We read the IRS, FinCEN and Florida releases so you don't have to. Every update below says what changed, who it actually affects in Southwest Florida, and what to do next — with a link to the official source.
Reviewed {{ lastReviewed }}Sourced from IRS.gov, USCIS, the Federal Register, FinCEN, the Florida Legislature, the Florida Department of Revenue and Sunbiz.
Next upDeadlines
Your third estimated payment for 2026 is due September 15.
If you're self-employed, paid on 1099s, renting out property, or running an LLC that doesn't withhold, the IRS expects income tax in installments through the year — not all at once in April. The third installment covers June through August earnings.
What to do: pull your year-to-date profit before Labor Day. A ten-minute check now is the difference between a planned payment and an underpayment penalty in April.
Every pending asylum case now owes $100 a year — and missing it ends the case.
Under the fee rules that took effect May 29, 2026, a pending Form I-589 carries an annual asylum fee of at least $100 per calendar year, due on September 30 or on the filing anniversary. It cannot be waived or reduced. If it goes unpaid, USCIS sends an individualized notice with a 30-day window; after that the I-589 is rejected, the case ends, any work permit tied to it is denied or terminated, and DHS may issue a Notice to Appear or begin expedited removal.
Who should care: anyone with an asylum application still pending, and anyone whose work permit depends on one. Put September 30 in your phone. We can help you check what is owed and keep your filing record straight — we prepare documents, we are not attorneys.
Where the IRS–ICE data question actually stands right now.
The IRS and ICE signed an agreement to share information for immigration enforcement, and it has been in court ever since. Two federal injunctions currently limit it: in November 2025 a Washington, D.C. court required strict compliance with the narrow statutory exception, and in February 2026 a Massachusetts court barred ICE from inspecting or using what had already been handed over. Separately, in February 2026 the D.C. Circuit held that a taxpayer's address is not protected return information. Court filings in that litigation show data went out beyond what the rules allowed.
Who should care: anyone who files with an ITIN. This is a live case and the answer can change month to month, so we do not tell clients what it means for them — that is a conversation for an immigration attorney. What has not changed: filing obligations, and our practice of never sharing a client file with anyone without a subpoena.
The same May 2026 rules cap employment authorization based on Temporary Protected Status at one year, or the remainder of the country's designation period, whichever is shorter. That applies to first-time and renewal permits alike, and the fee cannot be waived. Keeping the right to work now means filing a renewal every single year instead of every eighteen months or two.
Who should care: every TPS holder in Lee or Collier, and every employer with one on payroll. Set a calendar reminder for six months before your card expires, not six weeks — processing time is the whole risk here.
Nearly every noncitizen in the United States must report a change of address to USCIS within 10 days of moving, online through a USCIS account or on paper Form AR-11. A and G visa holders and visa waiver visitors are the exceptions. It is a small filing that people skip during a move, and then a hearing notice or a request for evidence goes to the old address and the case suffers for it.
Who should care: anyone with a case pending, and anyone who has moved anywhere in Southwest Florida this year. Updating USCIS is separate from updating the post office and separate from updating the IRS — doing one does not do the others.
Twenty-five employees is the line where E-Verify stops being optional.
Florida law has required private employers with 25 or more employees to run every new hire through E-Verify since July 1, 2023, and to keep the documentation for three years. Miss it three times in any 24-month period and the state can fine $1,000 per day until you prove you have fixed it — and treat it as grounds to suspend every license your business holds.
Who should care: any Lee or Collier business at or near 25 employees, including seasonal ones that cross the line in winter. Count heads before season, not after. The record-keeping is the part most businesses fail, not the checking.
Alimony stopped being deductible in 2019, and half the county still thinks it is.
For any divorce or separation agreement executed after December 31, 2018, the person paying alimony gets no deduction and the person receiving it reports no income. Agreements signed before 2019 keep the old treatment — deductible to the payer, taxable to the recipient — unless a later modification expressly says the repeal applies to it. That one sentence in a modification can move real money.
Who should care: anyone divorced, divorcing, or modifying an older order. If you are negotiating a number, negotiate the after-tax number. Bring us the agreement date before you agree to anything.
Your filing status is set by one day of the year, not by when you moved out.
The IRS looks at your marital status on the last day of the tax year. A final decree in hand by December 31 makes you unmarried for that entire year. Still legally married on December 31 and you file jointly or married-filing-separately, no matter how many months you have lived apart. Head of household is a separate test with its own rules about who paid the home's costs and who lived there.
Who should care: anyone whose divorce is landing near year-end. A decree signed December 28 and one signed January 3 can produce very different bills. Ask us to run both before you agree to a court date.
Who claims the child is decided by nights — and a decree alone will not do it.
The custodial parent is the one the child spent the greater number of nights with during the year, and that parent gets the credits by default. A divorce decree that says otherwise does not bind the IRS. The only thing that moves the claim is a signed Form 8332 from the custodial parent, attached to the other parent's return. And if you changed your name, file Form SS-5 with Social Security first — a name that does not match SSA records will bounce the return.
Who should care: every divorced or separated parent. Two returns claiming the same child is one of the most common ways a refund gets frozen, and it is the slowest thing in the world to unwind.
If a joint return left you holding your ex's tax bill, there is a form for that.
A joint return makes both people responsible for the whole balance, and that does not end at the divorce. Innocent spouse relief can lift the part that came from your spouse's income and errors you did not know about. It is requested on Form 8857, generally within two years of the first IRS notice about the balance. The IRS says relief may still be available even if you did know, where there was spousal abuse or domestic violence before you signed.
Who should care: anyone who signed a joint return with someone whose income or records they never really saw. The two-year clock starts at the notice, not at the divorce — so bring the letter in the week it arrives, not the month before the deadline.
The $600 payment-app rule is dead. The threshold is back to $20,000 and 200 transactions.
Congress repealed the $600 Form 1099-K threshold retroactively, and the IRS has confirmed the old test is back: a payment app or marketplace issues the form only when your gross payments exceed $20,000and you have more than 200 transactions. Both conditions, not either one. The panic about every Venmo transfer generating a tax form is over.
Who should care: anyone paid through Zelle, PayPal, Venmo or Cash App for work, and anyone selling online. One thing did not change: income is taxable whether or not a form arrives. No 1099-K is not a pass — it just means the paperwork is on you.
Next up from Tallahassee: hunting, fishing and camping gear goes tax-free September 1.
This year's state tax package adds a holiday on outdoor gear — hunting, fishing and camping equipment — from September 1 through the end of 2026. The Department of Revenue publishes the qualifying item lists before each holiday starts.
Who should care: outdoor families stocking up for the season, and small outfitters and bait shops that need their point-of-sale set up before September 1.
Paper refund checks are over. Your refund needs a place to land.
Under Executive Order 14247 the IRS stopped mailing paper refund checks and now issues refunds electronically — direct deposit, prepaid debit card, or digital wallet. File without valid bank details and the refund stalls while the IRS mails you a letter asking for them.
Who should care: anyone who used to wait for the green envelope, and anyone without a bank account — limited exceptions exist, but they must be requested, and we can set either path up with you before filing.
Tips and overtime deductions are real — and this year your W-2 starts doing the math.
The 2025–2028 deductions let workers write off up to $25,000 in qualified tips and up to $12,500 ($25,000 filing jointly) of the overtime premium, with income phase-outs. For 2025 returns the IRS let you compute it from your own records; starting with tax year 2026, employers must break these amounts out on W-2s and 1099s.
Who should care: servers, salon workers, and hourly staff across Southwest Florida — and every employer running payroll, because the new W-2 boxes are on you. Our payroll clients are already covered.
Carrying an IRS balance just got pricier: interest is back to 7%.
For the quarter that began July 1, 2026, the IRS charges 7% on unpaid individual tax, compounded daily — up from 6% the quarter before. A payment plan stops collection pressure, but interest keeps running until the balance is gone.
Who should care: anyone with an unpaid 2025 balance or an installment agreement. Paying even part of it down now beats letting it compound at the new rate.
The 2026 numbers are set — check your withholding now, not in April.
The standard deduction for 2026 is $16,100 single, $32,200 married filing jointly, and $24,150 head of household. These apply to the return you'll file in 2027 — which means the paycheck you're getting right now is already being taxed against them.
Who should care: anyone who changed jobs, got married, or had a baby this year. Your W-4 is probably out of date.
Florida stopped taxing commercial rent. Check your lease invoices.
The state sales tax and county surtax on commercial leases — office, retail, warehouse — ended for occupancy periods beginning October 1, 2025. Short-term rentals, parking and vehicle storage are still taxed.
Who should care: if your landlord is still adding sales tax to rent, you're overpaying. Bring us a recent invoice and we'll read it with you.
Most Florida LLCs don't file a BOI report — and it was never a paid service.
FinCEN's rule exempts companies formed in the United States from beneficial ownership reporting. Only entities formed abroad and registered to do business here still file. When it was required, filing was free.
Who should care: if you got a letter or email demanding a "BOI filing fee," it's a scam. Forward it to us before you pay anyone.
Didn't file for three years? Your ITIN expired on December 31, 2025.
An ITIN that wasn't used on a federal return for 2022, 2023 or 2024 is no longer valid. Filing with an expired number doesn't stop the return — it stalls the refund and disallows credits until the number is renewed.
Do it now, not in February: renewals run several weeks, and the wait grows through filing season. We prepare Form W-7 renewals for the whole family in one sitting.
An extension moves the filing date, never the payment date. If you owed on April 15 and didn't pay, interest has been running since — and it keeps running until the balance is cleared.
Who should care: anyone who filed an extension in the spring and hasn't come back yet. September is calm here. October is not.
What IRS disaster relief actually does — and what it doesn't.
When a county lands in a federal disaster declaration, the IRS can postpone filing and payment deadlines for people and businesses in that county. It does not recreate the records you lost.
Do this before a storm: photograph your last two returns, IDs and business records and store them in the cloud. Lee and Collier clients who did this in past seasons were filing again within days.
In much of Latin America a notario is a licensed attorney. In Florida a notary witnesses signatures — nothing more. Florida law is blunt about it: a notary not authorized to represent people in immigration matters may not advertise as a "notario público," notario, immigration assistant, immigration consultant or immigration specialist — and one who advertises in any language other than English must state plainly, in that same ad, that they are not an attorney and cannot give legal advice.
Who should care: anyone who has paid for immigration help outside a law office. If a business put that word on its window or its card, that by itself is a violation you can report. Where we stand: we prepare and notarize documents, we say plainly when something needs an attorney, and we have never pretended to be one — the long version is in our guide.
No updates in that category right now — check back after our next review.
Dates worth putting on the calendar
SEP 15, 2026
Q3 estimated payment
Also the extended deadline for partnership and S-corp returns.
OCT 15, 2026
Extended individual returns
The last date to file a 2025 return that went on extension.
JAN 15, 2027
Q4 estimated payment
The final installment for the 2026 tax year.
MAY 1, 2027
Florida annual report
Keeps your LLC active on Sunbiz. The late fee is steep.
Where this page comes from
We don't repost headlines. Each update above starts at the primary source — the agency that actually made the change — and gets rewritten for the people who walk into our Bonita Springs office. If a rule is unsettled, we say so instead of guessing.
Reviewed monthly, and immediately whenever the IRS or the state announces something that changes a filing date.
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