IRS
Clean Fuel Credit Guidance Lands Just Before Harvest
The IRS released Notice 2026-53 on September 8, filling in how the Section 45Z Clean Fuel Production Credit actually works for the 2026 production year. Two pieces matter most to Indiana growers and the elevators and processors they sell into: the notice lets producers get credit for qualifying low-carbon farming practices through the 45Z-specific Feedstock Carbon Intensity Calculator, and it publishes emissions rates that now break out dairy manure from swine manure, with poultry and beef expected to be added later this year. The Working Families Tax Cuts changes are baked in too — indirect land use change emissions are out, eligible feedstock has to come from the U.S., Mexico, or Canada, and negative emissions rates are off the table except for transportation fuel made from animal manure. There’s also transition relief on the nutrient budget requirement for fuel produced in 2025 and 2026, which is the kind of safe harbor that’s worth knowing about before you’re trying to substantiate a practice you didn’t document at the time.
Source: IRS Newsroom (IR-2026-108)
Indiana
The Amnesty Window Closed September 9 — Here’s What That Means Now
Indiana’s Tax Amnesty 2026 ended on September 9, and the Department of Revenue’s page now simply says the window has closed. If you did enroll, the job isn’t finished: an amnesty payment plan has to be paid in full by June 7, 2027 to keep the waiver of penalties, interest, and collection fees — miss that and the relief you signed up for can come back off the table. If you had an eligible pre-2024 liability and didn’t participate, DOR has said additional penalties may be assessed on those periods, with two carve-outs worth remembering: taxpayers currently protesting a liability and those already in an existing payment plan won’t be penalized for sitting this one out. Amnesty programs in Indiana have come roughly a decade apart — 2005, 2015, and now 2026 — so this is not a bus that comes again soon.
Source: Indiana DOR — Tax Amnesty 2026
Profession
The AICPA Asks the IRS What AI Is Supposed to Do to Your Bill
In guidance issued back in June, the IRS Office of Professional Responsibility suggested that practitioners who save time using AI should pass those savings along through lower billing. On September 8, the AICPA asked OPR to clarify that language, arguing it doesn’t appear to leave room for value-based pricing and that it overlooks what responsible AI use actually costs a firm — software licensing, training, governance, and the professional development that goes with all of it. The underlying point is one worth stating plainly to clients: whatever tools go into preparing a return, the CPA signing it keeps the full risk and liability for it, and that’s a meaningful part of what the fee is for. The AICPA says it’s working with the IRS on clarifying language and FAQs, so this one isn’t settled yet.
Source: Journal of Accountancy
IRS
A Free Way to Make That September 15 Payment
The IRS used a September 10 reminder to point taxpayers back to Direct Pay, which moves money straight from a checking or savings account with no fee and no registration — you verify your identity against a prior-year return and go. Individuals can use it for a balance due, an extension payment, an amended return, and estimated taxes; businesses can use it for a balance due and federal tax deposits. Two details make it genuinely useful this month: payments can be scheduled up to a year in advance and canceled or changed up to two business days before they run, and the per-transaction ceiling is $10 million. It won’t work for everyone — taxpayers who haven’t filed, or haven’t filed in six or more years, may need another method — but for a routine quarterly estimate it beats writing a check.
Source: IRS Newsroom (IR-2026-109)
Looking Ahead
September 15 Is Three Deadlines Wearing One Hat
Tomorrow is the due date for extended calendar-year partnership and S corporation returns, the date those K-1s (and K-3s, where they apply) have to be in shareholders’ and partners’ hands, and the due date for the third-quarter estimated tax installment — all at once. The pass-through filing penalty is the one that surprises people, because it accrues per partner or per shareholder per month even when the return shows no tax due, so a late five-owner partnership gets expensive quickly. The one local wrinkle: filers in the 21 Indiana counties covered by the August storm disaster declaration have until February 1, 2027 for these deadlines, but Tippecanoe County is not on that list — if you’re in Lafayette, September 15 is still September 15.
Source: IRS — Third quarter tax calendar