A Form 1098-T with box 5 bigger than box 1 is not a school error, and it usually does mean the student owes something. The number is smaller than it looks: a $68,000 award against a $48,000 tuition bill runs about $600 of federal tax.
Read post
A baby born on December 31 earns the same $2,200 child tax credit as one born in January. The part that costs new parents real money is the Social Security number deadline, and an amended return can't fix it.
Read post
Six years is the IRS's usual enforcement starting point, not permission to ignore older returns. Get the records, claim supported expenses, and protect any deadline already running.
Read post
The easier method can leave a larger deduction unused. For a freelancer renting an apartment, the same office can produce a $1,200 simplified deduction or $5,400 using actual expenses.
Read post
The year your spouse dies is the last year you can file a joint return, and the standard deduction is not prorated. The year after, the same $132,000 of income costs $9,659 more in federal tax and the rate on your last dollar goes from 12% to 24%.
Read post
Selling your old laptop doesn't turn the deposit into taxable profit. Separate each item's cost from its selling price, and don't use personal losses to erase a gain on something else.
Read postYour old plan holds back a flat 20% and wires you the rest, which is not the tax. Pull $48,000 out at 41 on top of $62,000 of 2026 wages and the federal cost is $14,910, with $5,310 of it still unpaid when you file.
Read post
An S corporation saves self-employment tax only on the profit above a reasonable salary. At $120,000 of profit the 2026 federal saving is $3,323, and payroll plus a second return takes most of it.
Read post
Dividing property in a divorce is tax-free under IRC §1041, but the basis follows the asset instead of resetting. Three columns worth $400,000 each on the decree can be worth $88,000 apart once the tax is paid.
Read post
Retiree returns leak money on five lines: taxable Social Security, IRA and pension distributions, a charitable gift the 1099-R usually won't flag, the income that sets Medicare premiums two years out, and the new $6,000 senior deduction. Here's what to check on each before you sign.
Read post
IRC §86 pulls up to 85% of your benefits into taxable income once provisional income clears $25,000 single or $32,000 joint, and those thresholds have not moved since 1993. The $6,000 senior deduction the 2025 law created is a separate deduction, not a repeal.
Read post
IRC §121 excludes $250,000 of gain on the sale of your main home, or $500,000 on a joint return, if you owned it and lived in it for two of the last five years. The expensive mistake is rarely the tax. It is calculating the gain wrong in the first place.
Read postWe pick weekly topics from the questions clients ask most. If there's something specific on your mind, send it our way.
Suggest a topic