Business Strategy & Marketing

Q: Does moving income through a licensing agreement between my S-Corp and a C-Corp safely reduce tax? A: Only if it’s real. The deal must serve a bona-fide business purpose, charge arm’s-length royalties / commissions, and be fully documented – otherwise the IRS can disallow the deduction and you could end up paying tax on […]

Q: Does pairing a C-Corp with an S-Corp actually lower your overall tax bill? A: Only in narrow cases. Splitting income lets you defer the second layer of C-Corp tax, but you must leave profits inside the C-Corp for years and avoid Accumulated Earnings Tax penalties. TL;DR Defers double taxation only if profits stay in […]

Q: Does the 21% corporate tax rate make a C-Corp cheaper than an S-Corp? A: No. After double taxation and lost pass-through benefits, most owners pay more overall with a C-Corp. TL;DR Corporate tax (21%) plus dividend tax (up to 23.8%) usually exceeds a top-bracket S-Corp rate. You lose the 20% QBI deduction and state […]

“How much you want to make a bet I can throw a football over them mountains? Yeah. If coach would’ve put me in fourth quarter…we’d have been state champions, no doubt. No doubt in my mind. You better believe things would have been different. I’d have gone pro…in a heartbeat. I’d be making millions of […]

“He was able to turn out thousands of paintings over his lifetime while his contemporaries were lucky to turn out a hundred” – Mike Michalowicz discussing Sir Peter Lely A while back I was talking with a friend and client (Mitch Wilder) about how I’ve been feeling increasingly underwater lately. The firm has continued to […]

“Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding. […] Much of your pain is self-chosen. It is the bitter potion by which the physician within you heals your sick self. Therefore trust the physician, and drink his remedy in silence and tranquility”  – On Pain by Kahlil Gibran   This past […]

2021 and all of its tax deadlines are upon us! Below is a quick guide of the most important dates to keep in mind this calendar year. January 15th: due date to pay 4th quarter estimated taxes. February 1st: Due date to send out 1099s and W-2s to recipients. Due date to file 1099-NECs (formerly […]

“I don’t think I ever sang the same way twice. And I don’t think I ever sang the same tempo. One night is a little bit slower and the next night is a little bit brighter. It depends on how I feel. I don’t know, blues is sort of a mixed-up thing. You just have […]

That was my absolute favorite song for most of my teenage years. I had a visceral reaction to it and it touched me on a deep level. Because it matched what I was going through at the time (or at least what I thought I was going through – “love” at that age is quite the mercurial thing.)

There’s a term in competitive gaming called “Elo hell”. The phrase comes from the Elo ranking system, which was originally created for chess matches in an attempt to match players of similar skillsets to play against each other. The ranking system has since been used by participants in board games, sports leagues, and a number […]

2020 and all of its tax deadlines are upon us! Below is a quick guide of the most important dates to keep in mind this calendar year. January 15th: due date to pay 4th quarter estimated taxes. January 31st: Due date to send out 1099s and W-2s to recipients. Due date to file 1099s/1096s with […]

“Facts are stubborn things, but statistics are pliable.” ― Mark Twain I’m a big proponent of tracking key metrics in your business. (For those unfamiliar with the term, a metric is simply a quantifiable measure that businesses use to track, monitor and assess the success or failure of various business processes). A large portion of my […]