Donating to charity is a great way to support organizations you care about, but not every charitable contribution comes with a tax deduction. One situation to be especially careful about is donating the right to use your vacation home to a nonprofit organization. Schools, churches, and other nonprofits sometimes accept vacation-home stays as prizes for fundraising dinners, galas, or charity auctions. While this may sound like a good way to support a cause and potentially rece

If you're claiming a net operating loss (NOL) carryover on your tax return, make sure you have the documentation to support it. If the IRS audits your return, you'll need to prove not only the amount of the loss you're carrying forward but also that the original NOL was valid in the first place. Simply providing copies of prior-year tax returns may not be enough. Taxpayers should keep records that support how the original loss was calculated and how it was carried forward fro

If you gamble, there are two major tax changes that took effect in 2026 that could affect your tax return. The first change impacts the deduction for gambling losses. Beginning with 2026 tax returns, taxpayers who itemize deductions can deduct only 90% of their gambling losses, and those losses can only be claimed up to the amount of their reported gambling winnings. This is a change from previous years, when qualifying losses could generally offset winnings dollar for dollar

Occasionally, clients call and ask why they received a penalty notice for failure to pay quarterly tax payments. The IRS did not enforce these penalties for a few years, beginning in 2020 due to the COVID shutdowns. They are clearly now assessing these again. There is a formula that determines how much and whether you should pay quarterly. The safest thing is to pay within $1,000 of what you will owe no later than January 15. For example: You owe $5,000 when filing you

Figuring out whether an activity is a hobby or a business can get complicated if you don't qualify for the IRS safe harbor rule. Instead of using one simple test, the IRS looks at the overall picture by considering several factors that help determine whether you're truly trying to make a profit. Some of the things they evaluate include your experience and knowledge, whether you seek advice from experts, how professionally you run the activity, how much time and effort you inv

One of the most common IRS audit red flags is reporting large losses from an activity that appears to be a hobby rather than a legitimate business. The IRS closely monitors taxpayers who repeatedly claim losses on Schedule C or Schedule F to offset wages, investment income, or other taxable earnings. It's important to understand the difference between a hobby and a business. While any income you earn from a hobby is taxable and must be reported as "Other Income" on Schedule 1

Some taxpayers do not realize the implications of losing a spouse, or a dependent child beginning to earn their own income. In the year you lose a spouse, you can still file a Married Joint tax return. In the year after your spouse passes, your filing status would change to Single (unless you have dependent children). This could create tremendous tax implications. We recommend that you come in and meet with us to discuss Your new tax situation for the first year you are f

We have noticed there is a need for some tax planning in this area. Taxpayers who have retirement accounts in the range of $500K or larger often have their own investment advisor. The advisor normally but not always will advise them on how to best take their distributions. The problem is with taxpayers with smaller IRA accounts, normally in the $100-250K range. They do not have their own investment advisor, and do not realize they may have a brewing problem. Here are 2

The filing deadline for Individual and C-Corp is April 15. We have begun filing extensions for these returns. Please let us know if you would like us to file an extension for you. We will try our best to ensure your extension is filed timely. If you do not receive a notification from us that the extension has been filed, then please let us know. We will probably be able to have your tax return completed by the filing deadline if we have already received your documents.

The IRS has recently issued a memo regarding reasonable compensation. This is a new initiative we can expect for them to begin enforcing. For business owners who are not paying themselves payroll, or who are significantly under-paying, we may need to review your compensation package in order to avoid a painful and costly payroll and reasonable compensation audit.

Please be aware that the IRS has imposed new requirements on paper check refunds. If you choose to not have direct deposit, your refund will be delayed several months. Additionally, we will need to have you sign an additional form, indicating you are choosing to have a paper check mailed to you.

There are 2 aspects to this. For any child born in 2025-2028, you can request and receive $1,000 in seed money from the government to fund the account. For all others, you can open an account for any child before the age of 18. Once opened, you can fund the account with after-tax dollars, up to $5K per year, per child. In the year the child turns 18, the account basically converts to an IRA with the cost basis of your cumulative contributions. This means that the contrib

This is a new tax deduction, beginning 2025. You can deduct loan interest paid for NEW vehicles purchased in 2025-2028. There are a few criteria, including it must have been assembled in the US.

The Sunbiz Annual Report filing is due by May 1. We have a list of clients to automatically file these for each year. Please let us know if you need for us to file your business annual report.

The filing deadline for S-Corp and Partnership tax returns is March 15. We will begin filing extensions for these returns on March 1. Please let us know if you would like us to file an extension for you. We will try our best to ensure your extension is filed timely. If you do not receive a notification from us that the extension has been filed, then please let us know. We must receive your tax documents by March 1 in order to guarantee your return will be filed by March

We all rely on Google reviews for services, such as auto repair, home repairs, restaurants, etc. Tax services is no exception to this. Recently, we discovered that our Google business profile for both the Tallahassee and Crawfordville offices was deleted without explanation. We have re-created the profiles, but all of our historical client reviews have now disappeared. This was dozens of reviews collected over several years. We are asking for your help. We have not yet

We have adopted a new technology platform this year. You should have already received the document checklist and questionnaire from us by email and text. This platform provides a document checklist for you, based on the return we prepared for you last year. You can then add or remove documents as applicable to your unique situation. You can securely provide documents to us without having to log in. Of course, you will need to log in order to view, download, or E-sign doc

There is a new IRS form that we will use to report most of the tax changes that come into effect for tax year 2025. Sch 1-A is used to report the additional $6K standard deduction for taxpayers 65 and over, interest paid on auto loans originated in 2025, non-taxable tips, and non-taxable overtime. We will automatically add this form to your tax return as needed.

The IRS is now accepting E-files. Historically, direct deposit refunds are received 2-3 weeks from filing. This year, you can expect this timeline to increase to 4-5 weeks. The IRS made an announcement back in September of 2025 on their efforts to do away with mailing paper checks. If you choose to receive a refund by check, then you can expect an additional delay of several months. We are encouraging clients to go ahead and opt for the direct deposit option.

This provision begins in 2026. Itemized deductions begin to phase out when taxable income exceeds the dollar amount at which the 37% tax...