Best Choice Bookkeeping & Tax Service LLC

07/14/2025

Hello! I haven't posted on this page in months -- but with the Big Beautiful Bill being passed on July 4th, 2025, I felt the need to mention a few items contained in it to help tax clients and other readers.

1. No tax on tips and no tax on overtime will be a tax deduction on your 2025 tax return that will be given when you do your taxes in 2026. I just read that no payroll changes will happen in 2025. You should keep your payroll deductions the same, don't change anything at present.

On Overtime, it is only the part of the extra time of the wage -- not the entire part. Example -- You work an extra hour of Overtime -- you are paid 1.5 x your rate. It is only the .5 part that gets the deduction on the tax return.

Also, for self-employed individuals -- even if you are a tipped subcontractor (like a hairdresser, waitress, etc.) and receive a 1099-NEC, you will STILL be paying self-employment and most probably state taxes. At this point -- it is Federal tax only -- until you find out what your state will do -- follow the Fed or do their own thing.

There will be many smaller parts of these laws that will be changed for 2026. Right now, in 2025, employers (at year end on employee W-2's) are encouraged to do the estimates the best they can ro notate tips and overtime. More rules and regulations for W-2 and 1099-NEC notation to follow for 2026 tax year. (That's several months away).

2. Seniors over 65 will get the $6,000 (Single), or $12,000 (MFJ) only if they fall within the income threshold -- $75,000 for Single and $150,000 for MFJ. This is NOT a tax credit, it is a deduction off of taxable income. If you don't have taxable income, it will not affect you. You are already NOT paying taxes.

3. Child Tax Credit is going to $2200 per child.

4. A nice perk for charitable donors is the addition of the $1000/$2000 (Single/MFJ), above the line deduction if you have given and don't itemize. Like a few years ago, you will still get a deduction for your charitable donations even if you are taking the Standard Deduction. Please save and submit your receipts.

5. For those who fell short on the state and local taxes each year and only got a $10,000 deduction, it's going up to $40,000. That is only if you itemize -- 95% of tax clients don't itemize but this might be helpful if you pay a lot of tax (both on your house and state taxes).

6. For business clients -- the 20% QBI is still intact (Praise God!), and Bonus Depreciation is back up to 100% expensing starting in 2025! What a nice break! The year is already half over -- be thinking what you might want to expense this year -- only if it was purchased after January 19, 2025.

7. Gambling losses up to the extent of gambling wins is now pegged at 95%. In other words, you can only take 95% of gambling losses up to the extent of gambling wins. It used to be 100%.

8. Tax tables are still staying at the rate of the TCJA legislation so that's a huge relief.

There are many many more items in the bill -- it isn't 1100 pages for nothing, but I have tried to pull out the items that I think are the most pertinent to the biggest cross section of my client base. I hope this helps you.

Warm blessings,

Katherine Smith, your tax consultant and EA tax preparer
Best Choice Bookkeeping & Tax Service LLC

06/15/2023

Today is June 15th (My daughter's birthday too), but it's the due date for Q2 estimated tax payments. Go to irs.gov to make yours if you need to. You know who you are! ;-)

01/14/2023

Sweetheart 💘💘💘

01/11/2023

It’s time to do taxes again. I will resume doing personal and business taxes starting Feb 4th. Please go to www.Bestchoicetax.com and click the Book Me link to schedule an appointment. Then click your appropriate 2022 Tax Document download link to get the necessary documents and lists you need. See you soon!

We are a small bookkeeping and tax service. Our company assists individuals, and multiple types of businesses including single owners, partnerships, LLC’s, and small corporations. We offer you four distinct advantages over other accounting firms. We believe this advantage to our client is best dem...

12/09/2022

Happy December! We had to take this opportunity to share a snowy view of the Manor 😍

06/19/2021

If you are up on things, you will know about the Advanced Child Tax Credit that will be started up on July 1st and your employer will automatically start putting the "calculated" amount into your paycheck. There is an option to "opt-out" of this. Trust me, it will affect your taxes and unless you know exactly how much you need to put back, you will "owe" at the end of the year if you have depended on the Child Tax Credit to pay your tax bill and give you a nice little refund at year end.
If you need this monthly money (and most young families do,), then you should do some calculations and "increase" your withholdings NOW, or choose to Opt Out on the www.irs.gov website (starting July 1, it should be up -- I'm told).
This is a major move by the government and will affect many many young families. NO, change that -- Every family with children under 17.
Please be prudent and pro-active with this. A little forethought and action now will save you some serious heart ache and me having to tell you that you OWE taxes come April 15, 2022. No one ever wants to hear this -- especially the young families who are struggling already.

Pay your taxes. Get your refund status. Find IRS forms and answers to tax questions. We help you understand and meet your federal tax responsibilities.

05/05/2021

If you are waiting on an IRS refund, you may be waiting for some time. According to my Kiplinger Letter, IRS is holding 16 million individual refunds for manual processing from both 2019 and 2020.

Calling them may result in huge frustration. Only 2% of calls get to a live person and even then they may not have any answer for you. Everyone will just need to be patient. The Agency is overwhelmed.

01/16/2021

The IRS is delaying the start of the 2020 tax filing season to Feb. 12, according to an announcement Friday from the agency.

On that date, the IRS will start accepting and processing last year’s tax returns.

Normally, the agency opens tax season in late January.

This year, however, the IRS will need more time to prepare after the Covid relief act that took effect in late December. And yes, the tax filing deadline is still April 15. (taken from a MSN NBC announcement , and looked at several others on the Internet)

12/30/2020

Here are the new Stimulus ranges --
Single -- AGI of 75,000 or less ---- receive $600
HOH - --AGI of 112,500 or less---- receive $600 plus $600 per dependent under age 17
MFJ ---- AGI of 150,000 or less --- receive $1200 plus $600 per dependent under age 17

Any dependent child under age 17 will count for an additional $600

For Your Information

12/30/2020

I will be taking personal tax information and doing interviews starting February 1, 2021. I will have my "You Can Book Me" up and available starting January 16th for appointments. Due to COVID, I will be limiting the in person interviews for each day so as not to have too much exposure.

I will also take drop-offs at the door, and will set up appointments for those as well. A quick drop off and a brief exchange is all that will be included, but once the papers are dropped off, we can then have a telephone conversation for a longer amount of time to thoroughly cover your taxes and paperwork.

12/30/2020

Everyone please write down your odometer reading for your business vehicle today!

12/30/2020

With the latest legislation that was passed, a new round of PPP loans/grants will now be available. If you received a PPP loan last year, the only major requirement to apply again is that your 2020 receipts must be 25% less than your 2019 receipts.

Also, this money (and last year's as well) is really forgivable and not taxable. You are allowed to deduct the expenses you used the funds for, and do not have to claim the PPP as income. A truly good deal for those in hurting circumstances.