The expiration of Bush-era tax cuts. A patch to the alternative minimum tax. An increase in capital gains taxes.
As the "fiscal cliff" approaches, all of these are possible, but none certain. That uncertainty solicits many questions from anxious taxpayers. But, for accountants and financial planners, there are a few definitive answers.
Financial professionals who spoke with NPR say they are not strangers to uncertainty. When the Bush tax cuts were up for expiration two years ago, for instance, the feeling was similar.
"Every time there's a significant change in tax law, you have to retool and learn things," says Mark Burger, a CPA in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.
But the fiscal cliff, with its host of associated changes, presents a challenge unlike anything the pros have dealt with in the past.
"The difference this year is the volume and the unprecedented amount of issues coming at the same time," says Ed Karl, vice president of taxation of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.
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