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.
September 29, 2026
ADS depreciation explained: what the Alternative Depreciation System is, who must use it, who may elect it, and how its longer recovery periods and straight-line method compare with GDS.
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An architecture or engineering firm's costs are people, software, and insurance — with sub-consultants passed through, reimbursables billed back, and a professional liability policy priced for the buildings the firm designed. Two tax features set the profession apart: architects and engineers are expressly excluded from the specified-service list, so the QBI deduction survives at every income; and designers of energy-efficient government buildings can be allocated the section 179D deduction the tax-exempt owner can't use. Here is each category.
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An architecture or engineering firm's entity decision has the licensing rules on ownership that every profession faces, a professional liability exposure that follows a building for a decade, and one advantage the other professions lack: architecture and engineering are excluded from the specified-service list, so the S election's salary has a real QBI cost the firm must count, and the deduction itself is worth protecting through the wage-and-property limitation as the principals' incomes rise. Here is the analysis for a sole practitioner, a two-principal firm, and a firm planning an internal ownership transition.
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An auto repair shop's costs are equipment (lifts, alignment racks, diagnostic scanners, tire machines), a parts inventory that is real inventory, labor billed at a rate the shop sets, and a compliance layer — waste oil, refrigerant, tire disposal, environmental permits — that is deductible because it is mandatory. Add the sublet work, the core charges, and the customer-supplied parts, and the return has a shape no other trade shares. Here is each category and the elections.
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An auto repair shop's entity decision has the standard S election arithmetic on a working owner-technician's salary, a liability profile that includes every customer's car in the building, and one structural point most shop owners get wrong: the shop building, when owned, belongs in a separate entity that leases it to the operating company. Here is the analysis for a solo mechanic, a multi-bay shop with technicians, and a shop that owns its real estate.
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An auto repair shop has among the steadiest income in the trades — cars break every day — with a mild seasonal shape, a parts float that keeps cash and profit close, and an equipment cycle (lifts, an alignment rack, a scan tool) that can erase a quarter's tax. Here is the estimated-tax setup for a shop, the safe harbor and reserve, the S corporation withholding through the technician payroll, and the recompute for the equipment year.
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Bad debt deduction explained: business versus nonbusiness bad debts under section 166, the worthlessness test, why cash-method businesses cannot deduct an unpaid invoice, loans to family and friends, and how to document the deduction.
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Bonus depreciation explained after the 2025 law: what the special depreciation allowance covers, the acquisition-date rule, how it interacts with section 179 and MACRS, and when to elect out.
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The Canada Revenue Agency's individual tax number (ITN) explained: who needs one (non-residents filing a Canadian return or selling Canadian property who cannot get a SIN), how to apply on Form T1261, the documents required, processing time, and how it differs from a SIN and a U.S. ITIN.
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The Canada–U.S. tax treaty explained: the residency tie-breaker, the reduced withholding rates on dividends, interest, royalties, and pensions, the permanent establishment rule for businesses, the treatment of RRSPs and Roth IRAs, the saving clause that lets the U.S. tax its citizens anyway, and the forms (8833, NR301, W-8BEN) that claim its benefits.
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The Canadian dividend tax credit explained: how eligible and non-eligible dividends are grossed up and credited to approximate corporate integration, the federal and provincial rates, why the credit is unavailable to non-residents, and how a U.S. resident is taxed on Canadian dividends instead.
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Converting an LLC to a C corporation explained: the three ways to convert, the tax-free incorporation rules under section 351, the liabilities-in-excess-of-basis trap, what happens to the LLC's tax attributes, why startups raising venture capital convert, and when an S election is the better move.
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Cost segregation explained: how a study reclassifies building components into 5-, 7-, and 15-year property, what it costs, when it pays for a small business or landlord, and the recapture trade-off.
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CRA Represent a Client explained: how an accountant, family member, or business gets authorized access to someone's CRA account, RepID and GroupID registration, authorization levels 1 and 2, how a taxpayer approves the request, and what non-residents and cross-border filers need to know.
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De minimis safe harbor explained: the annual election to deduct items costing up to $2,500 per invoice or item ($5,000 with audited financial statements) instead of depreciating them, and how to elect it.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Does Canada have a 1099? The Canadian equivalents explained — T4A for contractor fees and other income, T5 for investment income, T3 for trust distributions, NR4 for payments to non-residents — plus what a Canadian who receives a U.S. 1099-NEC or 1099-K should do with it, and how a U.S. business pays a Canadian contractor.
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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.
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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.
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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.
Read more →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.
Read more →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.
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