Dan Schweissing Tax Pro

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Dan Schweissing Tax Pro Lost in the wilderness or the tax code? I teach people to find their footing.

Every March, Zach spent a Saturday on his taxes while his boys watched Cartoon Network without him.He's a middle school ...
10/08/2026

Every March, Zach spent a Saturday on his taxes while his boys watched Cartoon Network without him.

He's a middle school principal, mid-forties. Divorced three years. He shares custody of two boys, 9 and 11, with his ex-wife. She has them most of the time. When they're with him, he still gave up a full Saturday to his return.

Zach's methodical. He'd Google the rules on shared custody deductions, figure out exactly what applied to his situation, and get it right every year. No mistakes. No IRS letters.

He just finally decided it wasn't worth it anymore.

Not because he couldn't do it. Because he didn't want to spend one more Saturday doing it instead of playing disc golf with his kids at the park.

This year, he hired me instead. He spent that Saturday with his boys playing disc golf.

Looking forward to attending my 17th Fall Convention with CoTESOL this year!Hands down, this is ALWAYS the best PD event...
10/06/2026

Looking forward to attending my 17th Fall Convention with CoTESOL this year!

Hands down, this is ALWAYS the best PD event of the year for ESL professionals!

Andrew and Maggie's CPA retired after decades. Andrew panicked more than Maggie did.Both are teachers, mid-fifties. Thei...
10/02/2026

Andrew and Maggie's CPA retired after decades. Andrew panicked more than Maggie did.

Both are teachers, mid-fifties. Their friend had done their taxes for years. When she retired, Maggie shrugged it off.

"I'll just do TurboTax like everyone else."

Andrew wasn't so sure. Their return isn't the simplest: two W-2s, modest capital gains in a brokerage account, and an out-of-state oil royalty interest Maggie inherited from her father.

That last one often means a nonresident return in the state where the royalty is located. Easy to miss if you don't know to look for it.

Andrew finally talked her into coming in.

"I'm sure I could've figured it out eventually," she said. "But it was worth every penny to not have to worry about any of this."

Paola. 32. $73K. Works at a college alumni office. I refused to do her taxes.She'd opened a high-yield savings account. ...
09/24/2026

Paola. 32. $73K. Works at a college alumni office.

I refused to do her taxes.

She'd opened a high-yield savings account. First one ever. It paid her $87 in interest.

Then a form showed up she'd never seen before. A 1099-INT.

She assumed a new form meant a more complicated return. Maybe even one she shouldn't do herself anymore.

It didn't. One box. One number. $87. Just copy it exactly where it goes.

If you have one or two W-2s and a savings account, you probably don't need to pay someone to file your taxes. There's no taxable amount to calculate. No decision to make. Just numbers, copied exactly as printed.

I told her to use TurboTax again this year.

She looked relieved.

Sometimes my job is just telling someone they're already doing it right.

Brenda's $1,200 refund became a $650 bill two years later. TurboTax's guarantee didn't cover it.She's 67. Retired. Filed...
09/21/2026

Brenda's $1,200 refund became a $650 bill two years later. TurboTax's guarantee didn't cover it.

She's 67. Retired. Filed her own taxes on TurboTax for years without a problem.

Then the IRS sent a letter. A retirement account distribution had a taxable amount she needed to figure out herself. She entered the wrong number.

TurboTax calculated her refund correctly, based on what she gave it. The number itself was wrong. The math on that wrong number was perfect.

She called TurboTax, expecting their guarantee to cover it.

It doesn't work that way. The guarantee covers their calculations. Not the numbers you hand them.

Two plus two will always equal four. Nobody guarantees that two is the right number.

Apparently I'm a deadbeat.Every monthly expense goes on my American Airlines card. Groceries. Gas. Utilities. Everything...
09/16/2026

Apparently I'm a deadbeat.

Every monthly expense goes on my American Airlines card. Groceries. Gas. Utilities. Everything.

At the end of the month, I pay it off. All of it.

In 2016, I applied for my first AAdvantage card. Not for loyalty, but the 60,000 bonus points.

Enough for two tickets to Hawaii for my parents' 50th anniversary.

I've switched cards twice since then. Same reason. Bonus points.

Every few years, my wife and I fly to the Dominican Republic to visit her family. Usually enough points for one ticket. Pay cash for the second.

Then the pandemic hit. We didn't travel for three years. Points accumulated.

When we finally flew post-pandemic, both tickets to the DR were free.

Next year's trip to the DR: Points are already accumulating.

I'm cheap, and I refuse to pay interest on a credit card balance.

A deadbeat is what credit card companies call people who pay off their balance in full every month and never carry debt.

I'll take it.

I've been called worse.

Marcos is selling his house for $560K more than he paid. A folder of receipts will save him thousands.He emailed me: "Ka...
08/20/2026

Marcos is selling his house for $560K more than he paid. A folder of receipts will save him thousands.

He emailed me: "Karina and I are moving. Promotion. Transferring back east. Selling as soon as we can."

Before congratulations, I had one question.

"Did you save the invoices from your remodel?"

Bought 11 years ago for $540K. Four bed, five acres, foothills near Denver. Asking price in 2026: $1.1M.

The first $500K of profit on a home sale is tax-free for a married couple. Above that, capital gains tax applies.

Without the remodel: $1.1M minus $540K minus $500K. $60K taxable.

But they'd spent $52K on that remodel, and Marcos kept every invoice.

Capital improvements get added to the purchase price before calculating gain. Not deducted from income. Added to basis.

New math: $1.1M minus $592K minus $500K. $8K taxable.

A $52K swing, because he never threw away a folder of receipts.

Most homeowners plan to sell eventually. Most don't save proof of what they put into the place until it's too late.

The deduction only works if you can document it.

Sarah rents her ADU to travel nurses on 13-week contracts. She almost paid $2,372 in tax she didn't owe.She walked in wo...
07/23/2026

Sarah rents her ADU to travel nurses on 13-week contracts. She almost paid $2,372 in tax she didn't owe.

She walked in worried about self-employment tax.

She'd been assuming that renting out a space on Airbnb automatically meant she owed the extra 15.3%, on top of her regular income tax, the same way a freelancer or gig worker would.

It doesn't work that way for everyone.

The IRS looks at two things: how long your guests stay, and what you provide beyond the space itself.

Sarah's guests are travel nurses on 13-week contracts. She provides nothing beyond cleaning between stays. No breakfast, no daily housekeeping, no concierge service.

Average stays over seven days, with no substantial services provided, keep rental income on Schedule E. Not Schedule C.

Schedule E means no self-employment tax. Ever. On this property.

She'd budgeted for an extra $2,372 she was never going to owe.

Not every Airbnb host gets the same answer. A weekend-stay property with daily cleaning and fresh towels every visit is a different conversation entirely, and very likely lands on Schedule C.

The difference isn't the platform. It's the guest.

I taught English to refugees for 16 years before I started doing taxes.Same job. Different paperwork.Refugees navigate s...
07/16/2026

I taught English to refugees for 16 years before I started doing taxes.

Same job. Different paperwork.

Refugees navigate systems that weren't designed for them. So do most people filing taxes.

I didn't grow up planning to do either. I grew up watching my dad prepare taxes nights and weekends, driving from kitchen to kitchen with a briefcase full of forms.

At 17, I filed my first 1040. Schedules C and SE. For a lawn mowing business.

Both jobs taught me the same thing: the system isn't intuitive. It's learnable. And it makes sense once someone explains it in plain English.

That's still the job. Same translation work. Different language.

My trail name is Colorado Jones."Isn't that the same as Indiana Jones?" — Everybody I MeetNo, not really.Indiana Jones i...
07/15/2026

My trail name is Colorado Jones.
"Isn't that the same as Indiana Jones?" — Everybody I Meet
No, not really.

Indiana Jones is a professor of archaeology at an elite private college in New England. Colorado Jones is an English instructor at an obscure public community college in the Rocky Mountain West.

Indiana Jones has been played by Harrison Ford, River Phoenix, and others. Colorado Jones has an exclusive contract with Brad Pitt, if and when The Adventures of Colorado Jones ever makes it to the big screen. (Brad Pitt successfully auditioned for this role by playing Jack Trainer in The Lost City.)

Indiana Jones was only slow and clumsy in the fourth and fifth installments of the franchise. Colorado Jones has always been slow and clumsy.

So, no, hardly the same person.

P.S. The same year Raiders of the Lost Ark was released, the name "Colorado Jones" was coined by the coolest kid at my junior high church camp. Haven't seen him in forty-five years. Still using his nickname anyway.

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