𝐀 𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐑𝐮𝐥𝐞𝐬

Founders often ask why U.S. tax and regulatory issues feel so overwhelming.

It’s because there isn’t one rule. There’s a forest: the Internal Revenue Code, Treasury Regulations, IRS guidance, case law—and thousands of forms and deadlines that enforce them.

And the only way through it is to 𝐊𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐓𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧.

Every tax analysis starts with three questions—simple but unforgiving in application:

1. What is the income?
2. Whose income is it?
3. When is it taxable?

Everything else branches from there.

For a company operating across borders, those questions move through a funnel. International tax determines whether the U.S. can tax the activity. Entity tax applies next, depending on structure—C-Corp, partnership, LLC, or branch. State and local taxes layer on top.

And eventually, the impact reaches the individual: founders, employees, investors living in the Form 1040 world—sometimes with estate and gift tax waiting down the path.

This is where founders get tripped up. Because corporate rules don’t stay corporate.

The moment a founder becomes a U.S. taxpayer—through presence, residency, or immigration—entity-level decisions bleed into personal reporting. Worldwide assets, foreign funds, passive income, equity holdings abroad—all of it can suddenly matter.

Income itself isn’t just “revenue.” Its character, source, and timing matters.

Timing depends on accounting methods, contract terms, vesting schedules, and recognition rules.

Misalignment between books, legal documents, and tax filings is where audits are born.

That’s why I tell founders: Treat audit‑ready documentation and corporate housekeeping as insurance and good structural foundation: the cost up front is small compared to the cost of uncertainty, penalties, and time during scrutiny.

I think of a U.S. business as starting life as a cabin—small, focused, exposed.

With structure, valuation discipline, governance, and documentation, that cabin becomes a fortress: durable, defensible, built to withstand markets, scrutiny, and time.

Because the forest doesn’t disappear.

𝐆𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐒𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐋𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐥™ 𝐏.𝐂. | 𝐊𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐓𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧™