Elm Tax & Advisory, LLC

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Elm Tax & Advisory, LLC No annoying tax professional lingo. Just straight, authoritative and friendly advice. Visit us: www.elmtaxadvisory.com
Or give us a call: (781) 795-9536 Our goal?

At Elm Tax & Advisory, LLC, weโ€™re more than just number crunchersโ€”weโ€™re your trusted financial partner. Based in Massachusetts and woman-owned, our firm is dedicated to helping small business owners simplify their finances, minimize taxes, and make confident decisions year-round. We specialize in tax preparation, tax planning, bookkeeping, and advisory services tailored to entrepreneurs and growing businesses. Whether you're launching your first venture or scaling your operations, weโ€™re here to make the financial side of things less overwhelming and more empowering. With a friendly approach and a deep understanding of the real challenges small businesses face, we break down complex financial concepts so they're clear and easy to understand. To help you understand your numbers, stay compliant, and focus on what you do bestโ€”running your business.

๐—ช๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ป ๐˜€๐—ต๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—น๐—ฑ ๐—œ ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐˜ ๐—ฐ๐—น๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐˜‚๐—ฝ ๐—บ๐˜† ๐—ฝ๐—ฎ๐˜†๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—น๐—น ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ฑ๐˜€ ๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐˜†๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ-๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฑ?You should start reviewing your payroll records before Q...
09/30/2026

๐—ช๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ป ๐˜€๐—ต๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—น๐—ฑ ๐—œ ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐˜ ๐—ฐ๐—น๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐˜‚๐—ฝ ๐—บ๐˜† ๐—ฝ๐—ฎ๐˜†๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—น๐—น ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ฑ๐˜€ ๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐˜†๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ-๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฑ?

You should start reviewing your payroll records before Q3 closes so that you have time to catch problems while you can still address them.

A few things to check now:
1. Do your payroll reports match your general ledger?
2. Are any manual or voided checks creating discrepancies?
3. Do you have the right information on file for your contractors?
4. Are your payroll wage categories recorded correctly?

You have a three-month buffer to get those records cleaned up before December 31.

And if you want help reviewing the numbers, donโ€™t hesitate to reach out (especially before Q4 gets too far along).

๐——๐—ผ๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐—ถ๐˜ ๐—บ๐—ฎ๐˜๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐—ต๐—ผ๐˜„ ๐—œ ๐˜€๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—บ๐˜† ๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ถ๐—น๐—ฑ ๐—บ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐˜† ๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐—ฎ ๐—ต๐—ผ๐˜‚๐˜€๐—ฒ ๐—ฑ๐—ผ๐˜„๐—ป ๐—ฝ๐—ฎ๐˜†๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜?Yes, how you transfer the down payment matters because...
09/28/2026

๐——๐—ผ๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐—ถ๐˜ ๐—บ๐—ฎ๐˜๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐—ต๐—ผ๐˜„ ๐—œ ๐˜€๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—บ๐˜† ๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ถ๐—น๐—ฑ ๐—บ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐˜† ๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐—ฎ ๐—ต๐—ผ๐˜‚๐˜€๐—ฒ ๐—ฑ๐—ผ๐˜„๐—ป ๐—ฝ๐—ฎ๐˜†๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜?

Yes, how you transfer the down payment matters because the IRS and mortgage underwriters may want a clear paper trail showing where the funds came from. Informal transfers can create red flags and even stall the mortgage process while the source of the money is verified.

That means the gift amount you report to the lender should match the amount that actually leaves your account and reaches your child.

For a cleaner paper trail:
โ€ข Use a traceable wire transfer or cashier's check
โ€ข Save the bank statement or transfer record that shows the money leaving your account
โ€ข Make sure the gift amount listed on the lender paperwork matches the amount you actually transferred
โ€ข Avoid unverified cash or unstructured peer-to-peer transfers

09/24/2026

๐——๐—ผ ๐—œ ๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—บ๐—ฎ๐—ธ๐—ฒ ๐—พ๐˜‚๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—น๐˜† ๐˜๐—ฎ๐˜… ๐—ฝ๐—ฎ๐˜†๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜๐˜€ ๐—ป๐—ผ๐˜„ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐—œ ๐—ผ๐˜„๐—ป ๐—ฎ ๐—ฏ๐˜‚๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜€?

Unless your business is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) or you expect to owe under $1,000 in total tax, you are required to make quarterly estimated tax payments to the IRS.

This estimate covers income tax you'll owe as well as the 15.3% self-employment tax that you also must cover.

To stay ahead of your deadlines, open a separate tax savings account and automatically transfer 25% to 30% of your net profits into it.

That way, the money is already set aside when payment time comes.

๐—ช๐—ถ๐—น๐—น ๐—บ๐˜† ๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ถ๐—น๐—ฑ ๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ฝ๐—ฎ๐˜† ๐˜๐—ฎ๐˜…๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐—ถ๐—ณ ๐—œ ๐—ด๐—ถ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—บ ๐—บ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐˜† ๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐—ฎ ๐—ต๐—ผ๐˜‚๐˜€๐—ฒ ๐—ฑ๐—ผ๐˜„๐—ป ๐—ฝ๐—ฎ๐˜†๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜?If you give your adult child money toward ...
09/23/2026

๐—ช๐—ถ๐—น๐—น ๐—บ๐˜† ๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ถ๐—น๐—ฑ ๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ฝ๐—ฎ๐˜† ๐˜๐—ฎ๐˜…๐—ฒ๐˜€ ๐—ถ๐—ณ ๐—œ ๐—ด๐—ถ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—บ ๐—บ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐˜† ๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐—ฎ ๐—ต๐—ผ๐˜‚๐˜€๐—ฒ ๐—ฑ๐—ผ๐˜„๐—ป ๐—ฝ๐—ฎ๐˜†๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜?

If you give your adult child money toward a down payment, they won't have to treat that gift as taxable income.

They don't report the money on their 1040, and they won't owe standard income tax or capital gains tax on those funds.

Gift tax rules apply to you, the person giving the money. And for 2026, you can give your child up to $19,000 without having to report the transfer to the IRS or use any of your lifetime exemption.

If you're married, you and your spouse can combine your individual annual exclusions to give one child up to $38,000.

๐˜›๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ฌ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ข๐˜ฃ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ต ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜ฑ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ณ ๐˜ค๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ญ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ธ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ฉ ๐˜ข ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฐ๐˜ธ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ข๐˜บ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต? ๐˜ž๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ต ๐˜ธ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ญ๐˜ฅ ๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ ๐˜ธ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ต ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ฌ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ๐˜ธ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฆ๐˜ง๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฐ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ๐˜บ?

๐—–๐—ฎ๐—ป ๐—œ ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ๐˜‚๐—ฐ๐˜ ๐—ฒ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜†๐˜๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—œ ๐˜€๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜ ๐—ด๐—ฒ๐˜๐˜๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—บ๐˜† ๐—ฏ๐˜‚๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜€ ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฑ?No, not every dollar you spend before opening your business ...
09/22/2026

๐—–๐—ฎ๐—ป ๐—œ ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ๐˜‚๐—ฐ๐˜ ๐—ฒ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜†๐˜๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—œ ๐˜€๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜ ๐—ด๐—ฒ๐˜๐˜๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—บ๐˜† ๐—ฏ๐˜‚๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜€ ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฑ?

No, not every dollar you spend before opening your business gets treated the same way, because the timing of those expenses matters.

Money you spend before your business officially opens can count as startup costs. Think about expenses like:
โ€ข Market research
โ€ข Advertising your grand opening
โ€ข Travel to secure suppliers
โ€ข Employee training before day one
โ€ข Legal or professional fees related to starting the business

You can write off up to $5,000 of qualifying startup costs in your first active tax year. If your startup costs exceed $50,000, your immediate write-off loses $1 in value for every extra $1 you spend and drops to zero if you pass $55,000.

And any remaining costs over the initial deduction limit have to be spread out over 15 years.

๐˜ž๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ค๐˜ฉ ๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ต๐˜ถ๐˜ฑ ๐˜ฆ๐˜น๐˜ฑ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฐ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ถ๐˜ด๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ด ๐˜ฐ๐˜ธ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ด ๐˜จ๐˜ฆ๐˜ต ๐˜ด๐˜ถ๐˜ณ๐˜ฑ๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ด๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฃ๐˜บ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฐ๐˜ด๐˜ต?

๐—ช๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐—ถ๐—ฎ๐—น ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ฑ๐˜€ ๐˜€๐—ต๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—น๐—ฑ ๐—œ ๐—ฎ๐—น๐˜„๐—ฎ๐˜†๐˜€ ๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ ๐—ฏ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ธ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐˜‚๐—ฝ?Make sure you have electronic copies of your...โ€ข 3 to 7 years of t...
09/21/2026

๐—ช๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐—ถ๐—ฎ๐—น ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ฑ๐˜€ ๐˜€๐—ต๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—น๐—ฑ ๐—œ ๐—ฎ๐—น๐˜„๐—ฎ๐˜†๐˜€ ๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ ๐—ฏ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ธ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐˜‚๐—ฝ?

Make sure you have electronic copies of your...
โ€ข 3 to 7 years of tax returns
โ€ข Recent bank and investment statements
โ€ข Insurance summary pages (auto, home, health, life)
โ€ข Property deeds, car titles, and leases
โ€ข Basic business records (LLC setup files and contracts)

Tracking down lost copies can easily take 8 to 15 hours of phone calls and waiting on hold... which is the last thing you need during an emergency.

September goal: Spend 30 minutes this week downloading or scanning these files, and save them in one secure spot. Make sure you can access them even if your phone or laptop dies.

09/18/2026

๐—ฆ๐—ต๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—น๐—ฑ ๐—œ ๐˜€๐˜๐—ถ๐—น๐—น ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐—น๐—ฒ ๐—บ๐˜† ๐˜๐—ฎ๐˜… ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐˜๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐—ป ๐—ฏ๐˜† ๐—ข๐—ฐ๐˜๐—ผ๐—ฏ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐Ÿญ๐Ÿฑ ๐—ถ๐—ณ ๐—œ ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐—ปโ€™๐˜ ๐—ฎ๐—ณ๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ฑ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ฝ๐—ฎ๐˜† ๐˜„๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐—œ ๐—ผ๐˜„๐—ฒ?

Yes, you should still file your tax return by October 15, even if you canโ€™t afford to pay the full amount you owe.

Filing and paying are two different issues, and missing the filing deadline can make an already difficult tax bill more expensive.

After the deadline, the failure-to-file penalty is 5% of your unpaid tax for each month or partial month your return is late, up to 25%.

The failure-to-pay penalty is much lower at 0.5% per month, also capped at 25%.

So if you canโ€™t pay the full balance, file the return on time anyway.

Then we can help you look at your payment options. The IRS offers short-term plans of up to 180 days, and taxpayers who owe under $50,000 are often able to set up a monthly installment agreement online.

๐—ช๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐˜๐—ฎ๐˜… ๐—ฑ๐—ผ ๐—œ ๐—ฝ๐—ฎ๐˜† ๐˜„๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ป ๐—œ ๐˜€๐—ฒ๐—น๐—น ๐—บ๐˜† ๐—ฏ๐˜‚๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜€?What youโ€™ll owe in taxes depends on how the sale is structured and exactly wha...
09/17/2026

๐—ช๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐˜๐—ฎ๐˜… ๐—ฑ๐—ผ ๐—œ ๐—ฝ๐—ฎ๐˜† ๐˜„๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ป ๐—œ ๐˜€๐—ฒ๐—น๐—น ๐—บ๐˜† ๐—ฏ๐˜‚๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜€?

What youโ€™ll owe in taxes depends on how the sale is structured and exactly what the buyer is purchasing.

If you sell ownership shares or goodwill, some of the proceeds may be taxed at long-term capital gains rates.

But money tied to inventory, accounts receivable, or depreciation recapture can be taxed as ordinary income instead. And if you own a C corp, an asset sale can trigger tax at both the corporate and personal level.

So if youโ€™re discussing a sale, donโ€™t just ask, โ€œWhatโ€™s the offer?โ€

Find out whether the buyer is proposing an asset sale or stock sale, and how much of the purchase price will be assigned to things like goodwill, equipment, inventory, and receivables.

If youโ€™re still 12 to 36 months away from selling, thatโ€™s also the time to review your entity structure. Once youโ€™ve signed a letter of intent, your tax options can become much more limited.

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Pembroke, MA
02359

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Telephone

+17817959536

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