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1,423 plain-English guides on cross-border moves, US and Canadian returns, and small-business money. Each one ends in what to do next, and says when a written Position Check is the smarter first step.

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CROSS-BORDER A Canadian Corporation With a U.S. Shareholder

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1,423 guides

Small Business Tax

Dental Practice Deductions: The Chairs, the Imaging, the Lab Fees, and the Supplies That Run Seven Percent of Collections

September 29, 2026

A dental practice is one of the most capital-intensive small professional businesses — operatory chairs and delivery units, digital imaging and CAD/CAM, sterilization — with recurring costs that the industry benchmarks as percentages of collections: supplies at six to eight percent, lab fees at eight to ten, staff at twenty-five to thirty. Here is each deduction category, the equipment elections that make a new-technology year a low-tax year, the associate and hygienist classification, and the compliance stack the practice carries.

Small Business Tax

Dental Practice Entity Structure: The Professional Corporation, the S Election, and the Specified-Service Phase-Out the Retirement Plan Answers

September 29, 2026

A dentist's entity decision has three fixed points: most states require a dental practice to be owned through a professional corporation or professional LLC owned by licensed dentists; dentistry is a specified service trade, so the QBI deduction phases out at the income most practice owners earn; and the practice's profit is large enough that the S election's payroll-tax saving and a defined benefit plan's six-figure deduction both matter. Here is the analysis for a solo practice, a two-dentist partnership, and a practice preparing to sell to a DSO.

Small Business Tax

Dental Practice Estimated Taxes: Collections That Lag Production, the Insurance Payer Mix, and the Cone-Beam Year

September 29, 2026

A dental practice's estimated taxes run on collections, not production — and collections lag by the insurance payers' cycles, arrive net of contractual write-offs, and swing with the payer mix. The practice's steady patient flow makes the base predictable; the equipment cycle (a cone-beam or a CAD/CAM year) and the retirement plan's contribution are the two items that move the year's tax by six figures. Here is the routine for an S corporation practice, the withholding mechanism through the staff's payroll, and the December decisions.

Small Business Tax

E-Commerce Business Entity Structure: The LLC, the S Election, and the Inventory That Sits in Twelve States

September 29, 2026

An e-commerce seller's entity decision has the standard S election arithmetic on an operations manager's salary, a liability profile built around product claims and supplier disputes, and two questions the other trades don't face: the multistate footprint that marketplace fulfillment creates, and the exit market — e-commerce brands are bought and sold on a multiple of earnings, and the entity has to be sellable. Here is the analysis for a solo seller, a brand with employees, and a seller preparing to exit.

Small Business Tax

E-Commerce Seller Deductions: Inventory, Cost of Goods Sold, Marketplace Fees, Advertising, and the Tariffs in the Landed Cost

September 29, 2026

An e-commerce seller's return is a cost-of-goods-sold computation with a fee schedule attached: inventory bought (often overseas) and sold through marketplaces and a website, marketplace and fulfillment fees that consume a third of the sale, advertising that consumes another slice, returns and refunds, and a landed cost that includes freight, duties, and tariffs. Here is each category, the inventory method, the 1099-K reconciliation, and the sales tax picture the marketplace facilitator laws mostly — but not entirely — solved.

Small Business Tax

E-Commerce Seller Estimated Taxes: The Fourth Quarter That Is Half the Year, Inventory You Paid For but Haven't Sold, and the Payout Lag

September 29, 2026

An e-commerce seller's income is back-loaded — the fourth quarter can be 40 to 50 percent of the year — and the cash tells the wrong story in both directions: inventory bought in August and September for the holidays is cash out with no deduction until it sells, and the marketplace's payouts lag the sales by two weeks. The estimated-tax setup that fits is the annualized method or a reserve calibrated to margin, a projection built on cost of goods sold rather than purchases, and a fall recompute for the holiday buy. Here is the routine.

Small Business Tax

Employer Tax Rules for Tips: Withholding and Reporting

September 29, 2026

Employer tax rules for tips: reported tips as wages, withholding and the employer's FICA on tips, the 10th-of-the-month reporting rule, Form 8027 for large food and beverage establishments, the 8 percent allocation, the FICA tip credit, and the 2025 law's tips deduction.

Small Business Tax

Estimated Tax Safe Harbor: The 100 and 110 Percent Rules

September 29, 2026

The estimated tax safe harbor explained: how to avoid the underpayment penalty by paying 100 percent of last year's tax (110 percent above $150,000 of AGI) or 90 percent of this year's, who must use 110 percent, the $1,000 threshold, and why the safe harbor doesn't eliminate the balance due.

Small Business Tax

Excess Business Loss Limitation: Section 461(l)

September 29, 2026

The excess business loss limitation explained: the annual cap on business losses that can offset wages and investment income, the indexed threshold by filing status, how the excess becomes an NOL carryforward, the ordering with the passive and at-risk rules, and what the 2025 law changed.

Small Business Tax

Food Truck Deductions: The Truck, the Commissary, the Food Cost, and the Permits in Every City You Park

September 29, 2026

A food truck is a restaurant on a chassis: the truck and its build-out are the capital investment, food cost is the largest recurring line, the commissary is rent, and the permits — health, fire, parking, event — multiply with every city the truck serves. Add the generator fuel, the event fees, the card processing on every order, and the sales tax that changes at the county line, and the return has its own shape. Here is each category, the depreciation of a vehicle that is also a kitchen, and the compliance costs that are deductible because they're required.

Small Business Tax

Food Truck Entity and Estimated Taxes: The LLC, the S Election That Waits, and a Season That Follows the Events

September 29, 2026

A food truck's entity question is the LLC for a business that serves food to the public from a vehicle, and an S election that waits until the profit clears a chef-operator's salary — which for most trucks takes a second truck or a catering line. Its estimated-tax question is a season that follows the events calendar, a first year whose safe harbor comes from the owner's last return, and a truck purchase that erases the tax. Here is both, in one guide, for a solo truck and a two-truck operation with catering.

Small Business Tax

Form 2210: The Underpayment Penalty and How to Avoid It

September 29, 2026

Form 2210 explained: how the estimated tax underpayment penalty is computed quarter by quarter at the federal interest rate, when you must file the form, the annualized income installment method on Schedule AI for seasonal income, and the waivers.

Small Business Tax

Form 2553: S Election Deadline and Late Election Relief

September 29, 2026

Form 2553 explained: the two-month-and-fifteen-day deadline for an S corporation election, what the form requires, how an LLC files it, the late election relief procedure with reasonable cause, and how to confirm the election was accepted.

Small Business Tax

Form 940 and FUTA Tax: The Annual Unemployment Return

September 29, 2026

Form 940 and FUTA explained: the 6 percent federal unemployment tax on the first $7,000 of each employee's wages, the 5.4 percent state credit that brings it to 0.6 percent, credit reduction states, quarterly deposits over $500, and the January 31 due date.

Small Business Tax

Form 941 Explained: Employer's Quarterly Federal Tax Return

September 29, 2026

Form 941 explained: what the employer's quarterly federal tax return reports, who must file, the due dates, how it reconciles to your payroll tax deposits, Form 944 for the smallest employers, and the penalties for late filing.

Small Business Tax

Freelancer Taxes: Schedule C, SE Tax, and Estimates

September 29, 2026

Freelancer taxes explained: the forms a first-year freelancer files (Schedule C, Schedule SE), quarterly estimated payments, how much to set aside, the deductions that matter, and the 1099s clients send.

Small Business Tax

General Contractor and Remodeler Deductions: Subcontractors, Materials, the Job-Cost Ledger, and the Permits That Follow the Job

September 29, 2026

A general contractor or remodeler is a manager of other people's work: most of the cost of a job is subcontractors and materials passing through, the contractor's own margin is the management fee on top, and the deductions are a job-cost ledger with a truck and a small crew attached. The trade's tax questions are the subcontractor file (W-9s, 1099s, certificates, and the lien-waiver discipline that protects the payment), the accounting method for jobs that span a year-end, and the retainage and change-order timing. Here is each category.

Small Business Tax

General Contractor Entity Structure: The LLC, the S Election, and the Bonding Line That Wants a Balance Sheet

September 29, 2026

A general contractor's entity decision is shaped by three things the other trades meet less often: liability that spans every sub's work, a bonding company that wants a corporate balance sheet and a personal guarantee, and a revenue line that is mostly pass-through — so the profit the S election works on is a fraction of the gross. Here is the analysis for a solo remodeler, a residential general with a crew, and a commercial contractor with a surety line.

Small Business Tax

General Contractor Estimated Taxes: Deposits, Draws, Retainage, and the Job That Spans December

September 29, 2026

A general contractor's cash and profit disagree on every job: the deposit arrives before the subs are paid, the draws arrive as milestones pass, the retainage arrives months after completion, and a job that starts in October and finishes in March puts half its cash in one tax year and its profit in another. The estimated-tax setup depends on the accounting method as much as the calendar. Here is the routine for a cash-method remodeler and a percentage-of-completion contractor, with the reserve that fits both.

Small Business Tax

Hobby Loss Rules: Section 183 and the Profit Motive

September 29, 2026

Hobby loss rules explained: the nine factors the IRS uses to decide whether an activity is a business or a hobby, the three-of-five-years profit presumption, why hobby expenses are no longer deductible, and how to document a profit motive.

Small Business Tax

Home Office Depreciation: How It Works and Recapture

September 29, 2026

Home office depreciation explained: depreciating the business share of your home under the regular method over 39 years, the simplified method alternative, and the recapture that follows when the home sells.

Small Business Tax

How Self-Employment Tax Is Calculated: Step by Step

September 29, 2026

How self-employment tax is calculated on Schedule SE: from net profit to the 92.35 percent base, the Social Security wage base, the Medicare tax above it, the Additional Medicare Tax, and the deductible half.

Small Business Tax

How to Reduce Self-Employment Tax: 6 Legitimate Ways

September 29, 2026

How to reduce self-employment tax: deductions that lower net earnings, the S corporation election, retirement contributions, the health insurance deduction, hiring family, and the spouse partnership — what works and what only seems to.

Small Business Tax

How to Report Self-Employment Income Without a 1099

September 29, 2026

How to report self-employment income with or without a 1099: where 1099-NEC, 1099-K, and cash income go on Schedule C, why the form does not define your income, the 1099 thresholds, and what to do when a 1099 is wrong.

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