Straight answers for people who get paid without withholding.

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20 posts

Product·Sep 26, 2026

Where to keep your tax reserve: your bank, or ExactSplit Wallet

The reserve only works if the money is somewhere you do not spend from. For most people that is a savings account at their own bank. For people who want it inside ExactSplit, there is now an optional wallet. Here is how the two compare, honestly.

Your balance is not

your money.

Product·Aug 5, 2026

Safe to pay yourself: the number nobody gives sole proprietors

An employee gets a paycheck that is already net of tax. A sole proprietor gets a balance, and has to work out for themselves how much of it is really theirs. Here is how we compute that figure, what goes into it, and why the obvious shortcuts are wrong.

The check is big.

Part of it is not yours.

Real estate·Jul 26, 2026

Real estate agents: how to set aside tax from a commission check

Commission income is large, irregular and unwithheld, which makes it the hardest kind of income to handle well. Here is how an agent's money actually flows, what counts as income and expense, and how a closings pipeline turns next month's check into this month's plan.

January.

The shoebox arrives.

Accountants·Jul 16, 2026

Give your accountant the file, not the shoebox

Most of what a small-business accountant bills for is reconstruction: working out what happened from a bank export and a folder of receipts. Here is how the accountant view in ExactSplit changes that, what your accountant can and cannot see, and what the quarterly sign-off actually means.

We say move it.

You move it.

Product·Jul 6, 2026

Why we suggest transfers but never move your money

The gap between knowing what to set aside and actually doing it is where most tax reserves fail. Here is how approved reserve transfers close that gap without a payment rail, why we drew the line there, and what it would take to move it.

72.5¢ then 76¢.

Same year.

Mileage·Jul 2, 2026

The 2026 mileage rate changed on July 1. Here is which rate each trip gets.

72.5 cents through June 30, 76 cents from July 1. A rare mid-year split, and most logs will get it wrong.

Finds write-offs.

Then what?

Compare·Jun 26, 2026

Keeper vs ExactSplit: finding write-offs is not the same as knowing what to pay

Keeper is built to find deductions in your transactions and file your return. ExactSplit is built to compute what you owe under the actual safe harbor rules, tell you what to hold back from every deposit, and check that you did. Different jobs.

AI finds it.

Who checks it?

Compare·Jun 17, 2026

FlyFin vs ExactSplit: AI that finds deductions, or a calculation you can check

FlyFin pairs an AI deduction finder with CPA review and filing. ExactSplit is a cited tax engine with reserve tracking and a planning layer. Here is where the two overlap and where they do not.

Bookkeeping first.

Or tax first.

Compare·Jun 7, 2026

QuickBooks Solopreneur vs ExactSplit: general bookkeeping or a product built around the tax number

QuickBooks Solopreneur is bookkeeping software with an estimated tax feature. ExactSplit is a tax engine with bookkeeping around it. The order matters.

They hold it.

We compute it.

Compare·May 28, 2026

Found vs ExactSplit: holding your money, or telling you what to do with it

Found is business banking with tax tools built in. ExactSplit is a tax engine that never touches your money. That is the whole difference, and it cuts both ways.

A number.

Show the rule.

Product·May 18, 2026

Why a tax estimate you cannot see is a liability, not a feature

Every app shows a quarterly number. Almost none show the rule that produced it. Here is what that hides, and what a calculation you can check looks like.

It answers.

It never advises.

Product·May 8, 2026

Ask your books: what the assistant will answer, and what it refuses

A chat surface over your own transactions that never does arithmetic and never gives advice. Here is why both limits are the point.

The plan says 25%.

Pub 560 says 20%.

Retirement·Apr 28, 2026

Why your solo 401(k) employer contribution is 20% of net earnings, not 25%

Every provider says 25%. Publication 560 hands you a table that says 20%. Both are right, and the reason is circular.

Two accounts.

One ceiling.

Retirement·Apr 18, 2026

Can you fund a SEP-IRA and a solo 401(k) in the same year?

Yes. But they share one ceiling, and most people who try it double count.

24% bracket.

18.8% saved.

Retirement·Apr 8, 2026

Does a solo 401(k) contribution reduce your QBI deduction? Yes, and here is by how much

Retirement contributions cut AGI and qualified business income at the same time. Multiply by your bracket and you will overstate the saving by about a quarter.

Under $16,100.

Still 15.3%.

SE tax·Mar 30, 2026

Under the standard deduction and still owe tax? Yes. Here is why.

Between about 434 and 16,100 dollars of profit you owe 15.3 percent self-employment tax and zero income tax. Most side businesses find this out in April.

100% of last year.

Or 110%.

Estimated tax·Mar 20, 2026

The 110% safe harbor: what changes when last year's AGI was over 150,000 dollars

The prior year safe harbor is 100 percent of last year's tax, until your AGI crosses 150,000. Then it is 110 percent, and the threshold has not moved in decades.

Four fields.

All four.

Mileage·Mar 10, 2026

What the IRS actually requires in a mileage log. It is four things, and all four.

Date, mileage, destination, business purpose. Under section 274(d) substantiation is all or nothing, and three out of four earns you nothing.

S-corp saves FICA.

§199A cuts both ways.

S-corp·Feb 28, 2026

S-corp versus sole proprietor: the section 199A effect nobody prices in

Below the threshold an S-corp costs you QBI. Above it, the owner's salary can unlock a deduction a sole proprietor cannot get. Both directions matter, and a FICA only comparison gets both wrong.

Line 27a.

Not a problem.

Schedule C·Feb 18, 2026

Schedule C line 27a: what other expenses is for, and why a large 27a is not a problem

Line 27a is a catch-all with its own detail schedule. A preparer would rather redistribute a well itemized 27a than untangle a wrong bucket.