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Also this week: separating business and personal miles, and putting a price on donated stuff.
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Good morning! Every Saturday, we open the mailbag, pour some strong coffee, and tackle the tax questions keeping America awake at 2 a.m.
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Here are this week’s topics:
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⏳ The IRS is taking a closer look at your return – and taking its sweet time.
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🚗 Your car can mix business with pleasure. Your mileage log can’t.
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🏷️ The IRS wants fair market value, not sentimental value.
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Tax Strategies
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⏳ Take a seat in the IRS waiting room
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My return got flagged for “further review” and I haven’t heard anything in months. What does that actually mean?
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“Further review” sounds like the tax equivalent of “we need to talk.” It’s even worse when the IRS goes silent for months. But before your anxiety completely takes over, a review doesn’t automatically mean you’re being audited or that you’ve even done anything wrong.
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It’s not as ominous as it sounds
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Sometimes the IRS needs extra time to verify information on your return, such as your income, withholding, or credits. And if you’re waiting on a refund, it’ll be enjoying an extended stay with the IRS until the review is complete.
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Being selected for a review doesn’t necessarily mean there’s a mistake, either. Sometimes the IRS just needs to make sure the information on your return matches what it has on file.
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Waiting is the hardest part
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Unfortunately, the IRS doesn’t have one of those little screens telling you when your number is up. What it does have is a vague warning that additional reviews can take longer than normal.
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If you received a notice, read it carefully and review the timeframe and instructions listed there. For example, a CP05 notice says to allow up to 60 days before reaching out.
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How long is too long?
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If you haven’t heard from the IRS, start with the Where’s My Refund? tool or log into your IRS Online Account to see if anything has changed. If the timeframe has passed and there’s still no update, use the contact information on your notice to follow up with the IRS.
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And if the delay is creating a financial hardship – or you’ve tried to resolve the issue repeatedly without getting anywhere – the Taxpayer Advocate Service may be able to help. If your number should’ve been called by now, it’s okay to find out what is taking so long.
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PRESENTED BY GROUNDFLOOR
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Protect your portfolio from market swings. The 7% fixed, 6-month note.
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Here’s what’s happening with the Groundfloor Preferred Note: while the market moves on headlines, this rate doesn’t move once you commit. Lock in a 7% fixed annualized return over a defined 6-month term, paid out monthly — income that isn’t tied to earnings surprises, rate cuts, or the next correction. Groundfloor has a 100% repayment track record on Notes since launching them in 2018, and has paid out over $38M in Notes interest alone. New investors get a $100 bonus when they get started.
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Businesses & Gigs
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🚗 Keep your miles in their lane
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My business vehicle is used for both personal errands and work. How do I track and justify the split?
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Your car can pull double duty. The same vehicle that took you to a client meeting on Tuesday can also be used for your Costco haul on Thursday. What matters to the IRS is being able to prove which miles were business and which were personal.
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What actually counts as business mileage?
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Business mileage includes:
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Your morning commute doesn’t usually count. So, even if you’re answering emails at red lights (which we don’t recommend), your daily drive to the office usually isn’t a business trip. Sorry.
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There is one exception if you’re self-employed. If you have a home office that qualifies as your principal place of business, trips from that office to another work location may be deductible.
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Let your mileage log do the heavy lifting
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While it may seem like a pain now, you’ll be grateful that you kept a mileage log come tax time. For each business trip, write down the date, destination, miles driven, and business purpose. You’ll also want to track your total mileage for the year to document how much of your driving was for business.
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Always track your mileage immediately or soon after the trip. Writing down your miles after you meet with a client is good. Trying to recreate the last six months by memory on April 14 is not so good.
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For tracking, you can keep it old school with a tiny notebook shoved in the glove compartment, or you can go modern with a mileage-tracking app on your phone. It doesn’t matter how you track it – just make sure you track it.
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From miles to money
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Now, bust out your calculator because it’s time to crunch some numbers. Let’s say you drive 15,000 miles during the year, and 7,500 of them are for business. That’s 50% business use. From there, you have two ways to figure your deduction.
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With the standard mileage method, you deduct your qualifying business miles using the IRS rate. For 2026, that’s 72.5 cents per mile through June 30 and 76 cents per mile from July 1. Because the rate changed midyear, you’ll apply the rate that was in effect when you drove those miles. For example, 4,000 business miles before July 1 ($2,900) plus 3,500 after ($2,660) comes to $5,560. You can also deduct business-related parking fees and tolls on top of that.
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If you use the actual expense method instead, the business-use percentage determines how much of eligible costs can be deducted. You add up what it costs to operate the car, then deduct your business-use percentage of that total. In the example above, that means 50% of your eligible costs, which include gas, insurance, repairs, registration, and depreciation. And (you guessed it) you’ll need to keep receipts for all of it.
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Which method is better depends on your car and your costs, and you can’t always switch. You must choose standard mileage in the first year you use the car for business if you want to use it later. If you’re not sure which way to go, a tax pro can help you decide.
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The bottom line is that your car doesn’t have to choose between work and play. You just need the records to back it all up.
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Every Thursday, we go to work.
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The TaxStache Business Edition breaks down the tax and finance topics that actually matter to business owners, from quick intros to in-depth dives. Plus book, podcast, and video recs to keep you sharp, and a weekly download you can put to use right away.
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If you own a business (or you’re building one), this one’s for you.
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Would you like to receive our Thursday Business Edition?
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Tax Strategies
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🏷️ How to find the value of donated items (without making it up)
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I donated a bunch of used furniture and clothes to charity. How do I figure out what it’s actually worth for tax purposes?
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You cleaned out the closet, loaded up the car, and donated three bags of clothes plus the coffee table you swore you’d refinish one day. Next comes the hard part: figuring out how much those donated items are actually worth for tax purposes.
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Unfortunately, it isn’t what you paid for them, and the charity isn’t going to decide for you.
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Start with what someone would really pay
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The couch you paid $2,500 for may hold a lifetime of memories, but the IRS isn’t exactly sentimental. For tax purposes, the IRS generally uses the fair market value of your donation. Sounds complex, but it’s pretty simple: what would a willing buyer reasonably pay for the item on the day you donated it?
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For used clothes, furniture, and household goods, check out comparable items at thrift stores, consignment shops, or resale marketplaces. Condition, age, style, and desirability all matter. In other words, that outdated shirt you did yardwork in? Probably not going to fetch much.
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Not everything in the donation pile counts
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Speaking of condition, clothing and household goods typically must be in good used condition or better to qualify for a deduction. There is one exception to this rule: if you claim a deduction of more than $500 for a single item that doesn’t meet that standard, it can still be deducted. You’ll just need a qualified appraisal and to fill out Section B of IRS Form 8283.
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Keep an itemized list of what you donated and the fair market value you assigned to each item. Photos can help document the condition.
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Bigger deductions mean more paperwork
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If you claim more than $500 in total noncash charitable contributions, you’ll usually need to file Form 8283. If an item or group of similar items is worth more than $5,000, a qualified appraisal is generally required. Splitting similar donations across multiple charities won’t fool the IRS, either, since it looks at their combined value.
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For donations made in 2026, there are also some changes to keep in mind. If you aren’t itemizing, you can deduct certain cash charitable contributions, but clothing and furniture must still be itemized. And if you are itemizing, only charitable contributions above 0.5% of adjusted gross income (AGI) are deductible.
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When adding up how your donations can affect your tax return, think resale value, not retail value (and definitely not sentimental value). Keep your records, save your receipts to confirm you donated, and make sure that you can back up your numbers before claiming that deduction.
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ALSO PRESENTED BY INSURIFY
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Find auto rates as low as $39/month
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Summer means more time on the road — and more reason to make sure you’re not overpaying for the insurance that covers it. Road trips, beach runs, weekend getaways all add up. Your insurance bill doesn’t have to.
Before you hit the highway this summer, take 2 minutes to compare rates on Insurify. Enter your car make and ZIP code into Insurify and see real quotes from top carriers instantly — no fees, no hassle, no commitment. Drivers are finding coverage starting as low as $39/month. That’s more money for gas, hotels, and everything that makes summer worth it. Don’t let an overpriced policy slow you down.
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