Articles
Plain-English answers to the tax and finance questions small business owners actually face.
Step-by-step guides
Not sure where to start on something bigger? Walk through it.
These are full walkthroughs, not single-topic explainers — ordered steps with the calculators built right in, and a checklist you can check off as you go.
The First-Year Setup Guide: S-Corp, Salary, and Quarterly Taxes
S-corp election decision, defensible W-2 salary, payroll setup, and a quarterly tax routine — with embedded calculators at each step.
GuideThe Busy Owner's DIY Tax Planning Guide
Set your S-corp salary correctly, calculate quarterly estimates, and build a proactive plan that eliminates April surprises.
GuideThe Business Owner's Cash & Distribution Strategy Guide
Build a distribution plan, move money out of the business efficiently, and start turning profitable years into a personal balance sheet.
GuideThe RSU & Stock Option Tax Coordination Guide
Coordinate RSU vesting, ISO/AMT exposure, and concentrated positions so your CPA and advisor are working from the same picture.
GuideThe Solo Service Pro's Tax Strategy Guide
SE tax break-even analysis, deductions most solo pros miss, the S-corp question answered with actual math, and a quarterly routine that eliminates April surprises.
GuideThe Business Owner's Payroll Tax Guide
Deposit schedules, the trust fund penalty, worker classification risk — what most owners with employees don't know until it's too late.
GuideThe Business Exit Tax Planning Guide
Asset sale vs. stock sale, QSBS eligibility, installment elections, and California exit tax — the decisions that determine how much you actually keep.
GuideThe First-Year Business Owner's Tax Guide
What self-employment tax is, how quarterly estimates work, the business foundation steps that protect you from April surprises, and the deductions available from day one.
GuideThe Solo Owner's Deductions and Tax Strategy Guide
QBI deduction, Solo 401(k), home office, vehicle, and SE health insurance — with calculators built in.
GuideHow to Set Up an S-Corp: The 60-Day Transition Guide
A step-by-step guide for sole proprietors and single-member LLCs making the switch to S-corp — Form 2553 timing, salary setup, payroll service selection, and quarterly tax rhythm.
Case studies
See the math applied to a real kind of business.
Composite examples — not real clients, since there’s no firm here to have any — with realistic numbers run through this site’s own calculators.
Case Study: A Custom Framing Shop Finds Out Labor Isn't Exempt
A one-room custom framing shop in Nevada City assumed sales tax only applied to the frame markup, not the hours spent fitting the piece. California disagrees — and the same growth that made the mistake bigger also opened up an S-corp election worth about $6,100 a year.
Case studyCase Study: A Walnut Creek Gym's Trainers Were Never Legally Contractors
A boutique fitness studio paid its trainers on 1099s for years — standard practice across the industry, and also not legal in California. Running the actual classification test, and the real cost of fixing it, changes the math less than the owner feared.
Case studyCase Study: A Growing Therapy Practice Loses the QBI Deduction It Was Counting On
A solo therapist in Boulder built a thriving private-pay practice, elected S-corp status, and assumed she'd get the same 20% pass-through deduction her business-owner friends talk about. Being a licensed health provider quietly took it away — and no amount of salary planning brings it back.
Case studyCase Study: A Sacramento Food Truck's Tax Rate Changes With Every Parking Spot
A food truck owner in Sacramento assumed one sales tax rate applied to every sale, wherever the truck parked that day. It doesn't — and a separate cold call from a cash-advance broker turned out to be the far more expensive problem.
Case studyCase Study: A Duplex Owner Runs the Numbers From Purchase to Sale
A Sacramento duplex bought for cash flow turns out to earn its keep three different ways — and almost none of it shows up as taxable income. Ten years of depreciation, one repairs-vs-improvements fight with a water heater, and the sale math that surprises everyone the first time.