The Macky Tax Blog
Specific, accurate, expert-written guidance on IRS notices, tax resolution, audits, and the planning that keeps you out of trouble. Nothing recycled, nothing generic, no "pennies on the dollar" theater. Written and reviewed by James McIntosh, EA, NTPI Fellow.
Latest
Most startups doing R&D qualify for deductions and credits worth tens of thousands — including a payroll tax offset up to $500K/year. A retroactive refund window closes July 6, 2026.
If you’re spending money building something new, the IRS may owe you money. Congress just restored full immediate R&D expensing — and the window to claim past years closes July 6, 2026.
CP504 isn’t the final notice — but it’s the one that gives the IRS authority to start grabbing state refunds. Here’s the 30-day window and exactly what to do inside it.
The "pennies on the dollar" pitch is real for ~10% of taxpayers. For the other 90%, an OIC is a slow, expensive way to get rejected. Here’s how to know which group you’re in.
The format of your audit tells you a lot about how serious the IRS thinks the issue is — and how aggressively you should defend it. Here’s the practical difference.
FTA is one of the easiest fee-vs-savings wins in the whole tax code — if you qualify. Here are the four boxes you need to check, and the trap that disqualifies most filers.
Every IRS letter has a specific procedural deadline attached. Here are the six that start clocks you can’t un-start, and what happens at the end of each.
The single most common audit trigger for owner-operators. Here’s the IRS’s actual framework for evaluating "reasonable" — and the documentation that protects your number.
The IRS Reader
No fluff, no upsells. Just one anonymized case from the week, the resolution path we picked, and why. Written for taxpayers, business owners, and the CPAs and attorneys who refer them.