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Tax Education

Tax and money, explained in plain English

Once a month I write one short piece on tax or personal finance for business owners, self-employed people and anyone whose income the tax code treats as complicated. No jargon, about a five minute read, and everything is free.

Written by a licensed Florida CPA. Nothing here is advice on your specific situation.

What you actually get

This is not a drip sequence and it is not a pitch. It is one email a month about something in the tax code that is costing people money or confusing them, written the way I would explain it to you across a desk.

Once a month

One email, not a sequence. If a month goes by without something worth saying, nothing gets sent.

Written to be read

About five minutes. No jargon, no defined terms in brackets, no restating the statute at you.

Free, and stays free

Nothing to buy, no course at the end. Unsubscribe in one click whenever it stops being useful.

Latest Articles

Plain-English writing on tax and money, published monthly by our office.

Frequently asked tax questions

The questions I get asked most often, answered properly rather than in general terms.

When are estimated tax payments due?
Four times a year. April 15 covers income earned January through March, June 15 covers April and May, September 15 covers June through August, and January 15 of the following year covers September through December. If a date falls on a weekend or holiday it moves to the next business day. Missing one creates a penalty for that period even if you pay the full year in December.
Do I actually need to make estimated tax payments?
Generally yes, if you have income nobody is withholding tax on: freelance or contract work, rental income, a side business, investment gains, or consulting fees. A W-2 job on its own is usually covered by payroll withholding. If the extra income is small, adjusting your W-4 withholding can be simpler than sending separate payments.
How long do I need to keep tax records?
Three years from the filing date covers most situations, because that is the usual window for the IRS to question a return. Records tied to property are different: keep purchase documents and improvement receipts for as long as you own it, plus three years after you sell, since they set your cost basis. If you never filed for a year, there is no time limit on that year at all.
Do I still have to send a 1099 to anyone I paid more than $600?
Not for payments made in 2026. The reporting threshold for Forms 1099-NEC and 1099-MISC moved from $600 to $2,000 per payee per calendar year, and it applies to payments made on or after January 1, 2026. The figure is indexed for inflation after that, so it will move again. Two things did not change. You still want a W-9 on file before you pay a contractor, because chasing one in January is how filing seasons go wrong. And a payment below the threshold is still a deductible business expense. The threshold governs the filing requirement, not the deduction.
Florida has no income tax, so do I have a state filing problem at all?
No personal income tax means no state return for your individual income, which is a genuine advantage. It is not the whole picture for a business. C corporations pay Florida corporate income tax. Most operating businesses deal with Florida sales and use tax, and anyone with employees deals with reemployment tax. The part that catches people out is other states: if you have customers, property, inventory or employees elsewhere, that state can tax the income earned there no matter where you live. Remote sellers and anyone who hired across a state line should check this before it becomes a back-filing exercise.
When is it worth hiring a CPA instead of using software?
Software handles a straightforward W-2 return well. A CPA earns their fee when there are decisions to make rather than boxes to fill: choosing or changing an entity type, setting a reasonable S-corp salary, rental property or multi-state income, planning a large sale before it happens, or answering an IRS notice. If your situation has one right answer, software will find it. If it has several, that is when advice pays for itself.

General information for Florida business owners, current as of publication. It is not advice on your particular facts, and tax rules change. If a decision turns on any of this, ask before you act.

Ready to talk about your own numbers?

Everything above is the general answer. Yours has facts attached to it. Get a price in about two minutes, or book time and we will work through it together.

Have a question that is not on the list? Send it over. If it is a good one it usually becomes the next month's email.