A client pays all the household costs, their partner has lived with them all year, and they ask for head of household. Stop before you pick the status. Publication 501, Table 4, says a person who is not related to the client in one of the listed ways, and who is the client's qualifying relative only because they lived with the client all year as a member of the household, is not a qualifying person for head of household. That covers a friend, a boyfriend or a girlfriend who lives in the home. The client may still be able to claim that person as a dependent if every qualifying relative test is met, but that dependent does not make the client head of household. Publication 501 walks through the same result with a friend in its Example 3. The habit that protects you: when a client asks for head of household, ask who the qualifying person is and exactly how that person is related to the client, and write the answer in the file. Sources: IRS, Publication 501 (2025), Head of Household, Table 4 and Example 3.

Clients with a baby born in 2025 or later should hear about Trump accounts from you, at intake, before tax time is over. Who can have one. A Trump account can be opened for a child who has a valid Social Security number and will not turn 18 before the end of the year the account is set up. The $1,000 pilot. For a child who is a U.S. citizen, born from January 1, 2025 through December 31, 2028, with a valid Social Security number, the federal government makes a one time $1,000 contribution. It does not happen by itself. The parent has to elect it on Form 4547, in the IRS Individual Account or through the Trump Accounts app or website, even if Treasury opened the account automatically. Contributions. They began July 4, 2026. Individuals and employers can put in up to $5,000 a year, and an employer can contribute up to $2,500 a year toward an employee's or a dependent's account. The habit that protects you: ask every client with a child born in 2025 or later whether Form 4547 has been filed, and write the answer in the file. Sources: IRS, Trump Accounts. IRS, One Big Beautiful Bill provisions.

The state and local tax deduction limit moves again for 2026. These are the numbers to have ready when an itemizer sits down with you. For 2026 the limit is $40,400, or $20,200 for married filing separately. On 2025 returns it was $40,000. Higher income clients get less. The limit is reduced by 30% of modified adjusted gross income above $505,000 ($252,500 for married filing separately), and the reduction cannot take it below $10,000. For a married filing separately client, check the current IRS instructions for the floor before you file. A round number example: a single client with $555,000 of modified adjusted gross income is $50,000 over the threshold. 30% of $50,000 is $15,000, so the limit is $40,400 minus $15,000, which is $25,400. The limit rises 1% a year through 2029, then goes back to $10,000 starting in 2030. The habit that protects you: on every itemized return, work out modified adjusted gross income before you enter the SALT figure, not after. Sources: IRC section 164(b)(6) and (b)(7). IRS, Correction to state and local income tax deduction amount in the 2026 Form 1040-ES.