Thanks for the clarification about the SSIB not applying when overall income is less than the specified maximum for filing status. I had skipped over that provision, as I immediately started looking at possible reasons the deduction might not be available.
Looks like I have a new deduction to factor in to my tax planning spreadsheet! :)
I think there's a potential error or imprecision in this comment and in some of the comments above.
The starts of the phase-out ranges for SSTB and also for W-2 wages and depreciable property begin at
taxable income of $157,500 for single people and at
taxable income of $315,000 for married folks.
E.g., married taxpayers, earning their $515,000 of income totally from an SSTB, qualify for the full deduction even as professionals if they have $200K of deductions for pensions, mortgage, charity etc.
Also, some other FYIs, we're seeing a number of areas where people (to this point, tax accountants) are struggling with the new deduction:
https://evergreensmallbusiness.com/section-199a-qualified-business-income-deduction-danger-zones/Also, curiously and disturbingly, the draft instructions for Section 199A don't seem to match the proposed regulations--and suggest the final regulations (available in a few weeks?) will be less taxpayer friendly:
https://evergreensmallbusiness.com/irs-pub-535-section-199a/This is pretty far into the weeds, but some of us tax nerds are beginning to talk about whether we file returns for 2018 using the possibly taxpayer-friendly rules in proposed regulations or wait for the final regs or think about doing analyses of proposed vs final regulations for people.
A general warning to people who have their returns prepared by CPAs, etc. You probably want to either turn your stuff in earlier and/or cleaner... or accept an extended return if you turn stuff in late or needing cleanup.