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
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.
Read more →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.
Read more →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.
Read more →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.
Read more →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.
Read more →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.
Read more →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.
Read more →September 29, 2026
Form NR301 explained: the declaration a non-resident gives a Canadian payer to have Part XIII withholding reduced under a tax treaty — who completes it, what income it covers, the treaty rates for U.S. residents, its three-year validity, NR302 and NR303 for partnerships and hybrids, and what happens without it.
Read more →September 29, 2026
Form NR73 explained: the optional questionnaire a person leaving Canada can send the CRA for an opinion on their residency status — what it asks, why most advisers say don't file it, when it helps, the residential ties that decide the answer, and what a departure return requires instead.
Read more →September 29, 2026
Form T1135 explained: who must file (Canadian residents with specified foreign property costing over C$100,000), what counts and what is excluded (U.S. retirement accounts, personal-use property, Canadian mutual funds), the simplified and detailed methods, the penalties, and the American in Canada who has to file it.
Read more →September 29, 2026
Form T776 explained: the statement of real estate rentals every Canadian landlord files, the deductible expenses and capital cost allowance, and — for a landlord living in the United States — the 25 percent withholding on gross rent, the section 216 election to be taxed on net income instead, the NR6 undertaking, and how the same income is reported on U.S. Schedule E.
Read more →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.
Read more →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.
Read more →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.
Read more →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.
Read more →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.
Read more →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.
Read more →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.
Read more →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.
Read more →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.
Read more →September 29, 2026
An insurance agency's entity decision runs on standard S election arithmetic — with a payroll that exists once the agency has staff, a producer's salary that the employed market documents, and a QBI deduction that survives because insurance agents are excluded from the specified-service list — plus two features the carriers impose: the agency itself must be licensed and appointed in every state where it writes, and the book of business is worth more inside an entity that can be sold whole. Here is the analysis for a solo producer, a small agency, and an agency planning a sale or perpetuation.
Read more →September 29, 2026
An insurance agent's tax picture depends on which kind of agent they are: a captive agent paid by one carrier, an independent agent paid by many, or a full-time life insurance salesperson the tax code calls a statutory employee — W-2 for payroll taxes, Schedule C for expenses. The deductions are the office, the licensing and continuing education in every state, the errors-and-omissions policy, the marketing, and the staff; the income is first-year commissions and renewals that arrive for years. Here is each category, the statutory employee rule, and the book of business as an asset.
Read more →September 29, 2026
IRC 446 and 448 explained: the general rule that a taxpayer's accounting method must clearly reflect income, the cash and accrual methods, section 448's small business gross receipts test that lets most businesses use the cash method, tax shelters, and changing methods on Form 3115.
Read more →September 29, 2026
The section 7520 rate explained: the monthly IRS rate — 120 percent of the federal midterm rate — used to value annuities, life estates, and remainders for estate and gift tax, and why a low rate favors GRATs and charitable lead trusts while a high rate favors QPRTs and charitable remainder annuity trusts.
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