
Medicare Tax: Complete Guide to Rates, Rules, and What You Owe in 2026
US Medicare tax has no wage cap: 2.9% base in 2026 plus Additional Medicare and NIIT for high earners — what you owe.

US Medicare tax has no wage cap: 2.9% base in 2026 plus Additional Medicare and NIIT for high earners — what you owe.

New York businesses may owe taxes to three entities simultaneously—state, city, and the MCTD. Covers corporation franchise tax rates, LLC filing fees, NYC GCT and UBT, MCTMT thresholds, quarterly estimated payment deadlines, and key credits for NY small business owners.

A side-by-side comparison of six online bookkeeping services—Pilot, Bookkeeper360, Merritt, CapForge, RemoteBooksOnline, and Maxim Liberty—covering pricing ranges from $75 to $499/month, accounting method, software platform, and five key questions to ask before signing up.

Pass-through business owners can deduct up to 20% of qualified business income under Section 199A, but income thresholds, SSTB rules, and W-2 wage limits determine the actual amount—here's how to calculate and maximize it.

Compare QuickBooks Live's current Intuit Experts services, software costs, cleanup charges, and bookkeeping exclusions before choosing a plan.

The R&D tax credit (IRC Section 41) cuts your federal tax bill dollar-for-dollar for qualifying research expenses—yet fewer than one in five eligible businesses claim it. This guide covers the four-part test, QRE categories, the Alternative Simplified Credit calculation, and 2026 changes including restored Section 174 expensing and a $500,000 payroll tax offset for startups.

Sage Business Cloud Accounting starts at $10/month with built-in inventory management and multi-currency support—here's how it stacks up against QuickBooks and Xero, who it's best for, and where it falls short.

Schedule K-1 (Form 1120-S) reports your share of S-corporation income, deductions, and credits. See how it flows into your 1040, track basis, and fix errors.

Self-employed individuals pay 15.3% in Social Security and Medicare taxes—double the employee rate. This guide covers how SE tax is calculated, legal strategies to reduce it (S corp election, retirement contributions, expense deductions), how deferral programs work, and what to do if you can't pay on time.

The IRS doesn't require receipts for every deduction—learn which business expenses you can claim without traditional receipts, what substitute documentation is accepted, and how to reconstruct records if you're audited.

A structured checklist of documents required to open a business bank account, organized by entity type—sole proprietorship, LLC, corporation, and partnership—with fee comparisons, opening deposit ranges, and the five mistakes that send applicants home empty-handed.

A feature-by-feature comparison of Xero and QuickBooks Online in 2026—covering pricing, user limits, payroll, inventory, multi-currency, and reporting—to help small businesses choose the right cloud accounting platform.