#guides
Guides
Step-by-step guides for accounting, bookkeeping, and financial tasks
The IRA Once-Per-Year Rollover Rule: One 60-Day Rollover and the Trustee-to-Trustee Workaround
You get only one IRA-to-IRA 60-day rollover per rolling 12-month period, counting all your IRAs as one account — a limit the 2014 Bobrow Tax Court case made aggregate. Trustee-to-trustee transfers are exempt and unlimited.
The SBA 8(a) Program in 2026: A Survival Guide to Federal Set-Asides After the Ultima Reset
A practical guide to qualifying for the SBA 8(a) Business Development Program in 2026 — the $850,000 personal net worth, $400,000 three-year average AGI, and $6.5 million asset caps, the post-Ultima social disadvantage standard, $7M and $4.5M sole-source thresholds, and how to survive the nine-year graduation clock without losing certification.
Circular 230 for Tax Professionals: Conflicts, Section 10.34 Standards, and Avoiding OPR Suspension
A practitioner's walkthrough of Circular 230—Sections 10.22, 10.29, 10.34, 10.36, 10.37, and 10.51—covering conflicts of interest, return-position standards, written-advice hygiene, and how OPR investigations actually proceed.
Form 1310 Demystified: How Surviving Spouses, Executors, and Heirs Cash a Deceased Taxpayer's Final Refund Without Triggering a Year-Long IRS Delay
Form 1310 is the IRS form survivors use to claim a deceased taxpayer's refund. This guide explains who must file, the three Part I claimant boxes, the documents to attach (and the one to keep), and how to avoid the 6–12 month delays that trap most paper filers.
Form 8300: Reporting Cash Transactions Over $10,000 for Car Dealers, Jewelers, Real Estate, and Attorneys
Form 8300 requires businesses to report cash payments over $10,000 within 15 days. This guide covers who must file, what counts as cash (including cashier's checks under $10,000), the 24-hour and 12-month aggregation rules, structuring penalties up to $31,000 per form, and the industry traps that hit car dealers, jewelers, real estate operators, and attorneys.
Section 471(c) Inventory Exception: The $32M Rule That Lets Small Businesses Skip UNICAP
For tax year 2026, businesses with a three-year average of gross receipts at or below $32 million can elect Section 471(c) to skip UNICAP, treat inventory as non-incidental materials and supplies, and file Form 3115 — often producing a one-time Section 481(a) deduction in the year of change.
The Section 691(c) Deduction: How IRA Beneficiaries Recover Estate Tax
Beneficiaries of taxable estates can claim a Section 691(c) income tax deduction for federal estate tax already paid on inherited IRAs and other IRD assets. This guide covers eligibility, the with-and-without calculation, where to claim it on Schedule A, and the errors that cost families six figures.
Section 7345 and the CP508C: How the IRS Can Revoke Your Passport and How to Get It Back
Section 7345 lets the IRS certify a "seriously delinquent" tax debt — roughly $66,000 in 2026 — to the State Department, which can deny, refuse to renew, or revoke a U.S. passport. This guide explains how the CP508C notice works, the five practical paths to decertification, the expedited procedures for imminent travel, and what the courts have recently said.
How to Use the Tax Court Small Case Procedure (Section 7463) to Dispute IRS Bills Under $50,000
Section 7463 lets a taxpayer challenge an IRS deficiency of $50,000 or less in U.S. Tax Court without a lawyer for a $60 filing fee, using a simplified Form 2 petition and informal trial — in exchange for giving up the right to appeal and the ability to set precedent.
Step Transaction Doctrine: How the IRS Collapses Multi-Step Tax Plans
The step transaction doctrine lets the IRS treat a sequence of formally separate steps as one taxable transaction. This guide explains the three tests courts apply — end result, mutual interdependence, and binding commitment — the landmark cases (Gregory v. Helvering, Court Holding, Kimbell-Diamond), the 2026 transactions most exposed (1031 drop-and-swaps, pre-sale entity conversions, gifts before the estate exemption sunset), and the documentation habits that keep multi-step plans defensible.
Form 911: Escalating Stalled Refunds, Wrongful Levies, and Identity Theft to the Taxpayer Advocate Service
Form 911 opens the door to the Taxpayer Advocate Service, an independent IRS office that intervenes in stalled refunds, wrongful levies, and identity-theft cases under IRC Section 7811. This guide explains the four hardship categories, how to file, and what to write so a case gets expedited rather than queued.
Section 105(h): The Self-Insured Health Plan Rule That Can Quietly Tax Your Best People
Section 105(h) requires self-insured health plans, including ICHRAs and HRAs, to pass an eligibility test and a benefits test each year. Fail, and a portion of a highly compensated individual's reimbursements becomes taxable W-2 income — calculated as the excess reimbursement.