Working notes from the practice.
Vol. II · six entries · written by the people who do the work, with the arithmetic shown.
Entries, latest first.
Tax strategyThe S-corp election, explained with actual numbers
The most-cited tax move for owner-operators, worked through line by line — including the payroll cost everyone forgets to subtract.
Aug 12, 2026 · Daniel Reyes · 7 min readQuarterly estimates without the guesswork
Safe-harbor rules turn estimated taxes from an anxiety into a calendar entry. Here's the version that never triggers a penalty.
What clean books actually look like
Five tests any owner can run in ten minutes — no accounting degree required — to know whether the books deserve trust.
Payroll mistakes that trigger penalties
The IRS assesses billions a year in employment-tax penalties. Nearly all of it comes from the same four mistakes.
When to hire a fractional CFO (and when not to)
The honest decision framework we use with our own prospects — including the cases where we tell them to wait.
Deductions owners miss — and three they overclaim
A working list from a decade of return reviews: real money left on the table, and the flags that invite letters.
Ready for books that balance?
A thirty-minute call: you talk, we listen, and you leave with a straight answer about scope and fee — whether or not it's us.
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