Learn How to Beat 2025 Estimated Tax Penalties Instantly, Today

Written by Coach Janelle CPA on October 31, 2025

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One Big Beautiful Bill Act Cheats Gamblers—Taxes Fictional Income

Written by Coach Janelle CPA on October 22, 2025

Do you like to gamble? If so, Congress has some bad news for you. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act limits how much you can deduct for gambling losses starting in 2026. Both casual and professional gamblers may deduct only 90 percent of their losses against their winnings. The remaining 10 percent of losses disappear permanently—you can’t use them in future years...

One Big Beautiful Bill Act Enhances Tax Breaks for Qualified Small Business Stock

Written by Coach Janelle CPA on October 15, 2025

Do you own stock in a high-growth small business? Or are you a founder, an investor, or an employee of one? If so, you need to understand how the One Big Beautiful Bill Act expands the tax benefits of qualified small business stock (QSBS)...

One Big Beautiful Bill Act: No Tax on Overtime? Not Really, but We’ll Take It!

Written by Coach Janelle CPA on October 1, 2025

Do you regularly earn overtime pay? If so, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act may help lower your federal income tax bill. New Overtime Deduction Before 2025, the IRS taxed every dollar of your overtime pay as ordinary income. Beginning this year (2025) and continuing through 2028, the OBBBA allows a new temporary deduction for qualified overtime income...

One Big Beautiful Bill Act: No Tax on Overtime? Not Really, but We’ll Take It!

Written by Coach Janelle CPA on October 1, 2025

Do you regularly earn overtime pay? If so, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act may help lower your federal income tax bill. New Overtime Deduction Before 2025, the IRS taxed every dollar of your overtime pay as ordinary income. Beginning this year (2025) and continuing through 2028, the OBBBA allows a new temporary deduction for qualified overtime income...

One Big Beautiful Bill Act Restores and Creates New 100 Percent Deductions for You, Now

Written by Coach Janelle CPA on September 27, 2025

If you plan to buy equipment, furniture, computers, or other personal property for your business, the recently enacted One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) delivers great news. You can now deduct the full cost of such property in a single year—without limit...

One Big Beautiful Bill Act's (OBBBA) New 1099 Filing Rules

Written by Coach Janelle CPA on September 10, 2025

Filing tax forms is never fun—but it’s important to stay ahead of changes that can reduce your reporting burden. If your business pays independent contractors (non-employees) for services, you are required to file IRS Form 1099-NEC if total payments exceed a specific threshold. For decades, this threshold has been $600 or more..

One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) Charitable Giving Shake-Up: Winners and Losers

Written by Coach Janelle CPA on September 3, 2025

Do you contribute to charitable organizations? If so, recent legislation—the OBBBA—includes significant changes to the tax treatment of charitable donations, starting in 2026. Some are helpful, others less so, depending on your income and filing status.

One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) Enhances Your State and Local Tax (SALT) Deductions

Written by Coach Janelle CPA on August 27, 2025

If the $10,000 cap on state and local tax (SALT) deductions limits your write-offs, here’s good news: the One Big Beautiful Bill Act temporarily increases the cap starting in 2025...

One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) Adds a Possible Senior Tax Deduction (Ages 65 and Older)

Written by Coach Janelle CPA on August 24, 2025

If you will be age 65 or older on December 31, 2025, you have a new opportunity for tax savings. The OBBBA created a new bonus tax deduction—available for seniors beginning this year (2025). You can claim this deduction whether or not you itemize...

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) Increases the Tax Benefits of Employing Your Child

Written by Coach Janelle CPA on August 20, 2025

If you own a business and have children, the OBBBA just made the popular “hire your child” tax strategy even more attractive starting in 2025. Thanks to the OBBBA, the standard deduction for a single taxpayer increases to $15,750 in 2025 (with annual inflation adjustments going forward). This means your child can earn up to $15,750 in wages....

One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA): Convert Personal Vehicle to Business, Deduct Up to 100%

Written by Coach Janelle CPA on  August 16, 2025

Do you have a personal vehicle? Thanks to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), you may be eligible for a valuable “no new cash outlay” tax deduction beginning in 2025.

Here’s how it works: If you convert a personal-use vehicle to business use, the law treats it as placed in service on the conversion date. Thanks to OBBBA’s reinstatement of 100...

Why Landlords Should File Form 1099-NEC

Written by Coach Janelle CPA on July 16, 2025

If you own rental property, you may have heard that you’re not required to file Form 1099-NEC for contractors, such as plumbers or handymen. While that’s often true, choosing not to file could be costing you valuable tax savings...

Personal Vehicle Used for Business Can Produce a Big Surprise Deduction

Written by Coach Janelle CPA on July 9, 2025

If you’ve used your personal vehicle for business—whether you’re a sole proprietor or you received mileage reimbursement from your S or C corporation—there may be a valuable tax deduction waiting for you...

Turn Your Corporate Vehicle into a Tax-Smart Asset

Written by Coach Janelle CPA on July 3, 2025

If your S or C corporation owns a vehicle that you also use personally, there are important tax rules you need to follow—and smart planning can help you save significantly. Let’s say you use a corporate vehicle 80 percent for business and 20 percent for personal use. The IRS doesn’t allow “free” personal use. You either..

Your Retirement Plan Exposes You to a $150,000 Penalty

Written by Coach Janelle CPA on June 25, 2025

How would you like to owe the IRS a $150,000 penalty because you failed to file a simple two-page form? It can happen all too easily if you have a solo 401(k) or another self-employed retirement plan...

Beat the Taxman: Use the Tax Code–Created QCD to Kill Your RMD

Written by Coach Janelle CPA on June 12, 2025

If you have one or more traditional IRAs and are age 73 or older, you’re probably familiar with three of the most dreaded letters in the tax world: RMD, short for required minimum distribution....

Solo Biz Owner? No Employees? Is the Mega Backdoor Roth for You?

Written by Coach Janelle CPA on June 5, 2025

If you are a business owner with no employees and prefer Roth-style retirement savings, you may want to consider the mega backdoor Roth strategy. This powerful tool allows you to contribute significantly more to a Roth account than the standard Roth IRA or even the regular backdoor Roth route—up to..

Backdoor Roth IRA Conversions: Smart Move or Hidden Tax Trap?

Written by Coach Janelle CPA on May 28, 2025

If you’ve ever wondered how to get more money into a Roth IRA despite income limits, the backdoor Roth IRA conversion strategy may have caught your attention. It’s a smart planning tool for high-income earners—but only when used with care...

Beat the Estimated Tax Penalty with Strategic Withholding

Written by Coach Janelle CPA on May 21, 2025

If you’re making quarterly estimated tax payments, missing a deadline can be costly. The IRS currently charges a 7 percent penalty for underpayments—and since penalties aren’t deductible, the real cost can feel closer to 11 percent.

Tax Code–Defined Statutory Employees Are Hybrid Self-Employed

Written by Coach Janelle CPA on May 14, 2025

When you hire a worker, one of the most important decisions you’ll make is classifying the worker as either an employee or an independent contractor for tax purposes. If you correctly classify a worker as an independent contractor, you’re not required to pay the employer’s share of Soc...

Alert: California, Illinois, and New York Laws Require Written Freelance Agreements

Written by Coach Janelle CPA on May 7, 2025

If your business hires freelance workers—also known as independent contractors—you need to be aware of new laws now in effect in California, Illinois, and New York. These laws are designed to protect freelancers by requiring written contracts and prompt payment....

Best Retirement Plan Options for a Solo-Owned C or S Corporation

Written by Coach Janelle CPA on April 30, 2025

Because you operate your business as a solely owned corporation (C or S) with no employees, several excellent retirement plans are available to you that can provide significant tax deductions and help you build wealth for retirement...

Wildfires, Floods, Hurricanes: How the IRS Has Your Back

Written by Coach Janelle CPA on April 24, 2025

Disasters are all over the news these days. Severe calamities that cause widespread damage, such as large wildfires, floods, hurricanes, and earthquakes, ordinarily result in a disaster declaration by the U.S. president...

The Right Way to Ask Your C or S Corporation for Travel Reimbursements

Written by Coach Janelle CPA on April 17, 2025

Here’s a summary on your payments of corporate expenses.

Your Corporation Is a Separate Legal Entity As a business owner operating through a corporation, you need to remember that the corporation is a distinct legal entity separate from you...

The Best Sole Proprietorship Retirement Plans to Reduce Your 2024 Tax Bill

Written by Coach Janelle CPA on April 9, 2025

Are you looking for ways to reduce your 2024 tax bill while securing your financial future? Setting up a self-employed retirement plan could be your solution—and it’s not too late!

IRS Incorrectly Disallows $120,000 Tesla Model X Tax Write-Off

Written by Coach Janelle CPA on April 2, 2025

Deducting Disaster Losses for Individuals: Navigating the Rules

Written by Coach Janelle CPA on March 26, 2025

The federal tax law provides relief if a disaster—such as a fire, flood, or hurricane—damages your personal (non-business) property, including your home, belongings, and vehicle. You may be able to deduct these losses from your taxable income, but the rules are complex and often restrictive....

Don’t Cheat Yourself: Get Partner-Paid Expenses Right

Written by Coach Janelle CPA on March 19, 2025

If you are a member of a multimember LLC taxed as a partnership (as most are) or a traditional partnership, you may sometimes pay for business expenses out of your pocket. These expenses can include travel and meals, car expenses, continuing education, professional dues, and home office costs....

How to Correctly Pay Yourself and Take Cash from Your Business

Written by Coach Janelle CPA on March 12, 2025

A common question among business owners is how to pay themselves from their businesses properly. The correct method depends on your business structure, so I wanted to give you this quick guide to help you navigate this issue...

Heavy Vehicle + Deductible Home Office = Major Tax Savings

Written by Coach Janelle CPA on March 5, 2025

If you are considering purchasing a business vehicle, you may be eligible for significant tax deductions, especially when combined with a qualifying home office. Here’s how...

Beware of UBIT Lurking in Your IRA—It Causes Double Taxes

Written by Coach Janelle CPA on February 26, 2025

Do you own a traditional IRA, Roth IRA, SEP-IRA, or SIMPLE IRA? Usually, the income earned within these accounts is tax-free. This applies to common investments such as stocks, bonds, mutual funds, ETFs, CDs, and Treasury bills...

Almost the Last Chance to Claim the 2021 Employee Retention Credit!

Written by Coach Janelle CPA on February 19, 2025

If your business has not yet claimed the 2021 Employee Retention Credit (ERC), you still have time—but you must act soon. What Is the ERC, and How Much Can You Claim?

The ERC is a refundable tax credit designed to support businesses that retained employees during the COVID-19 pandemic. For the 2021 tax year, eligi...

Tax-Free Home Sale: When and Why You Need to Report to the IRS

Written by Coach Janelle CPA on February 5, 2025

You’re probably aware that when you sell your home, you may exclude up to $250,000 of your gain from tax if you’re unmarried (or married, filing separately) and $500,000 if you are married and file jointly...

Missed an Estimated Tax Payment—Now What?

Written by Coach Janelle CPA on January 29, 2025

Missing an estimated tax payment can result in non-deductible penalties. Make timely payments via IRS Direct Pay or EFTPS—secure and convenient methods to help you avoid the penalties...

Can Real Estate Professional Status Free Up Old Passive Losses?

Written by Coach Janelle CPA on January 22, 2025

Deducting your rental property tax losses against your other income is tricky, as you likely know. You have to get the tax law to treat you—say, a computer engineer—as a tax-code–defined real estate professional. Let’s say you get there. Does that status allow immediate use of suspended passive losses? Unfortunately, the answer is no. Here’s why.,,

Court Battles Rage: File Your FinCEN BOI Report Now or Wait?

Written by Coach Janelle CPA on January 15, 2025

Here’s an update on the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) and its beneficial ownership information (BOI) reporting requirements. Recent legal developments have created uncertainty around filing deadlines, and it’s important to understand your options and responsibilities...

2024 Last-Minute Vehicle Purchases to Save on Taxes

Written by Coach Janelle CPA on December 18, 2024

Here’s an easy question: Do you need more 2024 tax deductions? If the answer is yes, continue reading. Next easy question: Do you need a replacement business vehicle?

If so, you can simultaneously solve or mitigate the first problem (needing more deductions) and the second problem (needing a replacement vehicle) if you can get your replacement vehicle in service on or before December 31, 2024. Don’t procrastinate...

2024 Last-Minute Year-End General Business Income Tax Deductions

Written by Coach Janelle CPA on December 4, 2024

The purpose of these strategies is to get the IRS to owe you money. Of course, the IRS will not likely cut you a check for this money (although in the right circumstances, that will happen), but you’ll realize the cash when you pay less in taxes...

Got IRS Penalties? Know the Rules, Pay Nothing

Written by Coach Janelle CPA on December 14, 2024

If the IRS has recently claimed that you owe a penalty for late filing, late payment, or missed employment tax deposits, pause before making any payment. You may not have to pay that penalty at all....

Three Possible Ways to Deduct Your Dog or Cat

Written by Coach Janelle CPA on November 27, 2024

Dogs, cats, and other household pets are expensive. Owners spend an average of $1,270 to $2,800 a year to own a dog. Can you ever deduct these costs from your taxes? The expenses for a family pet that provides you only with love and companionship are never deductible. They are purely personal expenses...

Tax Planning to Winter in Florida and Summer in Massachusetts

Written by Coach Janelle CPA on November 20, 2024

You can plan your tax-deductible business life to avoid cold winters and hot summers.

Spend a moment examining the following four short paragraphs containing the Andrews case’s basic facts. For six months of the year, from May through October, Edward Andrews lived in Lynnfield, Massachusetts, where he owned and operated Andrews Gunite Co., Inc...

Tax Deductions for Dues and Expenses of Being a Mason or a Lion

Written by Coach Janelle CPA on November 13, 2024

Based on IRS regulations, club dues are generally not deductible if the organization’s principal purpose is to conduct entertainment activities for its members. However, there are exceptions for civic and public service organizations, such as the Lions, Rotary, Kiwanis...

The Supreme Court Likely Shook Up Your Buy-Sell Agreement

Written by Coach Janelle CPA on November 6, 2024

The Supreme Court’s ruling in the Connelly case established that life insurance proceeds used by a company to redeem a deceased owner’s shares increase the company’s value for estate tax purposes. This could result in a higher estate tax liability than anticipated...

The Department of Labor Makes It Harder to Hire Independent Contractors

Written by Coach Janelle CPA on October 30, 2024

Here’s a recent update on the Employee Retention Credit (ERC) and the new IRS payback scheme. New IRS ERC Payback Program. The IRS introduced a second ERC Voluntary Disclosure Program for 2021 claims. Under this program, you can say, “I didn’t deserve the ERC, so I’ll repay 85 percent of my claimed ERC and retain 15 percent tax-free...

Employee Retention Credit (ERC) Update

Written by Coach Janelle CPA on October 23, 2024

Here’s a recent update on the Employee Retention Credit (ERC) and the new IRS payback scheme. New IRS ERC Payback Program. The IRS introduced a second ERC Voluntary Disclosure Program for 2021 claims. Under this program, you can say, “I didn’t deserve the ERC, so I’ll repay 85 percent of my claimed ERC and retain 15 percent tax-free...

BOI Reporting Deadline is Closing In

Written by Coach Janelle CPA on October 16, 2024

The clock continues to tick. Here are the upcoming deadlines for filing your Business Ownership Information (BOI) reports with the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN)..

Avoid the Hidden Dangers of the Accumulated Earnings Penalty Tax

Written by Coach Janelle CPA on September 18, 2024

f you run your business as a regular C corporation, beware of the accumulated earnings tax (AET). The IRS can use the AET to penalize C corporations that retain earnings in the business rather than pay them to shareholders as taxable dividends. When retaining earnings, the C corporation first pays the corporate tax of 21 percent on those earnings.,,

Reduce Taxes by Using the Best Cryptocurrency Accounting Method

Written by Coach Janelle CPA on September 11, 2024

Consider this happy scenario: You purchased one Bitcoin for $15,000 14 months ago and another six months later for $40,000. Today, you sell one Bitcoin for $60,000. You’re a genius! But is your taxable gain $45,000 or $20,000...

What Happens When You Die and Your S Corporation Owns the Rental?

Written by Coach Janelle CPA on September 4, 2024

You may own an S corporation with a rental property as its sole asset. A common concern with this approach is what happens when the owner passes away, specifically regarding the step-up in basis. Here’s good news. While technically the rental property itself doesn’t receive a step-up in basis upon your death, your heirs will achieve the same outcome. It works like this...

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