Every January, the same call comes in. A client bought a truck in December but hasn't put it to work yet.
Another never opened a retirement plan, or paid contractors without collecting a single W-9. You can fix some of it in the return, and the rest is gone with the calendar year.
That's why a small business year-end checklist works best in November, not December. Clients still have time to act, and you still have time to answer questions before your own busy season swallows the month.
This guide gives you the client-ready checklist to send, then the 2026 detail behind each line so you can defend it. Several items changed this year: bonus depreciation, the 1099 threshold, W-2 reporting, employer meals, and beneficial ownership filings.
Most year-end decisions have a hard cutoff on December 31, and some have already passed. A new SIMPLE IRA had to be established by October 1, for example, so clients who missed it are down to other plan types.
November also gives clients time to gather paperwork, which is the part they always underestimate. A short email now beats a long call in the first week of January.
| Date | What happens | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| October 1, 2026 | Deadline to establish a new SIMPLE IRA for 2026 | Already passed, unless the business started after October 1 |
| November 19, 2026, 3 p.m. ET | Last day to file information returns through FIRE | Filers must move to IRIS for tax year 2026 returns |
| December 31, 2026 | Cutoff for equipment placed in service, bills paid, and payroll | Drives most deductions for the year |
| January 15, 2027 | Fourth-quarter estimated tax payment | Skippable if the return is filed by February 1 and paid in full |
| February 1, 2027 | Form W-2 Copy A to the SSA and Form 1099-NEC | January 31 falls on a Sunday, so the deadline moves to Monday |
Copy this into your November email. Each group links to a section below where you'll find the reasoning.
Equipment is where the biggest year-end dollars sit, and where clients most often get the timing wrong. The rules reward buying, but only when the asset is in use by December 31.
| Feature | Section 179 | Bonus depreciation |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 amount | Up to $2,560,000 | 100% of qualified property |
| Phase-out | Reduced dollar for dollar above $4,090,000 of qualifying purchases | None |
| Income limit | Limited to business taxable income | Not limited to business income |
| SUV cap | $32,000 | Not applicable |
| Property test | Placed in service in the tax year | Acquired and placed in service after January 19, 2025 |
| Election | Made on Form 4562, with partial elections allowed | Can elect out by class of property |
The statute sets base amounts of $2,500,000 and $4,000,000 for Section 179, and Rev. Proc. 2025-32 applies the 2026 inflation adjustment to reach the figures above.
The bonus depreciation rules come from Notice 2026-11, the IRS's interim guidance, which describes a permanent 100% deduction for qualified property acquired and placed in service after January 19, 2025. Property acquired on or before January 19, 2025 stays under the older phase-down schedule, which pays a lower percentage in 2026.
A truck ordered in December but delivered in January doesn't count for 2026. Neither does equipment delivered in December that isn't ready and available for use.
Ask clients for the date each asset started working, and keep the evidence: an invoice, a delivery receipt, or a first-use record. That single date decides which year the deduction lands in.
Clients who expense laptops, tools, and furniture should know the IRS's de minimis safe harbor. It allows expensing up to $2,500 per invoice or item without an applicable financial statement, or $5,000 with one, if the client treats the amounts the same way in their books.
The election is annual and made by attaching a statement, titled "Section 1.263(a)-1(f) de minimis safe harbor election," to a timely filed original return, including extensions. Missing that statement means no election.
Faster deductions have a cost later, because gain on sale can be recaptured as ordinary income. Bizora's guide to depreciation recapture under Sections 1245 and 1250 is worth a link in your email for clients planning to sell equipment or property soon.
Owner questions cluster in November: how much to pay myself, how much to put away, and how much the pass-through deduction will save. Here are the 2026 numbers.
| Plan | 2026 limit | Timing |
|---|---|---|
| 401(k) employee deferral | $24,500 (plus $11,250 at ages 60 to 63) | Generally adopted by December 31 to cover 2026 deferrals |
| SIMPLE IRA | $17,000 (plus $5,250 at ages 60 to 63) | New plans by October 1, now passed |
| SEP IRA | Lesser of 25% of compensation or $72,000 | Set up as late as the return due date, including extensions |
The limits come from Notice 2025-67, as announced in the IRS's announcement of 2026 retirement plan limits and its cost-of-living adjustments page. The timing comes from the IRS's page on retirement plans for self-employed people, which says a SEP can be set up as late as the return due date and a SIMPLE IRA between January 1 and October 1.
One nuance for sole proprietors: SECURE 2.0 Section 317 lets certain owners adopt a first-year 401(k) and make employee deferrals up to the return due date, without extensions. Eligibility turns on the facts and the plan document, so confirm both with the provider before promising a client that flexibility.
An accrual-method business that books a year-end bonus for a related owner can hit a timing trap: under Section 267(a)(2), the deduction generally waits for the owner to include the payment in income. Bizora's guide to related-party rules under Section 267 walks through that exact scenario, and it's a useful reference before a client says "I'll pay it in February."
For 2026, the qualified business income deduction thresholds are $201,750 for single and head-of-household filers and $403,500 for joint filers, with phase-in ranges ending at $276,750 and $553,500, per Rev. Proc. 2025-32. A new minimum deduction of $400 also applies to taxpayers with at least $1,000 of qualified business income, effective for tax years beginning after 2025.
Clients with several businesses may benefit from grouping them. Bizora's overview of Section 199A aggregation explains when combining activities helps the wage and property limits.
This is the section that changed the most for 2026, and it's where a November email prevents a January scramble.
The 2026 General Instructions for Forms W-2 and W-3 add three box 12 codes. Code TT reports qualified overtime compensation, code TP reports cash tips reported to the employer, and code TA reports employer contributions to Trump accounts under a Section 128 program, which is the term the IRS instructions use.
Employers must furnish statements to overtime recipients showing qualified overtime paid during the year. Ask payroll clients now whether their system separates the overtime premium from regular pay, because sorting it out after the fact is painful.
Form W-2 Copy A is due to the SSA by February 1, 2027.
For payments made after December 31, 2025, the reporting threshold under Section 6041(a) is $2,000, according to Rev. Proc. 2025-32, and the IRS's Form 1099-K FAQs for third-party filers repeat it for Forms 1099-MISC and 1099-NEC.
Check the final 2026 instructions for those forms when you file. The IRS also notes that a filer with 10 or more information returns must e-file.
That's where the FIRE shutdown bites. The IRS's reminder on the transition sets November 9, 2026 as the last day to change FIRE transmitter applications and November 19, 2026, at 3 p.m. ET as the last day to file through FIRE.
The IRIS Taxpayer Portal is free and accepts up to 100 returns at a time, with CSV upload. Penalties for incorrect or late information returns due in 2027 start at $340 per return, and drop to $60 if corrected within 30 days, under Rev. Proc. 2025-32.
The $20,000 and 200-transaction threshold for Form 1099-K was also restored. Clients who saw the old $600 figure in the news should know the IRS has said the higher threshold applies.
The IRS raised the business mileage rate midyear. Announcement 2026-11 in Internal Revenue Bulletin 2026-29 sets 76 cents per mile for business travel on or after July 1, 2026, up from 72.5 cents before that date.
The medical and moving rate moved from 20.5 cents to 23.5 cents on the same date, and the charitable rate stays at 14 cents. A year-round log should split at July 1, and employers using a cents-per-mile policy should check that it names the IRS rate instead of a fixed number.
Section 274(o) took effect for amounts paid after December 31, 2025. The Treasury's final regulations, T.D. 9925, describe it as disallowing deductions for employer-operated eating facilities and for meals furnished to an employee for the employer's convenience.
That hits businesses that used to deduct 50% of on-site staff meals. The employee's exclusion may survive, but the employer's deduction generally doesn't. Practitioners still lack clear guidance on lighter items such as office snacks, so treat those as an open question.
Ask clients to keep employee meals in their own bookkeeping account, separate from client meals. Business meals with clients or customers generally remain subject to the usual 50% limit if the other requirements are met.
The fourth-quarter payment for 2026 is due January 15, 2027. The IRS's Form 1040-ES says owners don't have to make it if they file their 2026 return by February 1, 2027 and pay the full balance.
The IRS estimated tax FAQ gives the safe harbor: pay the smaller of 90% of the current year's tax or 100% of the prior year's tax, and 110% of the prior year's tax if prior-year adjusted gross income exceeded $150,000, or $75,000 for married filing separately. Prior-year returns must cover a full 12 months.
If income jumped in the fourth quarter, an annualized calculation may cost less than a flat safe harbor payment. It's worth a quick projection before the client sends anything to the IRS.
Old checklists carry rules that no longer apply. Check yours for these:
A checklist that sits in an inbox does nothing. Send it in the first week of November, tailored by entity type, with one date to reply by.
Keep the email short. Something like this works:
"Subject: Your 2026 year-end tax checklist, reply by November 20"
"Attached is our year-end list. Three things need your attention first: equipment you plan to buy (it has to be in use by December 31), whether you want to fund a retirement plan, and contractor W-9s. Send us your October books and we'll run a projection so you know where you stand before the month ends."
Track replies in a simple list, and log your advice in the client file. When a client ignores the email and asks about a missed deadline in February, that record is what protects you.
Year-end questions rarely fit a template. A client asks whether a delivered-but-uninstalled machine counts, or how the new overtime reporting applies to a salaried manager, and you need the authority behind the answer, not a summary of it.
Bizora's guide to writing a tax research memo shows how to document those answers. Bizora AI traces each answer to the Code section, IRS notice, or Treasury regulation behind it, with a View Steps reasoning path showing how the conclusion was reached.
The tax-planning value of a year-end checklist sits in the timing. The client who hears about the December 31 cutoff on November 5 has options, and the one who hears on December 29 doesn't.
Send the checklist, set the reply date, and keep the 2026 numbers in this guide next to your draft. Then check every threshold before it goes out, because this year's list changed more than most. Research your clients' year-end questions in Bizora AI: the 7-day free trial requires no credit card.
It should cover closing the books, equipment placed in service, owner pay and retirement plans, payroll and contractor reporting, and estimated taxes. Add the current-year changes: the $2,000 1099 threshold, new Form W-2 codes, and the FIRE to IRIS transition. Send it in early November so clients have time to act.
For tax years beginning in 2026, the Section 179 maximum is $2,560,000, reduced dollar for dollar once qualifying property placed in service exceeds $4,090,000. The deduction is also limited to business taxable income, and the cost of certain SUVs is capped at $32,000, according to Rev. Proc. 2025-32.
Yes, depending on the plan. A SEP IRA can be set up as late as the return due date, including extensions. The October 1 deadline for a new SIMPLE IRA has passed, unless the business began after that date. A new 401(k) generally needs adoption by December 31.
For payments made after December 31, 2025, a Form 1099-NEC or 1099-MISC is required when payments to a recipient total $2,000 or more. That replaces the old $600 figure. The forms for 2026 payments are due February 1, 2027, because January 31 falls on a Sunday.
It changed midyear. For business travel before July 1, 2026, the rate is 72.5 cents per mile. For travel on or after July 1, 2026, it is 76 cents per mile, under Announcement 2026-11. The charitable rate stays at 14 cents.
Not U.S. companies under the current rule. FinCEN's final rule, issued August 11, 2026 and effective August 14, exempts entities created in the United States and their beneficial owners. Only certain foreign companies registered to do business in the U.S. must still report, so check FinCEN's site for updates.
The fourth-quarter payment for 2026 is due January 15, 2027. Under the IRS's Form 1040-ES, an owner can skip it by filing the 2026 return by February 1, 2027 and paying the full balance. The safe harbor is 100% of prior-year tax, or 110% if prior-year adjusted gross income exceeded $150,000.
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