OBBBA Tax Law Changes | Free CFP Lesson

The CFP Board's OBBBA briefing runs roughly forty pages. The exam tests perhaps a dozen specific changes. This lesson is the dozen, organized by where each one shows up on a tax return so the numbers stick to the right line.

HIGH-FREQUENCY: Five OBBBA items show up disproportionately in CFP question banks: SALT cap mechanics, the new senior bonus deduction, the child tax credit (CTC) bump to $$2, 200$ , the permanent $$15 M$ estate exemption, and the 0.5% AGI charitable floor. If a question stem mentions any of those, the OBBBA-era number is what the answer keys to.

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act was signed July 4, 2025. It made permanent most of the individual provisions in the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that were scheduled to sunset at the end of 2025, and it added several new provisions. For CFP candidates, OBBBA matters because the exam tests 2026 law. Every dollar threshold, every limit, every phase-out you compute uses the OBBBA-era number, not the pre-OBBBA number.

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Common mistakes

Using the pre-OBBBA SD or SALT cap. A surprisingly common error: the candidate runs numbers using the $$13, 850$ single SD or the $$10, 000$ SALT cap. Every 2026 calculation uses $$16, 100$ / $$32, 200$ / $$24, 150$ and $$40, 000$ (with phase-down above $$500, 000$ MAGI).
Forgetting the SALT phase-down. The cap is $$40, 000$ only up to $$500, 000$ MAGI. Above that, every dollar of additional MAGI reduces the cap by 30 cents, floor at $$10, 000$ (reached at $$600, 000$ ). Trap: high-income filer's effective SALT cap is materially lower than $$40, 000$ .
Missing the age-65 additional standard deduction. At age 65+, an additional standard deduction stacks on top of the base. Single $$2, 050$ , MFJ $$1, 650$ per qualifying spouse. Trap: applying just the base $$32, 200$ for a retired MFJ couple where both spouses are 65+.

Bottom line

SALT cap raised to $$40, 000$ (from $$10, 000$ ). Phases down 30 cents per dollar of MAGI above $$500, 000$ ; floor $$10, 000$ reached at $$600, 000$ .
Standard deduction: $$16, 100$ single, $$32, 200$ MFJ, $$24, 150$ HoH. Age-65 additional standard deduction of $$2, 050$ single, $$1, 650$ per qualifying spouse MFJ.
Child tax credit raised to $$2, 200$ per qualifying child under 17. Refundable portion $$1, 700$ . Phaseout unchanged at $$200, 000$ / $$400, 000$ .
Estate, gift, and GST exemption permanently $$15, 000, 000$ . No TCJA sunset to $\sim $7 M$ in 2026. Rate above the exemption still 40%.

Exam shortcut

When a stem says "2026" or "post-OBBBA," every dollar threshold uses OBBBA-era values: $$40, 000$ SALT, $$16, 100$ / $$32, 200$ SD, $$2, 200$ CTC, $$15 M$ estate exemption. When SALT shows up with high income, run the phase-down: $Cap = $40, 000 - max (0, MAGI - $500, 000) \times 0.3$ , floor $$10, 000$ . When a senior is in the scenario, check ages first.

The full lesson (about 4,914 words, 33 min read) adds 2 worked examples, all 8 common mistakes, a self-check, free in the app.

Learning objectives

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