Most taxpayers think about audits only after an envelope from the IRS shows up. By then, the outcome is already largely decided — not by what you say to the examiner, but by what records you kept two or three years ago. An audit is not an accusation. It is a request to prove what you reported. Taxpayers who lose audits usually did not cheat; they simply cannot substantiate a deduction they were entitled to, or they cannot explain a bank deposit that was never income in the fi

When a business owner sells, the headline number is the purchase price. The number that actually matters is what’s left after tax, and that depends less on the price than on how the price is characterized. Two sellers can close identical $2 million deals and walk away with after-tax proceeds that differ by tens of thousands of dollars, simply because one negotiated the allocation and the other signed whatever the buyer’s attorney drafted. In an asset sale, the IRS doesn’t see

Opening an IRS notice and seeing a penalty tacked onto your balance is stressful, whether it’s on your personal return or your company’s. The good news: many penalties aren’t final. The IRS has formal relief programs that can remove late-filing, late-payment, and late-deposit penalties, sometimes with a single phone call. This process is called penalty abatement, and knowing the basics can save you hundreds or even thousands of dollars. What Is Penalty Abatement? Penalty abat

A losing year in your business isn't just bad news to survive — it's a tax attribute to manage. Between basis limits, at-risk rules, passive activity restrictions, the excess business loss cap, and the net operating loss (NOL) rules that pick up whatever's left, a single loss can pass through four or five separate gauntlets before it actually reduces your tax bill. And thanks to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), signed into law in July 2025, one of those gauntlets just

Selling a stock, a rental property, a piece of equipment, or shares in a small business? The sale itself is often the easy part — it's the reporting afterward that trips people up. Small errors on your tax return can lead to IRS notices, overpaid tax, or penalties that were entirely avoidable. Here are the most common asset sale reporting mistakes we see, and how to steer clear of them.

For business owners, estimated taxes are rarely a flat, once-a-quarter math problem. Between S-corp reasonable compensation, Schedule K-1 timing, seasonal revenue swings, and California's own overlay of rules, a generic “pay 25% each quarter” approach almost always gets it wrong — either tying up cash you need for the business or quietly building toward an underpayment penalty. This week, we're walking through how to build an actual estimated tax model instead of a guess.

If you're a U.S. person receiving income from abroad, or a foreign person earning income connected to the U.S., withholding rules can catch you off guard. Getting the basics right now can prevent notices, penalties, and cash-flow surprises later.

Putting your spouse, child, or parent on the payroll is one of the most common — and most misunderstood — small business tax moves. Done correctly, family employment can shift income to lower tax brackets, unlock retirement plan contributions for a minor, and even eliminate certain payroll taxes entirely. Done carelessly, it's one of the fastest ways to draw an IRS examination, because the family relationship itself is a built-in audit flag.

Estimated taxes aren't just an IRS formality — they're one of the simplest tools you have to stay ahead of your tax bill instead of chasing it. Here's why we bring this up every quarter, plus a quick quiz to see where you stand.

New York City skyline representing shadow payroll and cross-border tax compliance for global employees If you have a client who's working across borders — a US employee on assignment in London, a UK national temporarily in a New York office, or an executive splitting time between two countries — chances are “shadow payroll” has come up in conversation. It sounds like something out of a spy movie, but it's actually one of the most common (and most misunderstood) tools in globa

Passive activity loss rules quietly limit how much rental and passive losses you can deduct each year. This week's Tax Tip Tuesday breaks down the income phase-outs, Real Estate Professional Status traps, and documentation gaps that turn a legitimate loss into an audit flag.

The PTE election sounds technical, but the idea is simple: let your business pay a piece of your California tax so you can deduct it federally without a cap. Here's a plain-English breakdown of how it works and who it's for.

Organizational chart showing multiple connected business entities — MKHS Tax Group blog on multi-entity structures and IRS scrutiny If your business has grown to include more than one entity — an operating company, a holding company, maybe a separate property LLC — you're not doing anything wrong. Multi-entity structures are common, often advisable, and frequently the smartest way to separate liability, isolate assets, and plan for growth. But it's worth understanding how the

Most business owners have never heard of the Augusta Rule — a tax provision that lets you rent your own home to your business for up to 14 days a year, with the rental income excluded from your personal taxes entirely. This week's Tax Tip Tuesday breaks down how it works, who qualifies, and why the size of your home changes the math.

Basis is one of the most important numbers in your tax life — and one of the most consistently ignored.

The home office deduction is one of the most misunderstood — and most scrutinized — deductions on a tax return. I see it come up constantly in client conversations, and the same question surfaces every time: "Is it really worth claiming? Will it trigger an audit?" The honest answer? Done right, the home office deduction is completely legitimate and worth claiming. Done wrong, it's a red flag that can invite exactly the kind of IRS attention you want to avoid.

If you own an S corporation and take distributions, there's one number the IRS watches more closely than almost any other: your salary. Specifically, whether it's reasonable. Getting this wrong isn't just a technicality — it's one of the most common (and costly) audit triggers for small business owners. What Is Reasonable Compensation? The IRS requires that S-corporation shareholder-employees who perform services for the company pay themselves a reasonable salary before takin

LLC or S Corp? The right answer depends on your profit level, your appetite for paperwork, and your California tax picture. Take this 5-question quiz to cut through the noise.

If you've been following the saga of beneficial ownership information (BOI) reporting under the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA), here's an update worth paying attention to: Congress is making a move to permanently eliminate the requirement for domestic companies.

You already know audits are a numbers game — the IRS targets returns where the revenue potential justifies the cost of examination. What that means in practice: as your income scales, so does your audit exposure. The question isn’t whether to take deductions. It’s whether your positions are structured to survive scrutiny without giving the IRS a foothold to expand the scope. Here’s what audit-proofing actually looks like at the high-income level — beyond the basics. Know What