Expert insights on estate planning, asset protection, tax law, tax preparation, tax planning, bookkeeping, accounting practices, wealth management, and legal matters for businesses and individuals.
Expert insights on estate planning, asset protection, tax law, tax preparation, tax planning, bookkeeping, accounting practices, wealth management, and legal matters for businesses and individuals.
Showing 39 of 53 articles tagged with tax-planning
Which tax strategies are legal, and which get flagged as abusive? A Las Vegas dual CPA/tax attorney breaks down what actually holds up under IRS examination.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed into law in 2025, raised the federal SALT deduction cap from $10,000 to $40,400 for 2026. That sounds like great news for S-corp owners and LLC members in high-tax states. And for many taxpayers, it is. But here's the catch: if you own a pass-through business in California, New York, or New Jersey and your state tax bill already exceeds $40,400, the new cap still leaves tens of thousands of dollars in deductions on the table. A California S-corp owner earning $500,000 in pass-through income pays roughly $46,500 in state income tax. The SALT cap covers $40,400 of that. The remaining $6,100 or more disappears under the new law. And for anyone with income above $500,000, the SALT cap phases out entirely, dropping back toward $10,000 once your MAGI hits $600,000. That's where the pass-through entity (PTE) election still wins in 2026. This guide explains exactly who benefits, how to calculate the advantage, and what you need to do before the deadlines close.
If you run a profitable pass-through business and earn $300,000 in qualified business income, the 20% QBI deduction puts $60,000 off your taxable income. At a 37% marginal rate, that's roughly $22,200 in federal tax savings — every single year. And starting in 2026, that benefit is no longer scheduled to disappear.The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), signed into law on July 4, 2025, permanently extended the Section 199A deduction. What was set to sunset at the end of 2025 under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is now a permanent part of the tax code. That changes the planning calculus for every self-employed owner, S-corp shareholder, and LLC operator.But "permanent" doesn't mean automatic. The rules governing income thresholds, W-2 wage limitations, and entity structure choices still determine whether you capture the full 20% or walk away with a fraction of it. This guide breaks down exactly how to maximize your QBI deduction in 2026 — with step-by-step math and strategy.
The entity structure you choose for your business determines how much of your profit goes to taxes — and for entrepreneurs earning $200,000 or more, that difference can easily exceed $20,000 per year. Self-employment tax alone sits at 15.3% on the first $184,500 of net earnings in 2026, according to the Social Security Administration. The right entity structure either eliminates or dramatically reduces that liability.This guide covers the core tax treatment of LLCs, S-corps, and C-corps in 2026. It explains when each structure works best, how the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), signed July 4, 2025, changed the math on pass-through income, and what decisions need your attention now. The 2026 tax landscape is meaningfully different from prior years. The QBI deduction is permanent. Bonus depreciation is back at 100%. And the QSBS exclusion just got a $5 million increase.
For high-income investors in 2026, the federal long-term capital gains rate sits at 23.8%: a 20% base rate plus the 3.8% Net Investment Income Tax for single filers above $200,000 MAGI and joint filers above $250,000. State taxes layer on top of that. A California resident adds another 13.3%. What that means in practice: a $1 million gain can send more than $370,000 straight to government coffers before you reinvest a dollar.Most investment conversations start with returns. This one starts with taxes, because for high-net-worth individuals, the difference between pre-tax and after-tax performance is where real wealth is built or quietly lost. The strategies covered here, including tax-loss harvesting, asset location, and fee discipline, are not theoretical. They're the specific tools that separate investors who grow wealth from those who merely generate returns.
More than 53,200 people moved from California to Nevada in 2024 alone, and Nevada gained $10 billion in adjusted gross income from those former Californians between 2020 and 2022 (Tax Foundation, 2025). The reason isn't hard to find. Nevada charges zero state income tax, a constitutional guarantee written into Article 10 of the Nevada Constitution, not just a statute the legislature can repeal. California's top marginal rate is 13.3%. New York's is 10.9%.A business owner earning $500,000 a year keeps roughly $56,000 more by living in Nevada. At $1 million in income, that gap becomes $119,000 annually. A single $2 million business-sale capital gain that clears after you've established Nevada domicile avoids approximately $265,000 in California state tax.But this only works when you do it right. Your former state, especially California, has deployed AI-assisted data matching to catch residents who claim they've left but haven't genuinely moved. This guide covers the legal requirements, the documents you need, and the mistakes that end in a six-figure audit bill.
Max out 401k tax strategy is not about being clever, it is about following a simple playbook that high income professionals actually stick to.You earn good money.You pay a painful amount of tax.You know you should use every tax advantaged account available, but the rules feel like alphabet soup.401k.Traditional IRA.Roth IRA.Backdoor Roth.HSA.You do not need more jargon.You need a clear order of operations with real numbers.That is what this is.
Tax planning strategies probably sound confusing, expensive, and easy to get wrong.You are worried about paying more tax than you should, getting flagged by the IRS, or missing some relief everyone else seems to know about.You are not alone.Most people focus on tax once a year when the return is due, and that is exactly why they overpay.This guide will walk you through tax planning strategies in plain English so you can keep more of what you earn without playing games with the rules.
Tax-efficient investing is one of the most overlooked ways to grow your wealth faster.Most people obsess over picking the right stocks or timing the market.But here is the truth nobody talks about enough:It is not how much you make. It is how much you keep.
