As we enter the period of resolutions, I am going to leave aside any talk of how likely they are to succeed or how one can increase their choices of doing so. No matter what those numbers say, we all understand that it can be difficult to bring them to fruition. We also all understand, though, that what it comes down to is that people are trying to better themselves, so it’s difficult to ever call that a bad thing.

Just as what one would like to accomplish through a resolution is a personal choice, so is what can keep us from accomplishing them. I think most of us have felt that we have failed at some things in life because of lack of will, but there are other times when life comes at us too much from other directions and what needs more attention to reach that end goal could no longer receive it.

So let this instead be a note of congratulations on anything you accomplish as you move along these journeys. Victories do not only occur at some ultimate endpoint that looks ever distant at the start. Counting the wins along the way is also necessary and worth celebrating and there is nothing that says you can’t pick up from that point in the future (and not only when the calendar changes the big number at the top).

Happy New Year!

Warmly,

Josh Bousquet
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We here at TSBAS just wanted to take the chance to wish you, your friends, and your family a wonderful holiday season. May this come for you in whichever form you choose to celebrate (even if in the end that turns out to be a low-key almost non-celebration). Everyone deserves what makes them feel best and we like embracing all chances to cheer you on toward where your happiness lies.

The only thing we will ask is that you hold onto this and remember how much we do care about your general wellbeing over the new few months – you know, the tax season, when we end up not always being everyone’s favorite.

But for now – Happy Holidays!

Warmly,

Josh Bousquet
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Since last month, it has been impossible for me not to address how to handle the idea that tax changes are bound to be on the way with the incoming second Trump administration. I have cautioned that much of this is up in the air, though, which makes it impossible to address things concretely and give definite takes on what one should be doing to use these changes to your best advantage.

This week, I want to give an example of just how wide a canvas these things could cover, and they may cover areas you did not envision – again, making any specific and definite course of action difficult to recommend.

A group of House Republicans has called on President-elect Trump to end the IRS’s Direct File program, possibly even on his first day of office. This does not address tax policy, per se, but the Direct File program was piloted early this year to allow some taxpayers to file their federal tax return online for free directly with the IRS

The politics of this are a little messy and would deserve a space larger than this to really work through – we are talking about arguments that go from this is being implemented as a way for the government to monitor people’s finances, to it’s just a simpler and cheaper way for people to report the same information the IRS is getting anyway, to it is a weaponization of government, to saying there are people who want to weaken the agency because it could be personally beneficial.

And no matter where that debate ends or what actions it could result in, by itself it would not alter the number at the end of your tax return. So this could be argued as having essentially nothing to do with taxes at all

This clearly is something else that has no recommendations attached to it. It does, however, display how much could be in play over the next few years. And with so much moving around in this miasma of what could be, it can create a larger feeling of wanting to personally do something - all these things are happening, I must get in on it! This is an area, though, where there really isn’t much you can do that would benefit you until some of those other actions take place. So instead, let’s use the holiday season as a reason to take a breath for now anyway.

Warmly,

Nicole Odeh
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