By month: July 2025
Urgent: Want an Electric Vehicle? Act by September 2025
If you’re a business owner or self-employed professional eyeing an electric vehicle, don’t wait to make your purchase. A newly passed Senate bill would eliminate three major electric vehicle tax credits—including the powerful commercial vehicle credit—after September 30, 2025.
2025—Is This Your Last Chance to Claim the Solar Tax Credit?
Thinking about going solar? The U.S. House and the U.S. Senate passed H.R. 1, which cuts off your chance to claim the 30 percent residential clean energy credit on property placed in service after December 31, 2025. Find out why 2025 might be your last opportunity for this tax credit
Perhaps Your Last Chance for Home Energy Improvement Tax Credits
Time is running out! New legislation moving forward in Congress could eliminate valuable home energy improvement tax credits after December 31, 2025—meaning this may be your last chance to claim up to $3,200 a year in credits for upgrades like insulation, windows, and heat pumps. Learn how to take full advantage before it’s too late.
How to Qualify Conventions and Seminars for Tax Deductions
It’s easy to think that a business convention, seminar, or similar meeting is deductible when in fact it is not. The meeting could be in the wrong location. It might have the wrong people in attendance. Its purpose might not rise to the level needed for deduction. Protect your deductions for conventions, seminars, and similar meetings by knowing the rules in this article.
Retire Better: The Hidden Advantages of the Defined Benefit Plan
If you’re a high-earning solo business owner nearing retirement, a defined benefit plan might be the secret weapon for turbocharging your savings and slashing your tax bill. Discover why this overlooked strategy could be your best retirement move yet.
When Should Your S Corporation Have an S Corporation Subsidiary?
You might want your S corporation to own an S corporation of its own—a QSub. Tax law treats the QSub as if it doesn’t exist for income tax purposes, but treats it as a separate entity for employment tax purposes. On the legal side of the ledger, you have two separate corporations with two sets of legal protections.
Avoid the $20,000 Tax Mistake This Vacation Homeowner Made
Think your ski cabin or beach home rental qualifies for big tax deductions? Think again. This cautionary tale reveals how one owner’s $20,000 tax write-off vanished due to poor planning and weak documentation. Don’t let it happen to you.
Day Traders, Part 2: Electing Mark-to-Market Accounting
Thinking of turning your day trading into a tax-smart business? Discover how electing mark-to-market accounting can unlock powerful tax advantages—like deducting all your losses as ordinary income, avoiding the dreaded wash sale rule, and qualifying for the QBI deduction. Learn why this optional strategy might be your best financial move before year-end.
Understanding the Gift Tax: What You Need to Know
Whenever you give someone money or property for nothing—or for less than full value—you are making a gift with potential tax consequences. The federal gift tax exists to prevent high-net-worth individuals from sidestepping estate taxes by transferring wealth during their lifetime. While the tax can reach up to 40 percent and is paid by the giver, generous exclusions and exemptions mean that relatively few people ever owe it.