Prior to adoption of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) that was signed into law on Dec. 22, 2017, the last major tax overhaul of the U.S. tax system was in 1986.

Coincidentally, that was at the time I was studying income taxation as an undergrad and I can still vividly remember the extensive changes that occurred in 1986.

Though much less extensive, and with the majority of the changes relating to business, the TCJA still warrants a closer look at its potential impact on individuals.

Take a look at the following scenarios and see which one might be closest to your personal situation based on income, filing status and family dynamics.

In our first scenario, let’s assume you are single with an adjusted gross income (AGI) of $50,000 for tax year 2017.

If you don’t itemize, but rather take the standard deduction of $6,350 and one personal exemption at $4,050, you will have taxable income of $39,600.

This results in a tax liability of $5,638.60.

In 2018, assume the same $50,000 AGI, but your standard deduction increases to $12,000 and personal exemptions are eliminated, resulting in taxable income of $38,000.

Based on the reduced tax rates and higher limits for each marginal bracket, your tax liability would be $4,369.50, a tax savings of $2,201.75, or 34 percent.

In our next scenario, let’s assume you’re married with no children and have an AGI of $100,000 for tax year 2017.

Your personal exemption for two people is $8,100 and we’ll assume the following itemized deductions: $7,000 for mortgage interest, $3,000 for charitable contributions and $4,000 for state and local taxes.

Total itemized deductions of $14,000 are higher than the standard deduction of $12,700, so you’ll itemize.

This results in taxable income of $77,900 and a tax liability of $10,952.50.

In 2018, assuming the same AGI and itemized deduction amounts, you would take the higher standard deduction of $24,000 instead of itemizing, but your personal exemptions are eliminated, resulting in taxable income of $76,000.

Your resulting tax liability would be $8,739, a tax savings of $2,213.50, or 20 percent.

Let’s use this same scenario (married with $100,000 AGI), but assume you claim three children on your taxes.

In 2017, the additional personal exemptions lower your taxable income to $65,750 or a tax liability of $8,930.

However, you will have a $3,000 child tax credit which lowers your final tax liability to $5,930.

In 2018, everything would be the same as the calculation above, except that your child tax credit is now $6,000 which lowers your final tax liability to $2,739, as tax savings of $3,191, or 54 percent.

Here’s one final example showing how these tax changes would affect you if you were single with an AGI of $1,000,000.

We’ll assume you have charitable contributions of $40,000 and state and local taxes of $45,000.

For 2017, your taxable income would be $915,000 with a tax liability of $318,158.85.

Using this same criteria for 2018, you could still itemize the full $40,000 of charitable contributions, but your state and local taxes are limited to a maximum of $10,000, resulting in taxable income of $950,000.

Your tax liability would be $317,189.50, a tax savings of $969.35, or 0.3 percent.

Although there are too many variables to discuss every possible tax situation, these scenarios should give you a glimpse of the potential effect of the recent tax changes for individuals.

Keep in mind that there are many other changes relating to companies and corporations that could affect you beyond your individual tax filing.

Country singer, Grammy award winner and creator of the Jimmy Dean sausage brand once said, “I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.”

How can you adjust to benefit from the recent tax changes?

Wendy Bennett is a senior financial adviser in Butler.