Auction House Bookkeeping: Consignor Trust Accounts and the Agent vs. Principal Trap Under ASC 606
Auction houses are agents under ASC 606, not principals — book buyer's premium and seller's commission as net revenue, segregate consignor funds in a trust account, and reserve for bidder default on Proxibid and HiBid online sales.
Funeral Home Bookkeeping: Preneed Trusts, FTC Funeral Rule, and ASC 606 for Death-Care Providers
Independent funeral homes prepay-then-perform service decades later, which creates preneed trust liabilities, ASC 606 deferred revenue, FTC Funeral Rule itemization requirements, and cash advance pass-throughs that off-the-shelf bookkeeping templates mishandle. This guide shows how to structure books that survive a state mortuary board audit, IRS review, and sale due diligence.
Real Estate Broker Trust Account Reconciliation: The Three-Way Match That Protects a License
A brokerage that commingles a single earnest money deposit can lose its license, even with no theft involved. Here is the three-way reconciliation between bank, general ledger, and client sub-ledgers that brokers use to comply with state escrow rules, document deposit handling, and stay audit-ready.
Section 685 Qualified Funeral Trusts: Making the QFT Election, Form 1041-QFT, and Reconciling State Pre-Need Rules
How funeral homes, cemeteries, and memorial providers use the IRC Section 685 election on Form 1041-QFT to tax pre-need trust income at per-contract individual brackets — and how to reconcile state pre-need rules, deferred revenue, and restricted trust assets on the operator's books.
The $15 Million Estate Tax Exemption Is Now Permanent: How High-Net-Worth Families Should Recalibrate SLATs, GRATs, and Lifetime Gifts in 2026
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act locks the federal estate, gift, and GST exemption at $15 million per individual with no sunset. Here is what changes for SLATs, GRATs, dynasty trusts, GST allocation, and basis planning in 2026 — and what to actually do this year.
Form 3520-A: The March 15 Deadline, Substitute Filings, and the 5% Section 6677 Penalty
Form 3520-A is the annual information return for a foreign trust with a U.S. owner, due March 15. If the foreign trustee does not file, Section 6677 imposes an initial 5% penalty on trust assets plus $10,000 per 30-day continuation period — payable by the U.S. owner. Covers who files, the substitute filing path, the reasonable-cause defense, and how to clean up multi-year non-compliance.
Crummey Letters and ILITs: How High-Net-Worth Families Keep Life Insurance Out of Their Taxable Estate
A working guide to ILITs and Crummey powers — covering Section 2042 incidents of ownership, the annual gift tax exclusion, the 5-or-5 rule, hanging powers, the Section 2035 three-year lookback, and the administrative discipline that keeps life insurance death benefits estate-tax-free.
IOLTA and Client Trust Accounting: Three-Way Reconciliation, Earned vs. Unearned Fees, and the Mistakes That End Careers
How law firms run IOLTA accounts under ABA Model Rule 1.15 — separating earned from unearned fees, matching the bank statement to the master ledger and per-client sub-ledgers in a three-way reconciliation, and avoiding the four commingling mistakes (firm money in trust, firm expenses from trust, earned fees left in trust, one client's funds covering another's disbursement) that drive most bar discipline cases.
The Three-Way Reconciliation: How Law Firms Keep Client Trust Money Separate and Stay Off the Disciplinary Docket
A three-way reconciliation ties the bank statement, the trust ledger, and the sum of every client sub-ledger into one agreeing number. This guide explains how it works, how to keep earned and unearned fees separate, and which bookkeeping mistakes quietly build into a bar disciplinary complaint.
ESBT vs QSST: Choosing the Right Trust to Hold S-Corporation Stock
A side-by-side comparison of Electing Small Business Trusts (ESBT) and Qualified Subchapter S Trusts (QSST) under Section 1361, including who pays the tax, the 2-month-and-16-day election window, and a worked example showing a $118,000 annual tax swing between the two structures on $1M of K-1 income.
ESBT vs QSST: How Trusts Can Hold S-Corporation Stock Without Killing the S Election
A trust holding S-corporation stock must qualify as a QSST or ESBT under Section 1361 or the S election terminates retroactively. A QSST taxes pass-through income at the single beneficiary's personal rate; an ESBT permits multiple beneficiaries but traps S-portion income at the 37% top trust rate. The election deadline is two months and sixteen days from the triggering event.
First-Party vs. Third-Party Special Needs Trusts: SSI, Medicaid, and the Payback Rule
How first-party (d)(4)(A) and third-party special needs trusts differ — funding sources, the Medicaid payback rule, sole-benefit constraints, the 2024 ISM food change, and the 2026 ABLE age expansion — for families protecting a disabled beneficiary's SSI and Medicaid eligibility.