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Straight answers, written by the people who’d file it.

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

Tree Service Company Entity Structure: The LLC, the S Election, and the Equipment Loss That Decides the Timing

September 29, 2026

A tree service company's entity decision is governed by the trade's liability (falling limbs, falling climbers), an equipment cycle that can produce a first-year loss larger than the profit, and a crew whose workers' compensation cost changes the S election's arithmetic. The LLC or corporation is the floor; the election waits for the equipment write-offs to clear; and the crew's classification, tested by the carrier's audit, decides whether the payroll exists. Here is the analysis for a climber with a truck, a company with crews, and a storm operation.

Small Business Tax

Trucking Owner-Operator Deductions: The Tractor, the Per Diem, the Fuel, and the Form 2290 That Comes Every July

September 29, 2026

An owner-operator's return is a tractor depreciated over three years, fuel that is the largest operating cost, a per diem for meals on the road that most drivers under-claim, and a compliance stack — IFTA, the heavy vehicle use tax on Form 2290, permits, drug testing, ELDs — that is deductible because it's required. Add the settlement statement from the carrier, the factoring fees, and the lease-purchase question, and the deductions have a shape no other trade shares. Here is each category and the elections.

Small Business Tax

Trucking Owner-Operator Entity and Estimated Taxes: The LLC, the S Election After the Tractor Is Written Off, and the Weekly Settlement Reserve

September 29, 2026

An owner-operator's entity decision waits for the tractor: the year the truck is expensed produces a loss or a small profit, and the S election's arithmetic only appears once the write-off is gone and the profit shows. The liability — a truck in traffic, a load, a lease with a carrier — makes the LLC the floor. The estimated taxes run on weekly settlements with nothing withheld and a per diem that shrinks the taxable net. Here is both, for a driver leased to a carrier and one running under their own authority with a second truck.

Small Business Tax

Trust Fund Recovery Penalty: Personal Liability Explained

September 29, 2026

The trust fund recovery penalty explained: why unpaid withheld payroll taxes follow the owner personally, who counts as a responsible person, how willfulness is judged, the 100 percent penalty under section 6672, and why an LLC or corporation does not shield it.

Small Business Tax

Veterinary Practice Deductions: The Pharmacy, the Surgery Suite, the DEA Registration, and the Retail Line That Carries Sales Tax

September 29, 2026

A veterinary practice is a medical practice, a pharmacy, and a retail store under one roof — and each has its own tax treatment: the medical services are exempt from sales tax, the pharmacy and the retail products are inventory with sales tax on most sales, the controlled substances require DEA registration and recordkeeping, and the equipment runs from exam tables to digital radiography and surgical suites. Here is each deduction category, the inventory that veterinarians under-manage, and the associate and technician classification.

Small Business Tax

Veterinary Practice Entity Structure: The Professional Entity, the S Election, and the Consolidator That Buys the Assets

September 29, 2026

A veterinarian's entity decision follows the dentist's pattern with two differences: fewer states restrict who may own a veterinary practice, so the corporate-practice question varies more, and the exit market — corporate consolidators buying independent practices at multiples that peaked in the early 2020s — has shaped how practices are structured years before a sale. Here is the analysis for a solo practice, a multi-doctor group, and a practice weighing a consolidator's offer.

Small Business Tax

W-2 vs 1099: What Each Costs the Employer

September 29, 2026

W-2 vs 1099 from the employer's side: the full cost of an employee (payroll taxes, unemployment, workers' comp, benefits) against a contractor, the classification tests that decide which you may use, and the penalties for getting it wrong.

Cross-Border Tax (U.S.–Canada)

W-9 vs W-8BEN for Canadians: Which Form to Give

September 29, 2026

W-9 vs W-8BEN for Canadians explained: why a Canadian resident who is not a U.S. person gives Form W-8BEN (not W-9), how it claims treaty rates on U.S. dividends and other income, W-8BEN-E for Canadian companies, why a U.S. citizen in Canada gives a W-9, and what happens with no form at all.

Small Business Tax

What Counts as Self-Employment Income?

September 29, 2026

What counts as self-employment income: net earnings from a trade or business, what is included (Schedule C profit, general partner shares, 1099 work) and what is excluded (rentals, investments, S corporation distributions, hobby income), and the $400 threshold.

Small Business Tax

What Is an SSTB? Specified Service Trade or Business

September 29, 2026

SSTB explained: the specified service trades or businesses that lose the qualified business income deduction above the income threshold — the full list, the edge cases, the reputation-or-skill catch-all, and the de minimis rule.

Small Business Tax

What Is Depreciation Recapture? Rules and Rates

September 29, 2026

Depreciation recapture explained: why selling a depreciated asset converts part of the gain to ordinary income, the section 1245 and 1250 rules, the 25 percent rate on buildings, and how to plan for it.

Small Business Tax

What Is MACRS Depreciation? Classes, Methods, Conventions

September 29, 2026

MACRS depreciation explained: how the Modified Accelerated Cost Recovery System assigns a class, recovery period, method, and convention to every business asset, with the class table and a worked example.

Small Business Tax

What Is Self-Employment Tax? Rate, Base, and Deduction

September 29, 2026

Self-employment tax explained: the 15.3 percent Social Security and Medicare tax on net earnings from self-employment, who pays it, how it is computed on Schedule SE, the wage base, and the half you deduct.

Small Business Tax

What Is UBIA of Qualified Property? QBI Limit

September 29, 2026

UBIA explained: the unadjusted basis immediately after acquisition of qualified property — the property half of the QBI wage-and-property limitation — what counts, how long it counts, and why fully depreciated assets still help.

Small Business Tax

Workers' Compensation: Cost, Rates, and Tax Treatment

September 29, 2026

Workers' compensation explained for employers: how premiums are rated by class code and payroll, the experience modifier, what the employer deducts, why benefits are tax-free to the worker, and who is required to carry coverage.

Small Business Tax

Electrical Contractor Deductions: The Van Stock, the Tools, the Licenses, and the Code That Changes Every Three Years

September 28, 2026

An electrical contractor's costs sit in four places — the trucks and what's in them, the tools (from meters to benders to lifts), the materials that move through jobs by the reel and the panel, and the licensing and continuing education a code-driven trade requires. Service work and new construction consume them differently. Here is each category, the depreciation elections for a one-truck or a fleet operation, the van-stock inventory question, and the compliance costs that are deductible because they're mandatory.

Small Business Tax

Electrical Contractor Entity Structure: The LLC, the S Election, and the Apprentices Who Are Employees by Definition

September 28, 2026

An electrical contractor's entity decision starts from a payroll that already exists — journeymen and apprentices are employees, and a registered apprentice is an employee by the program's definition — which makes the S election cheap to add once the owner's profit clears a master electrician's salary. The liability (a fire after a job, a shock on a site) makes the LLC or corporation the floor, and the license itself is often held by a qualifying individual rather than the entity. Here is the analysis for a solo electrician, a service company with crews, and a new-construction contractor.

Small Business Tax

Electrical Contractor Estimated Taxes: Service Calls, Progress Draws, and the Fleet Year That Rewrites the Fourth Quarter

September 28, 2026

An electrical contractor's income has two shapes at once — steady service calls billed at completion, and new-construction progress draws that arrive in lumps against materials bought weeks earlier — and a fleet purchase or a bender-and-lift year can cut the year's tax by more than an installment. Here is the estimated-tax setup for a mixed electrical business, the safe harbor and reserve that fit, the cash-method timing on rough-in materials, and the fall recompute for the trucks.

Small Business Tax

HVAC Company Deductions: The Equipment You Install, the Refrigerant You Recover, and the Maintenance Contracts Paid in Advance

September 28, 2026

An HVAC company's costs run through three channels the other trades don't share in the same way: the equipment it sells and installs (condensers, furnaces, heat pumps — bought per job or stocked), the refrigerant regime the EPA imposes (certified technicians, recovery equipment, recordkeeping), and the maintenance agreements customers pay for in advance. Add the service vans, the tools, and the seasonal peaks, and the deduction picture has its own shape. Here is each category, the advance-payment timing, and the compliance costs that are deductible because they're required.

Small Business Tax

HVAC Company Entity Structure: The S Election, the Installers on Payroll, and the Agreement Base That Changes the Method Question

September 28, 2026

An HVAC company is a payroll business that sells equipment and collects service fees in advance — three facts that shape its entity decision. The technicians and installers are employees, so the S election's payroll already exists; the equipment margin and the agreement base make the profit larger and lumpier than a pure service trade's; and the liability (a carbon monoxide event, a refrigerant release, a rooftop fall) makes the LLC or corporation the floor. Here is the analysis for a one-van operator, a service-and-install company, and a company with a large maintenance base.

Small Business Tax

HVAC Estimated Taxes: Two Peaks a Year, a Fall Agreement Campaign, and the Equipment Margin That Moves the Quarter

September 28, 2026

An HVAC company's income has three drivers the quarterly installments have to track: a summer cooling peak and a winter heating peak (with shoulder seasons between), installation revenue with equipment margin that arrives as units are sold, and a fall maintenance-agreement campaign that puts a year of service fees into one quarter under the cash method. Here is the setup, the safe harbor and reserve that fit, the method question for a large agreement base, and the recompute for the van-purchase year.

Small Business Tax

Landscaping Company Deductions: Mowers and Trailers, the Fuel Tax Credit Nobody Claims, Seasonal Crews, and the Snow Side

September 28, 2026

A landscaping company's costs are equipment (mowers, trimmers, blowers, the trucks and trailers that carry them), fuel (a large line — and the part burned in off-road equipment carries a federal excise tax credit most landscapers never claim), seasonal labor that ramps in March and lays off in November, and materials that move through installation jobs. Snow removal turns a seasonal business into a year-round one with its own equipment and contracts. Here is each category, the fuel credit, and the elections.

Small Business Tax

Landscaping Company Entity Structure: The LLC, the S Election, and a Payroll That Exists From March to November

September 28, 2026

A landscaping company's entity decision turns on a payroll that exists — seasonal crews are employees, hired in spring and laid off in fall — which makes the S election cheap to add once the owner's profit clears a landscape operations manager's salary, and on a liability profile (mowers, chainsaws, chemicals, snow-plowed lots) that makes the LLC or corporation the floor. The seasonal shutdown complicates the owner's salary schedule; the snow side smooths it. Here is the analysis for a solo operator, a seasonal-crew company, and a year-round landscape-and-snow business.

Small Business Tax

Landscaping Estimated Taxes: A March-to-November Season, Monthly Maintenance Billing, and the Snow Contracts That Fund January

September 28, 2026

A landscaping company's income runs March through November — steady monthly maintenance billing with installation jobs layered on top — and stops, unless the snow side runs. The estimated tax calendar puts the January installment in the shutdown, the spring equipment refresh can erase a quarter's tax, and the crew's seasonal payroll shapes the profit projection. Here is the setup: the safe harbor and reserve for a nine-month season, the annualized method's fit, the fuel credit and the H-2B costs in the projection, and the snow contracts that change the winter.

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