Taxes by Deb Cee

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Taxes by Deb Cee I help individuals and small business owners simplify taxes for maximum deductions and stress-free filings.

Owner-operators: the expenses you're most likely to under-claim aren't the big ones. They're the ones you pay so often y...
10/23/2026

Owner-operators: the expenses you're most likely to under-claim aren't the big ones. They're the ones you pay so often you stop seeing them.

Run down this list and ask yourself if every one of them is in your books:

Fuel. DEF. Tolls. Scale tickets. Parking. Truck washes. Lumper fees you paid out of pocket. Load board subscriptions. ELD subscription. Oil and filters you bought yourself.

Each one is small. Across a year of running, they add up to real money, and they're only deductible if you can show them. A $14 scale ticket you didn't keep is a $14 deduction you don't get.

Now the one that surprises people: tickets and fines are not deductible. Overweight fine, logbook violation, speeding ticket, no matter how "business" it was. The tax code specifically shuts that door. The scale fee is a deduction. The overweight ticket at the scale is not.

The fix is boring and it works. One card for the truck, and nothing else goes on it. Receipts get photographed the day they happen, not the week before you file.

Want someone to look at whether you're catching all of it? Message me "TAXES" here on Facebook or call 504-708-3018.

"I'm home every night. Do I still get the meal deduction?" I'm going to give you the honest answer, because the wrong on...
10/22/2026

"I'm home every night. Do I still get the meal deduction?" I'm going to give you the honest answer, because the wrong one gets expensive.

Usually, no.

The meal deduction for drivers is a travel deduction. It exists for when your work keeps you away from home long enough that you need to stop and sleep or rest before you can keep going. Leave in the morning, run your loads, sleep in your own bed that night, and you weren't traveling for tax purposes. You were working a long day.

And no, pulling over for a nap in the cab doesn't change that. The IRS says that specifically.

There's a second trap on the other end. If you don't keep up a regular home somewhere, if the truck really is where you live, the IRS can treat your tax home as wherever you're working. Then you're never "away from home," and the meal deduction goes away for a different reason.

So the drivers who get this deduction are the ones who keep a real home base and are genuinely out overnight. If that's not your week, it's not your deduction.

Better to hear that from me now than from a letter later. If you want to know where you actually stand, message me "TAXES" here on Facebook or call 504-708-3018.

Out on the road and tired of saving every food receipt? You may not have to.If you're an owner-operator in the transport...
10/19/2026

Out on the road and tired of saving every food receipt? You may not have to.

If you're an owner-operator in the transportation industry, the IRS lets you use a special daily meal rate instead of tracking what you actually spent on food. For 2026 that rate is $80 a day in the continental US ($86 outside it).

And because drivers under DOT hours-of-service rules get to deduct 80% of meals instead of the usual 50%, a full day on the road works out to $64 deductible.

What people miss about it:

The first and last day of a trip don't count as full days. Those are prorated.

Once you choose the special rate, you use it for every trip that year. You don't get to pick per diem for the cheap weeks and receipts for the expensive ones.

It covers meals and incidentals, not lodging. If you pay for a room, that's still actual cost, with the receipt.

And per diem replaces the food receipts, not the logbook. You still have to show when you were out, where, and that it was for business. Your logs, your load records, and your fuel stops are what make the per diem stand up.

Want to know which way works better for your year? Let's run it. Message me "TAXES" here on Facebook or call 504-708-3018.

"Can I write off my truck payment?" It's the question I hear most from owner-operators, and the answer is not the one pe...
10/16/2026

"Can I write off my truck payment?" It's the question I hear most from owner-operators, and the answer is not the one people expect.

The payment itself is not the deduction.

Every payment you make is two things stuck together: principal, which is paying down what you borrowed, and interest, which is what the loan costs you. They get treated completely differently.

The interest is deductible as a business expense.

The principal isn't. But that doesn't mean you lose it. The cost of the truck comes back to you through depreciation, spread out over time, and that's true whether you paid cash or financed every dollar.

So if you've been adding up twelve truck payments and writing that number down as your deduction, two things are probably wrong. You may be claiming principal you can't claim, and you may be missing the depreciation you can.

Same truck, same payments, very different return. (And if it's a lease and not a loan, that's a different conversation. Bring the paperwork.)

If you're not sure how your truck is being handled, let's look at it. Message me "TAXES" here on Facebook or call 504-708-3018.

If you've got a W-2 and a side hustle, your return costs more than your coworker's. Here's the honest math, so it isn't ...
10/14/2026

If you've got a W-2 and a side hustle, your return costs more than your coworker's. Here's the honest math, so it isn't a surprise in February.

A base individual return is $225. That covers W-2 income, basic credits, and Schedules 1 through 3.

The moment you have self-employed or 1099 income, that's a Schedule C, and it's $350 on top. So W-2 plus a side hustle is $575.

I'd rather you know that in October than find out at the table in February.

Why it costs more: a Schedule C isn't a form you fill in from one document. It's income from multiple sources, expenses that have to be sorted and substantiated, mileage, home office if it qualifies, and self-employment tax, which is the part that catches most people off guard the first year. It's genuinely a second return living inside your return.

The good news is that it's also where the strategy is. A W-2 gives you very little to work with. A Schedule C gives you real decisions, and made well, they can be worth more than the fee.

Know your number before February: https://cal.com/taxesbydebcee/tax-appt

Everybody says "keep clean books." Almost nobody says what clean actually means. Here it is.Clean books means every tran...
10/12/2026

Everybody says "keep clean books." Almost nobody says what clean actually means. Here it is.

Clean books means every transaction is categorized, and categorized the same way it was last month. Consistency beats cleverness.

It means your accounts are reconciled against the actual bank statement, so the number in the software matches the number at the bank. If those two disagree, the books are decoration.

It means personal spending isn't sitting in there. One clean line between business and personal.

It means there's documentation behind anything that would raise an eyebrow, because the standard is that you can substantiate what you claimed, not that you can remember it.

And it means it's current. Books that are nine months behind aren't books, they're a research project.

Here's why it's worth it beyond the tidiness: clean books make tax prep faster and cheaper, they show you what your business is actually doing while you can still respond to it, and they're the difference between a lender or buyer taking you seriously and not.

If yours are behind, that is a fixable problem and you would not be the first. Let's talk: https://cal.com/taxesbydebcee/book-appt

To me, a good tax preparer is someone who understands tax law, not just tax software.Anybody can learn where to enter nu...
10/10/2026

To me, a good tax preparer is someone who understands tax law, not just tax software.

Anybody can learn where to enter numbers. But a good tax professional knows what questions to ask, recognizes when something doesn't look right, understands the why behind the numbers, and knows when additional research is necessary.

A good preparer doesn't just accept what a client tells them without asking follow-up questions. They exercise due diligence, stay current on tax law, protect confidential information, and never promise refunds just to gain clients.

Most importantly, they educate their clients. They explain the return, identify legitimate tax-saving opportunities, and help clients make better financial decisions throughout the year.

Accuracy, integrity, continuing education, and accountability are nonnegotiable.

And one more thing: A good tax preparer knows they will never know everything. Tax law is too complex for that. The willingness to keep learning is what separates a professional from someone who simply enters data.

Tax law first. Software second. Client's best interest always.

Starting a business this year? The setup is the cheapest part to get right and the most expensive part to fix later.What...
10/09/2026

Starting a business this year? The setup is the cheapest part to get right and the most expensive part to fix later.

What actually has to happen, in order: Pick the right structure for what you're actually doing, not what sounds impressive. File with the state. Get your EIN from the IRS. Open a business bank account that is genuinely separate from your personal one. Then, and only then, start running money through it.

That fourth one is where most people get hurt. Mixing personal and business money is the single fastest way to turn a clean year into an expensive mess, and it can undercut the very protection you formed the entity for.

The other thing nobody tells you: forming the entity is not the end. It changes how you file, what you owe, and when you owe it. If you set it up in October and don't think about taxes until April, you've already missed decisions.

Louisiana business formation is $200, including your EIN. With an (optional) corporate kit it's $550.

Do it once, do it right: https://cal.com/taxesbydebcee/tax-appt

"Can I fix a return I already filed?" Usually yes. The better question is whether you should.On the clock: to claim a re...
10/07/2026

"Can I fix a return I already filed?" Usually yes. The better question is whether you should.

On the clock: to claim a refund you generally have to file the amendment within three years of when you filed the original return, or two years from when you paid the tax, whichever is later. Miss that and the money is gone even if you were right.

When amending is usually worth it: You left off income that will catch up with you anyway. You missed a credit or deduction big enough to matter. Your filing status was wrong. A corrected 1099 or W-2 showed up after you filed.

When it usually isn't: The change is small enough that the fee eats the refund. It's a math error, because the IRS generally catches and fixes those. You're chasing a maybe with no documentation behind it.

That last one matters. An amendment isn't automatic and it isn't a lottery ticket. It's a full review, and it should only go in when the numbers actually support it.

A prior-year review is $75 and tells you whether there's anything there. If there is, an amendment is $200 for current clients and $300 for new ones. Better to know than to wonder.

Book a review: https://cal.com/taxesbydebcee/tax-appt

Tax season is only stressful for people who are reconstructing a year in a weekend.The rule is simple: you have to be ab...
10/05/2026

Tax season is only stressful for people who are reconstructing a year in a weekend.

The rule is simple: you have to be able to substantiate what you claim. Not "remember it," not "be pretty sure." Show it. That's the standard, and it's the whole reason a deduction gets allowed or disallowed.

So here's the habit that fixes it, and it takes about four minutes a week.

Once a week, same day, you do three things. Snap or forward every receipt into one folder. Label anything that isn't obvious with what it was for and who it was with. Match it against the account it was paid from.

That's it. Four minutes a week, and by December you're not reconstructing anything, because it was never lost.

The people who dread February aren't disorganized people. They're people who let twelve months pile into one weekend.

If you'd rather hand that whole job to someone, that's what bookkeeping is for. Let's talk about what your books actually need: https://cal.com/taxesbydebcee/book-appt

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