by Boris Benic | Apr 21, 2026 | Blog
If Qualified Small Business Stock (QSBS) is part of your planning and New York is on your map, this proposal is worth a look. The reason is simple: it is drafted to apply retroactively, starting in 2025.
The New York State Senate has introduced a proposal (S8921A) that would change New York’s treatment of QSBS. Put simply, it would decouple New York from the federal QSBS exclusion under Internal Revenue Code Section 1202 and tax gain that is currently excluded for federal purposes.
As drafted, the change would apply for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2025. That effective date is the issue. If you are already in serious conversations about a sale, recapitalization, or other liquidity event, you do not want to discover a state tax surprise late in the process.
Two points before anyone over reads this.
First, this is a proposal in a budget negotiation. The language will move. Provisions get traded or dropped. So you should treat it as a planning input, not a conclusion.
In my experience, two issues create most of the confusion.
Assumption one: “We have QSBS.”
A lot of family businesses are not C corporations. If you operate as an LLC or S corporation, you are not in the QSBS lane at all. Even for C corporations, QSBS is specific. If Section 1202 is part of your plan, it is worth confirming the basics so you know whether this proposal even touches you.
Assumption two: “We will deal with New York residency later.”
State tax exposure is often driven by where you are treated as resident when the gain is recognized, and what documentation supports that position. If you are a New York resident today, or you split time between states, the “later” part tends to arrive quickly once a deal starts moving.
So what should you do with this information right now?
- Start with a quick QSBS inventory.
- Who owns the shares (you, spouse, trust, entity)? When were they acquired? Is the company actually a qualifying C corporation? If ownership is spread across family members or trusts, map it. It does not need to be perfect on day one, but it needs to be accurate enough that everyone is talking about the same facts.
- Put your exit timeline next to your New York facts.
- If a transaction is possible in the next 6 to 24 months, treat New York and New York City residency as part of the planning model. This is not a push to relocate. It is a reminder to understand exposure while you still have choices.
- Ask for a simple New York “what if” estimate.
- Have your CPA run the state and city impact if New York taxes the gain that would otherwise be excluded federally. You do not need a long memo. You need a number range you can plan around and discuss with your advisors.
- If a trust is involved, look at it sooner rather than later.
- New York trust taxation can be technical, and small details can change outcomes. If a trust owns QSBS and a liquidity event is plausible, a review now is usually easier, cheaper, and more productive than a review when documents are already circulating.
- Keep your deal team aligned.
- QSBS issues can affect structure, timing, and after-tax proceeds. A quick alignment call with your CPA and attorney, using the same ownership map and the same residency facts, often prevents avoidable last-minute confusion.
The good news is you do not need to predict the outcome to plan well.
Retroactive tax changes do not ruin deals. But, they can change the math after you thought it was settled.
If QSBS is in your plan and a liquidity event is on the horizon, we can usually pressure-test this in one short conversation: confirm whether QSBS is actually in play, estimate the New York downside if this passes as drafted, and identify any documentation or planning steps that are sensible to do now while it is still a proposal.
I look forward to hearing about your situation.
by Boris Benic | Apr 16, 2026 | Blog
You can tell a lot about a business by the way it pays its bills and its overall business payment routine. Plenty of companies that adopted online banking, ACH, and digital invoicing still write checks. Usually that comes down to control.
In a smaller company, a check run forces a pause. Someone has to look at the invoice, confirm the amount, and approve the payment before funds move. That extra step can be inconvenient. It can also prevent sloppy payments.
Checks also fit the way many small businesses actually manage cash. Federal Reserve research highlighted by the Atlanta Fed found that checks remain a leading payment method among small businesses, including nearly 80% of firms under $1 million in revenue and 83% of small firms overall.
For some owners, the check is part of the accounting rhythm. Bills are reviewed together. Supporting documents are in one place. Payments go out on a schedule that lines up with receivables, payroll, and the rest of the month. When margins are tight, that timing matters.
None of this makes checks low-risk. The 2025 AFP Payments Fraud and Control Survey found that 79% of organizations reported attempted or actual payments fraud activity in 2024, and checks were the payment method most often targeted.
That is why the process matters more than the paper.
A check without controls is just exposure.
If your business payment routine still involves checks, make sure the process deserves the trust you are placing in it. Signing authority should be limited. Check stock should be secure. Cleared items should be reviewed promptly. Changes to vendor information should be verified before money goes out.
The same point applies if most of your payments now go by ACH or wire. Faster systems move money quickly. They do not correct a weak approval process.
A lot of businesses keep the same payment routine for years simply because everyone is used to it. That is often when something gets missed.
If you have not reviewed how money leaves your business lately, this is a good time to do it. A short conversation can tell you whether the process still fits the business, protects cash, and gives you the control you think it does.
by Boris Benic | Mar 31, 2026 | Blog
Some headlines stay in the news. Others make their way into your numbers.
Conflict in Iran carries real human and geopolitical consequences. For family businesses, the practical question is not how to read the politics. It is how fast the effects start showing up in vendor costs, shipping, cash flow, and the budget itself.
Global risk usually does not break a budget all at once. It weakens the assumptions underneath it.
Supplier timing and shipping costs are often where the pressure shows up first. A business may not import directly from the Middle East and still feel the effects. Supply chains are connected, and when a major trade corridor becomes less reliable, vendors adjust around it. That can mean higher freight costs, delayed deliveries, shorter quote windows, and more volatility in the cost of getting goods where they need to go.
Cost creep can also show up in categories that do not immediately appear tied to oil. Business owners expect fuel prices to move. What often causes more trouble is everything that follows behind that movement: delivery costs, packaging, food inputs, maintenance-related expenses, and vendor increases that arrive with less notice and less flexibility. Those are the kinds of changes that do not make headlines on their own, but they have a way of tightening margins one decision at a time.
Cyber risk belongs in this conversation too. In periods of geopolitical tension, cyber risk deserves a closer look. For a family business, that is not a foreign policy discussion. It is a reminder to review the basics: multifactor authentication, payment approval procedures, wire-change verification, and backups. One bad payment or compromised login can do more damage than a temporary increase in shipping costs.
Businesses with international vendors, overseas customers, or unusual payment flows have another layer to consider. This is a good time to pay attention to details that are easy to ignore when things feel stable. Routine transactions deserve a second look. That is not overreacting. That is good business hygiene.
None of this means a family business should panic or start making decisions based on headlines. It does mean this is a good time to revisit a few assumptions. Which vendors are most exposed to freight volatility or imported inputs? How long are your prices really good for? Where is there less cushion in the budget than there appears to be? Are payment controls as strong as they need to be? Are you relying too heavily on one supplier, one route, or one old assumption about cost stability?
That is the practical side of global risk. You do not need to become a foreign policy expert to take it seriously. You just need to notice when a world event starts changing your numbers. If your business is starting to feel that strain (or you think it might be on the way), we can help you review vendor exposure, cash flow, and the budget areas that may need a closer look.
by Boris Benic | Mar 25, 2026 | Blog
Most international tax errors do not start with some big strategy.
They start because someone says, “You should open this account,” and nobody talks about what happens next.
A friend suggests opening an investment account in another country. A family buys property overseas and needs a local bank account. A parent helps a child studying abroad. A business owner expands personal investing and ends up with an account outside the United States.
At that point, many people assume the same thing: if the account is legitimate and there is little or no income, there is probably nothing important to report.
That is the mistake.
For U.S. taxpayers, foreign accounts can create reporting requirements even when there is no bad intent and, in some cases, no extra tax due. In my experience, the problem is usually not some elaborate plan. It is that someone did something fairly normal, then found out later there was reporting attached to it.
Even if this does not apply to you today, it may apply sooner than you think. And if not, there is a good chance you know a friend, family member, or colleague who has already stepped into this without realizing it.
Why this catches people off guard
Most business owners think in terms of income tax. Did the account earn interest? Was there a gain? Did I actually make money?
That is a reasonable way to think. It is also where people get tripped up.
With foreign accounts, the government may want disclosure based on the existence and value of the account, not just the income it produced. That is why this area creates so much confusion. Someone can do something perfectly ordinary and still miss an important filing requirement.
The two forms people mix up
The first source of confusion is that there may be two separate reporting systems involved.
FBAR
The FBAR is a report for foreign bank and financial accounts. In general, it may apply when the combined value of foreign accounts crosses a reporting threshold at any point during the year.
Form 8938
Form 8938 is filed with a federal income tax return and applies to certain specified foreign financial assets when the value exceeds reporting thresholds.
The key point is that these are not interchangeable forms. Filing one does not automatically satisfy the other. This is one of the most common places people assume too much and find out too late that the rules were not as simple as they sounded.
How family business owners end up here
This is rarely about hidden money. More often, it looks like this:
- You bought property overseas and opened a local account to handle expenses
- You opened a foreign brokerage account because someone recommended it
- You have authority over an account connected to a family business or family investment
- You helped a child or relative maintain funds abroad
- You invested in something outside the U.S. and now have related foreign financial assets
None of that automatically means you did anything wrong. It does mean you should not assume your regular tax process is catching it.
What to do next to avoid international tax errors
Start with a simple review.
Make a list of every non U.S. account you own, control, or can sign on. Pull statements that show year end values and, if possible, the highest balance during the year. Then ask your tax preparer a very direct question: do any of these accounts or assets trigger FBAR, Form 8938, or both?
That is a much better conversation to have before a deadline than after one.
Staying ahead of your obligations
The biggest international tax errors are not always sophisticated. Very often, they start with a decision that sounded harmless at the time.
That is what makes this topic relevant for family business owners. You can create a foreign reporting obligation without ever thinking of yourself as someone dealing with international tax.
If you have money, authority, or investments tied to accounts outside the United States, it is worth reviewing now. And if you do not, keep this on your radar. These situations have a way of showing up through opportunity, family, travel, or advice that sounded simple in the moment.
If you would like help figuring out whether a foreign account creates a reporting obligation, Boris Benic & Associates can help you sort through the practical accounting and tax implications before a small oversight becomes a larger issue.
by Boris Benic | Feb 28, 2026 | Blog
If this year feels more complicated than usual, you are not imagining it.
Planning conversations no longer clearly start and end with taxes. Before we get there, we seem to now find ourselves talking with clients about things like insurance renewals, hiring decisions, a software change, or a policy shift that may affect costs later in the year.
For family owned and growth focused businesses, 2026 is less about bold moves and more about alignment. Coordination matters more than prediction. Most owners I work with are not chasing dramatic growth. They want the year to run predictably, and they want to avoid small missteps that get expensive over time.
So what is actually making this year feel heavier than usual?
Part of it is that recent surveys show cautious optimism on revenue while at the same time highlighting persistent concern about rising costs. Part of it is how hiring and benefit decisions are reshaping your cost structure. And part of it is the role technology is starting to play in everyday operations.
If we step back and look at those pieces together, it becomes easier to build a simple rhythm for the year that keeps things from drifting.
What the Current Outlook Really Means
Recent surveys show cautious optimism. A late 2025 survey from the American Bankers Association (ABA) found that roughly three quarters of small and midsize business owners expect revenue growth in 2026, and about 60 percent plan some expansion. That lines up with what I am hearing. Businesses are moving forward, but carefully.
At the same time, the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) reports that cost pressures, especially insurance, wages, and operating expenses, remain near the top of the concern list.
Revenue may trend up, but expenses rarely stand still. I have had more than one client say, “Sales look fine. It just does not feel easier.” That feeling is usually about cost structure. Insurance renewals rise. Payroll inches up. Vendors adjust pricing. Nothing dramatic on its own, but together it tightens margins.
On the tax side, we at least have more stability than in prior years. Deduction rules around capital investment and certain expenses are clearer, which helps when deciding whether to replace equipment or invest in systems. Clearer rules, however, do not offset rising costs. If expenses move faster than pricing, profit tightens. That is where consistent projection work earns its keep.
Hiring and Retention Are Financial Decisions
Labor is no longer in crisis mode, but it is still tight. According to the ABA and NFIB surveys, more than half of small business owners report difficulty finding qualified workers, and many are increasing wages or expanding benefits to retain key employees.
Hiring conversations rarely stay about headcount. Compensation includes payroll taxes, retirement contributions, health coverage, and other benefits, and how those pieces are arranged determines the real cost. Sometimes raises are right, but other times adjusting a retirement match or benefit design achieves the same goal with a different tax outcome, which is usually when the question shifts from “What can we afford?” to “What makes sense long term?”
For closely held businesses, especially where family members are on payroll, that distinction matters. Moving money inefficiently can increase tax exposure without strengthening the company. As with most tax rules, the details of your specific situation still matter.
Technology Investment Is Becoming Standard
Technology adoption continues to accelerate. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce reports that well over half of small businesses now use some form of artificial intelligence or advanced automation in daily operations.
In practice, this usually means cleaner bookkeeping, stronger payroll systems, and quicker visibility into cash flow. Owners using these tools often feel more informed and more confident in their decisions.
Automation does not remove responsibility. Reports still need review and good judgment still matters.
When considering a new system, keep it simple. Does it solve a real problem? What will it cost over time? How is it treated for tax purposes? Technology should make your numbers clearer, not harder to understand.
Quarterly Checkpoints That Keep You Grounded
In a year like 2026, it helps to look at the numbers more than once.
Early in the year, reset the baseline and update projections. Midyear, check whether hiring, benefits, and systems are tracking as expected. Later, compare projections to actual numbers and adjust estimated taxes or compensation decisions if needed. By the fourth quarter, execute intentionally and close the year without rushing.
This is simply a disciplined way to keep small issues from becoming larger ones.
Bringing It Together
2026 is not defined by one headline change. It is defined by how these decisions overlap.
For many family businesses, that overlap shows up at the kitchen table as much as it does in the office. The businesses that move through this year well are not reacting to every update. They are making sure tax strategy, workforce planning, cost structure, and technology choices point in the same direction.
If it already feels more challenging to make decisions this year, it may be worth stepping back and looking at the full picture. A short planning conversation can often bring more clarity than another month of reacting.
