Providing coffee, drink, snacks, and meals in the office goes a long way to improve and/or maintain employee morale. There are times when providing meals for employees who work late and/or overtime is convenient to the employer as it aids workplace efficiency. Outside of the office, business meals are necessary when away from home on business trips, attendance at conventions and meeting with business prospects. While all of these situations are valid expenses of running a business, it was also a business tax deduction. However this will no longer be the case beginning with your 2026 business tax return. IRS has provided greater clarification on deductible business meal expenses. The business can still expense these items for accounting book purposes.

In 2025, there was a lot of discussion regarding "No Tax on Overtime", "No Tax on Tips", and NO Tax on Social Security". However, H.R.1, which was signed into law, did not remove these income items from taxation. What was granted in H.R.1 were new tax deductions for those income items for tax years 2025-2028.

This summary highlights key provisions related to overtime pay, tips, Social Security income, and auto loan interest deductions.

Tax returns and supporting documents (W-2s, 1099s, receipts, charitable donation records, etc.) can accumulate quickly on paper or in digital files, but it’s important not to discard anything until you’ve reviewed some record-retention guidelines. Be sure to store your 2025 tax returns and all supporting documents with your previous returns in a secure place where you’ll easily find them when needed. This storage can be paper or digital.

Environmental disasters continue to occur, but previously only federally declared disasters would potentially result in IRS disaster relief. The Filing Relief for Natural Disasters Act (H.R. 517:PL 119-29) “FRNDA”, which became law July 24, 2025, provides additional ways for federal tax deadlines to be postponed following natural disasters. This law ensures faster, broader, and more predictable relief for individuals and businesses impacted by natural disasters, even when the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has not issued a federal disaster declaration.

On July 4, 2025, H.R. 1 from the 119th Congress, also known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), was signed into law by President Trump. The OBBBA extends and enhances many of the tax breaks from the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA). It also significantly changed aspects of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022, particularly in the area of clean energy tax credits and environmental programs. Most notably for homeowner, the 30% Energy Efficient Home Improvement and the 30% Residential Clean Energy Credits originally ending 2032 now ends in 2025.

On March 25, 2025, the President signed Executive Order (EO) 14247 and EO 14249, directing the U.S. Department of the Treasury (Treasury) to modernize the government’s payment infrastructure and enhance its ability to prevent waste, fraud, and abuse.

In today’s environment, scammers continue to impact individuals and businesses indiscriminately. The IRS doesn’t make initial contact through email or social media channels. A letter or notice is the first way the IRS will contact a taxpayer.

Providing coffee, drink, snacks, and meals in the office goes a long way to improve and/or maintain employee morale. There are times when providing meals for employees who work late and/or overtime is convenient to the employer as it aids workplace efficiency. Outside of the office, business meals are necessary when away from home on business trips, attendance at conventions and meeting with business prospects. While all of these situations are valid expenses of running a business, it was also a business tax deduction. However this will no longer be the case beginning with your 2026 business tax return. IRS has provided greater clarification on deductible business meal expenses. The business can still expense these items for accounting book purposes.

The IRS utilizes ID.me for taxpayers wanting online access their to tax records, manage tax payments, requesting Identity Protection Pins (IP PIN) to prevent tax related identity theft and checking refunds or letters received from the IRS.

In addition to the IRS, the Social Security Administration, Department of Veterans Affairs, and other federal and state agencies use ID.me to ensure that only authorized individuals can access sensitive information. Only those individuals aged 18 and older are eligible to create an account.