Individuals
Filing an individual return, from a straightforward W-2 to self employment, investments, and rental property, and what changes the fee.
Filing in two states without paying twice
When two states tax the same income, your home state usually gives a credit for tax paid to the other. It works only if both returns are filed in the right order.
What happens to your return when you move states mid year
A mid year move usually means two part year state returns, one for each state, split at the date you moved. The date needs evidence behind it, not memory.
Selling stock: what your broker reports and what it leaves out
A 1099-B shows what you sold for, not always what you paid. Equity pay, old shares and wash sales are where the basis goes missing and a gain is overstated.
Capital gains holding period: short term vs long term
Long term means held more than one year, counted from the day after you bought. One day short puts the whole gain at ordinary rates. Wash sales span 61 days.
Depreciation on a rental, and why it matters when you sell
Skipping depreciation does not avoid the bill at sale. Recapture is calculated on what was allowable, not on what you actually claimed, so it is charged anyway.
Rental property on Schedule E, line by line
Most rental returns go wrong in one place: an improvement entered as a repair. The distinction has a three part test, and it decides the whole year.
What the standard deduction replaced, and when itemizing still wins
Two new rules land on charitable giving in 2026, one for itemizers and one for everybody else. Both change the calculation people made last year.
The home office deduction, and who really qualifies
Exclusive use is the test most claims fail, and employees are out entirely. There is a simplified method, and there is a cost that lands when you sell.
1099-NEC, 1099-K, and what each one means for your return
The 1099-NEC threshold moved to 2,000 dollars for 2026, after seventy years at 600. Fewer forms will arrive, and the income is reportable either way.
Quarterly estimated payments, and how to size them
Tax on self employment income is due through the year, not with the return. The safe harbor removes the penalty by using a number you already know.
Which expenses a self employed person can actually deduct
The test is not whether an expense was real. It is whether it was ordinary, necessary, and recorded at the time, and whether the personal share was taken out.
What a Schedule C actually asks you for
Schedule C reports self employment income and the cost of earning it. What the form asks, which expenses survive, and what it does to the rest of your return.