IRS Letter 5071C: Verify Your Identity Inside 30 Days.
The IRS stopped your return because a filter thinks somebody else filed it. Nothing moves until you answer, and the answer takes about half an hour online.
Read postThe Journal / Income Tax
Income Tax
Wages, withholding, credits, penalty notices, and the everyday return items that decide whether you get a refund or a balance due.
IRS Holding My Refund for Review: Nothing to Do for 60 Days.
A CP05 means the IRS is verifying what you reported before it pays you. The notice asks you for nothing, and once the refund passes 45 days after April 15 the delay starts paying you 7%.
Read post1099 Received After Filing Taxes: Check Before You Amend.
A late form doesn't always mean missing income. Match it to the return you filed before adding the payment again or paying for an unnecessary amendment.
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Taxes on a Lawsuit Settlement: The Physical Injury Line Decides It.
Damages that compensate a physical injury are not income at all. Everything else is, including the 40% your attorney keeps, which is why two $300,000 settlements can differ by $36,200 of federal tax.
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Do You Pay Taxes on Scholarships? Only the Part Above Tuition.
A Form 1098-T with box 5 bigger than box 1 is not a school error, and it usually does mean the student owes something. The number is smaller than it looks: a $68,000 award against a $48,000 tuition bill runs about $600 of federal tax.
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Tax Breaks for Having a Baby: What a 2026 Newborn Is Worth.
A baby born on December 31 earns the same $2,200 child tax credit as one born in January. The part that costs new parents real money is the Social Security number deadline, and an amended return can't fix it.
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Haven't Filed Taxes in Years? The IRS Usually Wants Six.
Six years is the IRS's usual enforcement starting point, not permission to ignore older returns. Get the records, claim supported expenses, and protect any deadline already running.
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Filing Taxes After a Spouse Dies: One Last Joint Return.
The year your spouse dies is the last year you can file a joint return, and the standard deduction is not prorated. The year after, the same $132,000 of income costs $9,659 more in federal tax and the rate on your last dollar goes from 12% to 24%.
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1099-K for Selling Personal Items: Tax the Gain, Not the Deposit.
Selling your old laptop doesn't turn the deposit into taxable profit. Separate each item's cost from its selling price, and don't use personal losses to erase a gain on something else.
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Taxes on a Divorce Settlement: The 50/50 Split That Isn't.
Dividing property in a divorce is tax-free under IRC §1041, but the basis follows the asset instead of resetting. Three columns worth $400,000 each on the decree can be worth $88,000 apart once the tax is paid.
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Married Filing Jointly vs Separately: Filing Apart Costs $2,929.
Separate returns almost always cost a married couple money, and the loss shows up in credits and thresholds rather than in the brackets. Here is the 2026 math, and the four situations where filing apart is still the right call.
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How Much Tax on a $500,000 Capital Gain: $94,805, Not $119,000.
The 23.8% everyone quotes is the top rate, not the usual one. A $500,000 long-term gain stacked on $200,000 of wages costs $94,805 in federal tax for 2026, and the same gain with no wages under it costs $64,835.
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Missed the Tax Extension Deadline? The Penalty Just Went Up Tenfold.
An extension moved your filing date to October 15, not your payment date. Miss the filing date too and the charge on the balance goes from 0.5% a month to 5%, which is $1,800 on an $18,000 balance.
Read postIRS CP14 Notice: What to Do in the First 21 Days.
A CP14 is the first bill, not a proposal, and the 21 days printed on it are worth money. Pay inside them and interest stops at the notice date. Carry the balance instead and it runs about 13% a year.
Read postTravel Nurse Tax Home Rules: The 50-Mile Rule Is Not in the Tax Code.
A recruiter who says 50 miles makes your stipend tax-free is quoting a rule that does not exist. What decides it is whether you are paying for a home you are not living in, and whether the assignment stays under a year.
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How Much Tax on Severance Pay: The 22% Is Not Your Rate.
Your employer withholds a flat 22% on severance because the payroll regulation says to, not because that is your bracket. On $120,000 paid to someone already at $220,000 of wages, the real federal cost is 33.7%, and the gap is $14,030.
Read postIRS CP2000 Notice: What to Do With the 30 Days You Have.
A CP2000 is a proposal, not a bill and not an audit. The matching computer that printed it never saw what you paid for the stock you sold, which is why a $92,000 sale can show up as $13,800 of tax you do not owe.
Read postIntangible Drilling Costs Deduction Against W-2 Income: What the AMT Takes Back.
A working interest in a drilling program deducts 60% to 80% of what you put in against your salary the same year, with no material participation test to pass. The alternative minimum tax claws part of it back, and §57(a)(2)(E) is why the write-off can never cut your AMTI below 60% of your pre-deduction income.
Read postAllocate a 1095-A to a Non-Dependent Adult Child: The 99% Split.
A high-income parent gets no marketplace subsidy. The 23-year-old on the same policy, earning $24,000, can claim a premium tax credit computed on 99% of the family's benchmark premium. In 2026 that is $26,285, refundable.
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Crypto Scam Theft Loss Tax Deduction: The Profit Motive Test.
A fake trading platform and a fake ransom take the same $330,000. One loss comes off the return in full, the other comes off nothing. The difference is §165(c)(2), and in 2026 it is worth $65,068.
Read postSPX vs SPY Options Tax Treatment: The 60/40 Split.
Two traders run the same S&P 500 strategy. One trades the index, one trades the ETF, and the federal rate on identical profit is 26.8% against 37%. On $200,000 of gain that difference is $20,400.
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Solar Tax Credit for a 2026 Installation: Why Your 2025 Deposit Doesn't Count.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act ended the 30% residential clean energy credit for expenditures made after December 31, 2025. Section 25D treats the expenditure as made when installation is completed, so a deposit paid in 2025 on a system finished in 2026 buys nothing.
Read postRepaid Signing Bonus Tax Deduction: The Section 1341 Claim of Right Credit.
Repaying a signing bonus in a later year does not undo the tax on its own. IRC §1341 offers a deduction or a credit, and on a $120,000 repayment the choice between them was worth $14,828.
Read postCalifornia Daily Overtime Tax Deduction: Why the 9th Hour Does Not Count.
IRC §225 reaches only the overtime the Fair Labor Standards Act requires, meaning hours past 40 in a workweek, and only the premium half of it. California's daily overtime after the eighth hour produces $0 of federal deduction on a week that never reaches 40 hours.
Read postGambling Loss Deduction 90 Percent Limit 2026: Break Even and Still Owe.
For tax years beginning after December 31, 2025, IRC §165(d) allows a deduction for only 90% of wagering losses, still capped at wagering gains. A bettor who wins $120,000 and loses $118,000 clears $2,000 and gets taxed on $13,800.
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A Donor-Advised Fund for High Income W-2 Earners: Fund It With Shares, Not Cash.
Contributing appreciated company shares to a donor-advised fund deducts the full market value and erases the capital gains tax you would have paid to sell them. The deduction lands in the year you fund the account, and the grants can go out for the next decade.
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Excess Premium Tax Credit Repayment in 2026: The Cap Is Gone.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act repealed the limits on repaying excess advance ACA subsidies for tax years beginning after 2025. A self-employed filer who guessed low now hands back every dollar instead of stopping at $1,625.
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Car Loan Interest Tax Deduction: The $10,000 US-Assembly Rule.
The One Big Beautiful Bill created a deduction of up to $10,000 a year for interest on a new car loan, but only for a vehicle with final assembly in the United States. The write-off phases out above $100,000 of income and requires the VIN on your return.
Read postThe SALT Deduction Phase-Out Over $500,000 Is a Hidden 45.5% Tax Bracket.
Between $505,000 and about $606,333 of MAGI, the $40,400 SALT cap shrinks 30 cents per dollar, so every extra dollar is taxed at 45.5%, not 35%. How the 2026 phase-down works, and the moves that keep income out of the band.
Read postThe 2026 Charitable Deduction Floor: Your First 0.5% of AGI Deducts Nothing.
Starting with 2026 returns, itemizers deduct charitable gifts only above 0.5% of adjusted gross income, and top-bracket donors keep 35 cents per dollar instead of 37. What the two new haircuts cost, and the giving patterns that still work.
Read postThe 2026 Dependent Care FSA Limit Is $7,500, the First Raise Since 1986.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act lifted the dependent care FSA cap from $5,000 to $7,500 starting in 2026. Whether you get it depends on your employer's plan document, and whether it beats the child care credit depends on your AGI.
Read postDoes the Wash Sale Rule Apply to Crypto? Not Yet, and the Loophole Has a Countdown.
A tech employee sells ether at a $24,000 loss and buys it back before lunch, keeping a deduction a stock investor would lose. Why IRC §1091 doesn't reach crypto in 2026, what a harvest is worth, and the bill drafted to reach back to January 1.
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How Much a Tax Preparer Costs in Utah, and How to Compare Quotes Without Getting Burned.
Three quotes, three numbers, none of them wrong. The 2025 fee-study averages ($228 with an EA, $280 with a CPA), what each schedule adds, and the one fee structure that should end the conversation.
Read postHow a Tax Preparer Actually Gets You a Bigger Refund, and When Nobody Can.
The refund is arithmetic, not negotiation, and nobody can enlarge it from the same facts. But corrected RSU basis, Utah's 20% EITC match, and the new OBBBA deductions are different facts. Where the real money hides.
Read postFiling Utah State Taxes as a Resident: The Flat Rate, the Vanishing Credit, and the Deadlines.
One flat rate, a disappearing credit standing in for the standard deduction, and an extension that is automatic for the paperwork but not the payment. Utah's income tax in one pass, with the 2025 and 2026 numbers.
Read postWhy the Overemployed Owe Every April: Fixing Two Paychecks' Withholding Before the Penalty Lands.
Each employer withholds federal tax as if its paycheck is the only one you have, applying the standard deduction and the low brackets twice. Stack two jobs and you are quietly under-withheld at your true marginal rate, which is how a high earner ends up with a five-figure balance due and an underpayment penalty on top.
Read postThe Overemployed and the Convenience Rule: How a Remote Job Can Tax You in a State You Never Set Foot In.
Wages usually follow where you sit, so two remote jobs worked from your own home should be home-state income. A handful of states disagree. New York's convenience-of-the-employer rule can tax a remote paycheck in full, and your home-state credit may not cover the whole bill.
Read postThe Overemployed Tax Trap: How Two W-2 Jobs Create an Excess Social Security Refund and a Surprise Bill on the Same Return.
Work two full-time W-2 jobs and each employer withholds Social Security tax as if it were your only paycheck. That over-withholds Social Security and refunds the excess, while quietly under-withholding the Medicare surtax and your income tax. Here is how the Social Security wage base and the excess Social Security credit actually land on an overemployed return.
Read postHow to File Form 4547 Online in 2026 to Open a Trump Account and Claim the $1,000.
Treasury opened a Trump Account for every eligible child on October 1, 2026, but the $1,000 still only arrives if a parent files Form 4547. Here is how to file Form 4547 online in your IRS account, step by step.
Read postKwong v. United States Penalty Refunds After the July 10, 2026 Deadline.
July 10, 2026 closed the main window for Kwong refund claims, but not every window. Here is where the case stands, what the IRS has said, and who can still file a Form 843 for COVID-era penalties and interest.
Read postWage and withholding planning
Squaring the withholding before the return is due.
Two W-2 jobs, a midyear job change, or a working spouse stack income in ways no single W-4 sees, which is how an over-withheld Social Security credit ends up sitting next to an underpayment penalty. We reconcile the wages, claim the excess Social Security credit, and reset the withholding, so the surprise lands in the plan instead of on the return.