Form 1041: The Income Tax Return That Runs Alongside the Estate
Filing Form 706 closes the estate tax question. Form 1041 — the estate and trust income tax return — is a different question entirely, and one that often runs on a longer timeline. Estates and trusts are separate taxable entities. Income they generate during administration, whether from a brokerage account, a rental property, a business […]
HSA in Retirement: Distributions, Medicare, and What Qualifies
Understanding HSA retirement distribution rules is where the real planning work begins. Years of contributions and investment growth have built the balance — now the question shifts from how to fund the HSA to how to use it well. The HSA in retirement operates under a different set of rules than during the working years. […]
Form 706 and the Portability Decision: What Executors Get Wrong
The estate isn’t taxable. No Form 706 required. That’s the conclusion many executors reach, and in a significant number of cases it costs the surviving spouse millions. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (Public Law 119-21), signed July 4, 2025, raised the federal basic exclusion amount to $15,000,000 per individual for 2026, up from $13,990,000 in 2025. At that threshold, the vast majority […]
From Controller to CFO: The Skills That Actually Make the Difference
Technical accounting expertise gets a finance professional to controller. It doesn’t get them to CFO. The gap between those two roles is real, and it isn’t filled by more technical knowledge. Controllers who make the move to CFO describe a fundamental shift in what the job demands: less about the accuracy of the numbers and more about what the numbers mean for the business, […]
HSA Strategy for Retirement: The Decisions That Actually Matter
Most clients who have an HSA are spending it. The ones who will benefit most from it in retirement aren’t. The triple tax advantage of an HSA is well documented. What gets less attention is the decision framework that determines whether a client actually captures it: when to spend vs. invest, how Medicare timing affects contribution eligibility, and what happens to the account […]
Form 709 Filing Mechanics: What Happens After the Gift Is Made
Filing Form 709 isn’t hard. Getting it right is. Most practitioners clear the initial hurdle: they know when a return is required. What trips up gift tax returns in practice is everything that happens inside the form. Schedule A is more involved than it looks. Schedule B errors carry forward indefinitely. Gift splitting creates parallel […]
401(k) Rules in 2026: The Roth Catch-Up Mandate, Updated Limits, and Nondiscrimination Testing
The 401k Roth catch-up 2026 mandate — a SECURE 2.0 provision that had been delayed — takes full effect January 1, 2026. Participants age 50 or older whose prior-year FICA wages from the plan’s sponsoring employer exceeded $150,000 can no longer make pre-tax catch-up contributions. Those contributions are now Roth-only. If the plan doesn’t offer […]
529 Plans in 2026: Gift Tax Mechanics, OBBBA Expense Changes, and the Roth IRA Rollover Rules
The 529 plan OBBBA 2026 landscape sits at the intersection of education savings, gift tax planning, and estate mechanics. The basic structure is straightforward: contributions grow tax-deferred, qualified distributions come out federal income tax-free, and the account owner retains control while assets pass out of the estate. Where CPAs earn their keep is in the […]
Section 1202 QSBS in 2026: Effective Date Lines, the 28% Rate Trap, and What Changes for Prior Stock
The Section 1202 QSBS OBBBA changes look generous on paper: a tiered holding period, a higher gain exclusion cap, a broader gross asset threshold. But the practical question for CPAs working with clients who hold qualified small business stock isn’t what the new rules offer — it’s which set of rules actually applies to the […]
HSA Eligibility and the 2026 Rule Changes: Getting It Right on Client Returns
Two things changed for HSA eligibility rules in 2026 under the OBBBA. The contribution limits moved up modestly. The eligibility rules, thanks to the One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), changed in ways that matter a lot more for return preparation. IRS Revenue Procedure 2025-19 covers the limit adjustments. The OBBBA, signed July 4, 2025, […]