning in 2026, taxpayers who do not itemize can claim a deduction of up to $1,000 ($2,000 for those taxpayers who are married filing jointly) for certain charitable contributions. Taxpayers who itemize are subject to a new limit on deductions—new carryover rules would also apply. OBBBA also makes the 60% contribution limit for cash gifts to qualified charities permanent.
Casualty and Theft Loss Deductions. The TCJA repealed the deduction for personal casualty and theft losses except for losses attributable to a federal disaster area through 2025. Under OBBBA, the casualty and theft loss repeal is made permanent (the exception for federal disasters remains in place).
Miscellaneous Itemized Deductions. Before the TCJA, if you itemized your deductions, you could deduct those miscellaneous deductions that exceeded 2% of your adjusted gross income (AGI). Under the TCJA, those deductions, including unreimbursed employee expenses, home office expenses, and tax preparation expenses, were temporarily eliminated through the end of 2025. Under OBBBA, miscellaneous itemized deductions subject to the 2% floor are permanently eliminated.a
AMT Exemption. The alternative minimum tax (AMT) is a secondary tax designed to prevent the wealthy from artificially reducing their tax bill through the use of tax preference items. Under the TCJA, taxpayers benefited from a higher AMT exemption and an increase in the income levels subject to phase-out. In 2025, the AMT exemption amount for single filers is $88,100 and begins to phase out at $626,350, while the AMT exemption amount for married couples filing jointly is $137,000 and begins to phase out at $1,252,700. Under OBBBA, there is an inflation adjustment to the AMT exemption and the exempt amounts are made permanent.
Moving Expense Reimbursements. Currently, only members of the armed forces can exclude employer reimbursements for moving expenses due to a change in employment—the previous rule that allowed all eligible taxpayers to claim the exclusion was eliminated under the TCJA. Under OBBBA, this provision would be extended so that the tax treatment will not change.
Gambling Losses. Under the TCJA, eligible taxpayers can deduct gambling losses to the extent they do not exceed their winnings (winnings must be reported as income)—they can also deduct related expenses. If the provision were allowed to expire, gambling losses would no longer include related expenses for casual gamblers (pros will still be able to deduct ordinary and necessary expenses). Under OBBBA, this provision is made permanent, but losses are limited to 90% of the amount in excess of gains from the taxable year. What About Those New Individual Tax Provisions?
Yes, those new provisions survived—those that weren't a part of the TCJA—they're in the bill. They are also all temporary. Here's a look: Money Accounts For Growth And Advancement ('MAGA' Accounts). Under OBBBA, there's a new tax-favored account to benefit children under age eight. Parents would be able to contribute up to $5,000 per year to the account, adjusted for inflation, and money could not be withdrawn before the beneficiary turns 18. After that, money can be used to pay for college, a first-time home purchase, or to start a business—with withdrawals taxed at favorable capital gains rates. And while there won't be $5,000 checks for new babies, there would be a temporary plan to allow for government deposits of $1,000 for qualifying children born between December 31, 2024, and January 1, 2029. To be eligible, the child needs to be a U.S. citizen at birth. There are no income limits or phaseouts. No Tax On Tips. Tip income would be temporarily deductible—only for tax years 2025 through 2028—for individuals in traditionally and customarily tipped industries who do not itemize. The deduction is limited to $25,000 of reported tips. And don't let those social media threads on 'cash only tips' throw you—the deduction applies to cash or cash-equivalent tips (including credit cards). Highly compensated employees (those who make more than $160,000 in 2025) would be excluded.
Tip income would be temporarily deductible—only for tax years 2025 through 2028—for individuals in traditionally and customarily tipped industries who do not itemize. The deduction is limited to $25,000 of reported tips. And don't let those social media threads on 'cash only tips' throw you—the deduction applies to cash or cash-equivalent tips (including credit cards). Highly compensated employees (those who make more than $160,000 in 2025) would be excluded. No Tax On Overtime. Workers who receive overtime will be eligible for a deduction for qualified overtime pay of $12,500 ($25,000 for married filing joint filers). The deduction would also apply to taxpayers who do not itemize and would also be temporary—only for tax years 2025 through 2028. The deduction phases out for taxpayers with income over $150,000 ($300,000 for married filing jointly)—that means the maximum deduction would disappear at $275,000 for single filers.
Workers who receive overtime will be eligible for a deduction for qualified overtime pay of $12,500 ($25,000 for married filing joint filers). The deduction would also apply to taxpayers who do not itemize and would also be temporary—only for tax years 2025 through 2028. The deduction phases out for taxpayers with income over $150,000 ($300,000 for married filing jointly)—that means the maximum deduction would disappear at $275,000 for single filers. No Taxes On Car Loan Interest. Car loan interest used to be deductible until 1986, when Congress decided that it, along with other consumer loan interest, encouraged spending and discouraged saving. Now, a temporary provision would make auto loan interest deductible (but only for cars assembled in the U.S.) in tax years 2025 through 2028. The deduction would be limited to $10,000 and subject to phase-outs for individuals with income above $100,000 (for single filers) or $200,000 (for married taxpayers filing jointly). And autos only—campers and RVs are excluded. What Happened To Clean Energy Credits?
OBBBA eliminated most individual credits for clean energy, including the clean vehicle credits for cars, the energy-efficient home improvement credit, the residential clean energy credit, and the new energy-efficient home credit. The repeal takes effect 180 days from the date of the bill (if the bill is signed on July 4, 2025, that should be December 31, 2025) except for the new energy-efficient home credit—that's eliminated 12 months from the date of enactment (so, likely July 4, 2026). What About The Estate Tax?
Federal Estate Taxes. Under the TCJA, the federal estate tax remained in place, but the federal estate exemption amount doubled. For 2025, the exemption amount for decedents is $13,990,000 per person or $27,980,000 per married couple. It was set to revert to its pre-TCJA dollars—about half the current amount—at the end of 2025. Under OBBBA, the exemption boost has been made permanent, with the exclusion amount weighing in at $15,000,000 in 2026, and adjusted for inflation in future years. Do Businesses Get A Break?
Of course! The only way OBBBA was going to get through the business-friendly Senate was to extend some tax benefits to corporations, too. Keep in mind that many of the TCJA provisions for businesses, like tax cuts, were already permanent, so there wasn't any need to extend those.
Pass-Through Entities. Businesses use structures like limited liability companies (LLCs) or S corporations to pass income through to the owners without paying tax at the company level. Instead, income is taxed at individual rates. Currently, owners of pass-through companies and sole proprietors are taxed at their individual tax rates, less a 20% deduction (to lower the rate) for business-related income, subject to certain wage limits and exceptions. This provision is referred to as the pass-through entity deduction or the Section 199A deduction and is set to expire at the end of 2025, thanks to the TCJA. Under OBBBA, the section 1999A deduction is permanent. The larger deduction, as proposed by the House (23%), did not make the cut, so the deduction remains 20%.
Pass-Through Entity Tax (PTET) Deduction. Since the TCJA capped SALT deductions for individuals at $10,000, many states adopted PTET workarounds, which allowed pass-through entities (like partnerships and S-corporations) to pay state income taxes at the entity level, rather than individual owners paying at the personal level, effectively reducing the pass-through entity's income. Under OBBBA, the PTET deduction remains largely the same as before.
Section 1202 Small Business Stock. Section 1202 provides an exclusion from gain upon the sale of "qualified small business stock" (QSBS). Basically, the amount of gain you can exclude from federal income tax when selling QSBS depends on the date you purchased it OBBBA continues the tiered system for section 1202 stock: 50% for stock held for at least three years, 75% for stock held for at least four years, and 100% for stock held for at least five years. Additionally, the exclusion limitation increases from $10 million to $15 million, adjusted for inflation.
Expensing. Businesses must generally write off the costs of assets over their "useful life"—a number of years based on the kind of asset. With bonus depreciation, businesses can immediately deduct those costs, subject to certain limits. Under the TCJA, 100% bonus depreciation was only allowed through 2022, subject to a phaseout that would allow a deduction for 80% of costs in 2023 and 60% in 2024. Under OBBBA, the 100% bonus depreciation provision is made permanent. The section 179 expensing provision limit is boosted to $2.5 million, indexed for inflation, with a phase-out beginning at $4 million..
Research and Development. Under current law, the R&D credit allows businesses to write off qualifying R&D expenditures, but they must amortize those costs over five years. The credit had expired. Under OBBBA, full expensing for domestic R&D expenses would be made permanent.
Employee Retention Credit (ERC). The ERC allowed a tax credit for eligible employers, those that paid qualified wages to some or all employees during the COVID-19 pandemic. After the pandemic, the IRS saw a significant uptick in claims, leading to a moratorium on new claims processing. Under OBBBA, the IRS cannot issue refunds for unpaid claims filed after January 31, 2024. There are also additional penalties for ERC mill promoters, and it extends the statute of limitations (the time that the IRS has to go back and revisit the claim) to six years from the date of the claim.
GILTI and Other Foreign Income Provisions. The TCJA marked a dramatic change in how foreign profits were taxed. For years, the U.S. had struggled with how to treat companies that earned profits overseas. Generally, our global tax system imposes tax on all income earned by U.S. taxpayers, regardless of where it is earned. However, in some circumstances, companies could avoid U.S. tax by holding foreign profits overseas indefinitely. The TCJA made significant changes to encourage companies to repatriate earnings. To ensure that foreign profits that had not yet been taxed didn't completely escape taxation, the new law imposed a tax on existing foreign profits that had not yet been repatriated. Under OBBBA, a tax break for offshore profits (the wonderfully-named global intangible low-taxed income, or GILTI deduction, which happily was not changed) would be made permanent—the section 250 deduction for GILTI will be 40%, while the foreign tax credit reduction is 10%. OBBBA also reduces the foreign-derived Intangible Income (FDII, pronounced 'Fih-dee') deduction to 33.34%, bringing the effective tax rate after adjustments to about the same as the GILTI rate. Qualified Business Asset Investment (QBAI) is eliminated for purposes of determining the GILTI or FDII deduction. The Base Erosion and Anti-Abuse Tax (BEAT) was also permanently increased from 10% to 10.5%. What About Colleges?
There was a lot of chatter about taxes and changes to the tax system for colleges. In the end, the most signficant change was this one:
Higher Taxes For Colleges. As part of the TCJA, some universities were subject to a 1.4% tax on the net investment income from their endowments. Under OBBBA, the endowment excise tax will increase on a sliding scale from 1.4% to as much as 8%. What Didn't Make It Into The Bill?
It's a big bill, but it could have been bigger. Some provisions that didn't make it into the final version include: Corporate tax rate reduction (proposals were as low as 15%)
The so-called 'millionaire's tax' on those making over $2.5 million annually
Tax on carried interest
Higher tax for private foundations
Corporate SALT cap
Reductions in the capital gains tax rate
The revenge tax—a retaliatory tax to punish countries thought to tax the U.S. unfairly How Much Does The Bill Cost?
The Congressional Budget Office, a nonpartisan group responsible for scoring the budget, projects that the bill would increase federal deficits over the next 10 years by nearly $3.3 trillion from 2025 to 2034.
Some of the bill is paid for by cutting funding for Medicaid, food assistance for the poor (SNAP), as well as rolling back tax breaks for clean energy. The bill also raises the debt limit by $5 trillion. What Comes Next?
In some respects, it's business as usual—provisions that were simply extended won't require any heavy lifting. Other changes will be significant (for example, a redesign of Form W-2, since the current form doesn't have an overtime line), and will require additional responses from the Treasury (for example, the bill directs the Treasury to develop a list of 'traditionally tipped industries').
Tax professionals will be busy in the weeks to come, sorting through how this will impact individual taxpayers. It could also present some planning opportunities for businesses—check back in with Forbes for more detailed coverage and chat with your tax professional to see which tax planning strategies might work for you. Forbes IRS Announces 2025 Tax Brackets, Standard Deductions And Other Inflation Adjustments By Kelly Phillips Erb Forbes Senate Passes One Big Beautiful Bill Despite One Big Not-So-Beautiful Price Tag By Kelly Phillips Erb