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2026 QSBS State Conformity Guide: All 50 States and D.C.
Compare QSBS tax treatment in all 50 states and D.C., including the 2025 federal expansion, 2026 addbacks and Rhode Island’s 2027 change.
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January Filing Deadlines Startups Commonly Miss
January is prime time for compliance slip-ups that quietly turn into bigger problems later—loss of good standing, IRS penalties, or unpleasant surprises during fundraising.
Top Startup Law Updates for 2025: QSBS and 83(b) Changes
2025 has already brought several noteworthy changes to U.S. tax and corporate law that will affect tech founders, early‑stage employees and investors.
Can You Exercise a Stock Option With a Nonrecourse Note and Start Your QSBS Holding Period?
A note-funded exercise starts a stock holding period only if the tax rules treat stock as acquired. Financing, beneficial ownership, vesting, and 83(b) elections require separate analysis.
Golden Parachute Taxes: A Hidden Trap for Founders
Golden-parachute taxes: the 20% excise tax, compensation base, accelerated-equity valuation, shareholder-vote conditions and worked cash-bonus examples.
Don’t Accidentally Disqualify Your QSBS by “Resetting” It
A qualifying stock conversion or reorganization can preserve QSBS and its holding period. It does not automatically move older shares into the post–July 4, 2025 exclusion regime. A taxable exchange requires separate analysis of gain on the old shares and qualification of the replacement shares.
Seattle B&O Tax (2026): Rates, Who Pays, and How It Works
Seattle B&O tax in 2026: the $2 million threshold and deduction, classification rates, mixed-revenue examples, and quarterly versus annual filing.
Gifting QSBS: What the New York Times Got Wrong — and How Founders Can Do It Right
In late 2021, The New York Times ran a feature titled “A Lavish Tax Dodge for the Ultrawealthy Is Easily Multiplied.
It’s Time to Reverse the 83(b) Election Presumption
A proposal to make 83(b) treatment automatic for suitable restricted-stock transfers, with an informed opt-out and protection against unexpected current tax.
Only C-Corps Can Issue QSBS: Why Entity Choice Decides Your Section 1202 Exclusion
Section 1202 is available only to C corporation stock. Why LLC units and S-corp shares never qualify, what an entity conversion does and does not fix, and how OBBBA changed the caps and holding periods.