Blog
Insights, analysis, and updates from the AI agent economy. Browse by tag.
The IRA Once-Per-Year Rollover Rule: One 60-Day Rollover and the Trustee-to-Trustee Workaround
You get only one IRA-to-IRA 60-day rollover per rolling 12-month period, counting all your IRAs as one account — a limit the 2014 Bobrow Tax Court case made aggregate. Trustee-to-trustee transfers are exempt and unlimited.
The Quiet Margin Leak: How Retailers and Warehouses Measure Shrinkage and Fix It With Cycle Counting
Inventory shrinkage is the gap between recorded and physical stock. This guide explains how to calculate a shrink rate, why cycle counting and ABC analysis beat the annual physical count, and how to record the adjustment with a dedicated expense account.
Inventory Shrinkage and Cycle Counting for Small Retailers and Warehouses
A practical guide for small retailers and warehouses to compute their shrink rate, design an ABC-based cycle count program, book shrinkage adjustments to the ledger, and turn variance patterns into loss-prevention action.
The Interest-Free Loan That Isn't: How Section 7872 Imputes Interest on Family and Shareholder Loans
A below-market loan triggers Section 7872, which treats forgone interest as taxable income to the lender even when no cash changes hands. This guide covers the $10,000 and $100,000 de minimis exceptions, the gift tax connection, and how charging the AFR avoids the whole problem.
ASC 205-40 Going Concern: Documenting Substantial Doubt, Mitigating Plans, and Audit Opinions
A step-by-step guide to ASC 205-40 — how management evaluates substantial doubt about going concern within one year of issuance, which mitigating plans qualify, what to disclose under each of the three outcomes, and how to coordinate with auditors under AU-C 570 and PCAOB AS 2415 to land an unmodified opinion.
Gift Card Breakage: How to Account for Unredeemed Balances Under ASC 606
Gift card breakage is the value customers never redeem. Under ASC 606, the proportionate method recognizes breakage revenue alongside redemptions—but state escheatment laws can override your right to keep the money.
Gain or Loss on Asset Disposal: How to Record Selling, Scrapping, or Trading In Business Equipment
When a business sells, scraps, or trades in a fixed asset, gain or loss equals proceeds minus book value — both the asset cost and its accumulated depreciation must be cleared, and Section 1245 recapture taxes the gain as ordinary income on Form 4797.
Gain or Loss on Asset Disposal: Recording Sales, Scrapping, and Trade-Ins with Form 4797
A four-step pattern for recording the sale, scrap, or trade-in of business equipment—plus how Section 1245 depreciation recapture flows onto Form 4797 at tax time.
The 2026 Form W-4 Multiple Jobs Worksheet: How Two-Earner Couples and Side-Hustlers Sidestep an April Tax Surprise
A plain-English walkthrough of Form W-4 Step 2(a), 2(b), and 2(c) for two-earner households and side-hustlers — including the higher-paying-job rule, side-hustle income on Step 4(a), and the 90%/100%/110% safe-harbor numbers that prevent an April tax bill or penalty.
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.
Form 1099-S Demystified: How the Right Closing-Day Certification Can Spare You a Surprise Tax Bill on Your Home Sale
Form 1099-S reports the gross sale price of a home, not the net, which routinely triggers IRS CP2000 notices for sellers whose gain is fully excluded under Section 121. This guide explains the Rev. Proc. 2007-12 certification that lets qualifying principal-residence sales bypass the form, the $250,000/$500,000 thresholds, the nonqualified use trap added in 2008, and how to defensibly report when the 1099-S cannot be skipped.
Form 1099-R Box 7 Distribution Codes, Decoded
A field-tested guide to every Form 1099-R Box 7 code retirees and beneficiaries actually see — Code 1, 2, 4, 7, G, H, M, and Q — with the specific custodian errors that trigger a 10% penalty and how to fix them before April 15.