Todd's Accounting Service

𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙤𝙘𝙘𝙪𝙥𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙮 𝙩𝙖𝙭𝙚𝙨?

If you rent out your home, apartment, or spare room to guests, income taxes may not be the only tax issue on the table.

Occupancy taxes are taxes charged on the rental price paid by your guest. They’re sometimes called tourist tax, hotel tax, room tax, or lodging tax.

They’re different from income tax, which is based on your profit.

The confusing part is that occupancy tax rules can change depending on your city or county. And if the tax isn’t collected and sent in correctly, the penalties can be a real problem.

Have a short-term rental or thinking about starting one? Comment “RENTAL” to get help with the tax obligations.

𝘾𝙖𝙣 𝙢𝙮 𝙨𝙩𝙪𝙙𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙡𝙤𝙖𝙣𝙨 𝙗𝙚 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙜𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙣 𝙗𝙖𝙣𝙠𝙧𝙪𝙥𝙩𝙘𝙮?

Yes, student loans can be discharged in bankruptcy, but it’s not automatic like credit card debt.

You have to prove that repaying the loans would create an undue hardship for you and your family.

For federal loans, your financial records may be reviewed before you ever go to trial. If the Department of Justice agrees that your situation meets the hardship standard, they can agree to the discharge.

Before filing, gather your records and know what kind of loans you have:
• Federal loans
• Private loans
• A mix of both

If you want to talk further about how discharged student loans affect your tax situation, comment "HELP" below.

Google's updates to its search bar are really interesting: https://www.techbrew.com/stories/google-it-while-you-still-can

And you might be tempted to ask all kinds of tax questions with the new features. And the thing is, the answer might sound definitive in the results but actually still be wrong for your situation.

Tax questions need details that AI agents don't think to ask for.

Maybe your income changed. Maybe you got an IRS notice. Maybe you’re asking about a deduction, but the real issue is how your business is set up.

Don't rely on quick answers from Gemini when it comes to your IRS obligations.

Ask a professional you can trust (we're right here).

𝘿𝙤 𝙄 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙥𝙖𝙮 𝙩𝙖𝙭𝙚𝙨 𝙞𝙛 𝙄 𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙢𝙮 𝙝𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙤𝙧 𝙨𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙧𝙤𝙤𝙢?

If you’re charging people to stay in your house, apartment, or even just a spare bedroom, that income may need to be reported on your tax return.

In the eyes of the IRS and state taxing authorities, you’re acting as a landlord once guests are paying to stay there.

But the tax treatment depends heavily on your personal use of the space.

Two questions to think about:
1. How many days did guests stay there?
2. How many days did you use the property yourself?

So if you’re renting out part or all of your home, don’t just look at how much money came in.

Your guest days and personal-use days matter too.

"𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗺𝘂𝗰𝗵 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗜𝗥𝗦 𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗱𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗺𝘆 𝘁𝗮𝘅 𝗱𝗲𝗯𝘁?"

IRS penalties can grow quickly, but they aren’t always final. In some cases, you may qualify for penalty abatement, which could reduce or even remove certain penalties if you have a valid reason and present your case correctly.

Here are four common tax penalties taxpayers face:
1. Failure-to-file penalty: up to 5% of unpaid taxes per month, capped at 25%.
2. Failure-to-pay penalty: generally 0.5% per month on unpaid balances, capped at 25%.
3. Accuracy-related penalties: often 20% of the underpayment for negligence or errors.
4. Tax evasion: the most serious category, with major fines and possible jail time.

The IRS may consider penalty relief when there’s “reasonable cause,” like hospitalization, a death in the family, a fire that destroyed records, or an unexpected job loss.

The key is knowing how to document what happened and follow the IRS process.

Which is a process that we're experts at working through. Come talk to us, and we'll help you find out if penalty abatement could be an option for you.

When you owe the IRS, even normal expenses can feel frustrating. Gas being one of the more consequential ones right now.

You still have places to be, but every fill-up takes money out of your already stretched budget.

Making each tank go farther won’t fix the tax problem. But it can give you a little more room while you work on the bigger issue.

A few small driving habits, as the article suggests, may stretch your tank a little further.

But if the bigger issue is tax debt for you, let’s talk about your options.

Driving Tips for How to Save Gas | Toyota.com Toyota offers easy tips on how to get better gas mileage so you can drive more and fill up less. Learn simple tricks that will help you save.

𝗖𝗮𝗻 𝗺𝘆 𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗹𝗼𝗮𝗻𝘀 𝗯𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗴𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝗯𝗮𝗻𝗸𝗿𝘂𝗽𝘁𝗰𝘆?

Not automatically. You usually have to prove that repaying them would create an “undue hardship” for you and your dependents.

Most courts look at three things to determine undue hardship:
1. You can’t maintain a minimal standard of living if forced to repay.
2. Your hardship is likely to continue.
3. You’ve made good faith efforts to repay.

For federal loans, your financial records may be reviewed before trial, and the Department of Justice may agree to the discharge if you meet the hardship standard.

If student debt is making it harder to stay current with the IRS or other obligations, let’s talk through your options.

What's the most unconventional thing you've heard of someone try to do to save money on their taxes?

𝙎𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙄 𝙪𝙥𝙙𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙢𝙮 𝙒-4 𝙖𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙛𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙢𝙮 𝙩𝙖𝙭𝙚𝙨?

If any of these things happened in 2026, then you need to update your W-4:
• You got married or divorced
• You started a second job
• Your spouse started or stopped working
• You had a child
• You started a side hustle
• You bought a home

Those changes affect how much federal (and state) tax comes out of your paycheck each pay period.

For example, if your withholding is still designated as a single person but you recently got married, you may end up giving the Treasury more money than you need to.

If you’re not sure whether your withholding needs updating, DM us, and we can help you review and adapt to your circumstances.

𝙎𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙄 𝙛𝙞𝙡𝙚 𝙨𝙚𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙡𝙮 𝙞𝙛 𝙢𝙮 𝙨𝙥𝙤𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙨 𝙩𝙖𝙭 𝙙𝙚𝙗𝙩?

Not always. But if your spouse already owes the IRS, don’t file jointly just because that’s what married couples usually do.

If the debt belongs to your spouse from before you filed together, that does not automatically make it your debt.

But it can still affect you.

A joint refund may be taken and applied to your spouse’s past-due balance. And if you file a joint return with a new amount due, both of you may be responsible for that tax.

That’s why filing separately may be worth looking at if:
• The debt started before the marriage
• You’re expecting a refund
• There may be a balance due this year
• You’re not comfortable with everything being reported on the return

Filing separately is not always the better move. It can limit certain tax benefits.

But when tax debt is already in the picture, this is not a decision to make on autopilot.

Before you file, make sure you understand what could affect you... and what you could be responsible for.

𝙒𝙝𝙮 𝙞𝙨 𝙜𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖 𝙗𝙞𝙜 𝙧𝙚𝙛𝙪𝙣𝙙 𝙖 𝙗𝙖𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜?

We all get excited about a refund becuase it feels like “extra money.”

But sometimes a big refund actually means you paid more in taxes than you needed to throughout the year.

Say you got a $3,000 refund because too much in taxes was being given to the IRS. But could that $250 per month have been available to you during the year instead?

If your withholding could be adjusted, would you rather…
A) Get a larger refund at tax time
B) Have more money available in each paycheck
C) Aim for as close to break-even as possible