HCJ CPAs & Advisors | audit * tax * consulting

By springtime, most business owners have closed the books on last year, filed (or started filing) their taxes, and moved on. Here's what many don't realize: Spring is actually one of the most important times of the year to clean up QuickBooks. Why? Because small bookkeeping issues...

Tax season brings deadlines, documents, and urgency. It also brings scammers. Every year, phishing attempts spike during filing season because criminals know people are expecting financial communication. Refund notices. Payroll updates. Signature requests. Client documents. The timing makes the message feel legitimate. And in 2026, the tactics are...

As the landscape of charitable giving continues to evolve, 2026 ushers in significant changes in the tax treatment of donations. For both itemizers and non-itemizers, understanding the new rules is crucial to maximizing the benefits of charitable contributions and ensuring compliance with tax obligations. Among...

A slow quarter? You can recover from that. A late income tax payment? There are payment plans. Vendor pressure? Negotiable. But payroll tax debt? That’s different. If your business is behind on payroll taxes, you’re in one of the most aggressively enforced areas of IRS collections....

QuickBooks is one of the most popular accounting platforms in the U.S., used by millions of small businesses to track income, expenses, payroll, and taxes. For many business owners, it feels like the financial “source of truth,” the place where everything lives.  But here’s the reality most people don’t realize...

When business owners talk about pricing, the conversation usually sounds like this:  "What will the market bear?" "What are competitors charging?" "I don't want to scare clients away."  All reasonable questions. And all incomplete.  Because pricing isn't really about what customers will tolerate. It's about whether your business can sustain itself — month after month,...

Ask a business owner how things are going, and you'll usually hear the same answer first:  "Revenue's up."  That sounds like good news. And sometimes it is.  But there's a number hiding underneath revenue that tells a very different story. One that quietly determines whether a business is actually healthy or just busy.  That number is gross...

As we deal with 2025 tax return preparation, you should be aware of significant shifts in the tax rules brought by the One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBBA) legislation and some delayed effective dates from other legislation. These changes are poised to impact various taxpayer categories, affecting both...

Individuals age 50 and over can make additional annual "catch-up" contributions to salary reduction plans including401(k) Deferred Compensation plans, 403(b) TSA plans, 457(b) Government plans and SIMPLE plans.  Age 50+ Catch-ups: For 401(k), 403(b) and 457(b) plans, the age 50 and over catch-up contributions, for plans that offer them, has...