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.
Planning Ahead When Mailing Time Sensitive Documents
Effective December 24, 2025, the United States Postal Service (USPS) adopted final rules that revise how postmarks are defined and treated*. As a result, taxpayers who plan to mail their tax returns and tax payments will need to plan for additional time before any deadlines to ensure timely filing. Taxpayers who do not plan for the updated requirements may face an increased risk that their time sensitive document(s) will be treated as late filed.
No Tax Really Means … New Limited Tax Deductions for tax years 2025-2028
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.
Do You Want to Access Your IRS Tax Records Online? You’ll need an account with ID.me
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.
Once Taxes are Filed… now what?
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.





