Finance Exam Prep

This podcast is made by Ran Chen, who holds an EA license, Insurance and Securities licenses (Series 6, 63, 65), and the CFP® designation. He is passionate about opening access to high-quality exam preparation resources and helping learners prepare more effectively for professional certification exams. In this episode you will learn: - How the FIFO method assumes the first units purchased are the first ones sold, typically resulting in higher taxable income during inflationary periods. - How the LIFO method assumes the last units purchased are the first ones sold, leading to a higher Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) and lower taxable income w...

This podcast is made by Ran Chen, who holds an EA license, Insurance and Securities licenses (Series 6, 63, 65), and the CFP® designation. He is passionate about opening access to high-quality exam preparation resources and helping learners prepare more effectively for professional certification exams. In this episode you will learn: - How to calculate a business casualty loss: the lesser of the property's adjusted basis or the decline in its fair market value, minus insurance proceeds. - That business casualty losses are not subject to the $100 per-event reduction or the 10% of AGI floor that applies to personal losses. - Why a federally d...

This podcast is made by Ran Chen, who holds an EA license, Insurance and Securities licenses (Series 6, 63, 65), and the CFP® designation. He is passionate about opening access to high-quality exam preparation resources and helping learners prepare more effectively for professional certification exams. In this episode you will learn: - Why business bad debts are valuable ordinary deductions, while nonbusiness bad debts are treated as short-term capital losses. - The critical difference in timing: business debts can be deducted when partially worthless, but nonbusiness debts must be wholly worthless. - That the specific charge-off method is the only permissible method for d...

This podcast is made by Ran Chen, who holds an EA license, Insurance and Securities licenses (Series 6, 63, 65), and the CFP® designation. He is passionate about opening access to high-quality exam preparation resources and helping learners prepare more effectively for professional certification exams. In this episode you will learn: - How to calculate realized gain, recognized gain, and deferred gain in a §1033 transaction. - The critical tax impact of failing to reinvest the full amount of proceeds received. - The specific replacement periods: two years for most casualties and three years for condemned business real property. - The difference between the st...

This podcast is made by Ran Chen, who holds an EA license, Insurance and Securities licenses (Series 6, 63, 65), and the CFP® designation. He is passionate about opening access to high-quality exam preparation resources and helping learners prepare more effectively for professional certification exams. In this episode you will learn: - The post-TCJA rule restricting §1031 exchanges exclusively to real property held for business or investment. - The non-negotiable 45-day identification period and 180-day exchange period for deferred exchanges. - How to calculate the recognized gain, which is the lesser of the boot received or the realized gain. - The correct formula for de...

This podcast is made by Ran Chen, who holds an EA license, Insurance and Securities licenses (Series 6, 63, 65), and the CFP® designation. He is passionate about opening access to high-quality exam preparation resources and helping learners prepare more effectively for professional certification exams. In this episode you will learn: - That net Section 1231 gains are treated as long-term capital gains, while net losses are treated as fully deductible ordinary losses. - How to correctly net gains and losses from the sale of multiple Section 1231 properties to determine the final tax character. - The function of the five-year lookback rule, which recharacterizes c...

This podcast is made by Ran Chen, who holds an EA license, Insurance and Securities licenses (Series 6, 63, 65), and the CFP® designation. He is passionate about opening access to high-quality exam preparation resources and helping learners prepare more effectively for professional certification exams. In this episode you will learn: - The key difference between Section 1250 recapture for real property and Section 1245 recapture for personal property. - Why ordinary income recapture on Section 1250 assets is rare for property placed in service after 1986. - How to calculate unrecaptured Section 1250 gain, which is the lesser of total gain or accumulated straight-line depreciation. - That u...

This podcast is made by Ran Chen, who holds an EA license, Insurance and Securities licenses (Series 6, 63, 65), and the CFP® designation. He is passionate about opening access to high-quality exam preparation resources and helping learners prepare more effectively for professional certification exams. In this episode you will learn: - Section 1245 recaptures depreciation on personal property as ordinary income. - The recapture amount is the lesser of the gain realized or the total depreciation taken. - Any gain exceeding the recaptured amount is typically treated as a Section 1231 gain. - Section 1245 applies to assets like equipment and vehicles, not buildings (which a...

This podcast is made by Ran Chen, who holds an EA license, Insurance and Securities licenses (Series 6, 63, 65), and the CFP® designation. He is passionate about opening access to high-quality exam preparation resources and helping learners prepare more effectively for professional certification exams. In this episode you will learn: - When the Alternative Depreciation System (ADS) is mandatory for property such as foreign use and tax-exempt use property. - The consequences of a real property trade or business electing out of the Section 163(j) interest limitation. - How ADS utilizes the straight-line method over longer recovery periods compared to the General D...

This podcast is made by Ran Chen, who holds an EA license, Insurance and Securities licenses (Series 6, 63, 65), and the CFP® designation. He is passionate about opening access to high-quality exam preparation resources and helping learners prepare more effectively for professional certification exams. In this episode you will learn: - Listed property like vehicles and computers requires strict, contemporaneous written records to substantiate business use. - To claim accelerated depreciation (MACRS, Section 179), business use must exceed 50% in the year the asset is placed in service. - If business use is 50% or less, you are restricted to the slower straight-line method under t...

This podcast is made by Ran Chen, who holds an EA license, Insurance and Securities licenses (Series 6, 63, 65), and the CFP® designation. He is passionate about opening access to high-quality exam preparation resources and helping learners prepare more effectively for professional certification exams. In this episode you will learn: - The two primary limitations on the Section 179 deduction: the overall investment limit and the business taxable income limit. - How to calculate the reduction in the maximum Section 179 expense when total asset purchases exceed the phase-out threshold. - That the deduction is ultimately capped by the business's taxable income for the y...

This podcast is made by Ran Chen, who holds an EA license, Insurance and Securities licenses (Series 6, 63, 65), and the CFP® designation. He is passionate about opening access to high-quality exam preparation resources and helping learners prepare more effectively for professional certification exams. In this episode you will learn: - The bonus depreciation rate for 2024 is 60%, and it decreases by 20% each year until it reaches zero in 2027. - Used property now qualifies for bonus depreciation, a significant change from pre-TCJA rules and a common exam trap. - The election to opt out of bonus depreciation must be made for an entire a...

This podcast is made by Ran Chen, who holds an EA license, Insurance and Securities licenses (Series 6, 63, 65), and the CFP® designation. He is passionate about opening access to high-quality exam preparation resources and helping learners prepare more effectively for professional certification exams. In this episode you will learn: - The half-year convention is the default for personal property, granting six months of depreciation in the first year regardless of the purchase date. - The mid-quarter convention is a mandatory test triggered if over 40% of the basis of personal property is placed in service in the final three months of the y...

This podcast is made by Ran Chen, who holds an EA license, Insurance and Securities licenses (Series 6, 63, 65), and the CFP® designation. He is passionate about opening access to high-quality exam preparation resources and helping learners prepare more effectively for professional certification exams. In this episode you will learn: - How to identify the correct MACRS class life for commonly tested assets like computers (5-year) and office furniture (7-year). - The critical difference between the 27.5-year life for residential rental property and the 39-year life for nonresidential real property. - The function of the default half-year convention and how it applies t...

This podcast is made by Ran Chen, who holds an EA license, Insurance and Securities licenses (Series 6, 63, 65), and the CFP® designation. He is passionate about opening access to high-quality exam preparation resources and helping learners prepare more effectively for professional certification exams. In this episode you will learn: - For tax purposes, an asset's useful life is its IRS-mandated recovery period, not its actual economic life. - The Modified Accelerated Cost Recovery System (MACRS) is the primary method for depreciating most business and investment property. - The General Depreciation System (GDS) is the default under MACRS and uses accelerated methods f...

This podcast is made by Ran Chen, who holds an EA license, Insurance and Securities licenses (Series 6, 63, 65), and the CFP® designation. He is passionate about opening access to high-quality exam preparation resources and helping learners prepare more effectively for professional certification exams. In this episode you will learn: - That UNICAP (§263A) requires producers and resellers to capitalize both direct and indirect costs into inventory, delaying the deduction until the goods are sold. - The critical small business exception threshold, which for 2024 exempts businesses with three-year average annual gross receipts of $30 million or less. - To identify capitalizable indirect costs li...

This podcast is made by Ran Chen, who holds an EA license, Insurance and Securities licenses (Series 6, 63, 65), and the CFP® designation. He is passionate about opening access to high-quality exam preparation resources and helping learners prepare more effectively for professional certification exams. In this episode you will learn: - The two-prong test for deductibility: an expense must be both ordinary (common in the trade) and necessary (helpful and appropriate). - How the unwritten "reasonable in amount" rule prevents deductions for lavish or extravagant expenses. - The critical difference between a currently deductible repair and a capital expenditure that must be d...

This podcast is made by Ran Chen, who holds an EA license, Insurance and Securities licenses (Series 6, 63, 65), and the CFP® designation. He is passionate about opening access to high-quality exam preparation resources and helping learners prepare more effectively for professional certification exams. In this episode you will learn: - Gross Receipts represents the total sales revenue a business receives from all sources before any expenses are subtracted. - The Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) formula is: Beginning Inventory + Purchases & Other Direct Costs - Ending Inventory. - Only direct costs, such as raw materials and direct labor, are included in COGS; i...

This podcast is made by Ran Chen, who holds an EA license, Insurance and Securities licenses (Series 6, 63, 65), and the CFP® designation. He is passionate about opening access to high-quality exam preparation resources and helping learners prepare more effectively for professional certification exams. In this episode you will learn: - Losses on sales between related parties as defined under §267 are disallowed for the seller. - A related party buyer can use the seller's previously disallowed loss to offset a future gain on the sale of that same property. - An accrual-basis taxpayer must defer deducting an expense owed to a related ca...

This podcast is made by Ran Chen, who holds an EA license, Insurance and Securities licenses (Series 6, 63, 65), and the CFP® designation. He is passionate about opening access to high-quality exam preparation resources and helping learners prepare more effectively for professional certification exams. In this episode you will learn: - Why IRS approval, requested via Form 1128, is generally required to change a tax year. - That a change in tax year creates a short-period return for the months between the old and new year-ends. - How to perform the three-step calculation to annualize income and determine the tax for a short p...

This podcast is made by Ran Chen, who holds an EA license, Insurance and Securities licenses (Series 6, 63, 65), and the CFP® designation. He is passionate about opening access to high-quality exam preparation resources and helping learners prepare more effectively for professional certification exams. In this episode you will learn: - Form 7004 provides an automatic 6-month extension to *file* for partnerships, corporations, and trusts, not an extension to *pay*. - The form must be filed by the original due date of the tax return (e.g., March 15 for S-corps/partnerships, April 15 for C-corps/trusts for calendar-year entities). - A proper, good-faith estimate o...

This podcast is made by Ran Chen, who holds an EA license, Insurance and Securities licenses (Series 6, 63, 65), and the CFP® designation. He is passionate about opening access to high-quality exam preparation resources and helping learners prepare more effectively for professional certification exams. In this episode you will learn: - The default tax year for most entities is the calendar year. - Personal Service Corporations (PSCs), S Corporations, and Partnerships are generally required to use a calendar year. - A fiscal year is permissible if there is a valid business purpose, such as meeting the 25% gross receipts test for a natural b...

This podcast is made by Ran Chen, who holds an EA license, Insurance and Securities licenses (Series 6, 63, 65), and the CFP® designation. He is passionate about opening access to high-quality exam preparation resources and helping learners prepare more effectively for professional certification exams. In this episode you will learn: - C Corporations face a 21% entity-level tax, and profits are taxed again as dividends when distributed to shareholders, a concept known as double taxation. - S Corporations are pass-through entities that avoid double taxation, but owner-employees must pay payroll taxes on their reasonable salary. - A key advantage of S Corporations is t...

This podcast is made by Ran Chen, who holds an EA license, Insurance and Securities licenses (Series 6, 63, 65), and the CFP® designation. He is passionate about opening access to high-quality exam preparation resources and helping learners prepare more effectively for professional certification exams. In this episode you will learn: - Why the IRS closely scrutinizes S Corp shareholder compensation. - The key factors used to determine if a salary is "reasonable." - How to identify common exam traps related to distributions versus salary. - A mnemonic to remember the core elements of reasonable compensation analysis. - The tax treatment of fringe b...

This podcast is made by Ran Chen, who holds an EA license, Insurance and Securities licenses (Series 6, 63, 65), and the CFP® designation. He is passionate about opening access to high-quality exam preparation resources and helping learners prepare more effectively for professional certification exams. In this episode you will learn: - How an S Corp voluntarily revokes its status and the critical timing rules involved. - The four main reasons for an involuntary S Corp termination: exceeding 100 shareholders, having ineligible shareholders, issuing more than one class of stock, and violating passive income limitations. - The specifics of the passive investment income rule, w...

This podcast is made by Ran Chen, who holds an EA license, Insurance and Securities licenses (Series 6, 63, 65), and the CFP® designation. He is passionate about opening access to high-quality exam preparation resources and helping learners prepare more effectively for professional certification exams. In this episode you will learn: - For S corps with no C-corp history, distributions are a tax-free return of capital up to stock basis, with any excess treated as capital gain. - For S corps with prior C-corp Earnings & Profits (E&P), distributions follow a strict ordering rule: AAA, then E&P, then remaining basis, then gain. ...

This podcast is made by Ran Chen, who holds an EA license, Insurance and Securities licenses (Series 6, 63, 65), and the CFP® designation. He is passionate about opening access to high-quality exam preparation resources and helping learners prepare more effectively for professional certification exams. In this episode you will learn: - How the Accumulated Adjustments Account (AAA) tracks an S corporation's undistributed, previously taxed income. - The specific distribution order for an S corporation with former C corp Earnings & Profits (E&P). - Why distributions from C corp E&P are treated as taxable dividends and do not reduce shareholder basis. - T...

This podcast is made by Ran Chen, who holds an EA license, Insurance and Securities licenses (Series 6, 63, 65), and the CFP® designation. He is passionate about opening access to high-quality exam preparation resources and helping learners prepare more effectively for professional certification exams. In this episode you will learn: - The precise ordering for deducting S corp losses: first against stock basis to zero, then against debt basis. - Why a shareholder loan guarantee does NOT create debt basis, while a direct loan does. - The reverse ordering for basis restoration: net income restores debt basis first, then stock basis. - H...

This podcast is made by Ran Chen, who holds an EA license, Insurance and Securities licenses (Series 6, 63, 65), and the CFP® designation. He is passionate about opening access to high-quality exam preparation resources and helping learners prepare more effectively for professional certification exams. In this episode you will learn: - An S corp must be a domestic entity with no more than 100 shareholders, counting all members of a family as a single shareholder. - Only U.S. individuals, estates, and certain trusts are eligible shareholders; corporations, partnerships, and non-resident aliens are prohibited. - S corporations can only have one class of s...

This podcast is made by Ran Chen, who holds an EA license, Insurance and Securities licenses (Series 6, 63, 65), and the CFP® designation. He is passionate about opening access to high-quality exam preparation resources and helping learners prepare more effectively for professional certification exams. In this episode you will learn: - How shareholders calculate capital gain or loss on a complete liquidation under §331. - How corporations recognize gain or loss on distributed property as if sold at FMV under §336. - Why C Corp liquidations result in a double tax, hitting both the corporation and the shareholder. - The critical exam distinction between liq...

This podcast is made by Ran Chen, who holds an EA license, Insurance and Securities licenses (Series 6, 63, 65), and the CFP® designation. He is passionate about opening access to high-quality exam preparation resources and helping learners prepare more effectively for professional certification exams. In this episode you will learn: - The three-tier system for C Corp distributions: Dividend, Return of Capital, and Capital Gain. - The critical ordering rule for applying current and accumulated Earnings & Profits (E&P). - How to handle distributions when current E&P is positive but accumulated E&P is negative. - The correct tax treatment when c...

This podcast is made by Ran Chen, who holds an EA license, Insurance and Securities licenses (Series 6, 63, 65), and the CFP® designation. He is passionate about opening access to high-quality exam preparation resources and helping learners prepare more effectively for professional certification exams. In this episode you will learn: - The five critical requirements for stock to qualify as QSBS: C-Corp, original issuance, under $50M in assets, active business, and a 5-year holding period. - How to calculate the maximum gain exclusion, which is limited to the greater of $10 million or 10 times the stock's basis. - Common exam traps such as S...

This podcast is made by Ran Chen, who holds an EA license, Insurance and Securities licenses (Series 6, 63, 65), and the CFP® designation. He is passionate about opening access to high-quality exam preparation resources and helping learners prepare more effectively for professional certification exams. In this episode you will learn: - Post-2017 corporate NOLs are carried forward indefinitely but generally cannot be carried back. - The NOL deduction is limited to 80% of taxable income, calculated before the NOL deduction itself. - Pre-2018 NOLs are used first and are not subject to the 80% taxable income limitation. - Exam questions often create scenarios with b...

This podcast is made by Ran Chen, who holds an EA license, Insurance and Securities licenses (Series 6, 63, 65), and the CFP® designation. He is passionate about opening access to high-quality exam preparation resources and helping learners prepare more effectively for professional certification exams. In this episode you will learn: - The CAMT applies only to corporations with an average annual adjusted financial statement income (AFSI) over $1 billion for a three-year period. - The tax is calculated as 15% of AFSI, which begins with book income from financial statements, not regular taxable income. - A corporation's final tax liability is the greater of i...

This podcast is made by Ran Chen, who holds an EA license, Insurance and Securities licenses (Series 6, 63, 65), and the CFP® designation. He is passionate about opening access to high-quality exam preparation resources and helping learners prepare more effectively for professional certification exams. In this episode you will learn: - The Accumulated Earnings Tax is a 20% penalty on C-corps retaining earnings beyond reasonable business needs, with a minimum credit of $250,000 ($150,000 for PSCs). - The Personal Holding Company (PHC) Tax is a 20% penalty on certain C-corps that meet both a 60% passive income test and a 50% ownership test by five or fewer individuals. ...

This podcast is made by Ran Chen, who holds an EA license, Insurance and Securities licenses (Series 6, 63, 65), and the CFP® designation. He is passionate about opening access to high-quality exam preparation resources and helping learners prepare more effectively for professional certification exams. In this episode you will learn: - The Dividends-Received Deduction (DRD) is exclusively for C corporations to mitigate triple taxation on dividends. - DRD percentages are set at 50%, 65%, or 100%, depending on the recipient corporation's ownership stake. - A critical exam trap is the taxable income limitation, which is waived if the full DRD creates or increases a Net O...

This podcast is made by Ran Chen, who holds an EA license, Insurance and Securities licenses (Series 6, 63, 65), and the CFP® designation. He is passionate about opening access to high-quality exam preparation resources and helping learners prepare more effectively for professional certification exams. In this episode you will learn: - How to calculate the 10% limitation for corporate charitable contributions based on modified taxable income. - The three ownership tiers for the Dividends-Received Deduction (DRD) and how they determine the deduction percentage (50%, 65%, or 100%). - The critical difference in capital loss treatment: corporations can only offset capital gains, unlike the individual $3,000 deduction against o...

This podcast is made by Ran Chen, who holds an EA license, Insurance and Securities licenses (Series 6, 63, 65), and the CFP® designation. He is passionate about opening access to high-quality exam preparation resources and helping learners prepare more effectively for professional certification exams. In this episode you will learn: - How to qualify for a tax-free incorporation under Section 351 by meeting the property-for-stock and 80% control tests. - The critical distinction between transferring property (non-taxable) versus services (taxable) in exchange for stock. - How receiving "boot," such as cash or other property, can trigger gain recognition in an otherwise tax-free exchange. - T...

This podcast is made by Ran Chen, who holds an EA license, Insurance and Securities licenses (Series 6, 63, 65), and the CFP® designation. He is passionate about opening access to high-quality exam preparation resources and helping learners prepare more effectively for professional certification exams. In this episode you will learn: - Eligible entities use Form 8832 to elect a tax classification other than their default, such as choosing to be taxed as a corporation. - An election's effective date has strict timing rules: it cannot be more than 75 days before the filing date or more than 12 months after. - Once an entity changes i...

This podcast is made by Ran Chen, who holds an EA license, Insurance and Securities licenses (Series 6, 63, 65), and the CFP® designation. He is passionate about opening access to high-quality exam preparation resources and helping learners prepare more effectively for professional certification exams. In this episode you will learn: - A Single-Member LLC (SMLLC) is a disregarded entity for federal income tax purposes by default. - An SMLLC owned by an individual reports its business activities on the owner's personal tax return, typically using Schedule C. - When a corporation owns an SMLLC, the LLC's activities are treated as a branch o...