A plain-English guide to FBAR and FATCA for U.S. taxpayers — who must file, the $10,000 aggregate threshold, Form 8938 tiers, post-Bittner penalties capped at $16,536 per form, and how the Streamlined Procedures fix years of missed filings without penalty.
As of 2026, most outstanding Employee Retention Credit claims sit in audit, appeal, or litigation rather than ordinary processing queues. The One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act blocked late 2021 Q3/Q4 claims filed after January 31, 2024, and extended the IRS audit window for ERC claims to six years.
Form W-9 collects your taxpayer ID so payers can issue accurate 1099s. The 2026 OBBBA raised the reporting threshold from $600 to $2,000, and the IRS released a revised form. This guide explains the line-by-line mechanics, the single-member LLC mistake that triggers backup withholding, and the recordkeeping habits that keep January boring.
Form 1099-MISC reports rent, royalties, prizes, and attorney settlements. Under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the 2026 reporting threshold jumps from $600 to $2,000. This guide breaks down which box to use, the filing calendar, and the penalty tiers that turn small mistakes into thousands of dollars.
A practical breakdown of every IRS option for resolving tax debt in 2026—short-term plans, installment agreements up to 72 months, Offers in Compromise (accepted on roughly 30%–40% of applications), Currently Not Collectible status, and bankruptcy—plus how clean bookkeeping cuts the assessed bill before negotiation begins.
The IRS charges 5% per month for late filing (capped at 25%) plus 0.5% per month for late payment, with daily-compounding interest at 7% in Q1 2026. This guide details how each penalty is calculated and four programs — First-Time Abatement, reasonable cause, installment agreements, and Offer in Compromise — that can reduce or remove what you owe.
How to distinguish legitimate tax resolution firms from Offer in Compromise mills—what services should cost in 2026, the IRS-flagged red flags that should end a sales call, and the free alternatives most callers never hear about.
A walkthrough of what the IRS actually does with a return after you file. 24-48 hour acceptance checks, automated math-error and information-return matching, the three Where's My Refund statuses, the 21-day refund target, common rejection reasons, and what each CP notice code means.
The IRS opens the 2026 filing season on January 26, with W-2s and most 1099s due by January 31. Filing early protects against refund fraud, speeds direct-deposit refunds within 21 days, and beats the April rush — but waiting can be smarter when K-1s or corrected brokerage 1099s are still in transit.
A directory of IRS phone numbers organized by category—individual taxpayers, businesses, refunds, identity theft, liens, transcripts—with best times to call and tactics for avoiding queue transfers.
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