#compliance

Compliance

Navigate regulatory compliance and maintain audit-ready financial records

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May 12, 202615 min read

Form I-9 and E-Verify Compliance: ICE's March 2026 Fact Sheet and the New Penalty Math

ICE's March 16, 2026 fact sheet reclassifies common Form I-9 errors as substantive violations with no cure period. Paperwork penalties now run $288 to $2,861 per form, and a 500-employee company with a 40% error rate faces six-figure exposure. This guide covers the timing rules, retention windows, E-Verify mandates in eleven states, the alternative procedure for remote verification, and how to run a defensive self-audit.

Mike Thrift

compliancehiringpayroll

May 12, 202612 min read

Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) Section 42: How Developers Use 9% and 4% Credits to Finance Affordable Housing Projects

A 2026 LIHTC field guide for developers — how the 9% and 4% credits differ, how qualified basis and the 70%/30% present-value subsidies are calculated, the three overlapping compliance clocks, the IRS forms (8609, 8609-A, 8586, 8611), syndication mechanics, and the One Big Beautiful Bill Act changes that cut the bond financing test from 50% to 25%.

Mike Thrift

real-estatetax-creditstax-compliance

May 12, 202610 min read

New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC): How CDEs, Investors, and Local Businesses Stack a 39% Federal Credit Over Seven Years

A practical walkthrough of the New Markets Tax Credit — how the 39% federal credit flows from a CDE to investors and projects over seven years, who plays which role, what continuous compliance requires, and where deals most often break.

Mike Thrift

tax-creditscommunity-developmentreal-estate

May 12, 202614 min read

Schedule UTP: How Corporations Disclose Uncertain Tax Positions Without Handing the IRS a Roadmap

Schedule UTP requires corporations with $10M+ in assets and an ASC 740-10 reserve to disclose uncertain tax positions on Form 1120. This guide covers who must file, how to rank major tax positions, what the concise description must include, the columns added for tax year 2022, and the drafting mistakes that trigger IRS Letter 5191.

Mike Thrift

taxtax-compliancefinancial-reporting

May 12, 202611 min read

Section 4501 Stock Buyback Excise Tax in 2026: Computing the 1% Tax, Netting Issuances, and Filing Form 7208

How publicly traded U.S. corporations compute the 1% Section 4501 stock buyback excise tax in 2026, apply the netting rule, claim statutory exceptions, and file Form 7208 — including what the November 2025 final regulations changed and where Form 720-X refund opportunities apply.

Mike Thrift

taxtax-complianceequity-instruments

May 12, 202612 min read

Section 45X After OBBBA: A 2026 Guide to the Advanced Manufacturing Production Credit

A per-component breakdown of Section 45X credit rates, the OBBBA phase-out schedule for wind, solar, battery, and critical minerals, the new Prohibited Foreign Entity Material Assistance Cost Ratio test, and how to claim direct pay or transferability without losing the credit to documentation gaps.

Mike Thrift

tax-creditstax-compliancetax-planning

May 12, 202613 min read

Section 531 Accumulated Earnings Tax: Justifying C-Corp Retained Earnings Above the $250,000 Bright Line

Section 531 imposes a 20% accumulated earnings tax on C-corps that retain profits beyond a $250,000 credit ($150,000 for personal service firms) without specific, feasible plans. This guide explains the Bardahl working-capital formula, the Section 534 burden-of-proof statement, and the contemporaneous documentation that defends an accumulation in IRS audit.

Mike Thrift

c-corporationtax-planningtax-compliance

May 12, 202614 min read

Section 6418: Selling Clean Energy Tax Credits to Cash Buyers

Section 6418 lets clean energy developers sell federal tax credits to unrelated corporate buyers for cash, typically at a 6 to 15 percent discount to face value. A practical guide to registration, pricing, recapture risk, the 20 percent excessive transfer penalty, and how the OBBBA preserved transferability through the rest of the decade.

Mike Thrift

tax-creditstax-planningtax-compliance

May 12, 202614 min read

Section 7702 and the Modified Endowment Contract Trap: How Overfunding Cash-Value Life Insurance Triggers LIFO Taxation and a 10% Penalty

Section 7702A's 7-pay test reclassifies overfunded cash-value life insurance as a modified endowment contract, switching lifetime distributions to LIFO ordering, taxing policy loans as ordinary income, and adding a 10% penalty before age 59½. The classification is permanent and cannot be reversed after the 60-day refund window.

Mike Thrift

insurancetax-planningestate-planning

May 12, 202612 min read

Section 79 Group-Term Life Insurance: The $50,000 Tax-Free Limit, IRS Table I, and W-2 Code C

How Section 79 actually works in 2026 — the $50,000 employer-paid group-term life exclusion, the IRS Table I rates (unchanged since 1999) that turn excess coverage into W-2 Box 12 Code C imputed income, plus the straddle rule, the $2,000 dependent de minimis, and the 2% S-corp shareholder trap.

Mike Thrift

taxpayrollemployee-benefits

May 12, 202615 min read

VCSP and Form 8952: Reclassify Contractors as Employees for About 1% of Back Payroll Taxes

The IRS Voluntary Classification Settlement Program lets eligible employers reclassify 1099 workers as W-2 employees for roughly 1.068% of last year's compensation, with no interest, no penalties, and no employment-tax audit of prior years on those workers.

Mike Thrift

tax-compliancepayrollindependent-contractor

May 12, 202614 min read

Wage Garnishment for Employers: How to Process Withholding Orders Without Becoming Personally Liable

A payroll operations guide to wage garnishment: how to calculate disposable earnings under the CCPA, apply the correct caps for creditor, child support, IRS, and student loan orders, prioritize multiple orders on one paycheck, and keep records that hold up under audit.

Mike Thrift

payrollcompliancelegal

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