#tax-compliance
Stay compliant with tax regulations and filing requirements
Form 2290 funds federal highway maintenance through an annual excise tax on vehicles with a taxable gross weight of 55,000 pounds or more. Owner-operators and fleets owe up to $550 per truck and must file by August 31 — late filings trigger a 4.5% monthly penalty and DMV registration suspension.
SECURE 2.0 cut the missed-RMD excise tax from 50% to 25%, and to just 10% if the shortfall is corrected within a two-year window. Form 5329 is how taxpayers claim the reduced rate or request a full reasonable-cause waiver, and the form also starts the IRS's three-year limitations clock.
Section 41 lets a qualified small business apply up to $500,000 of R&D credit per year against employer Social Security and Medicare taxes via Form 6765 and Form 8974. This guide explains the QSB tests, the four-part research test, the redesigned Section G that becomes mandatory in 2026, and how OBBBA's Section 174 reset changes the timing math.
Form 8027 requires large food and beverage establishments to reconcile gross receipts against employee-reported tips and allocate any shortfall below 8% to directly tipped employees on W-2 Box 8. This guide covers the 10-employee filing test, the three approved allocation methods, the tip-versus-service-charge distinction, and the reconciliation discipline that keeps Box 8 empty.
Form 8867 due diligence carries a $650 penalty per credit in 2026 — up to $2,600 per return — plus EFIN, PTIN, and OPR risk. A practical breakdown of the four IRC §6695-2 duties, the red flags IRS examiners hunt for, and the file structure that survives a 25-return due diligence visit.
A practical walkthrough of Form 941-X — when to use the adjustment process versus the claim process, the three-year (or two-year) statute of limitations, the stricter rules for federal income tax withholding, and what to put on Line 43 so the correction holds up under IRS review.
Form W-2c fixes errors on previously filed W-2s, but the penalty structure stacks behind the original February 2 due date — $60, $130, $340, or $680 per form depending on how late you file. A practical guide to W-2c and W-3c filing, the 10-return e-file threshold, SSA mismatch letters, and reconciling with Form 941-X.
A 2026 LIHTC field guide for developers — how the 9% and 4% credits differ, how qualified basis and the 70%/30% present-value subsidies are calculated, the three overlapping compliance clocks, the IRS forms (8609, 8609-A, 8586, 8611), syndication mechanics, and the One Big Beautiful Bill Act changes that cut the bond financing test from 50% to 25%.
A practical walkthrough of the New Markets Tax Credit — how the 39% federal credit flows from a CDE to investors and projects over seven years, who plays which role, what continuous compliance requires, and where deals most often break.
Schedule M-3 kicks in at $10 million of year-end total assets and demands four-column detail on every book-tax difference; M-1 stays single-page below that line. A CFO walkthrough of how the reconciliation works, the recurring permanent and temporary differences, and the habits that keep the schedule clean.
Schedule UTP requires corporations with $10M+ in assets and an ASC 740-10 reserve to disclose uncertain tax positions on Form 1120. This guide covers who must file, how to rank major tax positions, what the concise description must include, the columns added for tax year 2022, and the drafting mistakes that trigger IRS Letter 5191.
Section 174A restores immediate domestic R&E expensing and lets small businesses with $31 million or less in average annual gross receipts amend 2022, 2023, and 2024 returns for refunds — but the retroactive election must be filed by July 6, 2026.
