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
IRC 960 explained: how a U.S. corporation that is a shareholder of a controlled foreign corporation claims credit for the foreign taxes its subsidiary paid on subpart F income and net CFC tested income (formerly GILTI), the 90 percent limit on those credits from 2026, previously taxed income distributions, and why individuals need a section 962 election.
Read more →September 29, 2026
Is inheritance taxable in Canada? No — there is no inheritance tax, but the deceased's final return taxes a deemed sale of everything at death, the estate pays it, and heirs receive assets after. How the deemed disposition works, the spousal rollover, probate fees, and what a U.S. heir must report.
Read more →September 29, 2026
Is self-employment tax deductible? Half of it is — as an above-the-line adjustment to income. What the deduction does, what it does not reduce, where it goes on the return, and how it interacts with the QBI deduction.
Read more →September 29, 2026
A managed services provider or IT services firm sells three things — recurring managed services under monthly contracts, project and consulting work billed by the hour or the engagement, and hardware and software resold to clients — and each has its own tax treatment: the recurring revenue raises the advance-payment question, the resale line is inventory with sales tax in most states, and the consulting line is the one that can make the firm a specified service trade. Here is each deduction category, the revenue-recognition and sales-tax mechanics, and the classification of the technicians who work remotely.
Read more →September 29, 2026
An IT services firm's entity decision has the standard S election arithmetic on a technical director's salary, a liability profile that has changed with cyber risk, and two structural questions the profession raises more than others: whether the advisory practice should be a separate business so the managed-services firm keeps the QBI deduction, and how a remote workforce across several states shapes the entity's registrations. Here is the analysis for a solo consultant, a managed services firm with staff, and a firm whose advisory line has outgrown the de minimis rule.
Read more →September 29, 2026
A law firm's entity decision runs on the same specified-service phase-out as the other professions — the QBI deduction disappears above the range — with a choice most firms make on compensation mechanics: a partnership-taxed PLLC pays partners guaranteed payments with self-employment tax on everything, while a professional corporation with the S election pays shareholder-lawyers salaries with distributions above them. Add the ethics rules on ownership, the malpractice structure, and the contingency firm's loss years, and the analysis is the firm's own. Here it is for a solo, a small partnership, and a contingency practice.
Read more →September 29, 2026
A law partner's estimated taxes have no withholding behind them — guaranteed payments and distributive shares arrive gross, with self-employment tax and income tax owed on all of it — and a contingency firm's income arrives when cases resolve, which no calendar predicts. The setup that fits is a reserve on every draw, the annualized method for the firm whose fees are lumpy, and — in the states that offer it — the pass-through entity tax election that moves the state payment to the firm's level. Here is the routine for partners and for S corporation shareholder-lawyers.
Read more →September 29, 2026
A law firm's return has three items no other professional practice shares: the client trust account, which holds money that is never the firm's income until earned; the costs a firm advances on a client's behalf, which are loans rather than deductions when they are reimbursable; and the contingency fee, which is income only when the case resolves — years after the work was done. Add the malpractice tail, the bar and CLE costs, the referral fees, and the partner compensation, and the deductions have a shape built around the ethics rules. Here is each category.
Read more →September 29, 2026
Leasehold improvements depreciation explained: the 15- or 39-year tax life, tenant versus landlord ownership, construction allowances, and what happens to unrecovered cost when the lease ends.
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Marginal vs effective tax rate explained: why your tax bracket is not what you pay, how the graduated brackets work, the current federal brackets by filing status, a worked example, and why a raise never costs more than it pays.
Read more →September 29, 2026
Net operating loss carryforward rules explained: what an NOL is, why post-2017 losses cannot be carried back, the indefinite carryforward, the 80 percent taxable income limitation, how individuals compute an NOL, and how it interacts with the excess business loss rules.
Read more →September 29, 2026
Passive activity loss rules explained: when a loss is passive, the seven material participation tests, why rentals are passive by default, the $25,000 rental allowance and its phase-out, the real estate professional exception, the at-risk rules, and suspended losses.
Read more →September 29, 2026
Payroll tax deposit schedules explained: how the lookback period sets whether you deposit monthly or semiweekly, the deadlines under each, the $100,000 next-day rule, the $2,500 quarterly exception, EFTPS, and the failure-to-deposit penalty.
Read more →September 29, 2026
A personal trainer's tax picture depends on where the training happens — at a gym as an employee or a contractor, in clients' homes, in a home studio, online — and on a classification point in the trainer's favor: fitness services are excluded from the 'health' field, so personal training is not a specified service trade and the QBI deduction applies at every income level. Here is the deduction map, the gym-contractor arrangement, the entity analysis, and the estimated taxes for a trainer paid by the session.
Read more →September 29, 2026
A photographer's deductions are equipment (bodies, lenses, lighting, computers — bought often and expensed under de minimis or section 179), a studio or a home office, travel to sessions and destination weddings, software subscriptions, and the second shooters and assistants whose classification depends on how the arrangement works. Prints and albums add a product line with sales tax; session fees may or may not carry it. Here is each category and the elections.
Read more →September 29, 2026
A photographer's entity decision is the standard S election arithmetic on a working photographer's salary — which for most solo photographers doesn't pay until profit passes six figures — plus a liability profile (a light stand on a guest, a lost wedding's images, a drone) that makes the LLC worth forming early, and a cash pattern (wedding deposits a year ahead) that shapes the estimated taxes more than the entity. Here is the analysis for a solo photographer, a studio with associates, and a commercial photographer with licensing income.
Read more →September 29, 2026
The qualified business income deduction explained from the ground up: who qualifies, what counts as QBI, the taxable-income threshold, the SSTB and wage-and-property limitations, and what the 2025 law changed.
Read more →September 29, 2026
Qualified improvement property explained: the 15-year category for interior improvements to nonresidential buildings, what counts and what is excluded, and why QIP is eligible for bonus depreciation and section 179.
Read more →September 29, 2026
A real estate agent's S election has a prerequisite the other trades don't: the commissions have to be payable to the entity, and whether a brokerage may pay an agent's LLC or professional corporation is a state licensing question. Where it's allowed, the election runs on the standard arithmetic against a producing agent's reasonable salary; where it isn't, the agent stays on Schedule C regardless of profit. Here is the state question, the worksheet, the QBI point for agents above the threshold, and the team structure.
Read more →September 29, 2026
A real estate agent's income arrives as commission checks at closings — three in April, none in May, four in June — with nothing withheld, self-employment tax owed on all of it, and a spring-to-fall season in most markets. The estimated-tax setup that works is a reserve on every commission the day it lands, a safe harbor chosen for the year's trajectory, and the annualized method for the agent whose closings cluster. Here is the routine, the year-one problem, and the S corporation agent's withholding alternative.
Read more →September 29, 2026
A real estate agent is self-employed by statute — commissions arrive on a 1099-NEC from the brokerage with nothing withheld — and the deductions are the costs of producing them: the car, the marketing, the brokerage's desk and transaction fees, the MLS and association dues, the licensing and continuing education, and the home office. Here is each category, the mileage discipline that dominates the return, the referral fees and client gifts with their own rules, and the bookkeeping that separates a good year's commissions from a good year's profit.
Read more →September 29, 2026
A restaurant's entity decision is the standard S election arithmetic on an owner-chef's or general manager's salary, with a liability profile — foodborne illness, dram shop, a kitchen full of employees — that makes the LLC the floor and a second location that should be its own entity. The payroll always exists, the investors often do, and the lease and the liquor license are the entity's. Here is the analysis for a single-location owner-chef, a restaurant with outside investors, and a group with three locations.
Read more →September 29, 2026
A restaurant's estimated taxes run on a thin margin over a large gross — so a small swing in food cost or labor moves the tax more than a swing in sales — with a seasonal shape set by the concept and the location, a December that combines the busiest dining month with a gift card push that is income the day it's sold, and an opening or renovation year whose build-out write-off can erase the tax entirely. Here is the routine for an S corporation restaurant with staff and a partnership with investors.
Read more →September 29, 2026
A restaurant's return is a food-cost percentage, a payroll with tips flowing through it, a kitchen that is equipment and a dining room that is a build-out, a liquor license that is a fifteen-year intangible, and a set of revenue channels — dine-in, takeout, delivery apps, catering, gift cards — each with its own fee structure and timing. Here is each deduction category, the inventory and tip mechanics, the credits restaurants leave unclaimed, and the sales tax on meals that every state charges differently.
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