Tax Strategy Blog for Business Owners

If you own a rental, there is a good chance you are sitting on a deduction you never claimed. Not a gray-area deduction. Depreciation you were entitled to, and never took. Missed depreciation on rental property can be caught up in a single adjustment on this year's return. The tax code calls the mechanism a […]

Qualifying your short-term rental was step one. Most owners stop there, take the deduction the default way, and leave the biggest part of it sitting on a schedule that runs for decades. A short-term rental cost segregation study is the second decision, and it controls how big the deduction gets. The study breaks the property […]

This is Part 5 of our series on Section 199A, the qualified business income deduction, or "QBI." We've been running a series for business owners on the 199A deduction — most people know it as the QBI deduction. If you missed any of them, here is what we covered: We were getting some replies from […]

This is Part 4 of a four-part series on Section 199A, the qualified business income deduction, or "QBI." Catch up on Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 first. Is the business having a good year? Great. Here is what decides whether you keep the 20% deduction on it. Two things determine this: how much […]

This is Part 3 of a four-part series on the qualified business income deduction. Missed the first two? Read Part 1 and Part 2 — they're here. Still on paychecks this week. Last week I told you which side of the line you're probably on. If you're over it, this is the post that matters […]

This is Part 2 of a four-part series on the qualified business income deduction. Read Part 1 here. Last week I told you about a line on your tax return — $403,500 if you are married, half of that if you are single. Cross it, and the 20% deduction most business owners count on stops […]

If you own a business, the QBI deduction is one line on your tax return you should know by name. It's called the qualified business income deduction. Section 199A is the technical name. Your CPA might just call it "QBI." What it does is simple. You take 20 percent of what your business earned and […]

Your S-corp reasonable compensation, your entity election, your whole tax structure — most owners set them up once and never look again. I asked a business owner a simple question last week: why are you set up as an S corp? She paused. Then she said: my CPA set it up years ago. I trust […]

“What’s your take on investing in workforce housing and equipment rentals to offset taxes for W-2 earners?” Advanced tax strategies — workforce housing, equipment rentals, energy deals — get pitched hard, often with a “get in now or miss out” urgency. Before you wire a dollar, run every one of them through the same three-filter […]