Tax Season has started

The 2025 tax season kicked off on Jan. 27, which is the first day the IRS will accept income tax returns. If your address changed in 2024, you can navigate tax filing more smoothly by notifying the IRS of the correct address for your home or business. How? File Form 8822 (Change of Address) or […]

President Trump continues to issue Executive Orders

With a new administration comes an abundance of change. Among the changes, President Donald Trump issued an executive order (EO) placing “a freeze on hiring federal civilian employees” for vacant positions across the executive branch. Exceptions exist for military personnel and specific enforcement, security and public safety roles. The ban will expire when a new […]

Executive Order Issued

President Trump signed an executive order on Jan. 20 titled “Unleashing American Energy.” It calls for an immediate pause on disbursing funds under the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 until agency heads submit reports on the funds. It also calls for eliminating “the electric vehicle (EV) mandate.” (The federal government doesn’t mandate that consumers buy […]

Update from the IRS

Danny Werfel has stepped down from his post as IRS Commissioner. He was scheduled to leave the job in Nov. 2027. However, President Trump has nominated former Republican Congressman Billy Long for the position. During his tenure, Werfel oversaw the Inflation Reduction Act infusion of funds to, among other things, upgrade IRS technology and boost […]

Deductions versus Credits

Two commonly misunderstood tax terms are deductions and credits. What’s the difference? Deductions reduce the amount of a taxpayer’s income before tax is calculated. For example, on your individual return, you can take the standard deduction or itemize deductions depending on which strategy will most reduce your taxable income. Credits, on the other hand, reduce […]

Tax Cuts and Jobs Act provisions discussed

President Trump’s nominee for Secretary of the Dept. of the Treasury, Scott Bessent, said that making permanent the expiring provisions in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is “the single most important economic issue of the day.” During confirmation hearings, Bessent added that “if we do not fix these tax cuts, if we do not […]

IRS warns taxpayers to beware

Taxpayers beware, warns the IRS. As tax-filing season nears, scammers ramp up their targeting of taxpayers. One common scheme is to threaten taxpayers with fake tax bills and pressure them to pay the bills by gift card. Scammers may pose as IRS agents, leaving voicemails that suggest there has been criminal activity. The IRS reminds […]

Where’s my refund?

Each year, some taxpayers file their tax returns and eagerly await a refund, only to find it has been reduced or withheld. When taxpayers have unpaid federal or state tax debts, including child support, tax law allows the IRS to offset the debt by applying a refund toward it. For some taxpayers, this refund is […]

When does my divorce count for income taxes?

As you likely know, marital status affects many federal tax filing requirements, including your standard deduction, credit eligibility and tax owed. However, you may not know that informally separated couples are considered married by the IRS. Unless you became divorced or legally separated by Dec. 31, 2024, you must file as married filing jointly or […]

Withholding Required

Employers are required to withhold federal tax from supplemental wages paid to employees. These include bonuses, commissions, reimbursements (so long as you don’t have an accountable plan), severance, cash prizes, retroactive raises and taxable fringe benefits. If you pay a supplemental wage of $1 million or less separately from regular wages, you must either 1) […]