The Business Owner’s Tax Planning Guide
Nine strategy areas that decide whether you overpay, the California layer most online advice gets wrong, and a 12-point self-check.
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Guides, articles, and industry pages covering the planning questions business owners ask us most. All free, jargon-free, none of it gated behind a sales call.
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The Stress-Free Tax Filing Checklist
Every document to gather before filing season, the deductions rushed returns miss, and a timeline that ends without April surprises.
Get the guideThe Attorney’s Guide to Tax Planning
Why law practice income is taxed like almost nothing else: entity rules, partner K-1s, contingency-fee spikes, and the deductions attorneys miss.
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Short reads on the questions that come up before someone becomes a client.
How to choose a tax advisor in Palos Verdes (2026)
On the Peninsula, the largest tax decision a household faces is often the sale of a home it has owned for twenty years. The right advisor is the one who starts that conversation early.
Read the articleHow to choose a tax advisor in Torrance (2026)
Search for a tax advisor in Torrance and the titles blur together. For a business owner, the choice decides whether anyone looks at your numbers before the year closes.
Read the articleIs a home office deduction an IRS audit red flag?
Many business owners skip the home office deduction because they think it invites an audit, or because they also rent an office. Neither has to stop you. Here are the IRS tests, the mileage rule that comes with them, and the records that back it all up.
Read the articleCharitable donation rules changed in 2026. Here is what a gift is now worth
Two new federal limits take a bite out of charitable deductions starting in 2026. The gift is the same; the tax savings are smaller. Here is how to size them before year end.
Read the articleThe new $1,700 federal scholarship tax credit, explained
Congress created a federal credit that pays you back dollar for dollar for donating to K-12 scholarship organizations. The IRS has now proposed the rules, and California residents can use it even though California has not signed up.
Read the articleHow much of a business loss can you actually use in 2026?
Creating a loss is a common way to cut a high tax bill, but only part of a large loss counts in the year you create it. For 2026 the federal cap on that part went down, and California is likely to land somewhere else.
Read the articleWhat are your chances of being audited by the IRS?
The IRS publishes exactly how many returns it audits each year, broken down by income. The numbers are lower than most business owners fear, higher than you might like at the top, and they separate a real audit from the far more common mismatch letter.
Read the articleIs real estate really the right tax strategy for you?
More business owners are asking about real estate as a way to cut taxes - real estate professional status, short-term rentals, cost segregation. These can work. They are not always the right move, and the reasons are worth understanding before you buy.
Read the articleYear-end tax planning for South Bay business owners
Every December the same question arrives: what should I buy before the 31st? It is the wrong question, and the arithmetic shows why in about ten seconds.
Read the articleTax planning for Palos Verdes business owners
Most Palos Verdes business owners run their companies down the hill and their tax planning out of a filing folder. By the time the return is prepared, every decision that mattered is closed.
Read the articleThe $100K rule is the wrong test for an S-corp election
Once your profit hits $100,000, you should become an S corp. We have seen business owners well past $100,000 for whom it made no sense, and business owners nowhere near it for whom it made a great deal of sense. Profit is not the test.
Read the articleGood lawyer, no tax plan: 6 costly mistakes California law firm owners make
You can be an excellent attorney and still have no real tax plan. Here are the six gaps we see most often in California law practices, and what closes them.
Read the articleWhen should you start tax planning?
The honest answer is now, whatever today’s date is. That is not a sales line, it is a statement about how much of the year is still yours to change.
Read the articleTax planning vs. tax preparation: what is the difference?
The two get sold as one package, but they are done at different times and have very different effects on what you pay. Confusing them is why business owners overpay for years.
Read the articleThe best tax planning firms for small and mid-sized businesses (and how to tell them apart)
There’s a difference between someone who files your taxes and someone who plans them. Most business owners are paying for the first and assuming they’re getting the second.
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