The Social Security Administration has announced a 2.8% increase in monthly Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits for 2026. This marks a decrease from the 3.2% cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) implemented for 2025. The 2026 adjustment is based on the rise in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) over the 12-month period ending September 2025. […]
At its core, a family business is exactly what it sounds like: a company owned, operated, and managed by at least two people from the same family. Whether it’s parents and their children, siblings, or another family dynamic, the key element is that the management team consists of individuals who share a close familial connection. […]
The House Ways and Means Committee has released an extensive list of proposed tax changes that impact individual, retirement, international and corporate tax law. We have been selective and have only included a portion of the proposed changes. A full list of proposed changes is available from the PDF file titled Responsibility Funding Our Priorities. […]
The IRS has long been a bogeyman for the American public, and there’s good reason for that. They have the unique ability to do what few other creditors can: taking your home and selling it out from under you. Still, despite its remarkable powers, fear has created mythologies around the agency. People both overestimate and […]
An Identity Protection PIN (IP PIN) is a six-digit number assigned to eligible taxpayers by the IRS to help prevent the misuse of their Social Security number by ID thieves to file fraudulent federal income tax returns. The IP PIN aids IRS in verifying a taxpayer’s identity and accepting only valid returns via electronic filing […]
With the wildfires in the west, hurricanes, and flooding in the southeast and eastern seaboard, we have had several presidentially declared disaster areas this year. Use the FEMA site to determine if you are within a federally declared disaster area. You can also use the Address Look-Up provided by the Federal government. Those in one […]
If you are a small business owner, chances are good you’re paying more attention to your accounts receivables and deliverables than to a three-year-old Supreme Court decision. But knowing what happened in the Wayfair decision on June 21st of 2018 is important if you do a significant amount of business in states other than where […]
An increasing number of Americans have either left the corporate world entirely or are supplementing their income by freelancing. There are many types of freelance work, but it’s important for those who are providing content, offering editing or proofreading assistance, or even publishing their own works to know their tax obligations. We’ve assembled the most […]
Where’s a specific sensibility and respect that gets attached to businesses that are referred to as “startups.” There’s a general feeling of risk taking and future-facing enterprise that owners enjoy. But the actual definition of what a startup is can be murky, and even if your business meets the definition in the eyes of the […]