When Are Taxes Due In 2026?+
Individual returns (Form 1040) are due April 15, 2026 for tax year 2025. Partnerships and S-corporations file by March 16, 2026; C-corporations by April 15. An extension moves the paperwork to October — but not the payment, which is still due in April.
What Is The Standard Deduction For 2025?+
$15,750 for single filers and $31,500 for married couples filing jointly — raised mid-2025 by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act above the originally announced amounts, with an extra $6,000 senior deduction for those 65+. Roughly nine in ten Americans take the standard deduction rather than itemizing — but the one in ten who shouldn't often overpay by thousands.
What Are The 2025 Federal Tax Brackets?+
Seven marginal rates: 10%, 12%, 22%, 24%, 32%, 35% and 37%. For single filers the 22% band starts at $48,475 of taxable income and the top 37% rate at $626,350. Brackets are marginal — only dollars inside each band pay that band's rate, so your effective rate is always lower than your top bracket.
How Much Is Self-Employment Tax?+
15.3% of 92.35% of your net profit — 12.4% Social Security (capped at $176,100 of earnings in 2025) plus 2.9% Medicare (uncapped). Half of it is deductible. This is on top of income tax, which is why first-year freelancers are so often shocked in April.
How Do Quarterly Estimated Taxes Work?+
If you'll owe $1,000 or more beyond withholding, the IRS expects four payments — April 15, June 15, September 15 and January 15 — via Form 1040-ES. Safe harbor: pay 100% of last year's tax (110% if AGI exceeded $150,000) and no penalty applies regardless of what this year brings.
What Is The Streamlined Filing Compliance Procedure?+
The IRS amnesty path for Americans who non-willfully failed to report foreign income or accounts. You file 3 years of returns, 6 years of FBARs, and certify non-willfulness on Form 14653 (abroad) or 14654 (US). Done correctly, it replaces penalties that can reach $10,000+ per account per year with either nothing or a single 5% penalty.
Streamlined Foreign Vs Domestic — What's The Difference?+
Foreign Offshore (expats meeting the non-residency test — 330+ full days outside the US in one of the last three years) pays zero penalty. Domestic Offshore (US residents) pays a 5% Title 26 penalty on the highest year-end aggregate of foreign financial assets. Same paperwork, very different price — residence timing matters.
What Does "Non-Willful" Mean For Streamlined Filing?+
Conduct due to negligence, inadvertence, mistake, or a good-faith misunderstanding of the law — "I genuinely didn't know" rather than "I hoped they wouldn't find it." It's a legal judgment certified under penalty of perjury, which is why the certification narrative deserves professional drafting, not a template.
What Is FBAR And Who Must File It?+
FinCEN Form 114 — required when your foreign accounts together exceed $10,000 at any moment in the year. It's informational, not a tax — but non-willful penalties start around $10,000 per violation, which makes it the most dangerous form people have never heard of.
Do I Pay US Taxes If I Live Abroad?+
Yes — America taxes citizens and green-card holders on worldwide income wherever they live. The Foreign Earned Income Exclusion (~$130,000 for 2025) and foreign tax credits usually eliminate double taxation, but the filing obligation never leaves you. Neither does FBAR.
How Much Is Capital Gains Tax In The US?+
Long-term gains (assets held over a year) are taxed at 0%, 15% or 20% depending on your taxable income — 0% up to $48,350 single / $96,700 joint in 2025, 20% only above ~$533k / $600k. Short-term gains are taxed as ordinary income, up to 37%. High earners add the 3.8% Net Investment Income Tax.
How Do I Avoid Or Reduce Capital Gains Tax?+
Hold assets over a year to get long-term rates, harvest capital losses to offset gains, use the $48,350/$96,700 0% bracket in low-income years, contribute appreciated stock to charity, and consider Qualified Opportunity Zones or a 1031 exchange for real estate. Each has rules — and the NIIT still looms above $200k/$250k.
How Is Cryptocurrency Taxed In The US?+
The IRS treats crypto as property. Selling, trading one coin for another, or spending it are all taxable disposals — long-term rates (0/15/20%) if held over a year, ordinary rates if not. Staking, mining and airdrops are usually ordinary income at the value when received. Every 1040 asks the digital-asset question, and exchanges now report on Form 1099-DA — the days of crypto being invisible to the IRS are over.
What Is The US Corporate Tax Rate In 2025?+
A flat 21% federal rate on C-corporation taxable income, plus state corporate taxes of 0–12% depending on where you operate. Distribute profits as dividends and shareholders pay again — up to 20% qualified-dividend rate plus 3.8% net investment income tax. That second layer is why most small businesses choose pass-through status.
S-Corp Or LLC — Which Saves More Tax?+
An LLC's profits all face self-employment tax. An S-election lets you split income into salary (taxed) and distributions (no SE tax) — often saving five figures once profits clear roughly $60–80k. The catch: the IRS requires a "reasonable salary," and payroll filings come with it. Use the S-Corp Savings calculator above for your number.
What Is A Reasonable Salary For An S-Corp Owner?+
What you'd pay someone else to do your job — supported by industry data, your role, hours and revenue. Set it absurdly low and the IRS can reclassify distributions as wages, with back payroll taxes and penalties. The savings are real; the documentation is the price of keeping them.
What's The Difference Between A W-2 And A 1099?+
A W-2 means you're an employee — tax withheld, employer pays half your payroll taxes. A 1099-NEC means you're a contractor — nothing withheld, both halves of payroll tax are yours, but so is a world of deductions employees never see.
What Happens If I File Taxes Late?+
The failure-to-file penalty is 5% of unpaid tax per month, up to 25% — ten times harsher than the failure-to-pay penalty (0.5%/month). The lesson: always file on time, even if you can't pay. First-time penalty abatement can often erase one bad year; we request it routinely.
What Is Sales Tax Nexus?+
The connection that obliges you to collect a state's sales tax. Since the Wayfair decision, crossing ~$100,000 of sales into a state creates nexus without you ever setting foot there. Sell online into many states and you may owe registrations you don't know about — that's the exposure we map first.
Can I Deduct My Home Office?+
Yes, if you're self-employed and the space is used regularly and exclusively for business — $5 per square foot up to $1,500 simplified, or actual costs prorated. W-2 employees cannot, under current law, regardless of how many days they work from home.
How Many Years Back Can The IRS Audit Me?+
Three years normally, six if you understated income by more than 25% — and forever if you never filed or filed fraudulently. Unfiled foreign forms (5471, FBAR) can hold the entire return's clock open. Filing something defensible starts the statute running; silence never does.
