For tech professionals, executives, and other high earners across Irvine and Orange County, restricted stock units are often the largest single line of compensation — and the most misunderstood at tax time. RSU taxes arrive in two separate stages, the default tax withholding is frequently too low for high-bracket employees, and one common brokerage reporting quirk causes people to pay tax on the same income twice. This guide explains how RSU income is actually taxed, where th

If you own a California S-Corp, partnership, or LLC taxed as either one, the pass-through entity tax election — the PTET — has quietly been one of the most valuable moves available to business owners since 2021. It is an IRS-acknowledged workaround to the federal cap on deducting state taxes, and California just extended it through 2030. But 2026 is also the year the automatic answer went away: federal law raised the SALT deduction cap, and for some owners the math has genuin

Ask a high-income business owner what frustrates them most at tax time and the answer is usually the same: the contribution limits on ordinary retirement accounts feel almost irrelevant at their income level. Maxing out a 401(k) barely dents a seven-figure profit. There is a category of retirement plan built for exactly this situation — the defined benefit plan — and for the right owner it allows annual pre-tax contributions that routinely reach into six figures. It is one of

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

Many practice owners quietly pay business costs out of their own pocket, a home office, a personal cell phone used for work, mileage in their own car, and never get that money back in a tax-smart way. Others have the business reimburse them, but do it so informally that the IRS could treat every dollar as taxable wages. There is a right way to do this, and it is one of the cleaner tax tools available to an owner-employee: the accountable plan. Done correctly, it lets the busi

The S corporation is a popular structure for a good reason: it can reduce the employment taxes an owner pays on business profits. But that benefit rests entirely on getting one thing right, and it is the thing the IRS scrutinizes most closely: reasonable compensation. An S-corp owner who works in the business must pay themselves a reasonable salary before taking profit distributions. Set that salary correctly and the strategy is legitimate and valuable. Set it wrong, and the

One of the most common questions a business owner has at year-end is a simple one with a costly wrong answer: when is a payment actually taxed? If a client pays you in December for work you will not finish until the following year, is that this year's income or next year's? Under cash basis accounting, the answer often surprises people. This guide explains how the cash method recognizes income, sourced to the IRS rules, so you understand when a payment becomes taxable and can

For a high-earning practice owner, a 401(k) alone often does little against a tax bill driven by strong practice income, because the contribution limits on ordinary retirement accounts are relatively low. There is another type of qualified retirement plan designed for owners who want to set aside larger, deductible amounts: the defined benefit plan. This guide explains how a defined benefit plan works, what the IRS permits in 2026, and the rules and obligations that come with

The qualified business income deduction, known as the QBI deduction or the Section 199A deduction, is one of the most valuable tax breaks available to owners of pass-through businesses. It can allow a deduction of up to 20% of business income. But whether you actually receive the full 20%, a reduced amount, or nothing at all depends on your income and the type of business you run, and the rules changed in important ways for 2026. This guide explains how the QBI deduction work