Sure Financial and Tax Services LLC

10/17/2026

The guide covers:
• Strategies to reduce taxes and increase savings under the current tax law
• 529 plan questions and answers, including the new $20,000 K-12 limit and Roth rollover rules
• Planning for 401(k)s, IRAs and the Backdoor Roth
• U.S. reporting for foreign accounts and assets (FBAR, Form 8938, PFICs and foreign gifts)
• Small business, real estate, residency, Medicare, estate, charitable giving, equity compensation and identity protection

Items that are time-sensitive before December 31, 2026:
1. Retirement and HSA contributions, and your 401(k) deferral level
2. Roth conversions and Backdoor Roth steps, which depend on your year-end IRA balances
3. Charitable gifts, including donor-advised fund contributions and IRA charitable distributions
4. Your list of foreign accounts and assets, with the highest balance in each account during 2026

Get you free copy : https://bit.ly/4i7J8oh

10/13/2026

Filing your tax return does not file your FBAR.

They go to different agencies through different systems: the return to the IRS, the FBAR to FinCEN. Then Form 8938 adds a third test with higher thresholds.

Same foreign accounts, three separate questions. Here is how they connect and which ones apply to you.

https://suryapadhiea.com/fbar-form-1040-state-tax-return/


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The number — Narrow and concrete, built on the $10,000 figure. Post a few days after the first.
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Combined foreign accounts over $10,000 at any time during the year? That is the FBAR line.

Form 8938 does not start until $50,000 at year-end for a single filer living in the U.S.

Two forms, two thresholds, and passing one never answers the other. The full map is in the article.

https://suryapadhiea.com/fbar-form-1040-state-tax-return/

10/13/2026

The IRS quietly removed the Delinquent FBAR Submission Procedures at the end of June 2026.

⚠️ What changed: the published no-penalty path for late FBARs is gone. Late FBARs can still be filed, but the IRS says penalties may apply.

✅ Streamlined Domestic (SDOP): 3 years of amended returns, 6 years of FBARs, a signed Form 14654 and a 5% penalty on the highest year-end balance.

🔑 The catch: you sign a non-willful certification, so review the facts before you file.

Full breakdown linked in the comments.

Surya Padhi, CPA, EA, CAA | Sure Financial and Tax Services
908-955-0696 | [email protected]

General information only, not individualized tax advice. Source: IRS.

10/13/2026

The IRS quietly removed the Delinquent FBAR Submission Procedures at the end of June 2026.

For years it was the published no-penalty fix for people whose only mistake was a missing FBAR. Now late FBARs can still be filed, but nothing published promises a penalty-free result.

What that means for Streamlined Domestic is in the article.

https://suryapadhiea.com/dfsp-terminated-sdop-late-fbar-options/


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The 5% — Narrow and concrete. Post a few days later.
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Streamlined Domestic costs 5% of the highest aggregate year-end balance of your foreign assets.

Not the total across six years. One year: the highest. On a $200,000 high, that is $10,000 in this illustration.

The catch is the signed non-willful certification, so the review comes before the filing.

https://suryapadhiea.com/dfsp-terminated-sdop-late-fbar-options/

The IRS removed the Delinquent FBAR Submission Procedures at the end of June 2026, so late FBARs no longer have a published penalty-free path. You can still

10/10/2026

Is your rental income passive or active? The answer decides whether a rental loss deducts this year or waits.

Here is the order the IRS applies:
1. Is it a rental activity? An average stay of 7 days or less says no.
2. Real estate professional? More than 750 hours AND more than half your working time.
3. Active participation? Own 10% or more and make the decisions: up to $25,000 of loss, shrinking from $100,000 of MAGI.
4. Otherwise it is passive, and the loss carries forward.

The catch: 800 rental hours can still fail. Next to a 2,000-hour job, they are only 28.6% of your working time. (Illustrative.)

Full breakdown linked in the comments.

Surya Padhi, CPA, EA, CAA
Sure Financial and Tax Services LLC, Hillsborough, NJ
908-955-0696 | [email protected]

General information only, not individualized tax advice. Source: Internal Revenue Code section 469 and IRS Publication 925.


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10/10/2026

Working on your rental every week does not make it “active” in the IRS's eyes. Rentals are passive by default, and “active” really means two different tests: one built on management decisions, one built on hours.

Which one you meet decides whether a loss deducts this year or waits.

https://suryapadhiea.com/passive-vs-active-rental-income/


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**The $15,000** — Post two or three days later. Built on one worked number.

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A $30,000 rental loss and $120,000 of income. If you actively participate, $15,000 is deductible this year and $15,000 waits on Form 8582.

At $150,000 of income, all $30,000 waits.

Here is how the $25,000 allowance shrinks, and what to do before December 31. (Illustrative figures.)

https://suryapadhiea.com/passive-vs-active-rental-income/


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**The question** — Post last. It is aimed at comments rather than clicks.

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Would your hours pass the real estate professional test?

It takes more than 750 hours AND more than half of everything you work. Plenty of people clear the first number and miss the second.

Where do you land?

https://suryapadhiea.com/passive-vs-active-rental-income/

Rental activity is passive by default, even if you work on it every week. It becomes nonpassive only if you qualify as a real estate professional, with more

10/07/2026

Never filed? The IRS can file for you. Under section 6020(b) it builds a return from what employers, banks and brokers reported.

What it leaves out: dependents, credits, itemized deductions, and often your basis.
What comes first: a CP59 alert, a 30-day letter, then a 90-day notice of deficiency.

The catch: its return reports what others said, not what is true. Filing your own signed return is the fix.

Full guide linked in the comments.

Surya Padhi, CPA, EA
Sure Financial and Tax Services LLC | 908-955-0696 | [email protected]

General information only, not individualized tax advice. Sources: IRC section 6020, IRS notice pages, TIGTA report 2026308047.

10/07/2026

If you never file, the IRS does not skip you. It files for you.

Under section 6020(b) it builds a return from what employers, banks and brokers reported. No dependents, no credits, and often no basis on your stock sales.

It is almost always worse than the return you would have filed yourself.

https://suryapadhiea.com/irs-substitute-for-return-unfiled-returns/


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The stock sale — Post two or three days later. Narrow and concrete.
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A brokerage report shows $60,000 of stock sale proceeds and no basis. A substitute return can tax all $60,000 as gain.

You paid $52,000. Your real gain is $8,000.

An illustration, not a client result. A real return is how $52,000 of income that never existed comes off.

https://suryapadhiea.com/irs-substitute-for-return-unfiled-returns/

If you never file, the IRS can prepare a return for you under section 6020(b), built only from income reported by employers, banks and brokers. It generally

10/06/2026

Scammed out of money? An IRS memo sorted five scams: three produced a theft loss deduction, two did not.

Allowed: compromised-account scams, pig butchering investment scams, phishing and hacked accounts.
Not allowed: romance scams and kidnapping scams.

The catch: being fooled does not change the label. Your motive decides, and the loss only helps if you itemize.

Full guide linked in the comments.

Surya Padhi, CPA, EA
Sure Financial and Tax Services LLC | 908-955-0696 | [email protected]

General information only, not individualized tax advice. Source: IRS Office of Chief Counsel, CCA 202511015.


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