DENISE STUBBS, CPA

For most employees, open enrollment happens in November, and the elections you make now will shape your 2027 taxes. One of the biggest decisions is whether to choose a Health Savings Account, a Flexible Spending Account, or neither. Here is what each one does to your tax picture.

If you live or work in Franklin or anywhere in Western North Carolina, you may have noticed that North Carolina's income tax keeps changing. The rate has dropped several years in a row, and more cuts are on the way. Here is a plain-language look at how North Carolina taxes income today, what is changing, and what it can mean for individuals and business owners.

Maybe you brought on a bookkeeper, a part-time assistant, or extra hands for a busy season. Sooner or later a simple question comes up: do you pay this person as a contractor on a 1099 or as an employee on a W-2?

For many people, a CPA is someone they hear from once a year. You gather your documents, send them over, and wait for a finished return. That is an important service, but it is only one part of what a CPA can offer.

You did it. The business is busy enough that you cannot do everything yourself anymore, and you are finally ready to bring someone on. Congratulations! Also, fair warning, the moment you go from "just me" to "me and a person with a paycheck," a few things change behind the scenes. Nothing here is impossible, but it helps to know what is coming before your new hire's first day, not after. Let's walk through it. Wait, is this person actually an employee? Before anything else, i

If you filed an extension back in April, the finish line is close. Thursday, October 15 is the extended deadline for individual income tax returns for the 2025 tax year, and for most taxpayers there is no additional extension beyond it.

Running a small business is one of those experiences that nobody can fully explain to you before you do it. People try. They tell you it will be hard, it will be rewarding, you will wear a lot of hats. All true. But there is a very specific flavor of chaos and joy that only reveals itself once you are actually in it, invoices open in one tab, coffee going cold in one hand, somehow also trying to fix the wifi.

Many business owners choose their initial structure, sole proprietorship, LLC, S-Corporation, based on what seemed simplest or most appropriate when they started. But businesses grow, income changes, and circumstances shift. The structure that made sense at launch may not be the most advantageous one today. September is one of the best times of year to evaluate whether your business entity type is still working for you, while there's still time to make changes before year-end

If you've worked with a CPA firm before, you probably remember the routine. Drive to the office. Hand over a folder of documents. Wait for a callback. Repeat it all again next year. We built our Franklin, NC firm differently on purpose. As a remote, paperless CPA firm serving clients across western North Carolina, we've designed every part of the process to work around your schedule, not the other way around.

Most business owners don't think about their books until tax season forces the issue. By then, it's a scramble: missing receipts, mystery deposits, and a shoebox of paper that should have been a spreadsheet months ago. Good bookkeeping isn't about paperwork for its own sake. It's what makes your tax return accurate, your deductions defensible, and your life a lot easier if the IRS ever asks a question.

If you operate your business as a sole proprietor, a partnership, an S-Corporation, or an LLC taxed as any of those structures, there is a deduction available to you that the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 created and that many small business owners either do not fully understand or are not maximizing. It is the Section 199A qualified business income (QBI) deduction, and at its best, it can reduce your taxable income from self-employment by up to 20%.

Most people don't think about taxes again until it's time to file. But the smartest financial moves of the year don't happen in April, they happen in the months right before it. And here in Franklin, that season is about to begin. Tax planning season typically runs from now through the end of the year, and it exists for one reason: once December 31st passes, most of your options disappear. Why the Timing Matters By the time tax season officially starts, your financial year is

If you run a business in Franklin, you already know what's coming. Once the leaves start turning in the Nantahala and the Smokies, this town fills up. Traffic on Main Street picks up. Parking gets harder to find. For a lot of local businesses, the next couple of months are the busiest and the most profitable of the whole year. That makes late August the right time to get your books in order. Before the rush hits. Before there's no time to look at anything but the register and

If you're self-employed, a business owner, or have income that doesn't have taxes withheld automatically, September 15 is a date worth circling on your calendar. That's when your third quarter estimated tax payment is due.

Western North Carolina is one of the most sought-after short-term rental markets in the Southeast. If you own a vacation rental property, or are thinking about it, the tax picture is more nuanced than most people expect. Here is what every Airbnb and VRBO owner in our area should understand before tax season arrives. The 14-Day Rule: The Line That Changes Everything The tax treatment of a short-term rental depends heavily on how many days you rent it versus how many days you

If you own a business and you also own your home, there is a little-known provision in the tax code that allows you to rent your home to your business for up to 14 days per year and receive that rental income free of federal income tax.

August is just around the corner, which means school supply lists, registration fees, and the first conversations about college costs. It also means an opportunity to make sure you're capturing every tax benefit available to families with children and students.

If you're a self-employed individual or single-member LLC owner and your net profit is consistently above $50,000–$60,000 per year, you may have heard the phrase "S-Corp election." Possibly from an accountant, a business podcast, or a well-meaning friend who recently made the switch.

If you run a vacation rental, a tour outfitter, a mountain retail shop, a restaurant, or any other business that lives and breathes by the tourism calendar, you already know this rhythm better than anyone. What you may not know is that this same rhythm should be driving your tax planning, too, and for most seasonal business owners in western NC, it isn't.

If you own a business structured as an S-Corporation, one of the most important tax decisions you make every year has nothing to do with deductions or deadlines. It's about how you pay yourself. And getting it wrong can cost you, either in unnecessary taxes or an unwanted conversation with the IRS.