Guides, IRS Updates &
Planning Strategies

OBBBA restored the Form 1099-K reporting threshold to $20,000 and 200 transactions for 2025 and beyond, reversing the $600 rule. The year-by-year history, the caveats (payment cards, state rules, personal payments), the 1099-NEC jump to $2,000 — and why your income is still taxable.

The complete guide to OBBBA — the four new deductions (tips, overtime, seniors, car-loan interest), the bigger Child Tax Credit and $40,000 SALT cap, the 1099 threshold changes, Trump Accounts, and the TCJA provisions made permanent — with calculators for each.

Your e-file bounced? A plain-English reference to the most common IRS rejection codes — IND-031-04 (prior-year AGI), R0000-507-01 (dependent already claimed), F8962-070 (missing Form 8962), IP-PIN and name/SSN mismatches — with the exact fix for each and how to refile.

Up to 85% of benefits can be taxable in 2026, based on your combined income. The thresholds by filing status, how much is actually taxed, what OBBBA’s $6,000 senior deduction really does, and the “no tax on Social Security” myth — with the calculators to check.

The 2026 long-term capital gains brackets (0/15/20%) by filing status, short- vs long-term treatment, the 3.8% Net Investment Income Tax, the 28%/25% special rates, the home-sale exclusion, and the planning levers — with the calculator to run a sale.

Up to $8,231 for 2026, fully refundable. The credit amounts and income limits by filing status and number of children, the $12,200 investment-income cap, the childless-worker rules, and how the EITC's qualifying-child tests differ from the CTC's.

$2,200 per qualifying child for 2026, up to $1,700 refundable. The income phase-outs ($200K / $400K), the new OBBBA SSN rules, the eight qualifying-child tests, and the $500 Credit for Other Dependents — with the calculator to run it.

Every key 2026 federal number in one place — income tax brackets, standard deduction, long-term capital gains, AMT, Child Tax Credit, EITC, and QBI thresholds from IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32, with the calculators to run them.

The new senior deduction is worth up to $6,000 per person 65+ for 2025–2028 — but it's temporary, phases out fast above $75k/$150k MAGI, and is widely confused with "no tax on Social Security." Here's the clean version for preparers.

An unreasonably low salary is the IRS's most common S-corp audit trigger. Here's how to set a defensible figure — the factors the IRS weighs, the wage-data methods that hold up, and what reclassification actually costs across open years.

The IRS sends roughly 200 million notices a year. Most are routine; a few signal something serious. This guide walks through the most common notices, what each one means, the response window it opens, and where it sits in the collections sequence.

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act made §199A permanent and widened the phase-in ranges starting 2026. Here's what changed, the new $400 minimum deduction for active small business owners, and the planning conversations to be having with pass-through clients now.

Bonus depreciation dropped to 40% in 2025, down from 60% last year. Here's exactly how that changes asset planning conversations with business clients — and when Section 179 becomes the smarter choice.

First-time penalty abatement is one of the most underused IRS relief options available. If a client has a clean 3-year compliance history, you may be able to eliminate failure-to-file or failure-to-pay penalties with a single phone call.

The Section 199A phase-out for specified service trades or businesses (SSTBs) catches a lot of clients — lawyers, doctors, consultants, accountants — by surprise. Here's a clear walkthrough of the 2025 thresholds and how to calculate the limitation.