The farmer's March 1 rule was March 2 this year
Two-thirds from farming, file and pay in full, skip estimated tax — on a date that shifts.
Read the articleClear answers. Better habits.
Practical articles for independent workers who want to understand the forms, keep useful records, and arrive at filing season prepared.
Health is a specified service business. Your 20% deduction has a ceiling.
Health is a specified service trade or business. Above the threshold, the deduction phases out to nothing.
Read the articleHalf the 1099s small businesses send should never have been sent
Card payments and corporations are usually somebody else's problem, or nobody's.
Read the articleForm 1099-DA shows what you sold for. It may not show what you paid.
The form reports what you sold for. Whether it reports what you paid depends on what you sold.
Read the articleYour meals are 80% deductible, not 50% — and Form 2290 is not tied to your registration
Hours-of-service drivers get 80% on meals. And Form 2290 follows first use, not registration.
Read the articleYour brokerage's 1099 may be bigger than your commission cheque
Split, desk fees and franchise cuts can sit between the form's total and your deposit.
Read the articleRetainage is money you earned and have not received. That difference is the whole question.
Withheld draws are not income until you can actually get at them. The test is narrower than it sounds.
Read the articleThe 50-mile rule is not in the tax code. Your tax home is.
Publication 463 never mentions it. Your tax home is what actually decides whether stipends are taxable.
Read the articleThe notary exemption covers your notarial acts — not your whole signing fee
Notarial acts escape self-employment tax. Printing, travel and courier work in the same signing do not.
Read the articleYour 1099-NEC has new boxes this year. Do not add them up.
Cash tips and overtime now get their own boxes — carved out of box 1a, not added to it.
Read the articleYour card processor has no 1099-K threshold at all
$20,000 and 200 transactions covers payment apps. Card processors have no threshold whatsoever.
Read the article$600 or $2,000? Both are right — for different years
Which threshold belongs to which tax year — and why one blanket answer gets you wrong twice.
Read the articleNo 1099 arrived. You still owe the tax.
Thresholds decide what your payers must send. They decide nothing about what you owe.
Read the article1099-NEC, 1099-K, or 1099-MISC: which one describes your money?
NEC, K and MISC report different things. Telling them apart stops you counting the same payment twice.
Read the articleA simple system for organizing 1099 income
Forms, deposits, cash, and digital payments — brought together without double-counting.
Read the articleWhat belongs in a useful mileage log?
The small details that make a driving record easier to explain later.
Read the articleEstimated taxes without the quarterly scramble
A calm routine for reviewing income and preparing for payment dates.
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