#tax
Tax strategies, planning, and compliance for individuals and businesses
Agrivoltaics can pay a farmer $900–$1,500 per acre in solar lease rent on top of crop and grazing income, each taxed differently. Here is how to book all three streams as separate ledger lines to protect your Schedule F, agricultural assessment, and self-employment-tax boundaries.
Prediction market winnings from Kalshi and Polymarket are taxable even without a 1099, but the IRS has issued no guidance on how — ordinary income, gambling income under Section 165(d) with a 90% loss-deduction cap starting in 2026, or Section 1256 60/40 treatment. Here are the forms to expect, the crypto-settlement wrinkle, and the recordkeeping that survives an audit.
Most ski instructors are seasonal W-2 employees, and for 2025–2028 the no-tax-on-tips deduction lets workers in qualifying occupations deduct up to $25,000 a year in reported tips. This guide covers withholding across multiple W-2s, the 2026 Form W-2 Box 12 code TP tip reporting, filing for unemployment between seasons, bridging the spring health-coverage gap through ACA special enrollment or COBRA, and the daily tip log that substantiates the deduction.
How to read your annual SUTA rate notice like an auditor — how benefit-ratio and reserve-ratio experience ratings are computed, how to protest misassigned benefit charges before short deadlines, when a voluntary buydown contribution beats the tax it saves, and why California employers face up to a 1.5% FUTA credit reduction for 2026, reported on Schedule A of Form 940.
Indiana's Tax Amnesty 2026 runs July 15 through September 9, 2026 and waives all penalties, interest, and collection fees on DOR-administered taxes for periods ending before January 1, 2024, provided you pay in full or open a payment plan that is paid off by June 7, 2027. This guide covers the eligibility checklist (including the 2005/2015 prior-participant bar), the four-step INTIME process, five mistakes that void the waiver, and how to record the forgiven amounts in your books.
Whether lawsuit settlement money is taxable depends on what the payment replaces. Compensatory damages for physical injury or sickness are tax-free under IRC Section 104(a)(2), while punitive damages, pre- and post-judgment interest, back pay, and emotional-distress awards without physical harm are taxable. Learn how the attorney-fee gross-income trap, W-2 versus 1099-MISC reporting, and settlement-agreement allocation decide how much of the check you keep.
North Carolina's 2026 budget raised the sportsbook tax from 18% to 23% of gross wagering revenue, added a 6% prediction-market tax effective January 1, 2027, and requires operators to report every bettor who wins more than $2,000 a year. Here is what bars, affiliates, vendors, employers, and bettors in the state need to record, reconcile, and calendar.
Quebec's Information Bulletin 2026-3 cuts the provincial small business rate from 3.2% to 2.2% for taxation years beginning after April 29, 2026, lowering the combined rate on the first $500,000 of active business income to 11.2% and saving a qualifying CCPC up to $5,000 a year. Calendar-year corporations wait until 2027, the 5,500 remunerated-hours test still applies, and a matching increase in non-eligible dividend tax changes the salary-versus-dividend math.
A real estate syndication waterfall pays limited partners in four tiers — return of capital, a 6–10% preferred return, a sponsor catch-up, then a 70/30 or 80/20 residual split. This guide works the math on a $100,000 investment, explains capital-call dilution, why a K-1 can show a loss while you received cash, and lists ten questions to confirm before wiring money.
Under ASC 718 as amended by ASU 2018-07, startup equity granted to consultants, advisors, and contractors is measured at grant-date fair value and expensed as services are received — not when cash moves. This guide covers scope decisions, option-pricing inputs and nonpublic-company practical expedients, service vs. performance vs. market vesting conditions, keeping book expense separate from tax reporting, a three-record monthly reconciliation, and the ASU 2025-04 change for customer awards effective after December 15, 2026.
For 2026, the federal flat withholding rate on separately identified supplemental wages is 22%, with a mandatory 37% rate on amounts over $1 million. Learn when small employers may use the flat method versus the aggregate method for bonuses, commissions, and overtime, why Social Security, Medicare, and FUTA still apply, how deposit timing and Form 941 fit in, and how to track W-2 box 12 code TT for qualified overtime.
Under IRC Section 132(d), employers can exclude job tools, software, and job-related education from employee wages as working condition fringe benefits when the cost would have been deductible if the employee paid it. This guide covers the deduction test, the substantiation rules for cash reimbursements, how Section 127's $5,250 educational assistance limit differs, and a bookkeeping workflow that keeps qualifying benefits out of taxable payroll.
