During his presidential campaign, Donald Trump vowed to make major changes to U.S. economic policy. That effort began with significant shifts in tariff strategy, but tax reform remained the cornerstone of his agenda. This week, the House of Representatives approved the initial version of new tax and spending legislation, dubbed the “Big Beautiful Bill.” The proposal includes tax changes that reflect many of Trump’s original campaign promises. Although the bill is still in its early stages and subject to change, the current version outlines substantial tax cuts that aim to benefit Americans across all income levels. Below is a summary…

Traders with high-volume activity could face tax on gross trading gains—even if they lose money overall. Darren Neuschwander, CPA, and Adam Manning, CPA, contributed to this blog post. Washington State has taken an aggressive stance on taxing investment and trading income under its Business & Occupation (B&O) tax regime. The October 2024 Antio court ruling and the enactment of HB 2081 in May 2025 have reshaped the landscape, potentially pulling active traders—both individuals and entities—into the tax base. The B&O tax applies to gross receipts, not net income. RCW 82.04.080 defines gross income to include trading gains, interest, dividends, and…

You would be excused if you didn’t notice, as it was not widely reported—but the IRS just open-sourced Direct File—more specifically, it released the codebase underlying the free filing program on GitHub. It isn’t every day that the IRS drops something that reads like a blend of legal code, logic theory, and open government idealism. But that is exactly what it did, laying Direct File bare—and releasing it into the public domain—for the world to scrutinize, fork, or admire in stunned silence. At the heart of this code disclosure is something called the Fact Graph, a dry name for a…

Identity theft reports rose by 9% nationwide last year, representing the first year-over-year increase in identity theft reports since 2021. Reported incidents increased by nearly 100,000 between 2023 and 2024, suggesting that identity thieves have found new way to evade existing protections, such as using generative artificial intelligence (AI) to create more convincing scams. Identity Theft By Location Florida residents reported the most issues of any state in 2024, with 528 identity theft reports for every 100,000 people living in the state, according to an analysis of Federal Trade Commission (FTC) data by All About Cookies, which focuses on online…

If you are really stubborn, you can hold out on paying the IRS for a really long time. With luck, the statute of limitations on collection might bail you out. If the IRS does not collect within ten years of the time that it assesses a tax, you are home free. There are complications and ways in which the ten-year clock can be stopped, so I don’t recommend this sort of course for the faint of heart. Glen Stoll is not faint of heart. He believes that all IRS assessments against him are wrong and looks forward to the day…

Identity theft remains a significant concern for taxpayers and the IRS—and it could get worse in the coming weeks. With summer on the way, identity fraud could peak—in 2024, consumers reported that most identity fraud incidents happened in the summer months, when spending is typically high. According to the Javelin Strategy & Research 2025 Identity Fraud Study, consumers lost a total of $27.2 billion in 2024 due to identity fraud, marking a 19% increase from the previous year. The increase in fraud, which includes new-account fraud, account takeover fraud, and existing card fraud, may be attributed to a rise in…

A Renewed Blow in the SALT Wars and a Wake-Up Call for High-Income Professionals. Congress is once again targeting high-income professionals in the name of tax reform. On May 22, 2025, the House of Representatives passed “The One, Big, Beautiful Bill,” which proposes sweeping changes to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA). While the headlines focus on extensions of the TCJA’s broad tax cuts, buried in the bill are provisions that quietly strike at key benefits for service professionals and investors. The legislation would eliminate the Pass-Through Entity Tax (PTET) deduction for professionals in fields like law, accounting, consulting,…

“I love paying attorneys’ fees” said no one, ever. Taxpayers who are embroiled in disputes with the IRS are no different. Fighting the IRS is expensive, so much so that many taxpayers with valid cases often decide to concede issues they could win because of the cost. Tax cases move very slowly, often taking years to resolve. With the recent cuts to IRS staff and attorneys, resolution will likely take even longer in the future. A settlement tool known as a “qualified offer” is one of my favorite tools to jump-start productive settlement discussions in civil disputes. If a taxpayer…

An Augusta, Georgia, man has pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy related to a “ghost” tax preparation business. As a result, Allen Brown now faces up to 20 years in prison. It’s a good reminder to steer clear of ghost tax preparers. Ghost Tax Preparers A ghost preparer is a tax preparer who isn’t on the IRS’s radar because they do not have a Preparer Tax Identification Number (PTIN). To remain hidden, a ghost preparer will accept payment from a taxpayer to prepare a tax return but will not sign the return, which means the return will appear to be…

Grantor trusts are treated differently from other trusts for federal income tax purposes. Whereas many trusts are respected as separate entities, grantor trusts are disregarded with the grantor (or deemed owner) of the trust required to report the trust’s tax items (e.g., income, deductions, credits, etc.). Generally, a trust is characterized as a grantor trust if the trust meets one or more of the requirements set forth in the grantor-trust rules (i.e., sections 671 through 679). Foreign trusts often qualify as grantor trusts under the grantor-trust rules. Indeed, section 679 of the Code specifically targets foreign trusts for this tax…