Tax and Business Solutions LLC

09/28/2026

Why benefits can beat a wage raise, for employers and employees

Employers: Want to give your team a raise without increasing your costs? Employees: Want to take home more without asking for a bigger paycheck?
When wages go up, payroll taxes go up too. Tax-free benefits, within IRS limits and when set up correctly, are generally not taxed as wages. The employee gets more, and the employer pays less.

Here's how it can be done in 2026:
👶 Child care assistance: up to $7,500 per year
The employer pays or reimburses daycare, preschool, or after-school care for children under 13.
🎓 Tuition or student loan payments: up to $5,250 per year
The employer pays for courses or degree programs, or makes payments on the employee's student loans.
🧒 Trump Account contributions: up to $2,500 per year (new in 2026). The employer deposits money into a new savings account for the employee's children. It's free of income tax, but payroll taxes still apply.
🚌 Transit and parking: up to $340 per month each
The employer covers bus, train, ferry, or vanpool passes and parking at or near work.
🏥 Health benefits
Employer-paid health insurance, HSA contributions, or reimbursement of an employee's own health insurance premiums through a qualified arrangement.
📱 Reimbursement of work expenses: phone, mileage, supplies (through an accountable plan)
🏦 Retirement plan matching

Bonus for employers: tax credits on your tax return
✅ Paid family and medical leave credit: Get back 12.5% to 25% of the wages you pay employees during qualifying family or medical leave.
✅ Employer child care credit: Get back 40% to 50% of what you spend to provide child care for employees, for example through contracts with licensed child care facilities.
✅ Retirement plan startup credits: Small employers can get up to $5,000 per year for 3 years toward the costs of starting a new plan, plus extra credits for employer contributions.

Employees: If a raise isn't on the table, ask about benefits. They're often easier for an employer to approve, and they're worth more to you.

09/20/2026

Paying too little in estimated taxes? The IRS charges you interest for it — daily.

If you're self-employed or an S-corp owner and you didn't pay enough tax throughout the year, the IRS doesn't just bill you the difference — it adds a penalty that grows every single day you're underpaid.

📊 Current rate: 7% per year, compounded daily

Here's what makes it worse than people expect:
✅ It's calculated separately for each quarter — a big payment in Q4 doesn't erase a Q1 shortfall
✅ Getting a refund at filing time doesn't cancel a penalty you already racked up mid-year
✅ It applies even if you file on time and pay your balance in full by April 15

How to avoid it — hit either safe harbor:
✔️ Pay at least 90% of this year's total tax, OR
✔️ Pay 100% of last year's tax (110% if your prior-year income was over $150,000)

Quarterly due dates: April 15, June 15, September 15, and January 15.

Missed a payment in Q1 or Q2? Catching up now with a larger Q3 or Q4 payment won't erase the penalty already accrued for those earlier quarters — but it stops the daily interest clock on that unpaid amount from running any longer. The sooner it's paid, the less it costs.

08/30/2026

Big Purchase This Year? There's a Deduction You Might Be Missing

Did you buy a car, a boat, or put money into remodeling your home this year? That purchase could mean an extra deduction on your tax return, one that's easy to overlook.
If you itemize deductions, you can add the sales tax you paid on big purchases like these on top of your regular sales tax deduction. A vehicle or a home remodel can easily add a few thousand dollars to that number.

This is especially worth paying attention to right now. The limit on how much you can deduct for property tax combined with income or sales tax used to be capped at just $10,000. That cap has been raised to just over $40,000 ($40,400 for 2026), so there's a lot more room for this deduction to actually make a difference than there used to be.

Here's why it matters: even if itemizing hasn't been worth it for you in past years, a big purchase like this could change that. The extra sales tax from one large purchase might be just enough to make itemizing pay off this year.

Don't overlook it - a significant purchase can mean a bigger deduction!

08/24/2026

2026 Tax Update: What's Changed for Business Meals

Starting January 1, 2026, a new IRS rule affects how certain business meals are deducted:

❌ No longer deductible: Actual meals provided on business premises for the employer's convenience, for example, dinner brought in for a crew working late to finish a project, or food provided to a team pulling long hours to meet a client deadline.

✅ Still 50% deductible:
Client meals (business purpose required, restaurant or otherwise)
Meeting food (business/planning meetings)
Travel meals (overnight business travel)
Office snacks, coffee, and beverages (chips, donuts, coffee, water) - these are treated differently than "meals" under IRS rules

✅ Still 100% deductible: Company-wide parties/picnics, meals included in an employee's W-2 wages, food sold to customers, and meals provided as public advertising.

⚠️ Contractors ≠ employees. Food or meals provided to independent contractors don't qualify for employee-related exceptions and generally aren't deductible.

📝 Documentation matters. For every meal deduction, keep: amount, date/place, business purpose, and who attended. Receipts are required for expenses over $75.

Questions about how this affects your business? Reach out - we're here to help.

08/16/2026

Think Your Home Is Too Small for a Home Office Deduction? Think Again.

Many business owners skip this deduction because they assume their home office needs to be a full room. Not true.

✅ Your home office can be any clearly defined space used exclusively for business, even just a few square feet.
✅ The real benefit isn't just the expense deduction, it can make your home your principal place of business.
✅ That converts drives between your home office and other work locations from non-deductible commuting into deductible business mileage.

To qualify, the space must be used exclusively and regularly for:
☑️ Bookkeeping
☑️ Billing customers
☑️ Scheduling appointments
☑️ Ordering supplies
☑️ Preparing reports

⚠️ You also can't have another fixed location where you do substantial administrative work.

Who qualifies in 2026: Self-employed individuals, partners, and S-corp owners (with a proper accountable plan reimbursement).
Who doesn't: W-2 employees, this deduction remains unavailable to them under current law.

A small dedicated space could mean real tax savings. Not sure if your setup qualifies? Let's talk.

08/08/2026

Lending Yourself Money From Your Own Business? The IRS Has Rules for That.

When does it make sense?

C-corp owners: get cash now without triggering a taxable dividend or a payroll-tax-heavy bonus.
S-corp owners: same idea, plus it avoids a distribution that exceeds your basis (which would be taxed as capital gain).
Partners/multi-member LLCs: pull cash without shrinking your capital account or forcing a distribution to every other partner.
Sole proprietors: a "loan" from yourself to yourself isn't a real tax concept - you and the business are one taxpayer, so this strategy doesn't apply to you.

But even when a loan makes sense, the IRS still requires:

✅ A real loan: written promissory note, fixed repayment schedule, maturity date.
✅ Interest at least at the IRS Applicable Federal Rate (AFR) — for August 2026: 4.10% (short-term), 4.35% (mid-term), or 4.92% (long-term).
✅ Payments actually made — on paper and in practice.

Skip these steps, and the IRS can impute interest income, hit you with a constructive dividend, or add payroll tax on top.

08/03/2026

Charitable giving rules changed for 2026!

✅ Don't itemize? You can now deduct up to $1,000 ($2,000 married) in cash donations, no itemizing needed.

⚠️ Do itemize? A new rule means the first 0.5% of your AGI in donations isn't deductible, only the amount above that.
Example: AGI of $100,000 + $5,000 donated = first $500 isn't deductible, but you can still deduct the remaining $4,500.

💵 Remember: cash gifts to public charities are still capped at 60% of your AGI (this limit is now permanent).

📝 Donating property instead of cash? Keep receipts and records of fair market value, if the donation is worth more than $500, you'll need to file Form 8283 with your return.

💰 High-income filers (37% bracket): the tax benefit of your itemized deductions, including charitable gifts, is now capped at 35%.

🚨 Also, watch for fake charities. Scammers ramp up after disasters. Before donating:
✔️ Check the org is IRS-qualified: IRS Tax Exempt Search https://www.irs.gov/charities-non-profits/search-for-tax-exempt-organizations
✔️ Keep your receipts
✔️ Donations to individuals are never tax-deductible
✔️ Be wary of inflated appraisals on donated property (art, real estate, etc.), the IRS watches closely for this

Questions about how this affects your 2026 tax planning? Contact us, we're happy to walk through the numbers with you.

07/26/2026