Hotels, Haunts, and Hanging On until the 15th

What’s scarier: a haunted hotel, a room full of TikTok tax advice, or a client asking what you need to get started four days before the deadline?

Josh and Shannon are hanging on until October 15 with hotel grievances, ghost stories, and a haunted house designed specifically to terrify tax professionals. Think last-minute W-2s, questionable S corporation advice, and BOI tombstones.

Shannon shares how she negotiated a peaceful night with a hotel ghost—and why haunted houses now qualify as relaxation. Josh questions hotel Wi-Fi, bathroom design, and whether every tax topic he teaches is destined to disappear.

They also discuss morning pages, AI’s unintentionally hilarious approach to literature, and preparing for the U.S. Tax Court nonattorney exam: why structured preparation and study partners mattered to them, where AI helped, and why it cannot do the learning for you.

Plus: upcoming classes, plans for Saratoga Springs, and the reminder that you can’t care more than the client does.

CLASSES AND EVENTS

• Tax Court Exam Preparation Class — USTC Practitioner’s Services
The program Josh and Shannon attended:
https://taxcourtexam.com/

• Ethics in the Real World — Brass Tax
Josh’s ethics class. Available on demand, with live replays October 20 and 27:
https://brasstax.com/products/ethics-in-the-real-world/

• The IRS’s First AI Rules: Circular 230 Exposure After OPR Alert 2026-19 — myLawCLE
Sharyn Fisk and Josh Youngblood | October 14, 2026 | 2:30–4:40 p.m. Eastern:
https://mylawcle.com/products/the-irss-first-ai-rules-circular-230-exposure-after-opr-alert-2026-19/

• NYSSEA 39th Annual Conference
October 25–27, 2026 | Saratoga Springs, New York:
https://nyssea.starchapter.com/meetinginfo.php?id=54&ts=1783363088

More episodes and full show notes:
https://wellactually.tax/

Tom, Taxes, & (good) Trouble

Tom Gorczynski, EA, USTCP, joins Josh and Shannon for a candid conversation about building a career in tax and speaking up when the profession can do better.

They discuss professional organizations, why Tom left NAEA, sponsored education, conflicts of interest, and choosing instructors who know their material. They also get into AI, preparing for the U.S. Tax Court practitioner exam, and Tom’s advice for new enrolled agents.

Plus: the value of meeting people in person, airport lounges, and one unforgettable dinner in Las Vegas.

Guest: Tom Gorczynski, EA, USTCP
Hosts: Josh Youngblood, EA, USTCP · Shannon Hall, EA, USTCP

Full show notes and links: https://wellactually.tax
Tom’s work: https://www.tomg.tax
Tax Court exam preparation: https://taxcourtexam.com

Josh and Shannon are officially admitted to practice before the United States Tax Court.

In this special edition of Well, Actually…, they look back at the long road to becoming U.S. Tax Court Practitioners: deciding to take the exam, months of preparation, surviving test day, waiting for results, completing the character and fitness process, and finally getting the news they had been waiting for.

They talk about which parts of the four-part exam were the hardest, why the USTCP exam is nothing like the EA exam, the chaos and excitement of finding out they passed, and what the credential actually means now that they have it.

Plus: remote-testing anxiety, tornado sirens, spam folders, study-group trauma, character-and-fitness nerves, and why passing the exam is really just the beginning.

For tax professionals considering the USTCP path, Josh and Shannon also share what helped them prepare and their advice for approaching the process.

Learn more about the exam and sign up for the preparation class:
https://taxcourtexam.com

Connect with us:
Josh Youngblood — josh.tax
Shannon Hall — shannon.tax