IRS announces several "Tax Benefits Increase Due to Inflation Adjustments for the tax year 2012."

Per the IRS, "for tax year 2012, personal exemptions and standard deductions will rise and tax brackets will widen due to inflation."

Due to the existing Tax Law, "the dollar amounts for a variety of tax provisions, affecting virtually every taxpayer, must be revised each year to keep pace with inflation." Thus, the New dollar amounts affecting 2012 returns, filed by most taxpayers in early 2013, include the following:

The value of each personal and dependent exemption, available to most taxpayers, is $3,800, up $100 from 2011.

The new standard deduction is $11,900 for married couples filing a joint return, up $300, $5,950 for singles and married individuals filing separately, up $150, and $8,700 for heads of household, up $200. Nearly two out of three taxpayers take the standard deduction, rather than itemizing deductions, such as mortgage interest, charitable contributions and state and local taxes.

Tax-bracket thresholds increase for each filing status. For a married couple filing a joint return, for example, the taxable-income threshold separating the 15-percent bracket from the 25-percent bracket is $70,700, up from $69,000 in 2011.

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