Healthcare is the largest uninsured expense in retirement. Medicare covers significant costs but leaves substantial gaps: premiums, deductibles, copayments, dental, vision, hearing, and long-term care. A client who retires without a plan for funding those gaps is going to cover them from taxable retirement income, which makes the coordination question more consequential than it might […]
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Estate Tax Returns After Death: A Practitioner’s Guide to Form 706
A client dies. The estate may or may not owe federal estate tax. Either way, there’s work to do, and in many cases, a return to file. Form 706, the United States Estate (and Generation-Skipping Transfer) Tax Return, governs federal estate tax reporting for U.S. citizens and residents. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (Public […]
The CFO in 2026: What the Role Demands and How Leaders Get There
Finance leaders who came up through traditional accounting paths are entering a landscape where CFO competencies now extend well beyond technical precision. Finance leaders who came up through traditional accounting and controllership paths are entering a landscape where technical precision is the floor, not the ceiling. The CFO is now expected to sit at the strategic center […]
HSA as a Retirement Tool: How to Maximize the Triple Tax Advantage
An HSA funded consistently over a 30-year career and invested rather than spent can accumulate more tax-efficiently than almost any other account available. That’s not a hypothetical. It’s what the structure of the account makes possible. Most clients don’t use it that way. What it takes to actually maximize it starts with the contribution limits, moves through the investment question, and ends with how […]
Gift Tax Returns Explained: A Practical Guide to Form 709
A gift tax return — Form 709 — trips up more practitioners more often than expected, partly because the filing trigger isn’t just about owing tax. A client made a large gift last year. Now the question lands on the desk: does this require a return? Clients can owe nothing and still have a filing […]
Surgent Joins UWorld to Build the Future of Accounting Education with a Complete Learning Ecosystem
UWorld’s Comprehensive Exam Review Courses + Surgent’s Expansive Continuing Professional Education and Exam Prep Courses = A World-Class Solution to Redefine How Accounting and Finance Professionals Learn, Grow, and Succeed Surgent Accounting & Financial Education is now part of UWorld, a global leader in comprehensive academic and professional education. We’re excited to offer our extensive […]
401(k) Planning in 2026: Contribution Limits, Plan Types, and Key Rules for CPAs and Advisors
The 401(k) remains the most widely used employer-sponsored retirement vehicle in the country. Contribution limits went up in 2026, a new Roth catch-up requirement for high earners took effect, and the foundational rules on plan design, vesting, and nondiscrimination testing remain as consequential as ever. Here’s a current reference on how the numbers and rules look this year. 2026 […]
529 Plans in 2026: Education Savings, Estate Planning, and What OBBBA Changed
Section 529 plans have been a core education savings tool since 1996. The basic structure hasn’t changed: contributions grow tax-deferred, and qualified distributions come out federal income tax-free. What has changed, thanks to the One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) signed July 4, 2025, is the scope of what those plans can cover and who benefits from them. Two […]
What Happens After April 15? A CPA’s Guide to Post-Tax-Season CPE Planning
Tax season ends. The filing deadlines pass. And for most CPAs, the first real window to address CPE compliance opens up on April 16. For practitioners who’ve been heads-down since January, the stretch between mid-April and June 30 is typically the most productive CPE period of the year. Reporting deadlines vary by state, but the post-busy-season window […]