Editorial policy
What we do before a number reaches you, and what we do not do.
The short version
Every figure on this site is read from a primary source — usually an IRS publication or a Revenue Procedure — and the page names that source next to the number. The calculators run on a tax engine covered by automated tests that check intermediate steps, not just final answers.
No credentialed tax professional reviews these pages. That is the most important sentence here, and it is why it is near the top rather than in a footnote.
What "checked" means here
Before a page is published, an automated pass re-derives every numeric claim against the source cited for it, verifies the arithmetic against the engine's test suite, and flags any assertion with no source or with a source that has changed since it was read.
That process catches a wrong number, a stale threshold, a citation that no longer says what it said. It cannot catch a question of professional judgement — whether a deduction applies to your particular situation, whether an aggressive position is defensible, whether your facts are what you think they are. Those need a person with a licence, and we do not have one.
How to use the site given that
Figures on this page are checked against the primary source cited for each one, and the calculations behind them are covered by automated tests. No credentialed tax professional has reviewed this page. Treat it as a well-sourced starting point, not as a substitute for advice on your own situation.
Concretely: the calculators are good for planning, for setting aside the right amount, and for understanding how a rule works before you talk to someone. They are not a return, and nothing here creates a professional relationship.
Where every number comes from
Tax constants live in a single rules file, each one carrying its source URL, the date it was verified, and who verified it. The "Sources and methodology" block on each tool page is generated from that file rather than written by hand, so the explanation cannot drift from the arithmetic the calculator actually performs. See Methodology.
Sources are restricted to primary ones: irs.gov, ssa.gov, federalregister.gov, treasury.gov and similar. A competitor's blog post is not a source, and neither is a summary of a source.
When a figure goes stale
Every constant carries a verification date and a shelf life of 180 days. Past that, the affected page is marked "under review", carries a visible banner, and is removed from search indexing until the figure is re-checked. The page stays up and stays honest about its state rather than disappearing.
When we get something wrong
Errors are logged publicly at Corrections, with the date, what was wrong, what changed, and who changed it. Every correction is linked from the page it affected.
A material error is corrected within 24 hours of confirmation. If you saved a result that a correction affects, and gave us an email to send it to, you get told directly.
If you think something here is wrong, say so:hello@quarterlydesk.com. Being told we are wrong is more useful than being right.
Who writes this
Pages are written by Adrian Vance, founder ofQuarterly Desk. Authorship is on every page. There are no ghost bylines and no invented reviewers.
Money, and how it could bias us
The site earns from display advertising and, on some pages, affiliate commissions. Advertising is never placed above the answer you came for, and never inside a calculator.
The rule that matters more: a calculator that feeds an affiliate recommendation must return the honest answer even when the honest answer costs the commission. If an S-corp election does not pay off for your numbers, the tool says so. That is enforced by a test, not by good intentions. See Affiliate disclosure.
AI, and how it is used
Drafting and checking here are AI-assisted. Every published figure is verified against a primary source before it goes out, and the automated review described above is part of the process rather than a substitute for it. We say this plainly because a reader deserves to know how a page was made, and because the alternative — pretending otherwise — is the kind of thing that only ever comes out at the worst moment.