#tax-planning
Strategic tax planning to minimize liability and maximize savings
How the One Big Beautiful Bill Act made the doubled standard deduction permanent, raised the SALT cap to $40,000, added a 0.5% AGI charitable floor, and stacked a $6,000 senior bonus deduction — with concrete math for the 2026 itemize-versus-standard decision.
Section 1041 lets spouses transfer property tax-free during and after divorce, but carryover basis, the six-year window, QDROs, ISO conversions, and post-TCJA alimony rules quietly reshape every settlement. A working guide to what must be fixed before the decree is signed.
Section 1235 lets individual inventors and qualifying early investors treat a patent sale as long-term capital gain — even without a one-year holding period — if they transfer all substantial rights. This guide explains who qualifies as a holder, why the rule survived the TCJA carve-out for self-created intangibles, and how to draft the transfer so the IRS sees a sale rather than a royalty license.
Section 25C's 30% federal credit for heat pumps, insulation, windows, and other home efficiency upgrades ends with the OBBBA sunset on December 31, 2025, making the 2025 return the last chance to claim up to $3,200 per household — provided you supply a valid 4-character QMID on Form 5695.
Section 267 disallows losses on sales between related parties and defers deductions on accrued payments to related cash-basis payees. A practical guide to who counts as related, how constructive ownership works, the 267(d) gain offset, the 2.5-month payment safe harbor, and the bookkeeping habits that keep family businesses and partnerships audit-ready.
Section 45L pays builders and developers $500 to $5,000 per energy-efficient home, but the One Big Beautiful Bill Act ends the credit for homes acquired after June 30, 2026. A practical guide to ENERGY STAR versus Zero Energy Ready certification, prevailing wage rules on multifamily, the LIHTC basis carve-out, and the Form 8908 mechanics that decide whether the credit survives audit.
Reg. 1.469-2(f)(6) recharacterizes net rental income from property you rent to your own active business as nonpassive while leaving rental losses passive. This guide explains the asymmetry, walks through a dentist example with a $200,000 cost segregation deduction, and shows how the Reg. 1.469-4 grouping election can collapse the rule.
How the IRS Section 263(a)-3 tangible property regulations decide what small businesses can deduct now versus capitalize over decades — with the three safe harbors ($2,500/$5,000 de minimis, the small taxpayer building rule, and routine maintenance), the BRA test, and the unit-of-property trap that drives most mistakes.
When two spouses each fill out a default W-4, their employers withhold as if each job were the household's only income — causing systematic under-withholding. Step 2 of the 2026 W-4 closes that gap with three options: the checkbox, the Multiple Jobs Worksheet, and the IRS Tax Withholding Estimator.
A small-business guide to the forced cash-to-accrual switch: how Form 3115 works, how the Section 481(a) catch-up is calculated and spread over four years, and why the de minimis safe harbor is an annual election rather than a method change.
A timely Form 12153 filed within 30 days of IRS Letter 3172 or LT11/L-1058 triggers a Collection Due Process hearing under IRC Sections 6320 and 6330 — suspending levy action, preserving Tax Court appeal rights, and giving small business owners a statutory chance to negotiate installment agreements, lien withdrawal, innocent spouse relief, or offers in compromise before the IRS drains the operating account.
A practical walkthrough of the Section 368(a)(1)(F) reorganization — the six regulatory requirements, the six-step Rev. Rul. 2008-18 choreography, why PE buyers prefer it to a 338(h)(10) election, and how it preserves the operating EIN while giving the buyer asset-basis step-up and the seller tax-deferred rollover equity.
