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Tax Deductions

Maximize tax deductions and reduce your tax liability legally

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Bad Debt Reserve Accounting: Allowance Method vs. Direct Write-Off, and the Collection KPIs That Keep Your Reserve Honest

GAAP requires the allowance method while the IRS requires direct write-off under Section 166, so most accrual-basis businesses run both and reconcile the difference. This guide gives the journal entries for each, three ways to estimate the reserve (percentage of credit sales, an aging schedule, specific identification), and the five collection KPIs — DSO, CEI, current-bucket share, bad debt to sales, and average days delinquent — that reveal when a reserve has drifted from reality.

mike

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Lending Money to Your Own S Corporation: How Stock Basis, Debt Basis, and Loan Paperwork Decide Whether Your Losses Are Deductible

An S corporation K-1 loss is deductible only up to your stock basis plus debt basis, and a personal guarantee of a corporate bank loan creates zero debt basis. This guide covers the two basis buckets, the $25,000 open-account-debt threshold, the repayment gain trap, and the documentation that keeps a shareholder advance from being reclassified as equity.

mike

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Mortgage Points and Origination Fees on Rental and Business Property: What to Amortize, and the Same-Lender Refinance Trap

Points on rental and business property are prepaid interest that must be amortized per scheduled payment, not per year — $4,800 on a 20-year loan is $20 a payment, so a 3-payment first year deducts $60. Refinancing with the same lender blocks the write-off of leftover points and rolls them into the new loan's term.

mike

real-estateproperty-managementtax-deductions

Return-to-Office Mandates Have Tax Consequences Too: Commuter Benefits, Office Deductions, and the Home-Office Write-Off Your Team Just Lost

Bringing staff back on-site changes payroll tax, benefits, and deductions at once. For 2026 the Section 132(f) exclusions are $340/month each for transit/vanpool and qualified parking, saving employers about 7.65% of every pre-tax dollar; W-2 employees can no longer deduct home-office costs, so route equipment through an accountable plan instead.

mike

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Still Paying Off School While Running Your Business? How the $2,500 Student Loan Interest Deduction Works in 2026

For tax year 2026 the student loan interest deduction is capped at $2,500, claimed above the line on Schedule 1, and phases out between $85,000 and $100,000 of MAGI for single filers and $175,000 to $205,000 for joint filers. This guide covers the five eligibility tests, what Form 1098-E does and does not report, and why self-employed borrowers cannot move the interest to Schedule C.

mike

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The New AI Side Hustle: Bookkeeping and Quarterly Taxes for RLHF and Data-Labeling Gig Income

AI data-labeling and RLHF gig income arrives with nothing withheld, so annotators owe 15.3 percent self-employment tax plus income tax on every payout and must pay quarterly estimates by the 2026 deadlines. This guide covers the 1099-NEC and 1099-K thresholds, the 90/100/110 percent safe-harbor rules, Schedule C deductions most annotators skip, and a 20-minute-a-month bookkeeping system for multi-platform payouts.

mike

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Thailand's 200% E-Tax Deduction: What Qualifies and What It Saves Through 2027

Thailand's Cabinet extended two digital-tax incentives through 31 December 2027 — a 200% deduction on e-Tax Invoice, e-Receipt and e-Withholding Tax spending, worth 40,000 baht of tax on 100,000 baht spent at the 20% corporate rate, and a flat 1% withholding rate on payments routed electronically, down from 2–5%. Here is what qualifies, what to segregate in your books, and why the implementing Royal Decree still needs checking before you claim.

mike

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