Valerie $($age $52)$ &$.$ Stephen $($age $55)$ McNamara have been married for $25$ years and have one adult child, Tom, who is living on his own. They purchased their current home $7$ years ago for $$550,000.$ Valerie &$.$ stephen file joint tax returns. The table below summarizes their financial data for tax purposes. Use this information when you are answering the questions that follow.

Tax Item Amount

Stephen$$s Earnings $$100,000$

Valerie$$s Earnings $$120,000$

Federal Tax Withholdings $$22,700$

State Income Tax Withholdings $$11,750$

FICA & M$/$C $$15,683$

Savings Account Interest $(2\mathrm{.}5\%$ per year$)$ $$1,800$

State Refund from Prior Year $$1,200$

Home Mortgage Interest Paid $($original mortgage on home valued at $500,000.)$ $$12,500$

Real Estate Taxes Paid $$16,500$

Charitable Contributions $$1,000$

Unreimbursed Medical Expenses $$2,800$

Stock Ownership: Union Motor Company $($purchased $9$ months ago & which they still hold$)$ Current Value: $$4,000$ Cost basis: $$10,000$

Whole Life Insurance Policy Face Value: $$100,000$ Cash Value: $$8,800$

Owner: Stephen

Beneficiary: Valerie

Insured: Stephen

Policy Dividend: $$300$

The McNamaras itemized deductions for their federal return last year. Currently, neither Valerie nor Stephen has access to a qualified retirement plan through their work and they have not funded IRAs up

to this point in time. They have access to a section $125$ flexible spending account through Valerie's employer. To date, they have not funded the account. Open enrollment is coming up and lasts for the

next $30$ days. For purposes of solving this case, use the tax information shown below.

Please use this data to answer the questions in the Case Analysis. Show all formulas and computations. Justify all your responses completely. The Tax Tables are attached in the Appendix.

$1.$ Compute the McNamara$$s AGI. Show your work.

$6.$ Should the McNamaras itemize deductions for $2018$ or take the standard deduction? Show your computations.