The IRS uses "Collection Financial Standards" to help determine a taxpayer's ability to pay a delinquent tax liability. Allowable living expenses include those that meet the test of being necessary to provide for a taxpayer's (and his or her family's) health and welfare, as well as his or her ability to produce income.

The countdown to year end has begun. Have you positioned yourself to minimize your 2018 tax bill? The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) made sweeping changes to the federal tax laws that will affect virtually all individual taxpayers — and most of those changes went into effect for this tax year. Here are four tried-and-true tax planning strategies, tweaked to account for the TCJA.

Get the most from Social Security. Younger retirees face a harsh penalty for working part-time. For every $2 earned over $17,640 in 2019 (up from $17,040 in 2018), you lose $1 in Social Security benefits. In the year you reach full retirement age, a higher earnings threshold applies. Your benefits will be reduced by $1 for every $3 of earnings only when earnings exceed $46,920 in 2019 if you reach full retirement age (up from $45,360 for 2018).

Patients come to your practice for quality medical care and the government wants to ensure that everyone has equal access to your offices. The federal Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) requires that patients, their family members, and vendors with disabilities have the same access rights as able-bodied people. And access issues include both physical and communication barriers.