Tax News

The tax deductions for 2026 look very different from just a few years ago. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), signed on July 4, 2025, raised the SALT cap and brought back the mortgage insurance deduction. It also created new write-offs for tips, overtime, car loan interest, and seniors.…

Hiring your children in the family business is one of the simplest legal ways to cut your family’s tax bill in 2026. The wages you pay are a deductible business expense. Your child can earn up to $16,100 this year and owe no federal income tax. If you run a…

Tax preparation during a government shutdown raises one question above all others. If the IRS sends half its staff home, does your return still get filed, and does your refund still arrive? The short answer is yes for most people, provided you file electronically and choose direct deposit. Filing deadlines,…

Trying to short-change the IRS is far riskier today than most taxpayers assume. If your tax return leaves out income or claims deductions you never paid for, the IRS can hit you with back taxes, interest, accuracy penalties, a 75 percent civil fraud penalty, and in willful cases, criminal charges.…

Household employee payroll tax applies when you hire someone to work in or around your home and you control both what they do and how they do it. Nannies, housekeepers, and in home caregivers are employees under IRS rules. That makes you a household employer, responsible for withholding, tax payments,…

A Spousal IRA lets a working spouse fund a retirement account in the name of a spouse who has little or no earned income, and for 2026 that means a married couple can set aside up to $15,000, or $17,200 if both spouses are age 50 or older. The IRS…

Tax preparation software is the engine behind almost every return filed in the United States today, and choosing the right platform decides how profitable and how compliant your filing season becomes. Whether you file a single Form 1040 or run a multi-office practice preparing thousands of returns, tax preparation software…

Yes, unemployment is taxable. At the federal level, every dollar of unemployment compensation counts as income and is taxed like wages. You report it on Schedule 1 of Form 1040 using the amount shown on the Form 1099-G your state sends you. There is no special federal exclusion for 2026.…

Filing taxes after moving to a new state usually means preparing two state returns for the year you relocated. You file a part-year resident return in the state you left and another in the state you moved to. Each state taxes only the income you earned while you lived there.…