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December 24, 2025

No Tax on Tips: How Restaurant Servers Can Now Claim Up to $25,000 in Deductions

By The PackTax Team If you’re a restaurant server hustling through double shifts, chasing that end-of-night tip jar, you’ve probably wondered how much Uncle Sam takes from your hard-earned gratuities. Good news: The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), signed into law on July 4, 2025, changes the game with its “No Tax on Tips”…

December 18, 2025

PackTax and TurboTax: Why Pay $185 When TurboTax Is Free?

By The PackTax Team You’ve seen the ads: TurboTax Free Edition — file your simple 1040 for $0. It’s tempting. But then there’s PackTax, where the average 1040 costs $185 — all in, with a real human CPA or EA reviewing every line. So… why pay $185 when TurboTax is free? Let’s cut through the…

July 2, 2025

Claiming your Kids on Taxes

By: Taylor Miller It’s one of those things that seems straightforward… until it’s not. So let’s walk through some of the basics you should be aware of. Let’s start with a few ground rules: The child must be a U.S. citizen (or meet certain residency requirements). A child can only be claimed on one tax…

June 27, 2025

Independent Contractor? How to Track Those Expenses!

By Lauren Gines Do you work for a company, but you’re contracted out? Do you receive at 1099? There are a couple of different types of tax documents you could receive from your employer. The first is a W2, which you get if you’re an “official employee.” If you’re an independent contractor or something…

June 17, 2025

Tax Credits vs. Tax Deductions

By: Chase Howard Tax Deductions vs. Tax Credits Today we’re diving into something that could literally save you thousands of dollars—yep, we’re talking taxes. More specifically, tax deductions vs. tax credits—two terms you’ve probably heard tossed around a lot, but maybe not fully understood. Don’t worry, you’re not alone. A lot of people confuse the…

June 10, 2025

Understanding Education Tax Credits

By: Justin Parkinson When it comes to education tax benefits, there are three main tools at your disposal: Non-refundable tax credits: These reduce the amount of tax you owe. If your tax bill is lower than the credit, you won’t get the difference refunded. Refundable tax credits: These can actually give you money back, even…

June 2, 2025

Tax Deadlines

By: Lauren Gines Tax season can be… a lot. So let’s break it down—one deadline at a time. If you’re running a business and you don’t file your taxes on your personal return, this one’s for you. We’re talking about partnerships (which file a 1065) and S Corporations (which file an 1120-S). The big date…

May 29, 2025

Retirement and Taxes

Taylor Miller Two Ways to Save A 401(k) is a retirement plan that allows you to take money from your paycheck and save it before it’s taxed—or, if you prefer, after it’s taxed. When you contribute pre-tax, the money goes into your 401(k) without being taxed. Then, when you retire and take that money out,…

May 28, 2025

Can I Deduct That?

By Diamond Womack “Can I deduct my student loan interest?” This is a question we get all the time. And the short answer is: yes—but it depends on your income. If you’re single (or a single mom, or just filing solo), the student loan interest deduction starts phasing out at $80,000 of income. For married…

May 21, 2025

“Why Do I Owe Taxes While Everyone Else Gets a Refund?” Let’s Break It Down.

By Devin Irvine Ever hear someone say, “My brother got a big refund, but I owe—why is that?” Or maybe, “I don’t even make that much, so how do I still owe money?” Yeah, we hear those questions a lot, and if you’ve asked yourself the same thing, you’re not alone. So let’s dive into…

May 20, 2025

Self-Employment & Taxes: Everything You Need to Know

By Chase Howard Whether you’re running your own business, picking up side gigs, or freelancing on the weekends, self-employment can bring a lot of freedom—but also a lot of tax questions. So let’s break it all down in a way that’s easy to understand. What Is Self-Employment? The IRS defines self-employment as any income you…

May 12, 2025

Understanding Tax Brackets

By: Katie Malan How do Tax Brackets Work? Tax brackets are hugely misunderstood. Most people don’t have a full understanding of how tax brackets work. Today, we’re going to map out tax brackets and give you some examples to help you understand them. First, what is a tax bracket? The brackets are simply that.…

May 9, 2025

Understanding Itemized Deductions

What they are and why they matter. Today, I want to walk you through itemized deductions—what they are, when they apply, and how they can help reduce your tax bill. When we file our taxes, we start with all our income—W-2s, 1099s, self-employment income, rental income, and more. We subtract the adjustments the IRS allows…

February 27, 2025

IRS Layoffs Could Impact Your Tax Return

February 27, 2025

BOI Reporting Deadline Set For March 21

February 7, 2025

What Tax Bracket am I In, and How Much is the Standard Deduction?

The 2025 tax filing season is officially underway, so it’s time to get familiar with how the government figures out what you owe. Every year, the IRS adjusts income thresholds for the various tax brackets to keep up with inflation. For the 2024 tax year (meaning taxes due this year in 2025), the IRS bumped…

February 6, 2025

Where’s My Refund and 2025 Tax Brackets

One of the biggest questions we get at Pack Tax is, “Where’s my refund?” Well, the IRS has made it super easy to find out. They offer a “Where’s My Refund?” tool on their website, and there’s also an app called IRS2Go that you can download to your phone. Both let you track your refund…

July 3, 2020

Tax Services You Didn’t Know We Offered

Everyone knows that at Pack Tax we provide essential tax preparation services for individuals and business, but there are probably a few services you didn’t know we offered. Here’s a list of a few of our favorites: FREE Dependant Children Tax Return Filing – This is probably the biggest service we do that people don’t…

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