An Overview of the Surviving Spouse Filing Status
A taxpayer’s filing status choice drives many downstream tax attributes, including tax bracket structure, available deductions and credits, and more. Marital status determines the filing status options available. Taxpayers determine their marital status on the last day of the tax year, unless their spouse died during the tax year, when they use their status on […]
Best Practices for Correcting Tax Return Errors
A practitioner notes an error on a client’s previously filed tax return. Circular 230 §10.31 states that the practitioner …must advise the client promptly of the fact of such noncompliance, error, or omission. The practitioner must advise the client of the consequences as provided under the Code and regulations of such noncompliance, error, or omission. […]
Value Pricing in the Tax Industry
Tax practitioners have increasingly embraced value pricing as the way out of the time-for-money trap of the traditional tax business. Pricing tied to the value of the work, not the hours spent, is better for practitioners, clients, and the work product. Read More: https://www.tomtalkstaxes.com/p/value-pricing (May 8, 2026)
What Happens When a Taxpayer Dies with Passive Losses?
A taxpayer dies holding an interest in a passive activity (such as a rental property, a partnership interest, or S corporation stock), and there are §469 suspended passive activity losses (PALs) attached to that activity. What happens to those losses? The transit of the activity from the decedent to the estate to the beneficiary has […]
COVID-Era Refund Claims Due July 10, 2026
In Kwong v. United States, 179 Fed. Cl. 382 (2025), the U.S. Court of Federal Claims held that the version of the §7508A automatic disaster postponement in effect during the COVID-19 pandemic suspended the §6532(a) deadline for filing a refund suit for the entire duration of the federally declared disaster, starting January 20, 2020 (the earliest incident date […]
An Overview of the Enhanced Senior Deduction
§70103 of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OB3 Act) added new §151(d)(5)(C) to create a new deduction of up to $6,000 for an individual age 65 or older by the end of the tax year ($12,000 total on a joint return if both taxpayers are 65 or older). While politicians refer to this provision […]
Refund Statute Closing Soon on Unfiled 2022 Returns
In a recent news release, the IRS stated that $1.2 billion of refunds could be lost if certain individuals do not file their 2022 Form 1040 returns by April 15, 2026. While it is best to file any 2022 Form 1040 returns before April 15, 2026 to avoid issues, many individuals may qualify for an exception […]
Rental Activities and the §199A Qualified Business Income Deduction
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OB3 Act) made the §199A deduction permanent. A key source of confusion among tax practitioners since the enactment of §199A was the eligibility of a rental activity for the deduction. Read More: https://www.tomtalkstaxes.com/p/rental-activities-qbi (March 20, 2026)
AI and the §7216 Disclosure and Use Rules
Many tax professionals are experimenting with artificial intelligence (AI) tools, such as ChatGPT and Claude, in their tax practices to help with client and administrative tasks. There are important disclosure issues arising from the use of AI; therefore, it is important to review the law governing how tax professionals can disclose and use client tax […]
An Overview of the §45B FICA Tip Credit
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OB3 Act) created a new deduction for qualified tips for tax years 2025 through 2028. However, within that provision, there is a significant expansion of the §45B FICA tip credit. The §45B credit offsets an employer’s FICA tax liability on certain employee tips. Read More: https://www.tomtalkstaxes.com/p/45b-credit (February 11, 2026)