Lane CPA Solutions, LLC, 11632 Weaver Hollow Road, Palm Harbor, FL (2026)

06/12/2026

Big financial headlines today 🚀
With SpaceX making its public-market debut, people are talking about investing, portfolios, and long-term growth.

It’s a good reminder:
Strong financial decisions usually begin with a plan.

For business owners and families alike, mid-year is one of the best times to step back and evaluate where you stand financially before year-end arrives.

A mid-year financial review can help you:
✅ Understand your current financial position
✅ Identify potential tax surprises early
✅ Improve cash flow visibility
✅ Create a smarter strategy for the rest of the year
✅ Make more confident financial decisions moving forward

You do not need to have every answer today.

You simply need clarity, strategy, and the right guidance for your next step.

If you would like a clearer financial roadmap for the rest of 2026, send a message or schedule a free consultation today. 📈

Laura Lane CPA Solutions

06/12/2026

June is the perfect time to stop guessing and start planning. 📈

By mid-year, your business has already revealed important financial patterns — profitability, cash flow, tax exposure, and growth opportunities.

The good news? There is still time to make strategic adjustments before year-end.

A Mid-Year Financial Roadmap can help you:
✔ Understand where your business stands
✔ Identify potential tax surprises early
✔ Improve cash flow visibility
✔ Create a clearer plan for the rest of 2026

The business owners who feel calm during tax season are usually the ones who planned in June — not December.

Ready for clarity and a strategy built around your numbers?

📅 Request your free consultation:
https://lanecpasolutions.com/contact

#1099

06/10/2026

This is one of the most practical pieces of advice I give to anyone who's just started a business — or who has been running one for a while without doing this yet: keep your business and personal finances completely separate.

It sounds simple, but a lot of small business owners skip this step, especially in the early days when the business is small and it feels like an extra hassle. The problem is that mixing everything together creates real headaches down the road.

First, there's the tax side. When your business and personal expenses are in the same account, figuring out what's deductible means going through every single transaction and guessing. That costs time, invites errors, and can mean missed deductions.

Second, there's the legal side. If you're operating as an LLC or a corporation, commingling funds can actually put your personal liability protection at risk. One of the main reasons people form an LLC is to separate their personal assets from business liabilities — but courts have found that protection can be weakened when the finances aren't kept separate.

Third, it just makes running your business clearer. When you can look at your business bank account and see exactly what came in and what went out, you get a much more honest picture of how the business is actually doing.

Opening a separate business checking account and a dedicated business credit card is one of the easiest structural steps you can take. It's low effort up front and saves a lot of trouble later.

This is general information, not legal or tax advice for your specific situation. If you want to talk through the financial setup for your business, I'm happy to chat.

06/09/2026

Capital gains tax is one of those topics that sounds intimidating but is pretty straightforward once you break it down.

A capital gain is the profit you make when you sell an asset — a stock, a rental property, a piece of land — for more than you paid for it. The IRS taxes that profit, but the rate depends heavily on how long you held the asset before selling.

If you held the asset for one year or less, the gain is considered short-term, and it's taxed as ordinary income — the same rates that apply to your wages. If you held it for more than a year, it's a long-term capital gain, which is taxed at lower preferential federal rates. For most people, that's 0%, 15%, or 20% depending on their total income.

A few things worth knowing: Florida has no state income tax, so unlike many other states, Florida residents don't pay a separate state-level capital gains tax. That's one genuine benefit of living here.

If you sold investments at a loss this year, those losses can often offset gains — a strategy called tax-loss harvesting. And if you sold a primary residence, there's a federal exclusion that may apply to some or all of the gain, depending on how long you lived there.

Capital gains planning is a place where timing really matters. A decision made in December can look very different in April. That's why it's worth thinking about this before the sale, not after.

This is general information — individual circumstances vary widely, and the rules can get nuanced. Happy to talk through your specific situation if you have questions.

06/08/2026

If tracking business expenses feels like a chore you keep putting off, you're not alone. But here's what I tell every self-employed person and small business owner I work with: the system doesn't have to be complicated — it just has to be consistent.

The first step is the most important: use a dedicated business bank account and credit card for all business spending. When personal and business purchases are mixed together, sorting them out later takes hours you don't have.

From there, pick a tracking method that fits how you actually work. A simple spreadsheet works fine for some people. Accounting software like QuickBooks or Wave works better for others, especially if you're handling invoices and payroll too. What matters most is that you record expenses regularly — weekly is ideal — rather than letting months pile up.

For receipts, I recommend going digital. Most banking apps and accounting tools let you photograph and attach receipts right to a transaction. That way, if the IRS ever asks a question, you have documentation ready.

Also worth noting: not every expense is fully deductible, and some categories — meals, home office, vehicle use — have specific rules attached to them. Keeping good records protects your deductions if anything is ever questioned.

Tracking expenses well isn't just a tax thing, either. It's how you see where your money is actually going — and that clarity is genuinely useful when you're trying to make smart decisions for your business.

This is general information only, not a substitute for individualized accounting advice. Reach out if you'd like help setting up a system that works for your business.

06/07/2026

A lot of people use the words "credit" and "deduction" interchangeably, but they work very differently — and the difference really matters when you're trying to understand your tax bill.

A tax deduction reduces your taxable income. So if you're in the 22% federal bracket and you claim a $1,000 deduction, you save $220 in taxes. Helpful, but not a dollar-for-dollar win.

A tax credit, on the other hand, reduces the tax you actually owe, dollar for dollar. A $1,000 credit knocks $1,000 straight off your bill. That's why credits are generally more powerful than deductions of the same size.

There are two main types of credits to know about: refundable and nonrefundable. A refundable credit can reduce your tax below zero — meaning you get the remainder back as a refund. A nonrefundable credit can only reduce your liability to zero; you don't get the leftover.

Common credits include the Child Tax Credit, the Child and Dependent Care Credit, and various education-related credits. Common deductions include mortgage interest, student loan interest, business expenses, and the standard deduction most people take.

The bottom line: both matter, but they play different roles. When I'm doing tax planning with a client, I look at both together — because the right combination can make a real difference in what someone owes.

This is general information, not individualized tax advice — your specific situation will affect which credits and deductions apply to you. If you'd like to talk through how these apply to your return, I'm happy to help.

06/06/2026

Using your vehicle for business is one of the most common deductions I work through with clients — and also one of the most frequently done wrong. The good news is that if you use a vehicle for legitimate business purposes, there are real deductions available. The key is understanding the rules and keeping the records to back them up.

The IRS gives you two ways to calculate your vehicle deduction. The standard mileage rate lets you multiply your business miles by the IRS-set rate for the year. The actual expense method has you track the real costs of operating the vehicle — gas, insurance, maintenance, depreciation — and apply the percentage of miles driven for business.

Either way, you need a mileage log. This is where most people run into trouble. "I drove a lot for work" is not a record — the IRS wants dates, destinations, business purpose, and miles. Apps that track mileage automatically have made this much easier, and I strongly recommend using one from day one.

A few things that don't qualify as business mileage: commuting from your home to your regular place of business, personal errands, and any personal travel mixed in with a business trip. If you use the same vehicle for personal and business purposes, only the business percentage applies.

This is a general overview — your situation may differ, and the deduction method that works best for you depends on your specific numbers. A CPA can help you figure out which approach makes sense.

If you have questions about tracking vehicle expenses or want to make sure you're doing it right going forward, I'm around — feel free to reach out.

06/05/2026

Small business owners in the Tampa Bay area work hard for every dollar — and leaving legitimate deductions unclaimed is one of the most common ways money quietly slips away. Not through anything complicated, just through not knowing what's actually deductible.

Here are a few that come up often in my conversations with clients. Professional development — courses, industry conferences, relevant books and subscriptions — is frequently overlooked. If it's directly related to your business, it's generally deductible. The same goes for business-related software and apps you pay for monthly.

Bank fees and merchant processing fees on your business accounts are deductible expenses that most people never think to track. So are business insurance premiums, professional memberships, and the cost of advertising — including your website, social media ads, and printed materials.

If you hire contractors or freelancers to help run your business, those payments are deductible too (and come with their own reporting requirements, so keep good records).

One important note: mixing personal and business expenses makes it much harder to claim any of this cleanly. Separate accounts and clean bookkeeping are the foundation.

This is general information — deductibility depends on your specific business, how expenses are documented, and your overall tax situation. Please talk to a CPA before making decisions based on any of this.

If you're not sure whether you're capturing everything you're entitled to, I'd be glad to take a look. Happy to chat.

06/04/2026

If you've ever looked at a financial report your bookkeeper or accountant sent over and thought, "I don't really know what I'm reading," you're not alone. Most small business owners didn't go to school for accounting — and that's okay. But understanding three basic statements can genuinely change how you run your business.

The profit and loss statement (also called the income statement) shows you what you earned and what you spent over a period of time. It answers the question: did the business make money or lose money?

The balance sheet is a snapshot of where things stand on a specific date. It lists what the business owns (assets), what it owes (liabilities), and what's left over (equity). Think of it as a financial selfie.

The cash flow statement shows the actual movement of money in and out of the business. A business can look profitable on paper and still run into trouble if cash isn't flowing in at the right time to cover expenses. This is the statement that often surprises people.

Together, these three reports tell the full story. No single one of them gives you the whole picture on its own, but read together — even at a high level — they help you make smarter decisions about hiring, pricing, spending, and growth.

This is general educational information. How these apply to your specific business is something worth discussing with a CPA.

If you'd like help understanding what your financial statements are actually telling you, I'm here — just reach out.

06/03/2026

Missing a tax deadline doesn't just create paperwork headaches — it can mean real penalties and interest charges from the IRS. Here's a practical rundown of dates that matter if you're a business owner or self-employed individual.

For most individuals, the federal income tax filing deadline falls on April 15. If you filed an extension earlier this year, your extended deadline is October 15, 2026 — but remember, an extension to file is not an extension to pay. Any tax owed was still due in April.

For estimated taxes, the next quarterly payment deadline after June 15 is September 15, 2026. If you're self-employed or have income that isn't subject to withholding, staying on top of these quarterly payments is one of the best ways to avoid an unpleasant surprise.

Business entity deadlines depend on your structure. S-corps and partnerships generally have different deadlines than sole proprietors and single-member LLCs. Payroll tax deposits follow their own schedule entirely, which varies based on your payroll size.

Florida has no state income tax, but if your business collects sales tax, those filings have their own monthly or quarterly due dates with the Florida Department of Revenue — and those matter just as much as federal ones.

This is a general overview, and the deadlines that apply to you depend on your specific entity type and situation. A licensed CPA can help you map out exactly what applies.

If you want to make sure nothing slips through the cracks this year, let me know — I'm happy to help you build a calendar that fits your business.

Lane CPA Solutions, LLC

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