The business meal deduction has been around for a long time. However, businesses should be aware of significant changes that are scheduled to take effect after December 31, 2025, which affects the deductibility of certain meals. These include:
Great News Today! I received a review on my newest publication, Mastering Business Basics, from the Readers's Favorite Book Review website. Here's what they had to say:
Reviewed by:
Stephen Christopher
Review Rating:
5 Stars - Congratulations on your 5-star review!
Reviewed by Stephen Christopher for Readers’ Favorite
OBBB accelerated the termination of several energy credit and deduction provisions. The following incentives expire the soonest:
When doing the taxes for people that have just started to dip their toes into the world of investing in stocks, I have found that very few knew about the wash sale rules. Yet, this could cause you to pay a lot more in taxes than you need to if you don’t watch the calendar.
I have a few tax clients that enjoy visiting the casinos around the country and one of the issues I will discussing next spring will be is the new gambling provision that could reshape how millions of U.S. gamblers are taxed on their bets. That is because the so-called "One Big Beautiful Bill" (OBBB), signed into law on July 4, 2025, introduced a cap on deductions for gambling losses.
The One Big Beautiful Bill, as the new tax bill is called, makes some significant changes to Americans’ personal finances.
At close to 1,000 pages, the legislation makes permanent the 2017 tax cuts and introduces new tax breaks—including deductions for tips, overtime pay, and auto loan interest—and gives a special $6,000 deduction for seniors who receive Social Security. (I figured it will save me about $1,400 a year in taxes. WooHoo!)
One of the biggest misconceptions about Social Security benefits is that they are tax free. And even though the politicians talk about eliminating all taxes on it, I doubt that will ever happen because we are talking about trillions of dollars the politicians won't have to spend on political favors.
During the last 23 years, I have been amazed of the fact that so many people do not know that the federal government can tax up to 85% of our Social Security benefits. So, you need to know how those taxes are calculated.
Savings bonds for a long time have been a popular investment to add to your portfolio. They provide some stability to your investments, a guaranteed rate of return, and can help you save on your taxes. Some investors have owned Series I savings bonds for many years, and the 30-year maturity date might be approaching. Others have bought them in recent years to insulate their portfolios from inflation and the ups and downs in the stock market. Either way, you should be aware of the federal income tax rules.
IRS sends notices and letters when it needs to ask a question about a taxpayer’s federal tax return, let them know about a change to their account or request a payment. Don’t panic! They say they’re there to help.
When a taxpayer receives mail from the IRS, they should:
After doing people''s taxes for over two decades, one of the worst parts of it is when your client''s die and you have to help pick up the pieces. It is sad that in so many households only one of the spouses does all the accounting and taxes. If that spouse dies first, time and again I have found that the remaining spouse has no clue where to even start to put all the financial pieces together again.
It seems that you can find a study about just about anything these days. I was readying about a study that was done at the University of Michigan, using data from the U.S. Treasury Department to determine if it matters whose name is listed first on a tax return.