OP,
The activity you describe is clearly a business as defined by the IRS. "Any activity carried on for the production of income from selling goods or performing services."
If your "tax guy" told you that you can't deduct the business use of your vehicle (usually the standard mileage rate), he is wrong. If your "tax guy" says you "have to make estimated payments" for which he will charge you, he is wrong again. You most certainly can deduct the business use of your vehicle. (You may also be able to deduct expenses for the business use of your home if you use part of the home on a regular basis for storage of inventory but that gets rather complicated based upon your use scenario).
You can also avoid quarterly estimated payments as long as your total tax payments for the tax year (including withholding from your wife's paycheck) is sufficient to meet your tax liability (or at least the safe harbor). Adjusting withholding from her paycheck would be the easiest and simplest approach.
If your "tax guy" didn't suggest changing your wife's withholding and instead ensured you'd be stuck with penalties for not making estimated quarterly payments this year, that is professional malpractice. The IRS treats payroll withholding as though it has been paid evenly throughout the year (spread over four quarterly due dates) regardless of when the withholding occurred. As a result, your wife's W-2 will simply show total federal tax withheld, not the dates of the withholding. So if you anticipated owing $1,000 for your business tax liability, you could have had $1,000 extra withheld from your wife's paycheck (even as late as her final 2025 paycheck), it would have been considered timely, and no penalties would be owed. You may have a legitimate claim that your "tax guy" owes you damages in the amount of any incorrectly assessed penalties, fees or interest based upon his errors and negligent advice.
In short:
1. Get a new "tax guy" or see if you can DIY your taxes using the appropriate version of H&R Block, TaxAct or TurboTax.
2. Increase the tax withholding from your wife's paychecks sufficient to cover your full estimated tax liability (from salary, business income and investment income) and don't forget about any state income taxes.
The activity you describe is clearly a business as defined by the IRS. "Any activity carried on for the production of income from selling goods or performing services."
If your "tax guy" told you that you can't deduct the business use of your vehicle (usually the standard mileage rate), he is wrong. If your "tax guy" says you "have to make estimated payments" for which he will charge you, he is wrong again. You most certainly can deduct the business use of your vehicle. (You may also be able to deduct expenses for the business use of your home if you use part of the home on a regular basis for storage of inventory but that gets rather complicated based upon your use scenario).
You can also avoid quarterly estimated payments as long as your total tax payments for the tax year (including withholding from your wife's paycheck) is sufficient to meet your tax liability (or at least the safe harbor). Adjusting withholding from her paycheck would be the easiest and simplest approach.
If your "tax guy" didn't suggest changing your wife's withholding and instead ensured you'd be stuck with penalties for not making estimated quarterly payments this year, that is professional malpractice. The IRS treats payroll withholding as though it has been paid evenly throughout the year (spread over four quarterly due dates) regardless of when the withholding occurred. As a result, your wife's W-2 will simply show total federal tax withheld, not the dates of the withholding. So if you anticipated owing $1,000 for your business tax liability, you could have had $1,000 extra withheld from your wife's paycheck (even as late as her final 2025 paycheck), it would have been considered timely, and no penalties would be owed. You may have a legitimate claim that your "tax guy" owes you damages in the amount of any incorrectly assessed penalties, fees or interest based upon his errors and negligent advice.
In short:
1. Get a new "tax guy" or see if you can DIY your taxes using the appropriate version of H&R Block, TaxAct or TurboTax.
2. Increase the tax withholding from your wife's paychecks sufficient to cover your full estimated tax liability (from salary, business income and investment income) and don't forget about any state income taxes.
Statistics: Posted by galawdawg — Wed Dec 31, 2025 7:57 am — Replies 38 — Views 2291