OBBBA reset the AMT exemption phaseout thresholds to $500,000 and $1,000,000 for 2026 and doubled the phaseout rate to 50%. The number of incentive stock options you can exercise before the alternative minimum tax kicks in just shrank, and the marginal rate above the threshold is now an effective 42%. Here is the new crossover math.
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Two years of living in a former rental does not turn the whole gain tax-free. Since 2009, §121(b)(5) splits the gain between the years you rented and the years you lived there, and the depreciation you claimed never qualifies at all. Here is the three-step math to run before you move in.
Read postBrokers do not include the bargain element from an ESPP disqualifying disposition in the cost basis reported on Form 1099-B. Here is how the ESPP disqualifying disposition cost basis problem creates double tax, the Form 8949 code B adjustment that fixes it, and how to claim a refund before the §6511 window closes.
Read postTreasury Regulation §1.469-2(f)(6) recharacterizes rental income from property leased to your own S corporation as non-passive, while rental losses stay passive. Here's how the self-rental rule for S corp owners traps cost segregation deductions, what the Williams case settled, and how the §1.469-4 grouping election under Rev. Proc. 2010-13 unwinds it.
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IRC §280A(g) lets you rent your home to your S corporation for up to 14 days a year, deduct the rent on the business return, and exclude the income on your own. Here's how the Augusta rule works, the rate that survives an audit, and what the Sinopoli case teaches about doing it wrong.
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OBBBA created a 12-month window for qualified small businesses to undo the TCJA's Section 174 R&E capitalization and pull back three years of federal tax. Here's how the OBBBA Section 174 small business election works under Rev. Proc. 2025-28, the §280C(c) recoupling step that catches most preparers, and how state conformity changes the size of the refund.
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July 10, 2026 closed the main window for Kwong refund claims, but not every window. Here is where the case stands, what the IRS has said, and who can still file a Form 843 for COVID-era penalties and interest.
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Senate Bill 5813 added a 9.9% second tier to Washington's capital gains excise tax, retroactive to January 1, 2025. Here's how it hits RSU appreciation, what's still exempt, and where the residency planning angles live.
Read postCalifornia taxes the portion of your RSU income tied to workdays in California from grant to vest, even after you've left. Here's how the trailing tax works on Form 540NR, the planning angles around a relocation, and what New York and Massachusetts do with similar rules.
Read postThe One Big Beautiful Bill Act rewrote three of Section 1202's most important numbers: the holding period, the per-issuer cap, and the gross-assets test. Here's what the new QSBS math means for founders, early employees, and anyone weighing a C corporation conversion.
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Two strategies, cost segregation paired with a short-term rental or a spouse who qualifies as a real estate professional, can convert paper losses on real estate into deductions against W-2 income for households earning $500k and up.
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