Bmp, CPA

08/31/2026

A local coffee shop recently sold, and the tax outcome came down to how the deal was built. ☕

The buyers purchased the business assets.
The original owners kept the building and the apartments above it, then rented the space back to the new operators.
Same storefront, very different tax result than selling the whole business would have produced.

That's the part a lot of owners miss: when you sell, you can generally sell the assets or sell the business as a whole. And even at an identical price, they're taxed differently.

An asset sale can often be structured as an installment sale to spread the income (and the tax) across several years. An entity sale generally reports the whole gain in the year of the sale, all at once.

So it's really a timing question.

The catch: these choices are hard to make well once a deal is already on the table. They work best planned well ahead.

If you sold your business, would you know which structure serves you better? Let's talk before it's a final decision.

08/26/2026

Happy National Dog Day from all of us at bmp! 🐾

If there's one thing our office dogs understand, it's showing up consistently — not just once a year. (We like to think we have that in common.)

Whether they're supervising from under a desk or reminding us to take a walk, they keep us grounded, even in the busiest seasons.

Meet the good crew keeping us company today.

Who's your best four-legged coworker? Drop a photo in the comments. We'd love to meet them.

08/25/2026

The HSA may be the most underused account in your retirement plan.

Here are three moves worth a conversation before year-end.

Which one surprised you most? → [article link]

08/21/2026

Tax-efficient investing isn't about avoiding taxes. It's about deciding when and how you pay them.

On your terms.

We put together a guide to the accounts and decisions with a big impact, from HSAs to real estate to gifting.

Worth a read before year-end. What would you want to plan ahead for? →

What tax-efficient investing really means: timing and intention, not avoidance. Practical, proactive moves for retirement accounts, real estate, and Iowans.

08/18/2026

The "grandkid Roth" is a great way to pass on wealth.

Here's how it works, alongside the gifting rules most families get wrong. Would you set one up for a grandchild?

08/10/2026

"I'm waiting until 70 because that's what everyone says you should do."

It's one of the most common things we hear about Social Security. Right behind it: people ready to claim at 62 simply because they can.

Here's the thing: neither is automatically right or wrong. The best age to claim isn't 62, your full retirement age, or 70. It's the age that fits your income plan, your tax picture, and your life.

Because when you start Social Security touches everything around it: your tax bracket, your RMDs, your Roth conversion window, even your Medicare premiums.

That's why we treat it as a tax planning decision, not just a retirement one.

Swipe through for what actually goes into the decision. →

If you're within five years of claiming, have you looked at how it fits with the rest of your retirement income, or just at the monthly benefit?

https://bit.ly/4fX56dt

08/06/2026

✏️ Back-to-school shopping starts with a little extra savings this year!

From August 7–16, 2026, Illinois will reduce the state sales tax rate from 6.25% to 1.25% on qualifying purchases, including:

🎒 Certain school supplies
👕 Clothing priced under $125 per item
👟 Footwear priced under $125 per item

School supplies are not subject to the $125 limit. Remember, local sales taxes will still apply, so this is a reduced-tax holiday, not a completely tax-free one.

Review the qualifying items before you shop: https://tax.illinois.gov/research/publications/bulletins/fy-2026-30.html

08/05/2026

Some of the most valuable tax decisions a business owner can make need runway. Here's a quick mid-year gut check while there's still time to act on the answers:

✓ Are your estimated payments still matching reality six months in?
✓ Have you revisited how you're taking income this year?
✓ Are your retirement plan contributions on track — or worth adjusting?
✓ Has anything changed in the business that your tax strategy doesn't know about yet?
✓ Are you confirming decisions in December, or still making them?

If more than one of these gave you pause, then now is exactly when there's still room to move.

Business owners: which of these is the one you keep meaning to get to?

07/30/2026

Blink and it's the end of July. ☀️

Somehow we're over halfway through 2026, which feels like the right moment to look up from the to-do list for a second.

So we're curious: how's your summer actually going? Not the productive version. The real one.

🌽 Farmers market regular or "I'll go next weekend" for the fifth week running?
🚴 Out on the trails or firmly in the AC?
📚 Working through a summer reading stack or only three chapters deep into the same one?

Tell us where you land. 👇

07/29/2026

You've spent decades building toward retirement.

Required distributions, when you draw from which account, how this year's income lines up against next year's. These aren't December decisions. By the time the calendar runs out, the options that could have saved you the most have already expired.

A mid-year look makes sure the moves still on the table stay on the table.

If you're within a few years of retiring, what's one tax question you've been meaning to ask but haven't yet?