After filing your taxes, you may start wondering...

Where is my refund?

The answer depends on how you filed your return:

• E-Filing will have your refund faster... your refund should be issued between two and three weeks.
• If paper filing via US Mail, this process will slow down the refund... your refund will be received in approximately six to eight weeks of filing a paper return. In the last 2 years, the process has been considerably lower.

You can check on the status of your refund by clicking on the links below.

What’s Actually Happening, no benefit cuts have been announced.

Retirees and beneficiaries will continue to receive their monthly checks. Administrative reshuffling is underway. Some Social Security offices are being consolidated or reorganized, but this does not affect the benefit amounts people receive. The Trust Fund challenge remains. Projections suggest that around 2033–2034, the trust fund could be depleted if Congress takes no action. If that happened, incoming payroll taxes would still cover about 75–80% of benefits. But historically, Congress has stepped in before any reductions took effect.

For years, the tax code trend was to reduce the amount of interest that may be deducted on your tax return.

Until recently, it really only allowed interest deductions as an itemized deduction on qualified residences and vacation property. That is changing now with the passage of the OBBB Act and the introduction of a new car interest tax break.

Here is what you need to know:

Do you want to jump start your child's retirement with a million dollar tax-free account?

Consider this.

Before taking action, talk to your tax adviser.

How many times have you seen this legal disclaimer?

Unfortunately, all too often taxpayers do not follow this advice and then must pay the price with an unnecessarily high tax bill.

Here are some of the most common situations that can save you money by seeking advice before you act:

In late September, the Treasury Department presented a list of preliminarily-approved occupations that will qualify for the new federal tax-free tip income provision on 2025 tax returns. Here is what you need to know.

Background

As part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), qualifying tip income will not be subject to federal income tax from 2025 through 2028. The benefit is limited to $25,000. There is an income limit of $150,000 for single filers and $300,000 for joint filers. (This income limit is modified adjusted gross income, including the tips.) The deduction amount is reduced (but not lower than zero) by $100 for each $1,000 in excess of these amounts.

Fair market value (FMV) is the price that property would sell for on the open market. It is the price that would be agreed on between a willing buyer and a willing seller, with neither being required to act, and both having reasonable knowledge of the relevant facts.

Source: IRS Publication 561

This definition is the standard the IRS uses to determine if an item sold or donated by you is valued properly for income tax purposes. It's also a definition that's open to interpretation. If the IRS decides your FMV opinion is incorrect, you're not only subject to more taxes, but also penalties to boot.

Here are some tips to help defend your FMV in case of an audit.

Most of us go through life without being concerned with, or ever checking on, our Social Security records. We assume the money deducted each payday and an equal amount paid in by our employer is applied properly to this valuable retirement benefit.

With the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBB Act) many who took a standard deduction may now need to consider a potential change to itemizing. If this could be you, it is better to know this now, when you can still take tax advantage of your situation.

The Change:

In 2024 you could only take a maximum of $10,000 as an itemized deduction on Schedule A for taxes of any kind. To make matters worse, this limit was the same for single filers and married filing joint taxpayers, making it one of the most severe marriage penalties in the tax code. So many taxpayers who typically itemized deductions, often found themselves taking the standard deduction.

But effective for tax years 2025 thru 2029, this limit of tax deductions is increasing to $40,000. This will result in many individuals once again itemizing their deductions.

As you or your family members approach retirement years, it's important to have a basic understanding of the IRS gift giving rules. With this understanding, there are opportunities to leverage this tax law without creating a tax problem.

The Rules

• You may give up to $19,000 to any individual (donee) in 2025 and avoid any gift tax filing requirements.

• If married, you and your spouse may transfer up to $38,000 per donee.

• If you provide a gift to your spouse who is not a U.S. citizen, the annual exclusion amount is $190,000.

• Gifts in excess of this annual amount trigger the need to file a gift tax form with your individual tax return. The excess gift amounts are then added to your estate for potential estate taxation.
• The estate tax currently has a maximum rate of 40% and the donor of the gift (or their estate) is responsible for paying the tax.

There's still time to act!

At the end of each year there are a number of things to consider that may have a positive impact on your tax obligation. Here is a list of ideas that may be worth a quick review while there is still time. And especially this year with recent tax law changes.

🚨 California Expands Retirement Plan Mandate — Action needed by December 31, 2025

California has expanded its retirement mandate to the smallest employers. If you have even one W-2 employee (other than the owner or owner’s spouse) and do not sponsor a qualified plan, you must either (a) adopt a private plan (e.g., 401(k), SIMPLE IRA) or (b) register for CalSavers by December 31, 2025.

Penalties for non-compliance: $250 per eligible employee if you remain non-compliant 90+ days after notice, plus an additional $500 per eligible employee at 180+ days. Those add up quickly.

Missed your quarterly estimates this year?

You’re not alone.

The IRS underpayment charge is nondeductible, compounds daily, and snowballs fast.

Writing a big check today will stop new penalty accrual from this point forward, but it won’t erase the penalties tied to the quarters you already missed.

There is, however, a lawful way to make it as if you paid each quarter on time. It relies on how the tax code treats withholding from retirement distributions.

The Social Security Administration announced a 2.8% boost to monthly Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits for 2026, another rate drop versus last year's increase of 3.2%. The increase is based on the rise in the Consumer Price Index over the past 12 months ending in September 2025.

As of October 2025, The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) didn’t just keep Opportunity Zones alive. It made the program permanent, tightened zone eligibility, and changes investor incentives starting January 1, 2027.

Below is the upgraded, client-ready explainer with a now-vs-later comparison, a timeline, and the fine print sophisticated readers expect.

As of October 2025, f you’re age 70½ or older, you can transfer money directly from an IRA to qualifying charities. Those transfers are Qualified Charitable Distributions (QCDs).

Thanks to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), QCDs now protect even more tax benefits by keeping AGI/MAGI low while still satisfying charitable goals.

Below is the upgraded, precise version:

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) permanently extended a harsh TCJA rule: no deduction for “miscellaneous itemized deductions,” including hobby expenses. That’s brutal for dog breeders, because the IRS often labels breeding as a hobby.

Translation: income gets taxed, expenses don’t. Hobby income is reported separately on Schedule 1, but most related costs are simply nondeductible.

There is a narrow carve-out: if you sell inventory (puppies), you can reduce taxable hobby income by direct costs tied to those sales. Beyond that, hobby treatment is a tax dead end.

Good news: you don’t have to accept hobby status. If you structure and run breeding as a business, you unlock deductions and escape the OBBBA/TCJA penalty box.