Insurance Proceeds on a Rental: Deferral, Deadlines, and Leftover Money
A hailstorm takes the roof off your duplex. A kitchen fire guts a unit. The insurance company pays the claim, and it feels like the end of the story —…
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Plain-English updates on IRS news, deductions, and small-business tax strategy — written for Texas business owners and the self-employed.
Texas Sales Tax for Salons: Services vs. Retail Product
A barbershop owner asked us recently whether he needed a sales tax permit. He had been in business four years, sold product at the front desk the whol…
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Booth Rent vs. Employee: The Salon Decision That Changes Everything
There are two legitimate ways to run a salon, and they are entirely different businesses for tax purposes. Most of the shops we meet are running one a…
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Is Your Lease-Purchase Actually a Lease? Why It Changes Your Whole Return
An owner-operator signs a lease-purchase on a tractor. Payments are $2,400 a month. For three years, the full $28,800 comes off the return as a lease…
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Trucker Per Diem: Who Actually Qualifies for the 80% DOT Rate
Per diem is the most valuable deduction available to an over-the-road owner-operator and the one most often claimed incorrectly. Both of those things…
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Your Food Cost Percentage Is Probably Wrong
Ask a restaurant owner their food cost and most will answer immediately. Ask how they calculated it and a meaningful share will describe dividing what…
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The FICA Tip Credit: The Restaurant Credit Most Operators Never Claim
Of every recurring tax item in the restaurant industry, the credit under Section 45B is the one we find unclaimed most often. Not misapplied — unclaim…
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The Short-Term Rental Tax Rules: Two Tests, Not One
The short-term rental strategy has been explained on the internet roughly ten thousand times, usually badly. The version most owners have absorbed goe…
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IRS Simplifies Penalty Relief with a New Automatic Process
The IRS is streamlining how eligible taxpayers get penalty relief, adding an automatic process. Here's what this means for Texas small-business owners and the self-employed.
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IRS Flags Certain Charitable Remainder Annuity Trusts as Listed Transactions
The Treasury and IRS finalized rules naming certain charitable remainder annuity trust transactions as listed transactions. Here's what it means for Texas small-business owners.
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Why You Can't Deduct Your Rental Loss (And Three Legal Ways Around It)
You own a rental. The numbers are honest: rent came in, the mortgage interest, taxes, insurance, repairs and depreciation went out, and the property s…
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Dealer Status: Why Builders Can't 1031 Exchange a Spec Home
Two builders buy nearly identical properties in the same month. One sells for a $180,000 gain and pays long-term capital gains rates with no self-empl…
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Why Your Spec Home Build Year Showed Almost No Deductions
A builder calls in February, upset. They spent $900,000 last year building three spec homes. Two are still on the market. The tax return their CPA pre…
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Why Profitable Contractors Run Out of Cash: Retainage and Tax Timing
A contractor finishes a strong year. The income statement shows a healthy profit. The tax return agrees. Then the bill arrives and there is no money t…
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How to Read a WIP Schedule (And What Your Surety Sees)
If you run a construction company and someone has ever asked you for a "WIP schedule," you have probably produced one, handed it over, and never looke…
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Maximize 2025 Tax Write-Offs: 7 Year-End Deductions for Small Biz
As we approach the end of the year, it's time to strategize your 2025 small business tax deductions. At Chau Tran CPA PLLC, we aim to help you uncover valuable year-end…
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10 Must-Claim Year-End Tax Deductions for Small Businesses in 2025
Hello, fellow Texans! As we approach the close of another year, it's time to start thinking about your year-end tax obligations. As a small business owner, one of your most…
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