Home Sale Tax Planning for Married Couples: Key Rules and 2026 Exclusion Limits
If you are married and plan to sell your home, you may be able to exclude up to $500,000 of gain from tax. The length of your marriage does not matter. To claim the full $500,000, you need the following: If your spouse lived in the home before the wedding, that time counts. You can […]
Home Office Deduction Update for 2026: Guidance for Self-Employed Taxpayers
If you are self-employed and also have access to an office elsewhere, you may assume you cannot deduct a home office. Many people believe this, and IRS auditors sometimes raise it. But the law says otherwise, and the IRS’s own guidance backs you up. Your home office qualifies as your principal place of business when […]
Understanding the Self-Employed Health Insurance Deduction
The self-employed health insurance deduction is one of the most valuable adjustments available to you. It reduces adjusted gross income dollar for dollar; you get it whether or not you itemize, and the lower adjusted gross income can preserve other benefits that phase out as income rises. It is also one of the easiest deductions […]
How an S Corporation Can Unlock the Section 199A Deduction
If you operate as a sole proprietor or single-member LLC, earn a good income, and have no payroll and little depreciable property, you may be losing most of the Section 199A 20 percent deduction. Switching to an S corporation can fix that. Here is the problem: Once your 2026 taxable income exceeds $276,750 (single) or […]
S Corporation Health Insurance Deduction
If you own more than 2 percent of an S corporation, your dental, vision, and Medicare premiums can qualify for the same valuable tax treatment as your major medical insurance premiums. To secure the deductions, follow the same three-step process for all qualifying premiums. First, your S corporation must either pay the premiums directly or […]
ERC Refunds and the Tax Benefit Rule
If you received an Employee Retention Credit (ERC) refund in 2026 for wages paid in 2020 or 2021, you may have an opportunity to recover the tax you pay on that refund. The IRS currently says that if you failed to reduce your wage deductions in the original years, you should report the receipt of […]
S Corporation Health Insurance: Avoid These Costly Deduction Mistakes
If you own more than 2 percent of an S corporation, the good news is that the rules for deducting your health insurance remain unchanged for 2026. By following a few important steps, you can continue to deduct the cost of coverage for yourself, your spouse, your dependents, and your children under age 27. To […]
Buying or Launching a Business? Know the Tax Rules
Starting or buying a business often requires significant spending before the business officially opens. Fortunately, the tax law allows you to deduct at least some of these start-up costs instead of waiting until you sell the business to receive a tax benefit. Deducting Start-up Costs In general, you may deduct up to $5,000 in qualifying […]
New Law Restores Valuable Tax Deductions for Businesses
Your business may have a valuable opportunity to claim larger deductions or refunds for research and experimentation (R&E) expenses. Starting in 2022, businesses had to amortize domestic R&E costs over five years rather than deducting them immediately. This rule created cash-flow problems for many businesses that developed new products, improved processes, wrote custom software, or […]
A Closer Look at Family Payment Tax Strategies
Here’s an often-overlooked tax strategy that can generate substantial family tax savings when handled correctly. In fact, using a family payment tax strategy can help you maximize these savings. If you pay a family member (or even a non-relative) for a one-time project, the tax treatment can be highly favorable—but only if you follow the […]