#tax
Tax strategies, planning, and compliance for individuals and businesses
Tunisia's 2026 Finance Law lets small businesses under 100,000 TND turnover pay a flat 4,000 or 5,000 TND a year — half that in rural zones — and skip tax audits for six years. The flat tax only beats the progressive schedule above roughly a 45% net margin in the lower bracket and 26% in the upper one; here is the break-even math, the eligible activities, and the four traps.
For 2026 the section 402(g) elective deferral limit is $24,500 per person ($32,500 with the age-50 catch-up, $35,750 at ages 60 to 63), aggregated across every 401(k), 403(b), SIMPLE IRA and SARSEP you contribute to in the year. An excess not refunded with earnings by April 15 is taxed twice, once as wages in the contribution year and again on distribution. Steps include totaling W-2 Box 12 deferrals, notifying the plan in writing, reading 1099-R codes P and 8, and capping payroll after a mid-year job change.
IRS Notice CP87A means two returns claimed the same dependent's Social Security number. It is not an audit and not a bill — if you are entitled to the claim, the IRS says do nothing. This guide covers the five qualifying-child tests, the tie-breaker ladder, why a divorce decree loses to overnight counts without a signed Form 8332, the 2025 IP PIN fix for e-file rejections, and when to amend with Form 1040-X.
An IRS Identity Protection PIN is a free six-digit code that blocks anyone from e-filing a federal return with your Social Security number. Here is who can get one, the three ways to request it, how it works for spouses and dependents, and the errors that cause rejections every filing season.
From 1 January 2026 Vietnam no longer collects the business license fee (lệ phí môn bài) and no longer requires its annual declaration, saving companies VND 2–3 million and household businesses up to VND 1 million a year — but arrears for 2025 and earlier remain collectible, and VAT, income tax and e-invoicing obligations are unchanged.
The ARPA exclusion for student loan discharges expired on December 31, 2025, so income-driven repayment forgiveness after 20 or 25 years, closed-school and borrower-defense discharges are federal taxable income again from 2026, while PSLF, teacher-service and death or disability discharges remain tax-free. A $49,000 IDR discharge can add roughly $5,800 to $10,000 in federal tax; the Form 982 insolvency exclusion, early AGI planning and your own payment ledger are the tools that shrink the bill.
The IRS finalized the No Tax on Tips regulations in April 2026 with a closed list of 71 qualifying occupations, a new W-2 Box 14b for up to two three-digit occupation codes, Box 12 code TP for qualified tips, and a voluntariness test that disqualifies automatic gratuities and POS flows with no zero option. Here is what tipped employers must change in payroll, point-of-sale and bookkeeping before 2026 forms go out.
Original issue discount makes you report interest income each year on bonds that pay no cash until maturity. This guide covers where OID hides — zero-coupon bonds, T-bills, TIPS, seller-financed notes — the 0.25%-per-year de minimis threshold, how to read Boxes 1, 2, 6 and 8 of Form 1099-OID, and the basis and state-tax mistakes that make investors overpay.
A state income tax refund is federally taxable only to the extent last year's deduction actually reduced your tax. Standard-deduction filers report nothing; itemizers run the Schedule 1 worksheet, where the SALT cap ($40,000 for 2025, $40,400 for 2026), the margin by which itemizing beat the standard deduction, and the income-tax-versus-sales-tax election each cut the taxable amount below the Form 1099-G figure.
The Treasury Offset Program lets the Bureau of the Fiscal Service withhold a federal tax refund to pay past-due child support, defaulted federal student and SBA loans, state income tax, and unemployment debts, in that priority order. Creditor agencies must mail a Notice of Intent to Offset at least 60 days before referral, giving you time to pay, sign a repayment agreement, or dispute the debt. When the debt belongs only to your spouse, Form 8379 Injured Spouse Allocation recovers your share of a joint refund in roughly 8 to 14 weeks.
For tax years beginning in 2026 the Section 448(c) gross-receipts threshold is $32 million, up from $31 million. OBBBA adds a reported $80 million lane for qualifying manufacturers and lets small businesses elect retroactive 2022–2024 R&D expensing under Section 174A by July 6, 2026 — here is the threshold math, who is forced onto accrual, and how a method change works.
Section 1234A treats gain or loss from the cancellation, lapse, or termination of a right in capital-asset property as capital — so a forfeited earnest-money deposit is usually a short-term capital loss, a lapsed option premium is short-term capital gain, and a merger break fee is a capital loss capped at $3,000 of ordinary income per year for individuals. Services contracts, Section 1231 business property, and debt retirements fall outside the statute and stay ordinary.
