Small Business Taxes

Business tax rules affect how you report income, claim deductions, pay estimated taxes, compensate owners, and make tax elections. This collection explains federal and Florida tax issues that commonly affect small businesses, self-employed taxpayers, LLCs, S corporations, and employers. Use these guides to understand tax forms, filing deadlines, payroll tax responsibilities, business deductions, asset purchases and sales, entity changes, and planning decisions. Each article helps you identify what to verify before filing, which records to keep, and when a business tax matter may require professional review.

LLC to S Corp: How the tax election works and what changes

If you already own an LLC, switching from LLC to S Corp usually means changing its federal tax treatment, not shutting it down and forming a corporation. Your business may remain an LLC under state law even though its LLC tax classification changes with the IRS. That election changes how you pay yourself and how […]

Florida sales tax: Rates, surtax, and filing rules for businesses

Florida sales tax looks simple because the general state rate is 6%. For a business, that percentage is only the starting point. County discretionary sales surtax can change the amount charged, and you first have to determine whether the transaction itself is taxable. The other side of the system is use tax, which can apply […]

Section 1231: A Valuable Tax Break With Two Key Rules

Section 1231 can give qualifying business property an unusual tax result: net gains may receive long-term capital-gain treatment, while net losses may receive ordinary-loss treatment. But sale price and holding period alone cannot tell you how a gain will be taxed. Depreciation recapture can make part of a gain ordinary income before you combine the […]

Form 1096: How to meet IRS Compliance & Avoid Penalties

Do you work with contractors or have employees receiving non-wage compensation? If so, you’ll likely need to file IRS Form 1096. This form serves as the cover sheet for other tax documents like form 1099. It provides the IRS with a summary and transmittal of U.S. paper filings. In this post, we’ll explain everything you need […]

Meals and Entertainment: Easily Identify What to Deduct

A client dinner, tickets to a sporting event, and an employee party may all feel like business expenses. They can produce very different deductions. Recording them together under meals and entertainment does not tell you how much you can claim on your tax return. What did you pay for? Generally, you can deduct 50% of […]

Small Business Tax Mistakes: How to avoid costly errors

Some tax problems are built into the numbers before anyone starts preparing the return. A personal charge may still be in the business books, a transaction may be missing, or an estimated payment may be unrecorded. Worker classification creates another problem because the label “contractor” does not decide the tax treatment. The return starts with […]

Estimated Tax Payments: How to Avoid IRS Penalties

Estimated tax payments can surprise you because the IRS isn’t only looking at what you owe in April. It also looks at when you paid. Federal income tax runs on a pay-as-you-go system, which means tax is usually supposed to be paid during the year as the income comes in. That’s where people get caught. […]

IRS Form 3949-A: How to Report Suspected Tax Fraud

The IRS estimates the gross tax gap for tax year 2022 at $696 billion. That number sounds massive because it is, but it needs context. The tax gap includes taxes that were not paid on time because of nonfiling, underreported income, and underpayment. It does not mean every unpaid dollar came from criminal fraud. Still, […]

IRS Schedule E: What Landlords Get Wrong Before Filing

Owning a rental property does not make tax reporting automatic. IRS Schedule E asks for more than rent collected and bills paid. Depreciation, repairs, improvements, personal use, and passive loss rules can change the profit or loss reported on your return. This is where landlords get stuck. A cost may look deductible but need to […]