OBBBA tax changes for business owners are available right now, but a lot of owners still are not feeling the benefit yet.
And honestly, that should not surprise anyone.
The latest U.S. Chamber Small Business Index shows softer confidence, lower hiring and investment expectations, and inflation still sitting near the top of the worry list. When you are dealing with payroll, pricing pressure, and cash flow, tax law changes do not magically turn into savings on their own. Somebody still has to spot them, document them, and claim them.
That is where a lot of money gets left on the table.
Maybe you do not realize what you can use yet. Maybe your CPA does not either. Or maybe you were simply too busy last year to move in time.
So here are three questions you should be asking your CPA right now before you sign your return.
If you are a sole proprietor, S corporation owner, partner, or LLC owner taxed as a partnership, this is one of the first questions that should be asked.
The IRS confirms that the 20% qualified business income deduction is now permanent for qualified active trades or businesses. That means this is not just a temporary opportunity anymore.
For a business earning $200,000 of qualified business income, that could mean up to a $40,000 deduction against taxable income.
But that does not mean everyone automatically gets the full 20%.
The actual result can change based on:
That is the part people miss. They hear “20% deduction” and assume it either obviously applies or obviously does not. In real life, a lot of owners sit somewhere in the middle.
So do not just ask, “Did I get QBI?”
Ask:
If you want to go deeper on how the updated thresholds affect planning, read 2026 Phaseout Thresholds for Business Owners: What Moved and Why It Matters.
This is the second question that should be asked before you sign.
A lot of business owners bought things in 2025. Vehicles. Computers. Equipment. Furniture. Machinery. Maybe even a larger capital purchase that bookkeeping just dumped into fixed assets.
But the tax question is not just, “Did I buy something?”
The real question is: Did I buy qualifying property and put it into use in time to claim the deduction?
According to the IRS One Big Beautiful Bill provisions page, for most qualifying business property bought and put into use after January 19, 2025, businesses can now deduct 100% of the cost in the first year.
That does not mean every purchase qualifies the same way. And it does not mean bonus depreciation is always the best answer. Sometimes Section 179 is part of the conversation too.
This is where returns get sloppy. The owner knows money was spent. The CPA sees fixed assets. But nobody stops to ask whether the write-off was actually optimized.
Here is what I would want clarified:
If purchases are part of your 2026 planning, also read The IRS doubled this deduction: Section 179 deduction limit 2026.
This is the one that needs the most cleanup because people are already mixing up the timing.
Yes, the reporting threshold changed. But not in the way many people are casually repeating online.
The IRS states in Publication 334 that for reportable payments made after 2025, the threshold increases to $2,000 for information reporting and backup withholding.
So for Forms 1099-NEC and 1099-MISC, this is mainly a 2026-forward contractor-payment and workflow issue. It is not really a “did this change my 2025 return I’m signing right now?” issue.
There is a second rule people keep blending into this conversation too: for Form 1099-K, the law reverted the third-party platform threshold back to the old federal standard — generally more than $20,000 and more than 200 transactions.
But do not confuse a reporting threshold with whether income is taxable.
If a contractor does not receive a form, that does not mean the income disappears. It still has to be reported. The same is true for platform income.
So the smart question here is not just, “Do I have to file fewer 1099s?”
It is:
Because tax law changes do not create savings by themselves.
A better rule is only useful if:
That is why so many owners still feel like nothing changed. The opportunity may be there, but nobody translated it into action.
That is the difference between compliance and strategy.
Compliance says, “Here is what happened.”
Strategy says, “Here is how we use the rules before the year closes so next year looks different.”
No. It creates opportunities. You still have to qualify, document the facts, and claim the benefit correctly.
No. The deduction can be reduced or limited based on income, business type, W-2 wages, qualified property, and other rules.
No. The property generally has to be qualifying property, and timing matters. “Bought it” is not enough if it was not actually put into use during the right period.
No. For Forms 1099-NEC and 1099-MISC, the higher threshold applies to reportable payments made after 2025, so this is primarily a 2026-forward change.
Yes. Whether a form was issued does not decide whether the income is taxable.
If you are about to sign your return, do not just ask whether it is finished.
Ask whether the return actually captured the opportunities that were there.
Ask whether QBI was reviewed carefully.
Ask whether your 2025 asset purchases were analyzed correctly.
Ask whether your 2026 contractor reporting process is already aligned with the new rules.
Because that is how you stop leaving money on the table.
Schedule a Free Tax Strategy Session if you want help making sure the tax law works for your business instead of just showing up as background noise in April.
This article is general educational information and not tax advice. Eligibility, timing, reporting, and deduction treatment depend on your facts.