#tax
Tax
Tax strategies, planning, and compliance for individuals and businesses
Section 162(l) Self-Employed Health Insurance Deduction: A 2026 Guide for Sole Proprietors, Partners, and S-Corp Shareholders
Section 162(l) lets self-employed taxpayers deduct 100% of medical, dental, vision, Medicare, and long-term care premiums above the line on Schedule 1, Line 17 via Form 7206. This guide covers the earned-income ceiling, the subsidized-employer trap, the S-corp W-2 inclusion step, and the ACA Premium Tax Credit iteration for the 2026 tax year.
Section 162(m) and the $1 Million Cap: Why Your Covered Employee List Is About to Get a Lot Longer in 2026
Section 162(m) caps a public company's federal deduction for executive pay at $1 million per person. Starting in 2026, OBBBA aggregates compensation across the IRC § 414 controlled group — including partnerships and LLCs — and the ARPA expansion adds the five highest-paid employees to the covered list in 2027.
Section 197 Amortization of Intangibles: How Buyers Write Off Goodwill, Customer Lists, and Non-Competes Over 15 Years
Section 197 lets buyers in U.S. asset acquisitions amortize goodwill, customer lists, non-competes, and other intangibles ratably over 180 months. This guide covers the eight qualifying categories, Form 8594 allocation across Classes I–VII, the pooling rule, and anti-churning traps that can wipe out the deduction.
Section 6694 Tax Preparer Penalties: How Unreasonable Positions, Willful Conduct, and Section 6695 Due Diligence Failures Cost CPAs and EAs Real Money
Section 6694 imposes preparer penalties of $1,000 or 50% of fees for unreasonable positions, escalating to $5,000 or 75% for willful or reckless conduct. Section 6695(g) adds roughly $650 per EITC, CTC, AOTC, or head-of-household failure on every return. Here is how CPAs and EAs document, disclose, and defend their way out of them.
Trader Tax Status and the Section 475(f) Mark-to-Market Election: How Active Traders Escape the Wash Sale Rule and the $3,000 Capital Loss Cap
Active traders can convert capital losses into ordinary deductions and eliminate the wash sale rule by filing a Section 475(f) mark-to-market election — but the statement must be attached to the prior year's April 15 return. A working guide to qualifying for trader tax status, the three big benefits of the election, Form 3115 mechanics, and the mistakes that invalidate it.
Trump Accounts 2026: The $1,000 Federal Seed and $5,000 Annual Cap, Explained
Trump Accounts are a new tax-deferred children's savings vehicle created by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Children born 2025–2028 receive a one-time $1,000 federal seed, families can contribute up to $5,000 per year, and employers can add $2,500 tax-free per employee — but the deposit requires filing Form 4547.
529-to-Roth IRA Rollover Under SECURE 2.0: Turning $35,000 of Unused College Savings into Tax-Free Retirement Money
A practitioner's guide to the SECURE 2.0 Act's 529-to-Roth IRA rollover — the five hard rules, the $35,000 lifetime cap, the state-tax traps in California, Indiana, and Massachusetts, and five strategic plays for converting unused college savings into tax-free retirement money.
529-to-Roth IRA Rollover Under SECURE 2.0: Turning Unused College Savings into Tax-Free Retirement
SECURE 2.0 lets families roll up to $35,000 of unused 529 funds into the beneficiary's Roth IRA tax-free. Here are the six rules every rollover must satisfy, the two mistakes that turn it taxable, the state-level traps, and the four strategies that make the rule genuinely useful.
Cost Segregation Studies: Reclassifying Building Components Into 5, 7, and 15-Year Lives for Front-Loaded Tax Savings
A cost segregation study uses engineering-based analysis to move 20–45% of a building's basis from 27.5- or 39-year straight-line into 5, 7, and 15-year MACRS classes. Combined with the 100% bonus depreciation permanently restored by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act for property placed in service after January 19, 2025, real estate investors can convert a routine $91,000 first-year deduction into roughly $766,000 — provided they clear IRC §469 passive activity loss limits via real estate professional status, the short-term rental rule, or passive income offsets.
Fiscal Sponsorship Explained: Run a Tax-Deductible Charitable Project Without Forming Your Own 501(c)(3)
A practical guide to fiscal sponsorship — how Model A (9–15% fees) and Model C (4–10% fees) differ, how donations flow legally, what an agreement must cover, and when a project should graduate to its own 501(c)(3).
Hobby or Business? The IRS Section 183 Nine-Factor Test for 2026
How the IRS Section 183 nine-factor test decides whether your side activity's losses are deductible in 2026, what the three-of-five safe harbor really means, and what 2025's Young v. Commissioner reveals about the records that win in Tax Court.
Installment Sales and Form 6252: Spreading Capital Gain Across Future Years
How IRC Section 453 and Form 6252 let sellers spread capital gain on seller-financed real estate or business sales across the years payments arrive — including the gross profit percentage formula, the depreciation recapture trap, the Section 453A interest charge on installment balances above $5 million, and when to elect out.