Becker's TAX Service

07/08/2026

Looking at some changes to federal tax law beginning 2026:

Charitable deduction $1,000 cash for single filers and $2000 for married filing jointly for those that do not itemize. This deduction is for monetary donations to charities. This does not include non-monetary, such as clothing, furniture and other goods donated and does not include cash contributed to a GoFundMe account that is not a qualified charity. For those that itemize a new floor is being added, subtracting the first 0.5% of one’s AGI from their contribution. Both monetary and nonmonetary can be deducted by those that itemize.

A new law also reinstates the deduction for mortgage insurance premiums (PMI).

The child and dependent care tax credit has been enhanced beginning on 2026 in two ways. Employer pretax account contribution limit will be raised from $5000 to $7500. The second change benefits low and moderate income taxpayers, increasing their deduction for daycare expense up to 50% when paid outside of employer pretax accounts (on the first $3000 for once child, $6000 for two or more children).

Teachers, administrators and coaches will now have the option to deduct ALL of their materials and supplies including those involving extracurricular programs or alternative instructional environments, as long as they are directly tied to educational activities. Since 2017 the deduction was limited to an above line deduction of $250-300 per teacher. Beginning in 2026 the taxpaper can select the most beneficial method: $350 without itemizing, or all deductions on Schedule A. Keep good records of your expenses.

College savings accounts (529) have been expanded greatly to allow contributions to the tax advantaged accounts be used for additional school expenses, including K-12 tuition and fees, vocational programs, apprenticeships, tutoring, testing fees, continuing education, dual college/high school classes and much more. Both NJ and PA do offer tax deduction on contributions made to certain college savings plans. If you made a contribution to a 529 be sure to let us know how much and which plan the contributions were made to.

05/13/2026

We’ve been receiving a lot of calls regarding a couple IRS issues and want to make things clear.

For folks that declined to have their federal refunds directly deposited to their bank account, opting for refunds to be mailed, we did inform each client that the IRS is phasing out refund checks through an executive order and will delay issuing checks by mail by 30 days. IRS is sending notices requesting taxpayers go to the IRS website to add their direct deposit information. We are not able to add bank account retroactively on our end. Only they can set that up on the IRS website. The letter says they have 30 days to do it. What the letter does not say is if the taxpayer does not respond after 30 days the IRS will then issue a refund check. Based on the word some taxpayers fear that they will never receive their refund if they aren’t able to set up direct deposit. For next year please do not refuse to set up direct deposit.

Clients that owed IRS more than $1000 are receiving letters for underpayment penalties, even if they paid in full by April 15th. This is because IRS expects payments to be made during the course of the year, either via withholding from pay check or other method, including estimated payments. We normally do not calculate the underpayment penalty but warn the client they may be charged underpayment interest, even if they pay by the due date. We encourage clients that owe IRS or state to have enough withheld from pay, retirement, social security or make quarterly estimated payments so they do not owe so much the following year, to avoid being charged an underpayment penalty. Going forward we are changing our policy and will automatically calculate underpayment penalty on Form 2210 unless the client specifically requests we omit the underpayment penalty.

Be aware you can check your refund status from each tax authority:
IRS https://www.irs.gov/refunds

NJ https://www.nj.gov/treasury/taxation/checkrefundstatus.shtml

NY https://www8.tax.ny.gov/PRIS/prisStart

PA https://www.pa.gov/services/revenue/track-status-of-pennsylvania-income-tax-refund

NJ’s ANCHOR/Senior Freeze/Stay NJ: https://www.nj.gov/treasury/taxation/anchor/

The Affordable New Jersey Communities for Homeowners and Renters (ANCHOR) program replaces the Homestead Benefit.

11/18/2025

We added a new sidewalk to make it easier to park on the street to access the office. We had the work done with those with walkers and canes in mind. The three steps are necessary with the sloping yard.