Tax insights
beyond the return.
Practical updates on R&D credits, international tax, multi-state compliance, and founder tax — the questions founders actually ask, answered in plain English.
Featured
Your office lunch just got more expensive
From January 2026, most employer-provided office meals stop being deductible — while client meals, entertainment, and company parties each follow a different rule. What changed, and what to track.
Trump Accounts: a rare tax win for employers
Employers can put up to $2,500 a year into an employee’s child’s account — deductible to the company, tax-free to the employee. When it beats a bonus, and how to set it up.
To 83(b) or not to 83(b)
For founders with restricted stock or early-exercised options, a timely 83(b) election can move future gain from ordinary income to capital gain — and start the QSBS clock. The 30-day deadline, the common mistakes, and what to check.
The AMT ambush
Why exercising your ISOs can trigger a tax bill on stock you can't sell yet — the phantom-income problem, the 83(b) fix, staggering exercises, and the credit you recover later.
Contractors are easy — until January
What to get right before you pay your first contractor — worker classification, the W-9 and 1099-NEC paperwork, foreign-contractor forms, and state nexus.
The reimbursement loophole that's actually allowed
How to reimburse business expenses without creating payroll-tax problems — what an accountable plan is, and how to set one up.
Congratulations, you're hired
Why C corporation founders usually need a W-2. If you're an officer of a C corporation and actively working in the business, federal payroll rules generally treat you as a W-2 employee — the narrow exceptions, and how to stay clean.
The §174 election, two years later: what we're actually seeing
Most software companies won't need to amend prior returns. The short list of situations where we'd actually change course — and how we tell the difference.
LLC vs. S corp: the real tax-savings breakdown
When electing S corp status actually saves a sole proprietor money — the self-employment math, reasonable salary, QBI, the state curveballs, and the filing deadline.
Setting up your IRS Business Tax Account
Who qualifies for the IRS Business Tax Account portal, what you can do, and how access changes by entity type — officers, shareholders, partners, sole props, and LLCs.
EINs for foreign-owned businesses: when you need one
When a foreign entity actually needs an EIN, who's eligible without an SSN, and how to apply on Form SS-4 — plus how it differs from an ITIN.
NY tax incentives for emerging technology companies
A refundable employment credit and a capital credit for investors. Who qualifies as a QETC — and what to check before you claim.
Hiring your first contractor in the UK: the five questions to ask first
Permanent establishment, payroll registration, IR35. The questions we wish founders asked us before the offer letter went out — not after.
How founders quietly blow their §1202 exemption
The five-year clock, the active-business test, the $50M asset cap. The small moves that cost millions at exit — and when we catch them.
Should your business accept crypto payments?
One question from a board observer, answered overnight: modeled both ways, with a one-page reply the founder could forward by morning. No deck, no fee.
GitHub is not an R&D study
Project descriptions, time tracking, contractor classification. The three things we ask for up front — and why reconstructing them later never holds.
Is your SaaS taxable? The states that changed their minds in 2026
Washington, Texas, Tennessee, and the slow drift toward taxing software. Where the rules moved this year, and where they're about to.