If parenting or married life left you feeling down more days than not last year, take note, taxpayers. There might be something to smile about, thanks to the 2003 Tax Act.

Finally, married couples can take twice the standard deduction as single taxpayers. Parents with dependent children can take an additional $400 credit for qualified minors. And military personnel will see additional savings, such as a benefit for dependent-care assistance, said Kris Moore, an Internal Revenue Service spokeswoman for central and southern Illinois as well as Missouri.

But low- and middle-income married couples who don’t own a home have the most to gain from an increase in the standard deduction, said Tony Hutson, a partner in the tax department of Humes & Barrington, a certified public accounting firm in Kirkwood, Mo.

The new law provides temporary relief in the form of larger standard deductions for 2003, to $9,500 from $7,850 a year ago. Without the new rules, the standard deduction for 2003 would have been $7,950 for married couples.

The law also expands the amount of income taxed at 15 percent for married filers to twice that of single filers. Like the increased standard deduction, this applies only to 2003 and 2004 tax returns. For 2005 and future years, the doubling of the 15 percent bracket will change based on a schedule in the new law, as will the standard deduction for married couples.

The increase in the 15 percent bracket treats married couples the same way whether they file separately or jointly.

Married couples that file separately also may take twice the standard deduction allowed a single filer – $4,750 each – as long as neither itemizes deductions, Moore said.

“You have to do the same thing,” she said. “Either you both itemize or you both take the standard deduction, and you can’t use the same itemized deductions on both returns.”

But married couples who own a home could be disappointed, some experts say.

“If you make very much income or you can itemize, the increase in standard deduction doesn’t help you,” Hutson said.

Kelly Stockie, an architect in St. Louis, is skeptical that the latest tax cuts will have much meaning for his household, which includes his pregnant wife, Kasia, and two children.

“When you look at the bottom line and they say tax cut, it sounds like a great idea. You think that in the end, you’re going to benefit from them,” Stockie said. “But really, once it’s decoded, you realize that somebody else is getting the tax cut, not you.

“A middle-income family is, in my opinion, carrying a much greater load. We’re trying to get ahead, raise a family, and in my opinion, it seems like we’re the ones that are getting punished.”

The latest tax changes adjust incomes for inflation, which will allow taxpayers to earn more without being pushed into a higher tax bracket. But the standard deduction for head-of-household filers increased only $100, causing Powell to believe that she won’t see significant tax savings from that change.