For 2025 your clients will have to give you the amounts (tips, and overtime) In 2026 I believe the IRS is revising the required information forms. I am just going to ask my clients for this info, and will create a letter for them to sign (CYA) for my records.

Last year I emailed the checklist to most of my clients, with an offer to USPS mail it to them if requested.  In past years, my experience has been that about 30% of clients didn't read the list, or waited until the day before their appointment to open it.  

I did a separate checklist for people who itemize, since so few are Schedule A filers these days -- even in Arizona, where many taxpayers still claim standard deduction on 1040 but pay HRB $50 to itemize on the state return, saving them $20 in tax. 

Most of my clients are retirees.  I don't see many W-2s these days.  There are probably a few that worked overtime, and I anticipate that each employer will handle this differently.  There is supposed to be a separate statement.  Nowadays, many employees have to download their W-2 online, so now they should probably be looking for that statement to download also.  I wonder how the big payroll processing companies, like ADP and Paychex, are handling this.  They might still be wondering about it, themselves. 

I have a couple clients whose income includes tips.  They're both self-employed.  One of them will probably phase out from the deduction because of spouse's income.  The other might not need the deduction anyway, and will still have to pay SE tax on tips.  I just finished a return for a Realtor who, like many, isn't making much money these days.  So he is picking up some cash from DoorDash.  (He drives an electric Mustang about 20K miles a year, pays $40 a month more on his electric bill, and still claims standard mileage rate.) Will DoorDash, Uber, etc. state the tips separately on 1099's?  We'll see.  

What's that icon for PornHub doing on your computer screen?  (Just kidding.)  My screen is smaller, but it's in portrait mode, not landscape.  Because mostly what I do at the office are tax forms and word-processing documents.  

Nothing on a W-2 means that there are going to be a number of preparers deducting either $12,500 or $25,000 "because that's what the bill says you can deduct".  Before there is an executive order (either from the White House or from the Intuit House) banning free speech, I will once again say that making tips and overtime not taxable is stupid.  Is there a big dart board someplace out in Washington with weird deductions listed and wherever the dart lands, that makes it to the next tax bill?

As a side note, I can't help but notice that Jim appears to have a pen in his hand but I don't see any paper within reach for him to use.  Because of that, I am starting a paper drive for him.  Please contact me if you wish to donate to the "Jim's Big Beautiful Paper Drive".   If you have any sheets that you can spare let me know and I will arrange collection and delivery of the paper to Jim.

Here you go.. a now famous almost unbreakable 1.3 mm Pentil mechanical pencil... When I first stated out with Ernst & Whinney most of us used 0.5mm pencils with a tiny dot of an eraser.. here is the good and the

not so good

The old Pentel's were reliable but I also moved on from them several years ago.  My current weapon of choice is:

For those of us that did any auditing in prehistoric times, you would be familiar with the super ticker.  A mechanical pencil with black lead on one end and red lead on the other.

I miss those old black Pentels. My last one broke a few months ago.

I don't use E-sharp pencils, I prefer F-natural pens.  

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@IRonMaN wrote:

 I will once again say that making tips and overtime not taxable is stupid. 

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It was extremely smart; the promise bought votes.  The enacted law potentially will buy future votes and potentially will result in negative feeling of the other political party if the other political party doesn't renew it whenever they come into power.

Oh, wait, you mean from a tax perspective.  And/or from a perspective that views politicians buying votes as a despicable, unethical action.  In that case, I agree with you.  😁

I took a class on this from Compass Tax Educators, highly recommend.

Paystubs are a great start but not deemed "authoritative" for OT deductions. Also, tip amounts are nebulous because only "voluntary" tips are eligible.

Since the IRS announced last month that they will NOT be changing the W-2 form for 2025 to reflect OB3 provisions, employers will likely have to issue some "supplemental doc" of some kind reporting voluntary tips and OT eligible for consideration for deduction.

Love the office, very classy!

@BobKamman  My. Recollection is that Uber provides a report that breaks down fares, tips, and possibly tolls. It’s been a couple years since I’ve had one but they gave pretty good info and TP filled in the blanks. Most tips are (that they admit to) are made through the app. DoorDash operates similarly 

Jim, with all of the changes, it is imperative to attend as many tax webinars/seminars as possible.