Thanks for these specific suggestions! I hadn't even considered infrastructure asset reporting. Do you know of any good case studies or examples of municipalities that have interesting approaches to this? I feel like having a real-world example would really strengthen my paper.

The city of Portland, Oregon has an excellent comprehensive annual financial report that details their modified approach to infrastructure assets. They provide condition assessments and demonstrate how they've maintained service potential without traditional depreciation methods. For a contrasting example, look at Cincinnati's reporting which uses the more traditional depreciation approach for most assets. Comparing these two methodologies side-by-side creates a compelling analysis of how accounting choices impact financial position representation and budgeting priorities.

That's such a unique angle! How do these organizations typically handle the currency conversion issues in their financial statements? I imagine that could lead to some significant reporting challenges.

That's really helpful. So for my invoices, should I format it as "My Full Name dba Business Name" and then just use my SSN on the W9 form? Or should I include both the SSN and FEIN on different parts of the form?

You should format it exactly as "Your Full Legal Name dba Business Name" on your invoices, and then on your W9, check the "Individual/sole proprietor" box, use your personal name on the "Name" line, your business name on the "Business name/disregarded entity" line, and your SSN in part I. You can include your EIN in Part II if you want, but it's cleaner to just use your SSN for everything unless you specifically need the EIN for something like business banking. This way, everything matches what the IRS has on file for you personally, which prevents these verification hiccups.

From my experience (worked in tax prep for 7 years), these kinds of mismatches don't typically trigger audits on their own. They're considered administrative issues rather than compliance problems. The IRS is looking for income reporting discrepancies, not ID formatting issues.

Can you expand a bit on this? I'm in a similar situation and don't fully understand what makes something "tax-efficient" vs "tax-inefficient" for brokerage accounts.

Tax-efficient investments are those that minimize the amount of taxable events while you hold them. For example, growth stocks that don't pay dividends only create a taxable event when you sell them, which you can control. You might hold them for many years, allowing your money to grow tax-deferred (even though it's in a taxable account). Tax-inefficient investments create regular taxable events that you can't control. Bonds pay regular interest that's taxed at your ordinary income rate. REITs are required to distribute 90% of their taxable income to shareholders, creating regular dividend payments. High-dividend stocks similarly create regular tax obligations. When these are held in taxable accounts, you're paying taxes every year on these distributions, even if you reinvest them.

Since you have a defined 10-year period, target date funds might not be ideal as they're designed for retirement dates. Instead, consider a balanced portfolio matching your risk tolerance. For a 10-year timeframe, maybe 60-70% stocks and 30-40% bonds could work. Just remember that as you get closer to the 10-year deadline, you might want to get more conservative to avoid market drops right when you need to withdraw everything.

Do you think it's better to just bite the bullet and pay a CPA upfront? I'm worried TurboTax might miss some deductions for my small business but the refund transfer feature is so convenient.

If you have a small business, paying for a qualified CPA is often worth it, especially in your first year or two of operation. A good CPA doesn't just fill out forms - they provide tax planning advice that might save you significantly more than their fee. Think of it this way: TurboTax might be $100 cheaper upfront, but a CPA might find $500+ in legitimate deductions you'd miss. The software only knows what you tell it, while a CPA knows what questions to ask based on your specific situation. Plus, having a professional relationship with a CPA means you have someone to call when you have questions throughout the year, not just at tax time.

I used a refund transfer through my tax preparer last year. It added about 5-7 days to my refund timeline, and cost me $35. Honestly wasn't worth it for me, but if you're really tight on cash and absolutely need the tax prep done, it might make sense. Just be aware you're basically paying $40 for a very short-term loan.

Not OP but I had a similar situation with equipment I sold. The service contract portion gets allocated separately as ordinary income, not as part of the capital transaction. At least that's how my accountant handled it.

Yeah actually I did have a service contract that transferred to the new owner with about 8 months left on it. I hadn't even thought about that part. I paid $3200 for a 3-year service plan originally.

Location, location, location. I put it in what I thought was a great spot near a lake where people go fishing and boating, but it turns out most people just bring their own ice in coolers. The property lease was expensive, electricity costs were higher than projected, and I had several expensive repairs in the first year. Competition from nearby gas stations with cheaper ice didn't help either. The ROI calculations from the manufacturer were... let's just say optimistic.