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Can You Trust ChatGPT With Your Small Business Taxes? What a 2026 Head-to-Head AI Test Found
NerdWallet's 2026 test of ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity found all three chatbots nearly aced IRS exam-style tax questions but made costly errors on personalized advice — misstating the standard deduction by nearly $3,000, claiming an ineligible EV credit, and recommending the wrong filing state — showing AI is reliable for factual lookups but not for case-specific tax decisions.
Customs Broker and Freight Forwarder Bookkeeping: Duty Trust Funds, Drawback Recordkeeping, and Why an Import Duty Isn't Your Expense
Under 19 CFR 111.29, customs brokers must book client duty payments as liabilities, remit funds to CBP within five working days, and furnish a written accounting statement within 60 calendar days — a discipline that also protects duty drawback claims, which can recover up to 99% of duties paid on later-exported goods.
Property Management Trust Accounting: The Three-Way Reconciliation That Keeps You Out of Regulatory Trouble
Property management trust accounts require a monthly three-way reconciliation matching the bank balance, general ledger, and tenant sub-ledgers to the penny, and even a one-dollar variance is treated as a noncompliant account by state real estate regulators.
Auction House Bookkeeping: Consignor Trust Accounts and the Agent vs. Principal Trap Under ASC 606
Auction houses are agents under ASC 606, not principals — book buyer's premium and seller's commission as net revenue, segregate consignor funds in a trust account, and reserve for bidder default on Proxibid and HiBid online sales.
Funeral Home Bookkeeping: Preneed Trusts, FTC Funeral Rule, and ASC 606 for Death-Care Providers
Independent funeral homes prepay-then-perform service decades later, which creates preneed trust liabilities, ASC 606 deferred revenue, FTC Funeral Rule itemization requirements, and cash advance pass-throughs that off-the-shelf bookkeeping templates mishandle. This guide shows how to structure books that survive a state mortuary board audit, IRS review, and sale due diligence.
Real Estate Broker Trust Account Reconciliation: The Three-Way Match That Protects a License
A brokerage that commingles a single earnest money deposit can lose its license, even with no theft involved. Here is the three-way reconciliation between bank, general ledger, and client sub-ledgers that brokers use to comply with state escrow rules, document deposit handling, and stay audit-ready.
Section 685 Qualified Funeral Trusts: Making the QFT Election, Form 1041-QFT, and Reconciling State Pre-Need Rules
How funeral homes, cemeteries, and memorial providers use the IRC Section 685 election on Form 1041-QFT to tax pre-need trust income at per-contract individual brackets — and how to reconcile state pre-need rules, deferred revenue, and restricted trust assets on the operator's books.
The $15 Million Estate Tax Exemption Is Now Permanent: How High-Net-Worth Families Should Recalibrate SLATs, GRATs, and Lifetime Gifts in 2026
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act locks the federal estate, gift, and GST exemption at $15 million per individual with no sunset. Here is what changes for SLATs, GRATs, dynasty trusts, GST allocation, and basis planning in 2026 — and what to actually do this year.
Form 3520-A: The March 15 Deadline, Substitute Filings, and the 5% Section 6677 Penalty
Form 3520-A is the annual information return for a foreign trust with a U.S. owner, due March 15. If the foreign trustee does not file, Section 6677 imposes an initial 5% penalty on trust assets plus $10,000 per 30-day continuation period — payable by the U.S. owner. Covers who files, the substitute filing path, the reasonable-cause defense, and how to clean up multi-year non-compliance.
Crummey Letters and ILITs: How High-Net-Worth Families Keep Life Insurance Out of Their Taxable Estate
A working guide to ILITs and Crummey powers — covering Section 2042 incidents of ownership, the annual gift tax exclusion, the 5-or-5 rule, hanging powers, the Section 2035 three-year lookback, and the administrative discipline that keeps life insurance death benefits estate-tax-free.
IOLTA and Client Trust Accounting: Three-Way Reconciliation, Earned vs. Unearned Fees, and the Mistakes That End Careers
How law firms run IOLTA accounts under ABA Model Rule 1.15 — separating earned from unearned fees, matching the bank statement to the master ledger and per-client sub-ledgers in a three-way reconciliation, and avoiding the four commingling mistakes (firm money in trust, firm expenses from trust, earned fees left in trust, one client's funds covering another's disbursement) that drive most bar discipline cases.
The Three-Way Reconciliation: How Law Firms Keep Client Trust Money Separate and Stay Off the Disciplinary Docket
A three-way reconciliation ties the bank statement, the trust ledger, and the sum of every client sub-ledger into one agreeing number. This guide explains how it works, how to keep earned and unearned fees separate, and which bookkeeping mistakes quietly build into a bar disciplinary complaint.