NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast - Talking Taxes With a CPA: What's New in 2026 and How to Navigate Filing Season

Episode Date: March 23, 2026

A tax expert breaks down what's new for the 2026 tax filing season and how to decide between a CPA and DIY software. What do you actually need to know about filing your 2025 taxes? When is it actually worth hiring a CPA instead of going it alone? Hosts Sean Pyles, CFP®, and Elizabeth Ayoola sit down with Tom O'Saben, and enrolled agent and director of tax content for the National Association of Tax Professionals, to explore what changed under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. They discuss new rules around tips, overtime pay, car loan interest deductions, and an expanded SALT deduction that could shift the math on whether itemizing makes sense for you. They also dig into how major life changes like getting married, starting a business, or moving to a new state can create unexpected tax complications — and how to make sure nothing falls through the cracks. Plus: the common myths and costly mistakes that show up every year, options if you end up with a surprise tax bill, and what dealing with the IRS directly looks like now that the agency has cut more than a quarter of its staff. Federal Income Tax Calculator and Refund Estimator 2025-2026 https://www.nerdwallet.com/taxes/calculators/tax-calculator  Best Tax Software of 2026 https://www.nerdwallet.com/taxes/learn/best-tax-software  IRS Free File: What It Is, How It Works https://www.nerdwallet.com/taxes/learn/irs-free-file-tax-preparation-help  Want us to review your budget? Fill out this form — completely anonymously if you want — and we might feature your budget in a future segment! https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScK53yAufsc4v5UpghhVfxtk2MoyooHzlSIRBnRxUPl3hKBig/viewform?usp=header To send the Nerds your money questions, call or text the Nerd hotline at 901-730-6373 or email [e-mail]. Like what you hear? Please leave us a review and tell a friend. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode is brought to you by FedEx. These days, the Power Move isn't having a big metallic credit card to drop on the check at a corporate launch. The real Power Move is leveling up your business with FedEx intelligence and accessing one of the biggest data networks powered by one of the biggest delivery networks. Level up your business with FedEx, the new Power Move. Have you filed your taxes yet? did not want to face another penalty. So I filed my taxes. Did you? Have you? Good work, Elizabeth. Yes, I did. It took me a good two and a half hours, but I'm glad it's behind me. So you do it yourself then. Yeah, I want the educational experience so we can talk from what we've done in our lives to our

listeners. So here we go. You're such a nerdron. I will give advice based on whatever it is that my tax person does. So there we go. There you go. Well, that's the other side of the journey. Yeah. Well, this episode, we're all about tax season 2026. Welcome to NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast, where you send us your money questions, and we answer them with the help of our genius nerds. I'm Sean Piles. And I'm Elizabeth Ayola. Today we're going to go deep into tax season 2026, which is for filing your 2025 taxes, by the way. We're going to be talking about what's new, common mistakes that people make when filing, and also how you can keep your finances safe and yourself sane over the next month or so. And in case you never filed before or have lived in a cave for a few years, your deadline to file and pay your

taxes is April 15th. So to help us sort through all of this, we're joined by Tom O'Sabin, Director of Tax Content for the National Association of Tax Professionals. Tom, welcome to smart money. It's great to be here. Nice to meet you and Elizabeth. Likewise. So let's start with what's new this year in Taxland. Last year, Congress passed and the president signed the one big beautiful bill act, which extended a number of tax breaks from a 2017 tax law and made some other changes too. What are some of the major elements that tax filers should be aware of? That's really a good question. And I'm going to start with something that people haven't been talking about because I'm a tax practitioner, along with the tax content job.

I've been doing this for 35 years. And one of the things we had was a great expansion in energy credits under the American Rescue Plan under President Biden. Well, the one big beautiful bill, as you just started describing, Sean, actually ends energy credits for most people now in 2025. What we didn't expect, and we didn't see it at the National Association of Tax Professionals either, is that they've actually made it harder for clients to claim an energy credit in 2025. And so I wanted to give a couple of tidbits for the audience that I've run into, you know, meeting with my clients. For example, if you've had a new exterior windows installed or a new exterior doors or a new furnace, they're actually requiring this year what's called a qualified manufacturer ID number, a QMID. I've never seen that before. In all of the years, we've had energy credits.

And then they've gone one step further saying that if you're going to file your return electronically, which I hope everyone who's watching this, including yourselves who have filed, do that electronically and not by paper, we have to actually attach a PDF of the receipt for the purchase of those items. It seems kind of crazy in one respect when you think about this is the last year for energy credits, and they've made it even harder to go ahead and qualify for those credits. And we love tax credits because they're a dollar for dollar reduction in tax. So if I could, I'd like to give you a couple of sources that I've run across and I'd like to thank social media for helping provide those.

And one of them is called quitcarbon.com. And the other one is called rebate blue slash QMID. That's like Queen Mary, Ida, David. Those are a couple of sources where you can put in like the brand name, let's say, train, T-R-A-N-E. It's the first thing that locked up tax returns for me meeting with clients this year. and I thought that would be something to throw in at the beginning of this podcast. So that's kind of really outside of what we would expect everybody to be concentrating on

when you talk about the one big beautiful bill act. And that's the idea of, and let me make sure that we get this clarification. When you watch and see what politicians have to say, they talk about, well, that tips are no longer taxable. And that overtime is no longer taxable. And Social Security is no longer taxable. You can't see it, but you can feel the hair on the back of my neck bristling when I hear those statements. because what it really is is the one big beautiful bill created a tip deduction and overtime deduction. Social Security benefits could still be taxable. What they really did in that respect is that persons who are age 65 or over, they now qualify for what is called a senior deduction. It's $6,000 for person. They don't have to be on Social Security. They just have to be age 65 by the end of the year. And that's in addition to the regular standard deduction, correct? Sean, that's a great point. That's exactly correct. It is a separate deduction. And all of these deductions when we talk about

them are what we call below the line. So they do not impact adjusted gross income. So if you happen to be in the type of business where tips are common, think about restaurants, bars, beauty salons, all of that, then those are typically tipped industries. So I would tell people to, if they're really confused, and a lot of people, by the way, even though I'm coming from a national tax organization, I really believe that a lot of taxpayers should be able to prepare their own return. Not everyone should have to hire a professional, you know, that they made the tax law so complicated that individuals can't do it themselves any longer. So I'm very much supportive of an educated consumer, you know, being able to do this themselves. So the IRS came on with some guidance this past November. It actually listed over 70

industries that potentially are tipped type workers. And, you know, we think of the obvious ones. So that will be important to do when tips are, for example, disclosed on a W-2. Yeah. One thing I've been wondering about is how many people are actually going to be affected by the no tax on tips over time because it's a pretty small amount of the overall workforce, correct? I would agree with you.

I have seen just a smattering of the tip deduction. I've seen much more in the area of overtime. Well, Tom, taxes can be confusing, as you said earlier. and in the bid to encourage people to do it themselves, what are some best practices that people can keep in mind so that they can make filing their taxes a bit less stressful and also prevent mistakes? I'm going to tell you exactly what I do as a tax professional.

Number one, start with last year. Now, last year would mean 2024. Look at what you had on your return for 24. Now, some of these deductions we're talking about today didn't exist in 2024, but that's a portion of your filing. So look at last year and say, oh, yeah, I had influence. from this bank or this brokerage account or whatever I had and start by looking at that data. I would also strongly suggest that people electronically file. You know, there are some software

services out there that offer free filing. The IRS no longer has the direct file system. That also ended under the auspices of the one big beautiful bill, but there are still free file opportunities for those who qualify income-wise and complexity of the return. But try to use electronic means, use direct deposit for refunds. And I will also mention that President Trump signed an executive order March now a year ago, which said that Treasury is going to stop issuing physical check refunds, and they also don't want to continue to accept check payments. We can eliminate some of the risk of having things going through the U.S. mail, either from either a delay or being lost or destroyed, to go ahead and try to pay liabilities also by online means. It also makes the process so much.

much faster to when you are filing online and you're setting a direct deposit. I found it to be pretty much instantaneous on my end. I've been educating my clients, especially older folks who are not comfortable, you know, with quote unquote the IRS going in their bank account and they realize that we do have some control and we can schedule the payment. They'll be aware of it and all of that. And I was going to mention too, and I agree with you, Sean. You found it to be a good experience, didn't you? Yeah, it was fine. As far as giving the IRS my money, it's okay. Right. But you can still By the way, and I think that's a misnomer with a lot of folks. The due date, as you mentioned at the opening of our podcast, was that it is April 15th.

Just because you file your return today, it doesn't mean you have to pay it by April 15th. And that's what I find myself doing with clients is scheduling that payment. Now, when we're going back and we're reviewing last year's return, and you'll say, this is the number one phrase in 35 years of doing taxes that people are famous for saying, I didn't get anything. What about this? Well, I didn't get anything. Hey, folks, we're an electronic age. So if you're receiving, for example, perhaps unemployment, when you signed up for unemployment, you probably clicked this little box which said you wanted paperless contact.

Well, guess what? You may have received unemployment last year. You didn't receive a tax information document in the mail. It doesn't mean one exists. There's no requirement that I'm aware of that things must come through the U.S. mail. So again, thinking about what happened in your life this last year, you may in fact have to go and get those brokerage statements, those bank statements, the notion of unemployment benefits that you might have received so that you can have good input, which hopefully results in good

output. I think that could be one downside to the movement toward electronic filing is that I actually really prefer getting all of my tax forms mailed to me so I can know that they're all there for the most part and then not have to remember my login for my brokerage account or my high-old savings account or whatever it might be because that can just add more administrative burden and if you're just trying to remember all of your passwords while you're just working to file your taxes. Yeah, you're absolutely correct. I mean, you know, in the example of unemployment, someone might have received benefits for just maybe in the early part of a year. And now we're talking about something from a year ago.

And what did you use as a username and password? We find ourselves in the office. Can we access your account here? Oh, I don't know that I remember my password. That's a real common circumstance. I bet. But boy, you're right now. I did have some unemployment benefits last year.

And, you know, another thing that the one big, beautiful bill has done besides these, these, these obvious deductions that we're talking about, is the requirement to make sure that we have a social security number before we file. And probably the most common area would be when there was a new child born during the year. And do we have that social security number yet? So in most cases, when you're electronically filing, I can't imagine the return being able to be transmitted. In other words, good form, no diagnostics that are preventing transmission. I can't imagine that any software will allow a return to go into the system without a social on it. So I think it's more of the people who still maybe file by paper.

And if the Social Security number is not there at the time of filing, then many of the credits will in fact be disallowed on that filing. So make sure we've got a Social Security number. And I think they use the term a Social Security number that makes one eligible to work, which I think is probably 99.9% of the Social Security numbers out there that have been issued. So make sure we have that information and double check it. I do that with my clients. I talk about good intake results and good output. So I will tell people, hey, let's see those social security cards. Make a copy of them for me so we can verify, you know, the kids' full names and their social.

And if someone, for example, had a marital status change, perhaps they changed their name. I think all of this just brings to mind the importance of being organized during tax season. And as you said, Tom, there is something to be said about looking back at last year, maybe creating a checklist. So that includes having your social security number in place. knowing your logins for all those important accounts, having your documents, whether they're digital or physical in place to minimize that stress. I can't count on one hand the number of people who just bring in and their envelopes that haven't even been opened yet. Oh, we just put all this stuff in a folder and we bring it to Tom. You know, and some of this, it's your job to open those

envelopes. Exactly. You would be surprised to hear that once in a while, there'll actually be money, like a dividend check that came. Wow. They thought it was a, they thought it was a government document. I said, here's a check, you know, for you. Surprise. That's still constructive receipt, as they say. Exactly. Constructive receipt is a good point. But Elizabeth, your point is very well taken.

Be organized. And another piece of vice that would have, don't press send, get up and walk away, and come back again and look at it with a fresh set of eyes, and then maybe press sund. I like that because when I did my taxes, I did cloister myself away in the office for a couple hours on the Saturday morning. And I just did it all in one go. And by the end, I was kind of exhausted and fresh. and just wanted to go about my day that I just hit submit. It was accepted. Everything was fine, but I probably could have benefited from just one breather and a final glance over before submitting it.

Yeah. That's an excellent point. One other comment I wanted to make about acceptance with the idea when we transmit a return to the IRS, does it mean everything's over? We don't have any issues that the IRS could come back on, and that's not the case at all. And then finally, Elizabeth, you mentioned this at the open when a return will reject saying that a social security number had already been used. Now, that could be something as simple as you have a semi-adult child, I will say that, they're away at school, and they got together with their friends and they filed their returns on the weekend. Maybe they had a little job at the college or maybe off campus, and they went ahead and did indicate that they were a dependent. And then mom and dad go and file the return, claiming the child, IRS rejects

return saying this social has already been used. Okay. That's an issue. The more nefarious one is when you get into issues of identity theft, where the bad guys, as I said, they got a match to the first four letters of the last name and the social. I describe that as the keys to the candy store. Now, they've gotten in. They've probably made up information that it no way reflects your world for children, mid-income that would qualify for an earned income credit, college credits and all this. And they're trying to generate seven to $12,000 in refunds, then the legitimate filer goes in files and it rejects. And you have a couple of options. One, you're probably a victim of identity theft. And you may have to then go in paper file and you file that you think you're a victim of identity theft. Of course, with privacy laws,

you really can't know who the bad guy is. We'll say it that way on the other end. But then you file that return in paper or there's some other options. But one of the things I would suggest for folks to do, and you can do that right now, and you don't have to be a victim of identity theft, is go to IRS.gov. Don't go somewhere else that would charge money, and you go to get an IP pin, identity protected pin. We in the computer world understand the notion of two-factor authentication. It's akin to that. So now it takes more than the first four letters of your last name and the social. There's another number that has to match before you can get into the candy stories the saying would be. And that's good for one year for that tax filing year, correct? That's correct. And my

understanding is that, and I haven't seen this otherwise, I think you can go back and say no, but Sean, that creates a situation with an annually. The IRS will actually mail to your last known address a new identity protection pins, because you're right, they're good for one year. But once you get into that system, you will continue to receive those identity protection pins, not new ones each year. And they typically are sent out in January, but that will come through U.S. mail. Great. Okay. Well, Tom, I want to go deeper into deductions, specifically the standard deduction or itemized deduction, because a lot of folks aren't sure which might be best for them. So what might be your guidance on whether folks should choose itemized or standard and does it come down to simply which gives you the bigger refund? It really does, Sean. It comes down to that. And I've often told clients, they'll be in the first five minutes and they say, well, are we going to go short form or long form this year? Long form meaning itemized, short form meaning standard deduction. And I love to tell them, I said, well, that's not decided by how tired I am. It's really determined by what you actually have.

And I will tell you, since the Tax Cut and Jobs Act came on in 2018, in my world where we probably had prior to that law, 80 to 85 percent of clients itemized with the Tax Cut and Jobs Act coming along and basically doubling the standard deductions, it's probably just been the opposite. 80 percent of people now take the standard deduction and less and less itemized. But what I've asked clients to do during that time is to still keep track of those expenses that could lead to itemized deductions, like medical expenses out of pocket, your state and local taxes, your mortgage interest, your charitable contributions. Perhaps you've had gambling winnings and gambling losses. Because I'll tell you, one of the factors of the one big, beautiful bill, was to take the state and local tax deduction. That would be your state withholding. Your state balances do if you're in that type of a state. Perhaps you have personal property tax. was capped at $10,000. Well, for the next four years, the cap is now $40,000. So as we predicted early on, we being NATP, we thought we would see more people qualifying to itemized deductions

in filing their 2025 tax return. And that's exactly been the experience. All right, we'll be back in a moment with more about tax season 2026. Stay with us. When Westcham first took flight in 1996, the vibes were a bit different. People thought denim on denim was peak fashion. Inline skates were everywhere and two out of three women rocked the Rachel. While those things stayed in the 90s, one thing that hasn't is that fuzzy feeling you get when WestJet welcomes you on board. Here's to Westjetting since 96. Travel back in time with us and actually travel with us at westjet.com slash 30 years. Marvel Television's Wonder Man, an eight episode series, now streaming on Disney Plus. A superhero remake. Not exactly what we'd expect from an Oscar winning director. Action!

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Tom, now let's talk about how to file. I know many people will opt to use the same tax filing software they used last year or the same CPA that they hired in a past. Can you talk a little bit about when someone might want to use a different tool or hire a different tax professional than when they've used in the past. My mom used to have a statement that a new broom sweeps clean. So sometimes it makes sense to get a new broom. Maybe the software seemed kind of wonky or you felt like, you know, Sean was talking about cloistering himself for hours to go ahead and do the return.

You know, could you try another platform and then see if it's more user-friendly or maybe there's customer service on the end that's better than you experienced before? You don't know if you can have a better experience until you tried. Can you speak to any other unique benefits that working with a CPA offers versus just using the software you used last year? Sean, people use the term CPA generically to mean a tax person. A CPA is really a certified public accountant, which I'm not. I'm an enrolled agent, which means I have a license with the IRS to represent clients regardless of whether or not I did the return. I just wanted to clarify that the professionalism of a tax professional is not necessarily determined by the letters behind their name. It's really that reputation you would expect, in fact, we advocate with Congress that you might find this hard to believe, but you don't need. a license to prepare taxes. Anyone can go out, they could buy a software, hang out a shingle, and say, I do taxes. There is no education requirement to do taxes. We're advocating for that to change. Now, granted, you mentioned CPAs, enrolled agents. We have what are called annual

filing season practitioners. All of them have continuing education requirements in some states. What should people be looking for then since you don't necessarily need a degree in order to prepare taxes. I remember using someone from high school once, and then I had an IRS agent knocking on my door because of how they prepared my taxes. I didn't check their credentials, but she had done it two years in a row. And like you said, at that time, I had no financial knowledge. So I just signed off, didn't double check. So what are some things that people should be looking out for? The best source to find a tax professional is some of your friends or business partners or something that may go to someone and then asks that person, how much experience do you have? What do you do to

stay on top of the tax laws? Do you have a P-10? And here's a simple question, Elizabeth, are you going to sign the return? There are people out there that are called ghost preparers. They prepare returns. They charge you a fee. They don't sign. So they've taken no responsibility. That's so very important to ask that question because if they're not going to sign, then something's up. I would also avoid, I'll be honest with you, a tax professional will say, well, I know that I buy a really good software package, and that software package is going to educate me to help you. I think you can buy your own software. When do you think someone is better going the DIY route and just choosing a software that they think works for them?

When you're prepared, you're willing to learn, you're willing to look and see what's different so you don't miss anything, and you feel comfortable. and maybe they're not overly complicated, like they don't have a small business or rental properties. Those are really the people I think that need a tax professional. I think most individuals, a couple of W-2s, maybe they've got mortgage interest, children, and daycare. They ought to be able to do their returns themselves and not need the aid of a professional. Or I've had circumstances too in the past where I've had someone come in, they get kind of a guidance, and then they go out and they do their own thing for a couple of years.

I have no problem with that. and then maybe they come back in and say, hey, what's new? That's kind of a hybrid, wouldn't it be? I guess it's almost like anything in the DIY world, if you're willing to tackle it, be willing to spend the time. Well, what are some common myths or misconceptions about tax filing that you see that you would like to dispel, maybe one or two? Sure.

Filing early will get you a bigger refund. There is no difference. Filing an extension will create less of a likelihood that you will owe. And the final one would be filing an extension gives you more time to pay your taxes. The extension isn't time to file, not in time to pay. Hey, you can pay late. You're going to be charged interest. We don't like that. And so get on some kind of payment plan or sort of repayment by April 15th, although you can't have an extension, you know, maybe into October. That's correct. But again, the extension is in time to file, not in time to pay. I've been seeing a lot of myths and frankly

misinformation around tax credits on social media in particular. There was one a couple of years back, that was just TikTokers promoting, you can get an escalade and write it off because you're using it to drive to work. And that's a business expense. And that stuff must grind your gears and also make you laugh a little. Do you see a lot of this on your social media feeds and how do you handle it? You have to have a business purpose. You know, can that escalate be written off? Yes, if you happen to have a business and you're using it for business trips. But commuting back and forth to work, not deductible. Or even a business person, they go and they get their vehicle wrapped with their company name on, you know, put the vinyl wraps around it.

That makes it 100% business use. No, it doesn't. I'll tell you what grinds my gears is when I'll be at the airport, for example. And I see company vehicles pulling up, let's say a plumber's truck. And he's dropping off a kid who apparently is going somewhere. and somehow that vehicle is 100% business use or the person who's just commuting to work and they say they can write that off.

No. Doesn't count? You know, it may fly under the radar because you only have a 1 to 2% chance of being audited, but if the IRS catches it, we really don't want them to accuse anyone of fraud because now we're looking at criminal penalty.

Well, let's talk about what happens when you have a tax bill, speaking of which, and I know we touched on a little earlier, but it can be unpleasant and it can also be expensive. So what are some options for people to resolve any money that they owe, especially if it's a bill that's beyond their current budget and something they

can't handle at the moment financially. The number one thing to do, and this is kind of a misnomer, I don't have the money to pay so I don't file. The first thing to do is file. The IRS, I'm going to say they are easy to work with. Listen, they don't want to take your stuff. You know, they don't want to, they don't want to garnish your wages. But if you ignore them, then they're going to do those things. So number one, file the return. After it's filed, you can ask for an installment payment plan. In fact, you can do that with the return. Take your balance due. divide it out over seven years, and the IRS will accept that payment plan. They're going to charge you interest, but their interest rate is probably a lot less. I think it's around 7 to 9%. That's a lot less

than a finance company. If you're in a situation where you've had some kind of life event, maybe you've lost your job, you have significant medical expenses, you can actually have that return placed in uncollectable status. It means there's nothing for them to get right now, but you have to be proactive. You hear oftentimes about what is called an offer in compromise. Whatever caused this large tax bill, now we look at our ability to earn income and our assets, and maybe we can settle that debt for pennies on the dollar. No guarantee, but it's for those certain circumstances, but all of that implies one, father return, secondly, work with the IRS.

They want to work with you. I remember reading an article in one of the financial publications a long time ago, which said probably the best place to finance your tax debt is with the IRS. Let's talk about working with the IRS because a lot of people may be intimidated to do so because there's almost a mythology around them coming for your money and people can be a little bit scared, but it's helpful to be proactive, especially if you are resolving a dispute or getting on a payment plan. So what advice do you have for people who will be working more closely with the IRS? Absolutely. And the first thing they should do is, again, I'm going to use another euphemism here.

You get more flies with honey than vinegar. So you start that conversation in a professional way, you'd be friendly. These are human beings on the other end of the phone. That's right. So they want to work with you. They want to help to get it resolved. Now, if you are intimidated by that human contact, it would be really important for individuals to get an online account. And when they get an online account, if they sign a power of attorney, they, for example, can give me access to what they have.

So we avoid the mail time. We avoid delays on the phone. and you can go ahead and access the information that for your account on your online account. Now it's a little bit, you know, there's several steps to go through. You have to set up an ID.me account, et cetera.

But let's go back to that conversation where we need to call the IRS. You want to avoid those high pressure times. Like don't call them first thing on a Monday morning or in the afternoon on a Friday. Don't we like to get away on an afternoon on a Friday? Think about how we think.

And you want to start your week and, oh, the phones are ringing off the wall. You know, maybe try to do it in the mid-after or something like to contact them, don't ignore it. You know, because the letters get progressively worse. And yes, we go to a certain point, they will levy bank accounts. They will garnish wages. If your liability is over $50,000, they can cancel your passport. But these are extreme situations, and it didn't happen overnight. It happened in a period of ignoring, maybe not filing the returns, and then ignoring that correspondence where it's come to a pain point now,

where they want to get your attention. So yes, they're not here to come automatically, bang, we're going to come and take your money. And thinking, too, about how the IRS's staffing was cut by nearly 26% last year. I imagine that's going to make all this communication a little bit more challenging. What are you hearing about how the staffing reduction is affecting how people are working with the IRS? I'm hearing mixed answers. During the filing season, the IRS will normally pull people from other areas

so they can be on the customer service end of the phones. They may have been collections personnel or whatever they might be within the service. So some of them will be perhaps relatively unfamiliar. We also just got through a big ramp up in hiring before the current administration where we started having the furloughs when Doge was doing their work and everything else. I had to call the IRS with a collections issue for a client. This is a live call about two weeks ago. And it was a wonderful experience. I was on hold for about two and a half minutes.

the agent was extremely helpful. I explained right away that I'm not the client. I have a power of attorney on file. Found that. Went through the normal things you have to do to protect privacy. And we resolved their issue in less than 10 minutes. So again, I would say that that was a very good experience. That doesn't always happen.

But be patient. And like I said, avoid those times that would be really, really busy early in the morning on a Monday or on a Friday afternoon to deal with correspondence. And be patient and don't threaten. You know, you threaten someone that's a federal offense. They are federal employees, so don't threaten IRS people. Do you have, Tom, any final words of wisdom for the tax filers who are listening and who are overwhelmed or who haven't started yet? Absolutely. Like I said, start slowly, look at your 2024 return, gather your data.

Think about what happened in your life in 2025. What changed? Did you have a child? Did you have a life event? Did you buy a house? Did you buy an electric vehicle? Remember that the energy credits ended at the end of 25. That's the end of 25. So if you purchased an electric vehicle by September, there may be a credit. Or if you did work to your house, like I mentioned, exterior windows, exterior doors, a new furnace. You might qualify for an energy credit.

Go and look at the rules for deducting those tips or that overtime or the interest on a new vehicle purchase that the final assembly was in the United States. These are short-term benefits. They're 2025 through 2028. but realizing how the laws have changed. Go to IRS.gov. They have a lot of good tools there for you that help you sometimes walk through

and including things like paying your debt. What are your options? They tell you right there. They don't say, give us money today or we're going to come and take your car. No. And I'll tell you something else. You all have this picture.

It's kind of a Norman Rockwell picture of the tax person working on their stuff at a quarter to 12 at night on April 15th. Not me. I'm following extensions. I'm tired, I'm stressed, I'm worn up, I'm going to make mistakes. The same will be true of you. You're going to come home from work on the evening of April 15th and do your taxes.

Not a good idea. Very smart. Let's do it when you are arrested and ready to tackle this task. Okay. Absolutely. Well, Tom O'Sabin, Director of Tax Content for the National Association of Tax Professionals. Thank you so much for coming on and talking with us today. It's been my pleasure.

Thank you, Tom. And I'd like to add if there's anything that we did not cover in today's episode, remember we have a ton of tax resources for. 2026 on nerdwallet.com if you need an incentive to actually read the content. I used to work on the tax team. So I helped with some of the content that you're going to engage with. So you'll find things like our free tax calculator, reviews of the best tax software, and also guides on IRS free file eligibility. We'll also include a few links of those resources in today's episode description. All right. And that's all we have for this episode. Remember a listener that

we're here to answer your money questions. So send them our way. You can call or text us on the nerd hotline at 901-730 6373. It's 901-730 Nerd. You can also email your questions to podcast at nerd wallet.com or leave us a comment on Spotify or YouTube. Join us next time because we have a fun episode coming up about how to budget when you're dating. Follow smart money on your favorite podcast app that includes Spotify, Apple Podcast, and IHartRadio to automatically download in episodes. Here's our brief disclaimer. We are not your financial or investment or tax advisors. This nerdy info is provided for general educational and entertainment purposes and may not apply to your specific circumstances. This episode is produced by Tess Figland, Hillary Georgie, helped with editing, Nick Carissamy, and Eve Krogman, Helmar Audio and Video Production.

And a big thank you to NerdWallis editors for all their help. And with that said, until next time, turn to the nerds.