Fortin & Associates

09/02/2026

Small financial moves can pay off for years. Discover tax breaks for education, simple tax-planning strategies, ways to make banks compete for you, and how to avoid the technology upgrade tax.

College and trade schools are investments that can pay dividends for years. The same can be true of a few smart tax habits repeated year after year. In this month’s newsletter, we take a closer look at tax breaks for post-secondary education along with practical tax planning moves that can del...

08/19/2026

From my friends @ Spidell:

Congress passes disaster tax relief (08-19-26)

The Doug LaMalfa Disaster Tax Relief Act (HR 5366) (the Act) passed both chambers of Congress and is headed for President Trump’s desk, where he is expected to sign the bill into law.

The Act extends the treatment of personal casualty losses and wildfire-related compensation. Its provisions can be divided into two key sections:

• Enhancement of disaster loss deductions; and
• Wildfire relief exclusions.

Enhancement of disaster loss deductions

The Act represents an extension of existing disaster loss deduction rules under IRC §163 by allowing a deduction for qualified net disaster losses plus the portion of other casualty losses that exceed 10% of AGI through the end of 2026. This provision also extends the removal of the 10% of AGI floor for “qualified disaster losses” through the end of 2026.

Additionally, the Act increases the per-event threshold for qualified disaster losses from $100 to $500 and it allows taxpayers who do not itemize their deductions to claim the qualified net disaster loss as an addition to their standard deductions. These provisions are effective for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2024.

Wildfire relief exclusions

The Act creates new IRC §139M, which excludes qualified wildfire relief payments from a taxpayer’s gross income. To be excluded from income, the qualified wildfire relief payment must be related to a federally declared disaster resulting from a forest or range fire declared after December 31, 2024, and before January 1, 2027.

The Act represents an extension of prior tax relief that was available to victims of wildfires through the Federal Disaster Tax Relief Act.

08/05/2026

Tax savings come in all shapes and sizes. Here are some life events that require your attention if you do not wish to have a tax surprise latter on during the year.

Sometimes the biggest financial opportunities come from paying attention to the details. In this issue, we highlight the details of several tax rules that can impact many of your life's important milestones. You'll also find an overview of the increased business mileage rates for the second half of....

07/02/2026

The effects of budget cuts @ the IRS. This is a report from their own inspector general:

We made 91 unannounced site visits to IRS Taxpayer Assistance Centers (TACs) around the country. TACs are where taxpayers can go if they need in-person help to resolve an issue.
We periodically conduct unannounced visits as part of our work because they enable us to simulate taxpayers' experience with IRS customer service. This time, we conducted them to see how regular weekday service, extended weekday hours, and extended Saturday service at select TACs was working.
What did we find?
The IRS provided extended weekday hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays from
January through May 2025 at 236 TAC locations (there are around 360 TACs). It also held 290 face-to-face Taxpayer Experience Day (TXD) events on select Saturdays from February through June 2025 at 89 TAC locations.
During the 2025 Filing Season, the IRS assisted more than 925,000 taxpayers during the combined regular weekday hours, extended weekday hours, and Saturday TXD events. This was a 7 percent decrease compared to the 2024 Filing Season (997,600 taxpayers) despite the IRS having held 41 more TXD events in the 2025 Filing Season.

We did not receive full assistance during 30 of our 91 visits due to incomplete or inaccurate responses to tax law questions, denial of entry by security, or unexpected TAC closures.
In the 61 visits where we did get assistance, TAC employees did not provide correct tax law guidance during 28 of those visits (46 percent). We also found that
Taxpayers were also not consistently asked to provide feedback on the quality of service they received. Of the 61 site visits we made, 22 visits were to TACs that were scheduled to issue customer satisfaction survey cards. However, TAC employees did not provide us with surveys during 19 of the 22 visits (86 percent).

07/01/2026

Side hustle income, tax tips, smarter food budgeting, and the growing trend of unplugging from screens. This month's insights can help you keep more money and spend more time on what matters.

Many Americans are taking on side hustles and part-time jobs to boost their income. While earning extra money can help pay for vacations or provide a financial cushion for your family, it can also increase your tax bill. In this month's newsletter, learn how additional income may affect your tax sit...

06/30/2026

From my friends at Spidell:

Gift tax filing requirement guidance issued for Trump account contributions; California Trump account tax conformity bill introduced (06-30-26)

The IRS has issued guidance addressing whether contributions to a Trump account constitute completed gifts. (Rev. Proc. 2026-25)

Although contributions to a Trump account made by a person who is not the account beneficiary is a gift of a future interest, the IRS is providing gift tax filing relief for qualified taxpayers. If a taxpayer meets all of the following safe harbor requirements, the IRS will not require the donor to file a gift tax return:

• The taxpayer making the contribution is an individual;
• The only taxable gifts made by the taxpayer during the calendar year are cash contributions to one or more Trump accounts, each made before the calendar year in which the account beneficiary turns age 18;
• The taxpayer’s total gifts during the calendar year to each individual who is an account beneficiary, including contributions to that account beneficiary’s Trump account, do not exceed the annual exclusion ($19,000 for 2026);
• Such contributions to Trump accounts made during the calendar year do not generate for that calendar year either a gift or GST tax liability, after application of the taxpayer’s remaining applicable credit amount against the gift tax, or remaining GST exemption; and
• Disregarding the Trump account contributions made during the year, no gift tax return is filed or is required to be filed for that calendar year by or on behalf of the taxpayer.

The reason this safe harbor is so important is that gifts of future interests ordinarily trigger a gift tax filing requirement, even if the only gifts made by the taxpayer during the year are below the annual gift tax reporting threshold. (IRC §2503(b)(1); Treas. Regs. §25.2503-2(a))

Currently, the IRS processes about 300,000 gift tax return annually and as of June 4, 2026, nearly 6 million elections to open Trump accounts have already been received. The purpose of the safe harbor is to ease the IRS’s administrative burden by preventing the filing of millions more gift tax returns from taxpayers who are, according to the IRS, unlikely to have estates large enough to ever trigger an estate tax liability.

California Trump account tax conformity bill introduced

As part of the latest California budget deal negotiations, AB/SB 180 has been introduced which, if enacted, would include conformity to most aspects of the federal tax treatment of Trump accounts, including the exclusion of employer contributions to employee Trump accounts set up for their qualifying children. It is anticipated that the bill will be passed and signed by the Governor.

Sign up for Spidell's 2026/27 Federal and California Tax Update Webinar to master the lessons learned with the new OBBBA deductions for tips, overtime, car loan interest, and the senior exclusion; evaluate when Trump accounts are a good option for your clients, and more. Click here and register today.

06/18/2026

From my friends at Spidell:

Tax increases included in budget deal sent to Governor (06-18-26)

Today, the California Senate joined the Assembly in passing AB/SB 122 that makes the following changes to California tax law. The Governor is expected to sign the bill.

AB/SB 122 proposes to:

• Impose sales and use taxes on purchases of digitally delivered prewritten software, which includes software as a service (SaaS; products such as Slack, Zoom, tax software, etc.), effective January 1, 2027;
• Extend the current $5 million business credit cap (without a percentage-based limit) through the 2029 tax year, and then impose a permanent business credit cap equal to the greater of $5 million or 70% of the total taxes imposed, beginning with the 2030 tax year;
• Reduce the annual tax imposed on new LLCs, limited partnerships, and limited liability partnerships from $800 to $400, but only for their first year of operation for the 2027 through 2029 tax years; and
• Impose a 100% tax on any settlement fund payments received by taxpayers during the 2026 through 2029 tax years from any anti-weaponization settlement fund established by the federal Department of Justice.

The NOL suspension currently in effect was not extended as part of the budget deal, meaning that is currently scheduled to expire at the end of 2026.

06/12/2026

Are you wondering why your tax refund is taking so long?

From the Treasury Inspector General:

Snapshot Report: Status of the IRS’s Workforce as of January 2026
Why did we do this review?
As part of efforts to reduce the federal workforce, the IRS offered several voluntary separation programs, including the Deferred Resignation Program, Voluntary Early Retirement Authority, and Voluntary Separation Incentive Payment. Many employees who accepted these offers received pay through September 30, 2025, or later if they were eligible to retire between October 1 and December 31, 2025. This review updates our prior report and provides a snapshot of IRS workforce impacts as of January 2026.
What did we find?
IRS records show that 31,273 employees separated, accepted a DRP offer, or used another incentive to leave the agency between January 2025 and January 2026. These departures represent about 30 percent of the IRS workforce and impacted some business units more than others.
The IRS also began backfilling select positions and hired about 2,000 employees as of January 2026, resulting in a net staffing reduction of 28 percent.
The reductions impacted certain IRS business units and positions (job series) more than others. For example, approximately 33 percent of revenue agents and approximately 32 percent of tax examiners separated from the IRS. Revenue agents conduct examinations (audits) by reviewing financial records of individuals and businesses to verify what is reported. Tax examiners are responsible for reviewing and processing federal tax returns to ensure compliance and accuracy.
Top IRS Business Units Affected (number of separations and percentage of the business unit's overall staffing)


For more information:
Read the full report

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06/03/2026

The IRS sends you a notice! What to do? This month's letter walks you through the process, plus much more!

As summer settles in and schedules fill up, a few smart decisions now can help you avoid costly surprises later. In this issue, there are strategies to strengthen your financial footing – from midyear tax planning opportunities to knowing when to call for help with an IRS notice. There is also...

05/06/2026

Want a lower tax bill? Your tax planning needs to start now!

With so much uncertainty in the economy, the tendency is to step back and wait until things settle down. On the other hand the early bird catches the worm. Now is a great time to be thinking about steps to reduce your tax obligations, both this year and into the future. This month an article is pres...