QUARTERLY INSIGHT
Tax & Business Update
Q3 2026 Edition
A brief, practical look at what's new and changing in accounting and business this quarter, so you can plan ahead with confidence.
1 Your IRS Online Account: What It Can Do for You
Setting up an IRS Online Account is one of the easiest ways to stay ahead of your taxes, and increasingly, one of the more necessary ones. Under a 2025 federal executive order, the Treasury has been phasing out paper check refunds in favor of direct deposit, with only limited exceptions, and the same order pushes incoming payments toward electronic processing as well. Having your account already set up means you're not scrambling to catch up as check-based options continue to shrink. We've seen this firsthand with clients: mislabeled payments, long processing periods, and payments lost by check are becoming more common, and an online account helps you sidestep all three.
Once you verify your identity with a photo ID, the account puts real control in your hands. Make a same-day payment toward a balance due or a quarterly estimate, or schedule one up to 365 days ahead, just as easy to cancel if plans change. Check the status of a refund or amended return, view your adjusted gross income and balance due by tax year, and pull up to five years of transcripts and payment history. You can also submit select IRS forms electronically, go paperless on notices, and authorize our office to view your account directly, so we can help faster whenever a question comes up.
2 AI Is Making Tax Scams Harder to Spot
Each year, the IRS publishes its "Dirty Dozen," a list of the most common scams targeting taxpayers, and the 2026 list makes clear that artificial intelligence has changed the game. Criminals now use computer-generated voices and spoofed caller IDs to impersonate the IRS by phone, far more convincing than the scripted robocalls of a few years ago. Phishing emails and "smishing" texts have also grown more sophisticated, often including QR codes that lead to fake IRS sites built to steal login credentials and personal information.
One trend worth flagging directly: criminals are attempting to take over taxpayers' IRS Online Accounts using stolen personal data, or posing as helpful "assistants" during setup to extract sensitive information. Business owners and tax professionals are also targeted through spear phishing, fake "new client" emails carrying malicious attachments meant to compromise a firm's systems and client data. The defense hasn't changed: the IRS almost always contacts taxpayers by mail first, never by threatening call or text, and never demands immediate payment. If you get an unexpected call, text, or email claiming to be from the IRS, don't click any links. If you're ever unsure whether something is legitimate, call our office, and we'll help you verify it.
3 Four Moves to Make Before Year-End
Review your retirement contributions. Limits increased for 2026: 401(k) contributions can go up to $24,500, plus a catchup on top of that if you're 50 or older, $8,000 for ages 50 to 59 and 64-plus, or a higher $11,250 specifically for ages 60 to 63. IRA limits rose to $7,500, plus a flat $1,100 catch-up for anyone 50 or older. If you have room to contribute more before December 31, it's worth doing the math.
Confirm your estimated payments are on track. This has been a year of moving pieces, from new deductions to mid-year rate changes, and any one of them can shift what you actually owe. Staying current each quarter, starting with the September 15 deadline, helps you avoid an underpayment penalty and a larger, less predictable bill when you file.
The standard deduction is higher for 2026. It's now $16,100 for single filers, $32,200 for married couples filing jointly, and $24,150 for heads of household. If you're close to the line on itemizing, it's worth checking whether that changes what makes sense for your return.
Update your mileage log. The IRS raised the standard mileage rate mid-year, from 72.5 to 76 cents per mile, effective July 1, 2026, so confirm your records use the right rate for each trip.
Goldstein Tax Advisors ~ Taxes Since 1983
1 Why Paper Is Going Away, and What an Account Gets You
The shift away from paper wasn't an arbitrary decision, and the executive order driving it made its case with numbers. Treasury checks are 16 times more likely to be reported lost or stolen, returned undeliverable, or altered than an electronic funds transfer, and maintaining the physical infrastructure for paper records cost taxpayers more than $657 million in fiscal year 2024 alone. Rising mail theft since the pandemic was cited as part of the reasoning. Those findings are why refunds are moving to direct deposit and why money flowing to the government is being pushed toward electronic processing.
For an individual taxpayer, the value shows up in the moments when you need something from the IRS quickly. When a lender reviewing a mortgage or refinance asks for transcripts, you can pull them yourself instead of waiting on a mailed copy. The account also provides a tax compliance report, useful when a closing turns on whether you're in good standing. Bringing our office in on a notice is faster too, since a Power of Attorney or Tax Information Authorization can be approved and electronically signed right in your account, instead of the traditional route of printing, signing, and mailing it in, which typically takes the IRS about three weeks to process. The same profile is where you can request an Identity Protection PIN, an extra layer of protection on your return.
Business owners have a second, separate portal worth knowing about: the Business Tax Account. It's open to sole proprietors with an EIN who file Schedule C or F, partnerships filing Form 1065, and S and C corporations, though not yet to LLCs that file as sole proprietors. Access depends on role. A Designated Official, meaning a general or managing partner or an officer authorized to bind the business, sees federal tax deposits, payments, payment history, IRS notices, and the total owed by year, and can download transcripts, an EIN verification letter, and tax compliance reports on demand. Individual partners and shareholders get a narrower view.
The practical payoff is a record you control. A scheduled electronic payment produces a timestamped confirmation and lands in a payment history you can pull up years later. A mailed check produces a stub and a hope. Visit our website for more information on setting up an IRS account, a full walkthrough with pictures and explanations is available on our References and FAQs page.
Sources
The White House, Executive Order 14247, “Modernizing Payments To and From America’s Bank Account” (March 2025)
IRS, Business Tax Account
IRS, Your Online Account
QUARTERLY INSIGHT
Tax & Business Update · Q3 2026
2 Staying Safe as Tax Scams Get Smarter
The scale here is worth understanding. The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center logged 1,008,597 complaints in 2025, with reported losses of $20.877 billion, a 26% jump over the prior year. Phishing and spoofing were the single most reported category, at 191,561 complaints. Government impersonation, the bucket that captures fake IRS contacts, drew 32,424 complaints and $797.9 million in losses. People aged 60 and older filed more complaints than any other age group, 201,266 of them, up 37% in a single year.
The schemes themselves aren't new, but they're far more convincing than they used to be. The IRS's 2026 scam list describes calls using computer generated tactics and spoofed caller ID to appear legitimate, a real step up from the scripted robocalls of a few years back. Written approaches have improved too, often leaning on alarming language and QR codes that route to convincing lookalike sites. The tell is no longer bad grammar or an obvious accent, so the reliable filter is the channel and the request rather than how professional something sounds.
This is worth saying plainly: none of this is a reason to avoid an IRS Online Account. The account is a defense, not an exposure. AARP's guidance on IRS impostor scams actually lists checking your online account as one of the ways to confirm whether a piece of correspondence is real. Their other red flags are useful shorthand: the IRS opens contact by mail rather than a call, text, or DM, it has largely stopped unannounced in-person visits, it offers installment plans instead of demanding payment on the spot, it doesn't threaten arrest, and it never asks for gift cards, prepaid debit cards, or cryptocurrency.
The caution isn't about having an account, it's about where you type your information. Reach the site by entering irs.gov yourself rather than following a link in an email or text, and treat anyone offering to “help” you through setup as a reason to slow down, since posing as a helpful assistant during registration is a known tactic. One protection worth asking about is the Identity Protection PIN, a six-digit number known only to you and the IRS that blocks anyone else from filing a return under your Social Security number. It's reissued annually, and requesting it through an online account is the fastest route, though Form 15227 and in-person verification are alternatives. Suspicious messages can be forwarded to phishing@irs.gov, and if something feels off, call our office before you act on it.
Sources
FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center, 2025 Internet Crime Report
AARP, IRS Impostor Scams
IRS, Dirty Dozen Tax Scams for 2026 (IR-2026-30)
IRS, Get an Identity Protection PIN
3 Four Year-End Moves, Explained
Review your retirement contributions. 401(k) contribution limits for 2026 rose to $24,500, plus a catch-up on top of that if you're 50 or older, $8,000 for ages 50 to 59 and 64-plus, or a higher $11,250 specifically for ages 60 to 63. IRA limits rose to $7,500, plus a flat $1,100 catch-up for anyone 50 or older. The deadlines are different and worth knowing: 401(k) contributions have to go through payroll by December 31, so don't wait until the new year to increase a contribution election. IRA contributions are more forgiving, you have until the tax filing deadline to make one and still have it count for 2026.
Confirm your estimated payments are on track. To avoid an underpayment penalty, the IRS generally requires you to have paid the smaller of 90% of what you'll owe for 2026, or 100% of what you owed for 2025 (110% if your 2025 adjusted gross income was above $150,000, or $75,000 if married filing separately). The next quarterly deadline is September 15, covering income earned June through August, and the final one for the year falls on January 15, 2027. Getting current now, rather than trying to true everything up in one large Q4 payment, is the more predictable way to avoid both the penalty and an unpleasant surprise when you file.
The standard deduction is higher for 2026. It rose to $16,100 for single filers, $32,200 for married couples filing jointly, and $24,150 for heads of household. Itemizing only helps if your deductible expenses, mortgage interest, charitable giving, state and local taxes, and certain medical costs above a threshold, add up to more than that. As the standard deduction climbs, fewer households clear that bar every year. If you've itemized in the past out of habit, it's worth running the numbers again for 2026 rather than assuming it still makes sense.
Update your mileage log. The IRS raised the standard mileage rate mid-year, from 72.5 to 76 cents per mile, effective July 1, 2026, so a single flat rate no longer applies to the full year. To hold up under an audit, a mileage log needs the date of each trip, the odometer reading or total miles, the destination, and the business purpose, recorded close to when the trip happened rather than reconstructed later. A simple notebook or app both satisfy the IRS's requirement; what matters is that the record is contemporaneous.
Sources
IRS Revenue Procedure 2025-32 (2026 inflation adjustments)
IRS, Estimated Taxes FAQ
IRS Publication 463, Travel, Gift, and Car Expenses
Goldstein Tax Advisors ~ Taxes Since 1983