Miller Brown Ohm, CPAs

10/26/2026

💵 If you heard "no tax on Social Security," this deduction probably won't do what you expect on your return.

Social Security taxation didn't change. The new law added a separate $6,000 deduction for anyone 65 or older, available for tax years 2025 through 2028, and it works the way every deduction does: it lowers your taxable income, not your tax bill dollar for dollar.

So $6,000 off your income is worth $720 if all of it falls in the 12% bracket and $1,320 in the 22% bracket. If your taxable income is already zero, it saves nothing at all.

It is $6,000 per person. A married couple gets $12,000 only if both spouses are 65 by the end of the year, and only on a joint return. Married filing separately doesn't qualify, and each person needs a valid Social Security number.

It does stack on top of everything else. You get it whether you take the standard deduction or itemize.

The catch is income. Each $6,000 shrinks by $60 for every $1,000 of modified adjusted gross income over $75,000, or $150,000 on a joint return. It's gone at $175,000 for a single filer and $250,000 for a couple who both qualify.

Taxable 401(k), IRA, and pension withdrawals all count toward that income. A couple at $180,000 is $30,000 over the line, so each $6,000 loses $1,800, and they deduct $8,400 instead of $12,000.

That's why the timing of a large withdrawal or a Roth conversion matters during these four years. A big one in a single year can cost you part of the deduction, while spreading it out may keep all of it.



P.S. Once a week, I email the best money article I read, with my take on this week's top Facebook posts and what's new on the Ways to Wealth blog. It's free, and you can sign up on the Ways to Wealth home page.

R.J. Weiss, CFP®

The content shared here is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not personalized investment, tax, legal, or financial advice. Consult a licensed professional before making decisions based on your specific situation.

10/13/2026

📊 A $50,000 Roth conversion does not create a $50,000 tax bill. The taxable portion is added to your income and taxed at whatever rates that total lands in.

The math runs on taxable income after deductions. In 2026, a married couple filing jointly gets a $32,200 standard deduction, plus $1,650 each at 65, plus up to $6,000 each from the senior deduction, before any bracket starts to fill. A single filer 65 or older gets $16,100, plus $2,050, plus up to $6,000.

That senior deduction is where conversions get tricky. It shrinks by 6 cents for every dollar of income above $75,000 for single filers or $150,000 for joint filers, so a conversion that crosses that line costs a little more than its bracket suggests. The deduction runs through 2028.

After deductions, a married couple stays in the 12% bracket up to $100,800 of taxable income and in the 22% bracket up to $211,400.

Medicare looks back two years, so 2026 income sets 2028 premiums. For 2026 premiums, the surcharge starts above $109,000 of income for single filers and $218,000 for joint filers, and the 2028 lines haven't been set yet.

If you're collecting Social Security, conversion income can make more of it taxable. Before 65 on a marketplace plan, it can shrink your premium tax credit. And because long-term gains and qualified dividends stack on top of ordinary income, a conversion can push gains that were taxed at 0% into the 15% bracket.

None of this means don't convert. You pay the tax once, and the money and its growth can come out tax-free later, with no required minimum distributions from a Roth IRA during your lifetime.

A conversion tends to pay off when today's rate is lower than the rate that money would face later, for you or for your heirs.



The content shared here is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not personalized investment, tax, legal, or financial advice. Consult a licensed professional before making decisions based on your specific situation.

09/29/2026

Of you are 70.5 years old and give to charities...this can save you taxes

If you or a parent gives to a church or charity every year, the age that matters is 70½, not 73.

That's when you can start making qualified charitable distributions, or QCDs, which send money straight from your IRA to a charity.

With a regular charitable gift, you may get a deduction. With a QCD, the qualifying IRA distribution is generally left out of your federal taxable income in the first place, which also keeps your adjusted gross income lower.

That second part matters more than it sounds. Medicare uses your adjusted gross income from two years earlier, plus any tax-exempt interest, to decide whether you pay income-based surcharges on Part B and Part D premiums.

RMDs begin at 73 if you were born from 1951 to 1959 and at 75 if you were born in 1960 or later. That leaves two and a half to four and a half years when you can give this way before any withdrawal is required.

Once RMDs start, a QCD counts toward your RMD for the year.

The catch is the account. A 401(k) or 403(b) can't send a QCD directly, and neither can a SEP or SIMPLE IRA that's still getting contributions.

An eligible rollover to an IRA can make QCDs possible, but whether a rollover makes sense depends on the rest of your situation. There can be good reasons to leave money in an employer plan.

The 2026 limit is $111,000 per person, and the money has to go from the IRA custodian straight to the charity. A check made out to you first doesn't count.

P.S. Once a week, I email the best money article I read, with my take on this week's top Facebook posts and what's new on the Ways to Wealth blog. It's free, and you can sign up on the Ways to Wealth home page.

R.J. Weiss, CFP®



The content shared here is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not personalized investment, tax, legal, or financial advice. Consult a licensed professional before making decisions based on your specific situation.

07/13/2026

If you're sending your child to a summer day camp, you may be eligible to claim the cost through the Child and Dependent Care Credit. Learn more from the : www.irs.gov/dependentcare

07/13/2026

Social media is great for sharing cuteness, but not for solid tax advice. The warns that inaccurate or misleading tax info shared on social media could lead to steep civil and criminal penalties for those who take the bait. www.irs.gov/scams

07/03/2026

Getting a little more Pennsylvania Speedweek Action in tonight from Williams Grove Speedway! Catch all the action live on DIRTVision!

06/17/2026

⏳ The rule of 55 lets you pull money from a 401(k) or 403(b) penalty-free if you leave that employer in the year you turn 55 or later.

Most people assume they have to wait until 59½, which is actually the rule for IRAs.

In a recent reader quiz, more than 80% got the earliest penalty-free 401(k) age wrong.

The catch is that the break only applies to the plan of the employer you just left, and only while the money stays in that 401(k).

If you roll the balance into an IRA, the rule of 55 disappears and the 10% early-withdrawal penalty applies again until you turn 59½.

That is why a rollover, often the first thing people do after leaving a job, can quietly cost them years of penalty-free access.

You still owe ordinary income tax on whatever you withdraw, and some plans force a single lump sum that can push you into a higher bracket.

If you think you might use it, roll old accounts into that 401(k) while you are still employed, not out to an IRA after you leave.



*The content shared here is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not personalized investment, tax, legal, or financial advice. Consult a licensed professional before making decisions based on your specific situation.*

05/26/2026

Don't move all of your traditional IRAs into Roth IRAs before retirement.

📊 This is an updated version of a post I ran about three months ago. Several readers correctly identified two math errors in the original, and the numbers have been corrected here.

The scenario: a married couple, both 67, with $32,000 in Social Security, $18,000 from a pension, and $25,000 in traditional IRA withdrawals — $75,000 in gross income.

The first step is Social Security taxation. At this income level, provisional income (non-SS income plus half of SS) equals $59,000, which puts them above the $44,000 MFJ threshold. That means 85% of their Social Security is taxable, or $27,200.

AGI comes to $70,200: $27,200 in taxable SS plus $18,000 pension plus $25,000 IRA.

The 2026 deductions for this couple total $47,500. That includes the $32,200 standard deduction for MFJ, $3,300 in additional age 65+ deductions ($1,650 per person), and $12,000 in the new senior deduction ($6,000 per person under the OBBBA).

The $6,000 senior deduction is per person, so a couple where both spouses are 65 or older claims $12,000 total. The original post showed $6,000, which was the per-person figure, not the couple figure.

Taxable income after deductions: $22,700. Federal tax at the 10% bracket: $2,270. Effective rate on $75,000 gross: 3%.

The senior deduction phases out above $150,000 AGI for joint filers and is scheduled to expire after 2028 unless extended.



P.S. Every Friday I send a short email with the week's top post, my take on the best article I read, and what I'm writing about on the site. Link in the comments.

*The content shared here is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not personalized investment, tax, legal, or financial advice. Consult a licensed professional before making decisions based on your specific situation.*

05/20/2026

📊 This is an updated version of a post I ran about 3 months ago. One figure in the original caption was wrong: the IRA catch-up contribution for those 50 and older is $1,100 in 2026, not $1,000. SECURE 2.0 indexed that limit starting in 2024.

The 401(k) deferral limit is $24,500 for 2026. The standard catch-up for ages 50-59 and 64+ is $8,000, bringing the total to $32,500.

The new SECURE 2.0 super catch-up for ages 60-63 is $11,250. A 62-year-old maxing out a 401(k) can contribute up to $35,750 in 2026 when combined with the base deferral.

IRA contributions are $7,500 for 2026, with a $1,100 catch-up for those 50 and older for a total of $8,600. The catch-up is now indexed to inflation.

Three items are marked NEW because they came from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, not the annual inflation adjustment. The senior deduction gives taxpayers 65 and older an additional $6,000 deduction, phasing out above $75,000 (single) or $150,000 (joint). The SALT cap increased from $10,000 to $40,400 for most filers through 2029. The estate tax exemption was permanently raised to $15,000,000 per person, replacing a scheduled drop to roughly $7,000,000 that was set to happen this year.

The 0% capital gains rate for married filers applies to income up to $98,900 in 2026. The annual gift exclusion is $19,000 per recipient.

All figures apply to the 2026 tax year, with returns due in April 2027.



P.S. Every Friday I send a short email with the week's top post, my take on the best article I read, and what I'm writing about on the site. Link in the comments.

05/20/2026

Upcoming race in memory of Steve Smith. You don't want to miss this one.