Your employees are about to become eligible for your retirement plan, and you have heard that the good plans are only for big companies with big administrative budgets. Both halves of that are wrong. Read about your 2026 choices, the federal credits that can cover the cost of a new plan outright, and the state rules that may already have made the decision for you.

A CPA who never touched his clients’ payroll still faced $130,000 in IRS preparer penalties because his S corporation clients took little or no salary. Read how the fight played out, what it cost him, and the paperwork that could have prevented it.

An insurance professional tells us the fine print on individual medical applications bars the self-employed health insurance deduction. See what that applicate attestation is doing, and why it does not reach your Form 1040.

Learn the home-office deduction under 2026 law. See the IRS words that win this audit, why the Soliman case stopped controlling 27 years ago, and the one 2026 change that decides whether you get any home-office deduction at all.

A commission rebate can save your customer money—but cost you extra taxes if you handle it wrong. See why cutting your fee at closing is the clean solution, and why writing a rebate check can create tax complications you don’t want.

Know the interest tracing rules under 2026 law. See why the property securing your loan has almost nothing to do with deducting the interest, why cash-out proceeds spent on personal items produce dead interest, and the repayment ordering rule that repairs the damage every time you pay down principal.

How much would it cost you if you lose your home-improvement records? See the court case where $286,070 of claimed improvements shrank to $82,039, and discover why the tax code’s frozen exclusion amounts make basis records matter more every year, exactly what adds to and subtracts from your basis, and the 2026 version of the cancelled check.

There’s a $500,000 home-sale exclusion opportunity under 2026 law for married couples filing jointly. See what you and your spouse have to do to turn the $250,000 exclusion into $500,000, and what to do when only one of you qualifies.

Rehab a certified historic building, and the federal government could hand you 20 percent of what you spend for the rehab, dollar for dollar against your tax. But the credit arrives over five years, the passive loss rules can trap and delay it, and selling too soon claws it back. Here’s how to structure the deal so the credit lands in your pocket.