Season's Greetings from the Beverly & Bucker Team!
We hope that everyone has a wonderful holiday season and greets this time of year in good health. As we approach the 2025 tax filing season, our office would like to provide updates and information on upcoming changes. Please use this Newsletter and the Links available on our Website to stay up-to-date.
Tax Season will begin on January 26th, 2026. We encourage all of our clients who require a face-to-face appointment to call now to ensure that your preferred time and date are available. Please note that we book up quickly! Call our office at (540) 371-0691 to schedule.
As in years prior, clients who received $600 or more through cash-sharing apps like Venmo, Zelle, and PayPal will receive a Form 1099-K by mail or through the app. If you receive this form, please include it with your tax documents as we will not be able to complete your return without it. If you believe you received $600 or more through a cash-sharing app but did not receive a Form 1099-K, please contact the company. Please be prepared to explain where the funds came from and what they were used for to determine how the amount should be applied on the Tax Return.
For our Virginia clients who are over the age of 55 and receive military retirement, you may be able to claim a subtraction for certain military benefits of up to $10,000. This means that qualifying recipients may receive up to $10,000 of military retirement pay tax-free. Qualifying benefits include military retirement income received for service in the US Armed Forces or paid to the surviving spouse of a veteran under the Survivor Benefit Plan program. If you have questions concerning this change, please contact our office or consult the Virginia Department of Taxation website.
Now that we've covered changes in tax code, here's what you can expect in our office. As we continue to prioritize the safety of our staff and clients this cold and flu season, we encourage anyone who does not require a face-to-face appointment to use our Drop Off option. Many of our clients used this method for the first time during the pandemic and found that it was easier and much faster than waiting for an available appointment time. The Tax Return will be prepared in your absence and our staff will contact you when it has been completed. If you are dropping off your Tax Return but would still like to discuss your concerns with a Tax Preparer, a Phone Appointment option is now available! To schedule a Phone Appointment, please contact our office or select the Phone Appointment option on our website when scheduling. Due to IRS guidelines, we are not able to use online phone call platforms such as Zoom, FaceTime, Google Chats, or Signal. These third-party calling platforms do not provide the level of security required for discussing sensitive personal information. For clients who are able to Drop Off Tax Documents, we would like to make sure you are aware of our variety of Drop Off methods.
Drop Offs:
Tax Documents can be mailed to our office, dropped off with our staff during our office hours, or dropped off after hours via the mail slot beside our front door. We also have a contact-free, digital option available. If you would like to virtually submit your documents, please contact our office via phone or email to request a link to our secure, Document Sharing Portal. Upon request, a link will be sent to you via email. This link will be randomly generated and, for your security, should not be shared. Once you have received the link, you will be able to upload your documents to our Secure Portal, at which point our staff will be notified and will be able to view your documents to prepare your Tax Return. Please do not email sensitive documents to our office or submit them via Facebook. These are not secure options to submit sensitive information. If you have any questions concerning our Digital Drop Off method or any of our other methods for receiving documents, please let us know. When mailing documents, we request that you mail copies, not original documents. Original documents that are lost in the mail are difficult to replace so, if possible, please only mail copies.
No matter how you Drop Off this year, please include your Name, Phone Number, Address, and a list of any changes in family structure such as Marriage, sale of a property, or changes in the number of Dependents. If you have questions concerning what documents to include when dropping off, our staff will be more than happy to assist.
Appointments:
For our clients who necessitate a face-to-face appointment, please schedule either through our website or by phone. We ask that if you or someone in your household is experiencing Covid-related symptoms to please wear a mask during your appointment. Our front desk staff will have extras available. If you or someone in your household has tested positive for Covid-19 or RSV within four days of your appointment, please contact our office to reschedule.
Client Organizers:
Client Organizers are available! These are helpful tools that list what documents we will require to prepare your Tax Return. Client Organizers are based off of the information you provided to our office for the prior Tax Year, so they will not include any information that has changed since we last saw you. With Client Organizers, we will include an additional checklist that outlines any changes in Tax Code for the upcoming year. If you are new to our office this year, welcome! We have blank Client Organizers available for you in our office and on our website in "Info Center." While they will not have a list of documents that you have used for prior Tax Returns, they will have a summation of documents you may need to bring in depending on your needs. If you have any questions or would like to request a Client Organizer, please contact our office.
I would like to, once again, thank our amazing clients. Our team is excited to assist with the approaching tax season and we're looking forward to seeing everyone. We hope everyone has a great New Year and we look forward to working together in 2026!
Ryan Beverly E.A.
Beverly & Bucker Inc.
Congress needs to do more to protect taxpayers in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision in the Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service v. Zuch, National Taxpayer Advocate stated in a recent blog post.
Congress needs to do more to protect taxpayers in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision in the Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service v. Zuch, National Taxpayer Advocate stated in a recent blog post.
NTA Erin Collins noted in the post that Congress in 1998 created the collection due process (CDP) “to give taxpayers a meaningful opportunity to contest proposed levies and Notices of Federal Tax Lien,” allowing them to request a hearing with appeals and possibly petition the tax court.
The Supreme Court decision, according to Collins, “adopted a narrow view of the Tax Court’s review in a CDP case, holding that the Tax Court’s jurisdiction under IRC Sec. 6330(d)(1) terminates once the lien or levy is no longer at issue.” She cited Justice Neil Gorsuch’s dissent noting that “under this approach, the IRS can cut off Tax Court review by choosing when and how to collect. He also noted that telling taxpayers to file a refund suit instead is often unrealistic, especially when strict refund claim deadlines have expired while CDP and Tax Court proceedings are still pending.”
Collins noted that the Supreme Court decision and an earlier Tax Court order “reveal serious gaps in the protections Congress intended CDP to provide. They make CDP and Tax Court an unreliable path to a merits-based solution. A taxpayer can do everything right: request a CDO hearing, raise issues with Appeals, and timely petition the Tax Court yet still never receive a final determination on what they owe if, for example, the IRS fully collects through offsets or accepts an OIC and then declares that a levy is no longer warranted.”
She added that “the fallback remedy of refund litigation may not grant a taxpayer full relief … which is an unrealistic option for many small businesses and individuals. … Zuch raises due process concerns when collection action is withdrawn. A taxpayer typically receives only one CDP hearing for a given tax period and type of collection action. If the IRS abandons collection after that hearing and later restarts collection on the same liabilities, the taxpayer may not get a second CDP hearing with Tax Court review, but only an IRS ‘equivalent hearing,’ which does not provide a right to Tax Court review.”
Collins noted that Congress has begun to take steps to remedy this with the House of Representatives’ introduction of the Taxpayer Due Process Enhancement Act (H.R. 6506), including clarifying and expanding Tax Court jurisdiction in CDP cases, ensuring that jurisdiction over a properly underlying liability challenges whether the collection is abandoned, protects refund rights, and prohibits the IRS from crediting the overpayment against other liabilities without taxpayer consent.
However, she is calling for more Congressional action to address the “one hearing” limitation.
“Congress should create an exception to the ‘one hearing’ limitation for cases when the IRS withdraws or abandons collection,” Collins stated in the blog. “If the IRS has effectively reset the collection episode by withdrawing or abandoning the prior levy or lien and later initiates the same collection action for the same tax period, taxpayers should be entitled to a new CDP hearing with the full protections of IRC Sec. 6330, including Tax Court review.”
She added that Congress “should also ensure that taxpayers are not permanently barred from CDP when the IRS withdraws and later restarts collection and the Tax Court has clear authority to grant meaningful relief when the IRS has already collected more than the correct amount.”
The IRS has provided interim guidance addressing the special 100 percent bonus depreciation allowance for qualified production property enacted by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) (P.L. 119-21). The interim guidance provides the definition of qualified production property, qualified production activities, and other related terms. It also establishes a safe harbor for property placed in service in 2025, provides instructions for the time and manner for electing the 100-percent depreciation allowance, and addresses recapture and certain special rules. Taxpayers may rely on the interim guidance until the Treasury Department issues proposed regulations.
The IRS has provided interim guidance addressing the special 100 percent bonus depreciation allowance for qualified production property enacted by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) (P.L. 119-21). The interim guidance provides the definition of qualified production property, qualified production activities, and other related terms. It also establishes a safe harbor for property placed in service in 2025, provides instructions for the time and manner for electing the 100-percent depreciation allowance, and addresses recapture and certain special rules. Taxpayers may rely on the interim guidance until the Treasury Department issues proposed regulations.
Background
OBBBA enacted Code Sec. 168(n), which allows taxpayers to elect to take a 100 percent bonus depreciation allowance for qualified production property constructed after January 19, 2025, and before January 1, 2029, and placed in service after July 4, 2025, and before January 1, 2031.
Qualified Production Property Defined
Qualified production property is generally defined as new MACRS nonresidential real property that is (or will be once placed in service) as an integral part of a qualified production activity. Qualified production property must be placed in service in the United States, or its territories. Each building, including its structural components, is a single unit of property and any improvement of structural component that the taxpayer later places in service is a separate unit of property. A special rule is available for integrated facilities. For purposes of determining whether used property is acquired after January 19, 2025, and before January 1, 2029, a taxpayer applies rules consistent with Reg. § 1.168(k)-2(b)(5).
Under the interim guidance satisfies the integral part requirement if the qualified production activity takes place within the physical space of the property. The guidance provides a de minimis rule that permits a taxpayer to elect to treat the entire property as qualified production property if 95 percent or more of the physical space of a property satisfies the integral part requirement.
Although leased property that is owned by the taxpayer and used by a lessee does not qualify, the guidance provides an exception for consolidated groups, commonly controlled pass-through entities, and certain sole proprietorships, partnerships, or corporations of which 50 percent or more is owned, directly or by attribution by the lessor.
Under the guidance, a taxpayer may use any reasonable method to allocate a property’s unadjusted depreciable basis between eligible property and ineligible property. Each allocation method must be applied consistently and reflect the property’s facts and circumstances. In the case of property that contains infrastructure that serves both eligible property and ineligible property, a taxpayer may allocate the basis of such property between eligible property and ineligible property using any reasonable method.
Qualified Production Activity Defined
Generally, a qualified production activity means the manufacturing, production, or refining of a qualified product. The guidance provides specific definitions of production, qualified product, manufacturing, refining, agricultural production, chemical production, and substantial transformation of the property comprising a qualified product.
Under the guidance, a related business activity will not fail to be a qualified production activity if the related activity occurs within the same property. Such activities include: oversight and management of activities, material selection of vendors or materials related to the qualified product, developing product design and other intellectual property used in conducting a manufacturing, production, or refining activity that results in a substantial transformation of the property comprising the qualified product.
Safe Harbor for Qualified Production Property Placed in Service in 2025
For property placed in service after July 4, 2025, and on or before December 31, 2025, a taxpayer’s trade or business activity will be treated as a qualified production activity if the principal business activity code that the taxpayer, or the relevant trade or business of the taxpayer, used on its most recently filed Federal income tax return filed before February 19, 2026, is listed under sectors 31, 32, or 33, or under subsectors 111 or 112, that appear in the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), United States, 2022, published by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Executive Office of the President. In addition, the activity must result in, or is otherwise essential to, the substantial transformation of the property comprising a qualified product.
Recapture
Recapture of the 100-percent bonus depreciation taken on qualified production property if a change in use occurs within 10 years after qualified production property is placed in service. Under the guidance a change in use occurs if the qualified production property ceases to satisfy the integral part requirement. A change in use has not occurred if a taxpayer begins to use qualified production property in a different qualified production activity. Property that has been placed in service but is temporarily idle does not cease to satisfy the integral part requirement.
Making the Election
A taxpayer may elect to treat property as qualified production property by attaching a statement to its Federal income tax return for the taxable year in which the eligible property is placed in service. The statement must include the following information: the name and taxpayer identification number of the taxpayer making the election; the street address, city, state, zip code, and a description of the property; the unadjusted depreciable basis of the property; the dollar amount of the unadjusted depreciable basis of eligible property the taxpayer is designating as qualified production property. Separate instructions are available for taxpayers applying the de minimis rule. A election may be revoked only by filing a request for a private letter ruling and obtaining the written consent of the IRS.
Request for Comments
The IRS requests comments on the interim guidance provided in Notice 2026-16. Comments must be submitted by the date, and in the form and manner, specified in Section 10.02 of Notice 2026-16.
Notice 2026-16
IR 2026-25
The Treasury Department and the IRS have extended the deadline for amending individual retirement arrangements (IRAs), SEP arrangements, and SIMPLE IRA plans to comply with the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022. The new deadline is December 31, 2027. The extension does not apply to qualified plans such as 401(k) and 403(b) plans.
The Treasury Department and the IRS have extended the deadline for amending individual retirement arrangements (IRAs), SEP arrangements, and SIMPLE IRA plans to comply with the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022. The new deadline is December 31, 2027. The extension does not apply to qualified plans such as 401(k) and 403(b) plans.
Under section 501 of the SECURE 2.0 Act (P.L. 117-328), retirement plans and contracts had until the end of the first plan year beginning on or after January 1, 2025, or by a later date prescribed by the Secretary, to adopt plan amendments reflecting changes made by the SECURE Act, the SECURE 2.0 Act, the CARES Act, and the Taxpayer Certainty and Disaster Tax Relief Act of 2020. In the absence of model language from the IRS, IRA custodians have requested more time to ensure proper amendments. Notice 2026-9 gives stakeholders until the end of 2027 to complete the necessary changes.
The extension applies to governing instruments of IRAs under Code Sec. 408(a) and (h), annuity contracts under Code Sec. 408(b), SEP arrangements under Code Sec. 408(k), and SIMPLE IRA plans under Code Sec. 408(p). Further, the IRS is developing model language to be used by IRA trustees, custodians, and issuers to amend an IRA for compliance with the legislation.
Notice 2026-9
The IRS issued answers to frequently asked questions (FAQs) about the implementation of Executive Order 14247, Modernizing Payments to and from America’s Bank Account. The order described advancing the transition to fully electronic federal payments both to and from the IRS. The purposes of said order were to (1) defend against financial fraud and improper payments; (2) increase efficiency; (3) reduce costs; and (4) enhance the security of federal transactions.
The IRS issued answers to frequently asked questions (FAQs) about the implementation of Executive Order 14247, Modernizing Payments to and from America’s Bank Account. The order described advancing the transition to fully electronic federal payments both to and from the IRS. The purposes of said order were to (1) defend against financial fraud and improper payments; (2) increase efficiency; (3) reduce costs; and (4) enhance the security of federal transactions.
The FAQs discussed included:
Tax Refunds and Tax Filing
The IRS stopped issuing paper refund checks for individual taxpayers after September 30, 2025. The Service would publish all guidance for filing 2025 tax returns before opening the 2026 tax filing season.
Further, direct deposit into a bank account would remain the primary method for issuing refunds. Alternative electronic payment methods, mobile apps and prepaid debit cards, would also be available. Limited exceptions to the paper check phase-out would also be established.
Alternative to Providing Direct Deposit Information
It is not mandatory for taxpayers to provide electronic payment information. However, if no exception applies, their refunds could take longer to process.
Sunset of Enrollment to EFTPS
Effective October 17, 2025, individual taxpayers are no longer able to create new enrollments via EFTPS.gov. Individual taxpayers not enrolled in the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS).gov by October 17, 2025 can instead create an IRS Online Account for Individual taxpayers or use the IRS Direct Pay guest path.
FS-2026-2
IR 2026-13
The IRS has encouraged all taxpayers to create an IRS Individual Online Account to access tax account information securely and help protect against identity theft. It emphasized that this digital resource is available to anyone who can verify their identity. Thus, the IRS highlighted how taxpayers have used the account with the same convenience as online banking to view adjusted gross income, check refund statuses, and request identity protection PINs.
The IRS has encouraged all taxpayers to create an IRS Individual Online Account to access tax account information securely and help protect against identity theft. It emphasized that this digital resource is available to anyone who can verify their identity. Thus, the IRS highlighted how taxpayers have used the account with the same convenience as online banking to view adjusted gross income, check refund statuses, and request identity protection PINs.
Further, the IRS supported collaboration between taxpayers and tax professionals through the use of digital authorizations. When taxpayers utilize Individual Online Accounts, they are able to approve power of attorney and tax information authorization requests entirely online. This digital process has allowed tax professionals to use their own Tax Pro Accounts to complete authorized actions on their clients’ behalf more efficiently. Tax professionals have supported this effort by encouraging clients to receive and view over 200 digital notices.
Additionally, the IRS expanded the account’s capabilities in early 2025 to allow taxpayers to view and download certain tax documents. It has made forms such as the W-2, 1095-A, and various 1099s available for the 2023, 2024, and 2025 tax years. These documents provide essential information return data reported by employers and financial institutions to help taxpayers file their returns. Consequently, the IRS advised individuals to visit IRS.gov to learn more about accessing records and managing payment plans.
IR 2026-21
