Practical notes on books, taxes, and the decisions in between.
Short pieces on the things that come up.
Year-end tax moves to make before December 31
September 2026The individual tax planning decisions that have to happen before the calendar turns, and the handful that can still wait until you file.
Read the postThe mid-year check-in that prevents an April surprise
September 2026Most tax surprises trace back to something that happened in June and never got looked at again until the return was already due. Here's the fix, and it takes less time than people assume.
Read the postWhat bad bookkeeping actually costs you
September 2026Catching up later is the obvious cost. Bad books also cost you in decisions you didn't realize you were making on bad information.
Read the postBackdoor Roth, explained without the jargon
August 2026If you make too much to contribute to a Roth IRA directly, there's a legal workaround. It only stays clean if you do it in the right order, and check one thing first.
Read the postYour refund isn't a bonus. It's a loan you gave the government, interest-free
August 2026A big refund feels good. It also usually means you handed over more of your paycheck all year than you owed, and got none of it back until now.
Read the postThe 529 mistake that costs Georgia parents a real tax break
July 2026Funding the wrong account, or waiting until the last week of December and missing the processing cutoff, is more common than you'd think. Here's how the Georgia deduction actually works.
Read the postWhat actually happens tax-wise when you sell land
July 2026Land doesn't depreciate, so the tax question is simpler than selling a rental, but the basis math still trips people up. Here's the short version.
Read the postYour LLC isn't doing what you think it's doing
June 2026An LLC is a legal structure, not a tax status. A lot of business owners run for years without realizing those are actually two separate decisions.
Read the postYour S-corp salary isn't a "set it and forget it" number
June 2026The IRS calls it reasonable compensation, and it's supposed to move as your business does. Here's what actually goes into that number, and why last year's isn't automatically this year's.
Read the postThe point where an S-corp actually starts saving you money
May 2026Everyone asks about the S-corp election eventually. The honest answer depends on one number, your net profit, not on what worked for someone else.
Read the postGeorgia's pass-through entity tax election, revisited
April 2026The workaround for the federal SALT deduction cap has been around a few years now. For a lot of S-corp and partnership owners, it's still worth doing, if the election gets made on time.
Read the postWhy quarterly estimated taxes catch people off guard
April 2026If last year was better than the one before it, your old estimate schedule is probably already wrong. Here's what actually triggers the underpayment penalty, and how to stay ahead of it.
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