The employee retention credit was one of the largest pandemic-era relief programs ever offered to American employers — and in 2026, it has become one of the most heavily scrutinized items in the tax system. The window to file a new claim is closed. The IRS enforcement window is very much open. For business owners who claimed the credit, the question is no longer “how much can I get?” It is “can my claim withstand an IRS audit — and what happens if it cannot?” This employee re

Stock options remain one of the most valuable — and most mishandled — forms of equity compensation for professionals across Irvine and Orange County. Unlike a salary, stock options create taxable events on your schedule: when you exercise, and again when you sell. Get the sequence right and much of your gain can be taxed at long-term capital gains rates. Get it wrong and you can owe ordinary income tax, trigger the alternative minimum tax, or quietly forfeit favorable treatme

If you own a construction company, you have probably experienced this: a major job closes out in December, the final invoice goes out, the payment hits in January — and suddenly your tax preparer tells you the entire profit on that job is taxable this year, even though most of the cash arrived next year. Or the opposite — you started a $2 million project in November, only finished foundation work by December 31, and now you owe tax on a profit that has not actually been earne

If you own a construction company, equipment is probably your largest annual capital expense. Excavators, skid steers, work trucks, trailers, scaffolding, generators, hand tools — every year you spend significant capital acquiring or replacing equipment to keep the business running. For 2026, the tax rules around how you deduct that equipment have changed significantly under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), signed into law on July 4, 2025. This guide is a plain-English

If you own an S-Corp, you have probably paid for business expenses out of your personal pocket — a portion of your home internet, your cell phone bill, mileage on your personal vehicle, your home office space. The question every S-Corp owner eventually asks: can the business reimburse me for those expenses, and is that reimbursement tax-free? The answer, under IRS rules, is yes — if you have an Accountable Plan reimbursement framework in place. An S-Corp Accountable Plan is a

If you are a self-employed business owner — running a marketing agency, consulting practice, law firm, medical practice, or any service business — your retirement plan choice is the single largest tax-deductible expense available to you each year. The two main options are the Solo 401(k) and the Defined Benefit Plan, and the IRS treats them very differently. This guide is a plain-English comparison using the actual 2026 IRS contribution limits published in IRS Notice 2025-67

Why Service Businesses Pay More Tax Than They Should — A Plain-English Guide for Marketing Agency Owners If you own a marketing agency, a consulting firm, a law firm, an accounting practice, or any other service business, you have probably noticed something at tax time: you pay a lot. More than your equipment-heavy or inventory-heavy peers. And no one ever really explains why. The reason is structural, not personal. The U.S. tax code is built around deductions for tangible th

If you own a law firm structured as an S-corporation and your gross income has grown significantly, the number that matters most to your personal tax bill is not revenue — it is the net income that flows through to your K-1. Every dollar on that K-1 is taxable income on your personal federal return and your California state return. For a law firm owner in Orange County earning $600,000 to $1,000,000 or more in gross S-corp income, the difference between an unplanned K-1 and a

Running a law firm in Orange County is one of the most financially complex positions a business owner can be in. As an attorney, you are simultaneously a licensed professional, a business owner, an employer, and in many cases a partner — each role carrying its own set of tax obligations, planning opportunities, and risks. Most law firm owners work with a tax preparer near me who handles the annual return. Far fewer work with a tax specialist near me who is looking at the busi

Tax Wealth Consultant | Enrolled Agent | Irvine & Whittier, CA | May 2026 Source: IRS.gov — IR-2025-111, November 13, 2025 — irs.gov/newsroom/401k-limit-increases-to-24500-for-2026-ira-limit-increases-to-7500 Every year, the IRS adjusts retirement account contribution limits based on inflation. For 2026, those limits have increased — and for California taxpayers in Irvine and Whittier, maximizing your IRA and 401(k) contributions is one of the most powerful tax planning strat