Editorial Policy

Effective date: January 15, 2026
Last updated: July 8, 2026

This Editorial Policy describes the standards we apply to every article, calculator, and other editorial content published on WithholdRight. The policy is public so you can hold us to it. If you find content on the Site that does not meet these standards, please write to contact@1an.site and we will investigate.

1. Mission

WithholdRight's mission is to be the most accurate, most clearly written, and most useful free resource on U.S. multi-state tax withholding for remote employees and the employers who hire them. We focus on one specific area of tax law — the intersection of state residency, state payroll registration, reciprocity, the convenience rule, and state unemployment insurance — rather than trying to cover all of tax. Depth beats breadth.

2. Editorial Independence

Editorial decisions are made exclusively by the editorial team and the credentialed tax reviewers. Advertisers, sponsors, business partners, and outside parties have no role in editorial decisions. Specifically:

• Advertisers cannot request, edit, suppress, or delay editorial content.
• Sponsorship of any kind is clearly disclosed and labeled.
• No member of the editorial or review team is employed by, affiliated with, or compensated by any tax software provider, payroll provider, accounting firm, or financial institution.
• We do not accept paid placements, paid links, or paid reviews.
• If a business offers us anything of value in exchange for editorial coverage, we refuse and document the offer.

3. Sourcing Standards

3.1 Primary Sources Required

Every rate, bracket, deduction, form number, and rule must trace to a primary source. Primary sources for our content include:

• Internal Revenue Code (IRC) sections.
• IRS Revenue Procedures, Revenue Rulings, Notices, Publications, and forms.
• Social Security Administration announcements of the annual wage base.
• U.S. Department of Labor guidance on SUI and the four-factor test.
• State statutes (e.g., California Revenue and Taxation Code, New York Tax Law).
• State regulations and Department of Revenue guidance, bulletins, and FAQs.
• State reciprocity agreements and the state statutes that authorize them.
• Congressional bills and Public Laws for proposed or enacted federal legislation.

3.2 Secondary Sources for Context

We use secondary sources — including the Tax Foundation, the American Payroll Association, the Journal of Accountancy, Thomson Reuters Checkpoint, Wolters Kluwer CCH, and law firm client alerts — for context, analysis, and cross-verification. We never publish a number based solely on a secondary source; we always verify against the primary source. Secondary sources are cited where they add analytical value.

3.3 No Scraping or Rewriting

We do not scrape content from other websites. We do not use "rewrite" or "spin" tools on competitors' articles. We do not republish press releases. We do not repurpose RSS feeds. Every article is researched, outlined, and written from scratch by a writer who understands the topic, then reviewed by a credentialed tax professional.

3.4 No AI-Generated Articles

AI tools may be used for limited research assistance (finding sources, organizing notes), but no article on this Site is generated by AI. Every article is written by a human writer and reviewed by a human CPA or EA. We do not publish "AI content" with a thin human edit.

4. Writing Standards

4.1 Clarity and Plain Language

Our audience includes both tax professionals and laypeople. We write in plain English, define technical terms when first introduced, and use worked examples to make abstract rules concrete. We avoid jargon when a plain word works; we use technical terms when they are necessary and explain them on first use.

4.2 Depth

Every article aims to be the most thorough freely available resource on its specific topic. We do not publish 500-word listicles. Articles typically run 1,500 to 2,500 words, with longer pieces (3,000+ words) for comprehensive guides. Each article includes the rule, the source, the rationale, worked examples, common mistakes, and a clear "what to do next" section.

4.3 Honesty About Uncertainty

Tax law is not always clear. When the law is ambiguous, when courts disagree, or when a state's position is evolving, we say so. We do not paper over uncertainty with false confidence. If the answer to a question is "it depends" or "the law is unsettled," that is what we write.

4.4 No Exaggeration

We do not use sensational headlines, fear-based framing, or promises of specific tax savings. We do not call anything a "loophole" or a "secret." Tax rules are what they are; our job is to explain them accurately, not to hype them.

5. Review Standards

Every article and calculator update goes through a three-stage review:

1. Research and draft. The writer reads the primary sources, drafts the article with full citations, and submits it for review.
2. Editorial review. The editor checks the article for clarity, structure, plain language, internal consistency, and citation quality. The article is returned for revisions if needed.
3. Credentialed tax review. A CPA or Enrolled Agent reviews the article for tax accuracy. They verify every rate and rule against the primary source, check the analysis, and either approve or request changes. Only after their sign-off does the article go live.

For calculator updates, the same three-stage process applies, except the technical lead handles the research stage and the CPA reviewer signs off on the methodology and underlying data.

6. Update and Maintenance Standards

6.1 Review Cadence

• January each year: Full review of federal inflation adjustments and all 50 state rate changes that took effect January 1.
• October each year: Review of the next year's IRS inflation adjustments (published in Rev. Proc. in late October) and preparation of next-year rate updates.
• Out-of-cycle: Major mid-year state law changes (e.g., flat-tax reforms effective July 1) trigger an out-of-cycle review of affected articles.
• Quarterly: Spot-check of reciprocity agreements and convenience rule states for any new guidance.

6.2 Date Stamps

Every article displays two dates:

• Published: the original publication date.
• Last reviewed: the date of the most recent credentialed review.

If the "Last reviewed" date is more than 12 months old, the article is overdue for review and we treat that as a bug. If you notice an overdue article, please let us know.

6.3 Correction Policy

When we discover an error — whether through our own review, a reader report, or a change in the law — we correct it promptly and transparently:

• Minor errors (typos, formatting, broken links) are fixed silently.
• Substantive errors (wrong rate, wrong rule, wrong analysis) are fixed and noted at the bottom of the article with the date of the correction and a brief description of what changed.
• The "Last reviewed" date is updated to reflect the correction.

If you believe you have found a substantive error, please write to contact@1an.site with the article URL, the specific claim, and the primary source that contradicts it. We investigate all such reports within 5 business days.

7. Conflict of Interest Policy

All writers, editors, reviewers, and other contributors must disclose any financial interest in any company, product, or service they cover. Disclosures are reviewed by the editorial team before publication. Contributors may not write about companies in which they hold a material financial interest. Reviewers may not review content related to companies that employ them or that they consult for.

Our CPA and EA reviewers are not employed by, affiliated with, or compensated by any tax software provider, payroll provider, accounting firm, or financial institution. They are compensated by WithholdRight only for the time spent reviewing content.

8. Sponsored and Affiliate Content

At the time of this writing, WithholdRight publishes no sponsored content and displays no affiliate links. If we add either in the future, we will:

• Label all sponsored content with the word "Sponsored" at the top of the article and at every screen breakpoint.
• Label all affiliate links with the word "affiliate" or an equivalent disclosure.
• Apply the same factual accuracy standard to sponsored content as to editorial content.
• Update this Editorial Policy and our Advertising Disclosure to describe the new relationships.

9. Use of AI

AI tools may be used for limited research assistance — finding sources, summarizing long primary-source documents, or organizing notes — but no article on this Site is generated by AI. Every article is written by a human writer who understands the topic, and every article is reviewed by a human CPA or EA. We do not publish AI-generated content with a thin human edit, and we do not use AI to produce bulk content for SEO purposes.

If we ever change this policy, we will update this page first, before publishing any AI-assisted content.

10. User Feedback

We welcome feedback on our content. If you have a correction, an additional source, a suggestion for a topic, or a question about an article, write to contact@1an.site. We read every email. We cannot promise to respond to every one, but we promise to consider every one.

11. Contact

Questions about this Editorial Policy can be sent to contact@1an.site. If you are a tax professional interested in contributing to the Site — as a writer, reviewer, or source — please use the same address.