Plain-text accounting insights, tutorials, and updates from the Beancount.io team.
Form 1042-S reports US-source FDAP income paid to foreign persons. US businesses act as withholding agents with personal liability — default 30% withholding, W-8 documentation rules, March 15 deadlines, and stiff per-form penalties. This guide covers W-8BEN versus W-8BEN-E, treaty rate reductions, the source-of-income rules, and common mistakes like sending Form 1099 to a foreign contractor.
Section 461(l) caps 2026 excess business losses at $128,000 single and $256,000 joint, per the OBBBA. Pass-through owners use Form 461 to report the limitation.
Self-employed filers can claim the federal Earned Income Tax Credit on Schedule C net earnings, with a 2025 maximum of $8,046 for families with three or more children. This guide covers eligibility thresholds, how to compute earned income (including the half-SE-tax adjustment), the documentation that survives an audit, and the pitfalls that disqualify otherwise valid claims.
US self-employed workers are far likelier to face disability than death before 65 — how federal tax treatment and premiums work.
US de minimis safe harbor (Treas. Reg. 1.263(a)-1(f)) lets businesses expense tangible property up to $2,500 per item on the federal return.
How the IRS taxes crypto staking, mining, and DeFi income in 2026 — covering Revenue Ruling 2023-14, Form 1099-DA, wallet-by-wallet basis tracking, Schedule 1 line 8v, and which forms apply to each digital asset event.
How a Charitable Remainder Trust lets you sell appreciated assets without capital gains tax, take an immediate income tax deduction, collect lifetime income, and pass the remainder to charity—plus the math comparing CRUT, CRAT, NIMCRUT, and Flip CRUT structures under the May 2026 5.0% Section 7520 rate.
U.S. cash balance pension plans let solo doctors, attorneys, and consultants deduct $100,000–$370,000 a year on top of a Solo 401(k). 2026 contribution limits, a worked example for a 54-year-old physician, and the actuarial commitments to weigh before signing.
A 409A valuation is the IRS-recognized appraisal that sets the strike price on every option grant. Without one, founders risk 20% federal excise penalties, premium interest, and California's 5% piggyback tax — all falling on the employee.
A practical guide to Self-Directed IRAs (SDIRAs) — what you can hold, the disqualified-person rules under IRC §4975, UBIT and UDFI on leveraged real estate, the McNulty checkbook-control warning, and the recordkeeping disciplines that prevent a deemed distribution.
Form 3115 lets U.S. taxpayers change accounting methods and use a Section 481(a) adjustment to recover missed deductions or correct multi-year errors on a single current-year return, without amending prior years.
Form 5471 carries automatic $10,000-per-corporation initial penalties capped at $60,000 per year for U.S. persons who own, control, or serve as officers of foreign corporations. Covers the five filing categories, modular schedules, GILTI's rename to NCTI for tax years beginning after December 31, 2025, and the Streamlined and Delinquent Submission routes back into compliance.
