Murtha & Flischel Certified Public Accountants

Murtha & Flischel Certified Public Accountants Preparing personal and business taxes can be a stressful event. Let Murtha & Flischel take that burden off of you.

Murtha & Murtha is your personal highly trusted advisor for affordable tax preparation and tax planning. Preparing taxes can be an anxiety provoking event. If taxes are not prepared properly an individual can pay too much. On the flip side paying too little can be problematic in the long term. Trust Murtha & Murtha to personally guide you through the complicated channels of tax preparation. Our te

am of CPAs and accountants have years of experience and are experts when it comes to tax preparation. We look forward to meeting you in the near future.

Not quite. A big refund actually means you overpaid the government all year and just got your own money back, interest-f...
09/04/2026

Not quite. A big refund actually means you overpaid the government all year and just got your own money back, interest-free, on their schedule instead of yours. It feels like a win, but it's really an interest-free loan you gave to the IRS without being asked.

The real goal is landing close to zero: not owing a painful amount, and not handing over thousands you could have had in your paycheck all along. If your refunds keep coming in big, that's actually a sign your withholding needs a second look, not a reason to celebrate.

What's a tax "fact" you've always heard but never actually questioned? Drop it below, we might feature it next Friday. 👇

Here's why it matters. The standard mileage deduction is one of the easiest write-offs available to self-employed folks,...
09/03/2026

Here's why it matters. The standard mileage deduction is one of the easiest write-offs available to self-employed folks, real estate agents, contractors, and anyone driving to job sites or client meetings. But the IRS wants more than a vibe. It wants dates, destinations, and business purpose, logged close to when the trip happened, not reconstructed from memory over a weekend in March.

The fix is almost embarrassingly simple: a mileage app running in the background, or a notes app entry every time you start the car for work. Ten seconds now saves a real deduction later.

Q3 estimated payments are due September 15. If your mileage log is more theoretical than actual, now's the moment to start closing that gap.

Sold something on Etsy this summer. Drove for a delivery app on weekends. Took freelance gigs between shifts. If any of ...
09/02/2026

Sold something on Etsy this summer. Drove for a delivery app on weekends. Took freelance gigs between shifts. If any of that sounds like you, congratulations, you're a small business owner now, whether you filled out paperwork for it or not.

Here's the part that catches people off guard: that income is taxable starting at dollar one, not once you "make it official." No LLC required, no minimum threshold to clear first. And if a platform sends you a 1099-K or 1099-NEC, the IRS gets a copy too, so it's not exactly a surprise they're expecting to see it on your return.

The good news: side income also comes with legitimate deductions, like mileage, supplies, and the portion of your phone bill you use for the gig. You just have to track it, not guess at it in April.

Turned a hobby into cash this year? Let's talk about what that actually means come tax time, before it becomes a January scramble.

It's officially September, which means we're two weeks out from September 15 - biz tax extension deadline and Q3 estimat...
09/01/2026

It's officially September, which means we're two weeks out from September 15 - biz tax extension deadline and Q3 estimated taxes. We know the question on your mind: "how much do I actually owe?" Here's the not-so-secret formula.

Take your total expected tax for the year, subtract what's already been withheld or paid in Q1 and Q2, then divide what's left by the remaining payments due. If you're self-employed, a rental owner, or an S-corp shareholder taking distributions, this is your Tuesday homework.

A few ways people get this wrong:
✅ Using last year's income when this year looks nothing like it
✅ Forgetting a big one-time gain (that stock sale, that bonus) counts too
✅ Assuming the IRS will just "let them know" if it's off (they won't, until there's a penalty attached)

If your gut estimate feels more like a guess, send us your numbers. We'll run the real math before the deadline does it for you.

Here's the unglamorous truth: good recordkeeping isn't about being a "numbers person" it's about ten seconds of effort a...
08/31/2026

Here's the unglamorous truth: good recordkeeping isn't about being a "numbers person" it's about ten seconds of effort at the moment of purchase instead of two hours of archaeology later. A photo, a note in an app, a labeled folder any system beats no system.

And with Q3 estimated payments due September 15, yes, that's the same deadline we mentioned last week, we're not letting you forget, now's the moment to get current instead of scrambling in two and a half weeks.

Got a shoebox situation of your own? We've seen worse. Let's sort it out before it becomes next month's fire drill.

Nope. An extension just gets you more time to file; it does not flag you, follow you, or whisper your name to an auditor...
08/28/2026

Nope. An extension just gets you more time to file; it does not flag you, follow you, or whisper your name to an auditor. It doesn't even give you more time to pay what you owe, which is the part people actually forget (interest and penalties don't take a vacation, even if you do).

So if you're weighing an extension this year, do it because you genuinely need the time, not because you're afraid it'll paint a target on your back. It won't.

What's a tax "fact" you've always heard but never actually questioned? Drop it below, we might feature it next Friday. 👇

Four months left in the year. That's not a countdown to panic, it's just enough runway to fix your withholding before it...
08/27/2026

Four months left in the year. That's not a countdown to panic, it's just enough runway to fix your withholding before it fixes itself for you in April, whether you like the outcome or not. 😅

Quick check:
✅ Got a raise, bonus, or new job this year?
✅ Started a side hustle?
✅ Had a big life change (marriage, baby, new house)?

Any "yes" means what you set on your W-4 back in January might not match where things actually landed. A quick adjustment now beats a surprise bill (or an interest-free loan to the government via a giant refund) later.

We run these numbers for clients year-round, not just during tax season, send us a message if you want a second set of eyes on yours.

School's back in session, the lifeguard shirt is folded in a drawer, and somewhere in your teen's backpack (or nowhere a...
08/26/2026

School's back in session, the lifeguard shirt is folded in a drawer, and somewhere in your teen's backpack (or nowhere at all) are the pay stubs from their summer job. Rescue them now, before they vanish into the void. 🧾

Here's why it matters: if your teen earned under the filing threshold for the year, a good chunk of what got withheld from those paychecks comes back as a refund, but only if they actually file next year. No pay stubs or W-2 means more digging come tax season, and nobody wants to be tracking down a June paycheck from a smoothie shop that's since closed.

One folder, one photo of each stub, done. Future your-kid will thank you (or more realistically, you'll thank yourself when you're the one filing it for them).

That's about three weeks out, which is exactly enough time to either get ahead of it or forget entirely. We're rooting f...
08/24/2026

That's about three weeks out, which is exactly enough time to either get ahead of it or forget entirely. We're rooting for the first one.

The estimated payment side is for you if you're:
💼 Self-employed or freelance
🏠 Earning rental income
📈 An S-corp shareholder taking distributions
💻 Running a side hustle that's grown past "just for fun" money

The IRS doesn't wait until April to want its cut. If you're not having tax withheld from a paycheck, this is how you stay square with them (and avoid an underpayment penalty that's honestly just an annoying, avoidable fee). And if your business is still sitting on that extended return, September 15 is a hard stop, not a suggestion.

Not sure which of these applies to you, or what you actually owe? That's a five-minute conversation with us, not a guessing game.

Address

2236 Ashley Oaks Cir
Wesley Chapel, FL
33544

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm

Telephone

(813) 991-1120

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