What if my tax preparer was a local guy who's now retired? He did my taxes for years but closed his business last fall. Do preparers have to transfer their records when they close or am I just out of luck?

That's definitely a tough situation. When preparers retire, they're supposed to notify clients about what will happen with their records. Many transfer them to another preparer who takes over their business, or maintain limited access to records for situations exactly like this. If you know his name, try searching online to see if there's any information about who took over his clients. You could also check with other local tax offices - sometimes they absorb the clients and records from retiring preparers in the area.

How did you make an appointment? When I called the IRS appointment line it said the wait was over 3 weeks for my local office. Did you just walk in or is there a faster way to get seen?

23 That's smart but what about online orders? I do most of my shopping on Amazon and often mix personal and business items in the same order to save on shipping.

11 For online orders, especially Amazon, I've found a couple workable solutions. First, if you have Amazon Business, you can actually mark certain items as business purchases within a single order and it will generate separate receipt documentation for those items. If you don't have that, another approach is to maintain separate accounts - one for business and one for personal. Yes, you might occasionally pay extra shipping, but the time saved in accounting and the clarity it provides is often worth it. Some business credit cards also provide spending reports that can help categorize your purchases after the fact.

16 Dedicated business card was the best decision I ever made for my side hustle! I use Chase Ink and it automatically categorizes everything in their reporting portal. Only downside is you still need to split those mixed receipt purchases somehow.

I used TaxProLLC last year for a similar situation. They charge about $300 but totally worth it since mine involved partial rental use too. They saved me way more than their fee.

What about restaurants that had to switch to takeout only? We had about 40% of our normal business volume but kept all staff on. Does that count as partial suspension?

Yes, restaurants that were forced to close their dining rooms and switch to takeout-only would generally qualify under the partial suspension test. That's a clear case where government orders directly limited your normal operations in a significant way. The key is documenting exactly how these restrictions impacted your business. Keep copies of the local/state orders that required the closure of your dining room, notes about dates these were in effect, and evidence of how it affected your operations (like showing you normally had dine-in service before the pandemic). The IRS will be looking closely at these claims, so having good documentation is crucial. The switch from dine-in to takeout-only is actually one of the examples the IRS itself has used of qualifying partial suspension.

Filed ours in November last year, just got the refund last week. So about 8 months total wait time. IRS is super backed up with these claims.

We filed in December and got our first quarter payment in June, still waiting on Q2 and Q3. No rhyme or reason to the order they're processing them.

I double-checked and I'm definitely itemizing both years. My mortgage interest, property taxes, and charitable contributions put me well above the standard deduction. But you've got me wondering about the marginal rates - I didn't consider that the brackets shift each year. How much did they adjust for 2023?

The tax brackets for 2023 were adjusted upward by about 7% for inflation. For example, the 22% bracket started at $44,725 for single filers in 2023, up from $41,775 in 2022. This means you need to earn more in 2023 to reach the same tax bracket as 2022. Another factor to consider is that your withholding decreased more than your income did percentage-wise. So even though your tax liability may have gone down due to lower income, your withholding went down even more, resulting in a smaller refund. Remember, a refund just means you overpaid throughout the year.

For 2023, the standard deduction is $13,850 for single filers and $27,700 for married filing jointly. So if your TOTAL itemized deductions (mortgage interest + property taxes + charitable contributions + other eligible deductions) don't exceed those amounts, then you're better off taking the standard deduction. With $11,200 in mortgage interest alone, you're close to the threshold for single filers. Do you have property taxes or charitable donations that would push you over the standard deduction amount?