Oceanside CPA

Home
United States
Berlin, MD
Oceanside CPA

Call Website Contact the business

Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from Oceanside CPA, Accountant, Berlin, MD.

📊 Tax Strategy & Planning
📚 Bookkeeping & Financial Management
💼 Business Consulting & Profitability Enhancements
⚖️ Fractional CFO Services

📍 Proudly serving Berlin, MD and surrounding areas

10/19/2026

Open enrollment season is here, and it's tempting to click "same as last year" and move on. Before you do, give it five minutes and ask one question: am I using the tax-free accounts my plan offers?

If you have access to a Health Savings Account (HSA) or a Flexible Spending Account (FSA), the money goes in before tax. That means real savings on things you're already paying for: prescriptions, copays, glasses, dental work.

One simple tip: look at what you actually spent on medical costs this year and start from that number. FSA money generally has to be used within the plan year, so it's better to aim close than to overshoot.

Questions are always welcome.

10/10/2026

Here's a small 2026 change I think a lot of people will miss. Starting this year, you can deduct charitable gifts even if you take the standard deduction. The limit is $1,000 if you're single, or $2,000 if you're married filing jointly.

A few details matter. The gift has to be cash: checks, cards and online gifts count, but donated clothes or stock don't. It has to go to a qualifying charity, and a donor-advised fund doesn't count. You'll also want a receipt or bank record for each gift.

My one suggestion: start a simple note on your phone today and jot down every donation through December. Come tax time, it's all in one place.

Questions are always welcome.

09/28/2026

Q4 starts Thursday, which means there are about three months left to make decisions that affect this year's taxes.

Here's what I see most often: those decisions get hard when the books are behind. It's tough to decide whether to buy equipment, put more into retirement, or set more aside for taxes when you're not sure where the year stands.

So here's one small thing to do this week: get your books caught up through September. Match your bank and credit card statements, sort anything that's still uncategorized, and look at your profit for the year so far.

Once you know that one number, every year-end decision gets easier.

If you'd like a second set of eyes on it, questions are always welcome.

09/14/2026

If you filed an extension back in April, October 15 is about a month out. That's the deadline for your 2025 return.

Here's what trips people up: the extension gave you more time to file, not more time to pay. If you owed, interest has been running since April. Filing sooner stops the clock.

One thing worth doing this week - pull together what you have and send it in, even if a document or two is still missing. Those can follow. Waiting until the second week of October is how a good return turns into a rushed one.

Questions are always welcome.

09/07/2026

"Can I write off my home office?" I get that one a lot this time of year.

The short answer: if you're self-employed and you have a space you use regularly and only for business, you're probably in the running. There's a simplified method too — $5 per square foot, up to 300 square feet — so you don't have to hang onto every utility bill.

If that's you, do one small thing this week: measure the room and write the number down. Two minutes now beats guessing next March.

If you're a W-2 employee working from home, the rules are different — worth asking before you assume.

Questions are always welcome.

08/31/2026

Quick reminder for anyone who pays quarterly estimates: the third-quarter payment is due Monday, September 15.

If your year has looked different from last year — a busier summer, a slower one, a side business that finally took off — this is a good week to check. A lot of folks pay the same amount every quarter out of habit, then find out in April that the habit was wrong in one direction or the other.

Five minutes with your numbers through August will usually tell you whether September's payment should go up, go down, or stay put.

Questions are always welcome.

08/24/2026

Camp is wrapping up and the buses are back out, so here's one thing worth digging out of your inbox: your summer day camp receipts.

If you paid for day camp so you could work, those costs may count toward the child and dependent care credit for kids under 13. Sports camp, art camp, the Y — day camp generally counts. Overnight camp doesn't.

The part people forget is the paperwork. You need the camp's name, address, and tax ID number to claim it, and that's a lot easier to get in August than next March.

So: find the receipt, check that the tax ID is on it, and drop it in your tax folder now.

Questions are always welcome.

08/10/2026

Half the year's driving is already behind you.

Business mileage is one of the most commonly missed deductions I see — not because people aren't driving, but because nobody wrote it down. Receipts alone don't do it. What's required is a log: the date, the miles, and the business purpose of the trip.

The fix takes about ten seconds a trip. Put a free mileage app on your phone and turn it on today. You won't recover January, but you'll have August through December, and that's real money come April.

If you're not sure whether a trip counts, just ask. Questions are always welcome.

08/03/2026

We're past the halfway point of the year, which makes early August a good time for a quick gut check.

Pull up your profit and loss for January through July and compare it to the same stretch last year. If you're running well ahead, your quarterly estimates were probably built on last year's numbers — and the September 15 payment may need to be bigger than you planned. Better to find that out now than next April.

It takes about ten minutes, and it's saved a lot of my clients an unpleasant surprise.

If you're not sure how to read what you're looking at, questions are always welcome.

07/27/2026

We're right at the halfway point of the year, which makes this a good week for a quick money check-in. If you run a small business, take twenty minutes to reconcile your books and look at what you've set aside for taxes. One habit that saves a lot of stress: every time you get paid, move 25-30% into a separate account and pretend it isn't there. Come next spring, the bill won't catch you off guard. No perfect system required — just a little breathing room ahead of the busy months. As always, questions are welcome anytime.

Address

Berlin, MD
21811

Telephone

+14435044586

Website

http://ocpafirm.com/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Oceanside CPA posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.