How to plan your tax when tax law is changing
The new US government’s sweeping legislative changes has brought a whirlwind start to 2025. Whether these changes will help the US economy, or hurt it, only time will tell. However, what is certain is the uncertainty everyone is feeling, especially business owners. With tax season on everyone and documentation already in process, should you wait to file in case tax laws change, or should you go ahead and file? Here are Mike Pine and Kevin Schneider, CPAs, taking the dilemma by the horns and sharing their insights and perspectives to give you a way forward.
Guest:
What We Cover
Political and Economic Shifts Impacting Taxes [00:00]
- Discussion on political movements affecting the economy and tax code.
- The role of tariffs and their potential impact on the U.S. economy, American industries and global trade.
Tariffs and Their Effects on Business and Consumers [02:20]
- The rationale behind imposing tariffs on foreign goods.
- Canada and Mexico's retaliatory tariffs and their targeted approach.
- Short-term vs. long-term economic effects of trade wars.
- How tariffs could incentivize domestic production and reshape industries.
The Debate on Abolishing Income Tax and the IRS [10:50]
- Introduction of House Resolution 25, aiming to eliminate the IRS and implement a national sales tax.
- Skepticism about the bill’s viability and the entrenched power of tax laws.
- Discussion on the feasibility of replacing income tax with tariffs.
- The role of taxation in funding government services and economic stability.
Navigating Uncertain Tax Laws and Planning Ahead [14:54]
- The unpredictability of legislative changes and their impact on tax planning.
- Advice on whether to file taxes now or wait for potential law changes.
- Importance of proactive tax planning despite legislative uncertainty.
- Strategies for structuring business transactions to maximize tax efficiency.
Building a Strong Tax Strategy for 2025 [22:50]
- The importance of foundational tax education and preparation.
- Common tax mitigation strategies, including depreciation, cost segregation, and retirement planning.
- The potential impact of making tips tax-free and its implications for businesses.
- How proactive tax planning can help individuals and businesses thrive.
Kevin: [00:00:00] Welcome to another episode. We're still standing. The Internal Revenue Service is still standing, at least, as of the date of this recording. So, there's so much movement in our political system, in our just all around country, and it's going to affect everybody.
Whether we agree with what's happening or not, we need to talk about what, at the bottom-line, what is going to be happening to our pocketbook, what's going to be happening to the potential tax code, which is Mike and I's passion and specialty.
And so, I'd just like to kick off by saying, man, it's been a wild ride for the first couple of weeks of Trump's presidency. He's hit the ground hard. He's hit it. He's hit it running. He's making moves on Canada, Mexico and China with tariffs. They're working, but he's putting a pause on those tariffs.
So, we could talk about what the economics of tariffs look like, and what's the point of tariffs? And also, at the end of the day, how does that bring us money to our own internal treasury? And if we could fill those coffers, do we even need an internal revenue service? So, it's a lot of interesting topics to just brainstorm and think about, and it's a wild, wild time.
Mike: Yeah, it is a wild time. It's an exciting time. If you like watching things happening and being disrupted in DC. Boy, there's a lot of disruption going on. I'm very glad that we don't work in politics, or in DC, Kevin. It's feeling pretty calm here in Texas. We're just, kind of, riding it out and see what happens.
Kevin: Well, where we are in northern Texas, so we're in the DFW area. If you're in southern Texas, you may feel some of the troops going down there to the border. And that was the whole point of Trump's, kind of, his whole stance when trying to get elected, was border policy, economic policy, and making his Tax Cuts Job Act permanent, if not eliminate the tax code, which was new to me.
He never said that, at least to my knowledge, when he was running, so that is a radical idea. But the whole thought of these tariffs is just saying to these other countries, "Guys, y'all haven't been treating us fairly in our dealings. Y'all are letting people come into our country unchecked, unbalanced from your end.
We're having to use our tax dollars, our resources in our country to stop the flow of people coming into your country. We need to partner together, and we haven't been good partners. So, we're going to put this tariff so that we can recoup some of these costs that it's taking to keep people safe in this country.
We're going to charge that tariff. But if you play along, and you work with us as partners should, then tariffs aren't this anvil that has to hang over you."
Mike: Yeah, it was very interesting. So, today's February 4th. This weekend, Sunday, is when these new tariffs were going to, apparently, hit [00:03:00] Canada and Mexico, and China. 25% across the board, Canada, Mexico; 10% additional on China. It's really weird how it comes out. Like, Trump does not share his mind like other politicians, not in the least.
You find that about it on Twitter, or somewhere else. But yeah, everyone was up in arms on Saturday. They were all worried about, in the news articles, are these tariffs going to hit? Nobody knows. And then, on Sunday, yep, they're definitely going to hit on Tuesday.
And then, Monday comes along, and Canada comes out, "We're going to hit you back with tariffs, and we're only going to tariff stuff that comes from MAGA states. Only whiskey, only stuff that comes from the southern states, and the states that, typically, vote for Republican. But then, everything got quiet, and I think people realized, "Wait a second. Maybe we should actually try to negotiate with Trump instead of having a trade war with Trump."
I'm an avid Wall Street Journal reader, a big fan of it. I disagreed with them, though, on Monday when they came out with an article, said "the dumbest trade war, ever". Well, guess what, Wall Street Journal? The trade war hasn't happened. It's all about blustering; a bunch of blustering and bluffing... I hope... to get some movement, to get people to work together.
And yeah, regardless of how you feel on it, I'm actually for it. I do think most countries have taken advantage of America for way too long. For a really long time, we were able to afford that, and we helped lift a lot of other countries out of stagnation, and bring them back up to prosperity with us.
But when we're hurting, when we're $36, $37 Trillion in debt- I don't even know how much now- $37 Trillion in debt, and our economy's hurting, and our people are hurting, we can't just keep carrying the water for all the other countries out there. I think it's fair, but regardless, it's going to hurt a little bit. Even Trump had to say that. He said, "This might hurt a little bit." It's not might, it's going to.
Because when you raise tariffs, let's say, there's 25% on automobiles coming out of Mexico, you go buy a car, it's going to cost you 25% more. That's how business works. That's how economics work. So, we'll cost us more money in the short run. In the long run, I think it could be great, Kevin. What are your thoughts?
Kevin: Agreed. And I don't know what on a big, global scale- like, if I wanted to buy a Toyota, yeah, I don't think they can take the hit of raising the cost of a vehicle. I mean, vehicles, as of now, are $60,000, $70,000 brand new, minimum, unless you get a Hyundai or something, some kind of mid-class.
So, raising the cost of these cars 25%, kills everything, which they're going to have to work that out because you could go Chevy, you could go Ford, Tesla, domestically made. You may not feel the pinch on those. And that's part of the reason that tariffs are here is because it actually pushes people to make purchasing decisions based on US-based goods because our prices are going to be [00:06:00] competitive, if not better than our competitors- our foreign competitors- because we don't have tariffs internally.
Now, we just have to solve for the tax issue. What's the tax going to look like for Ford and Chevy? If we can put tariffs on these foreign manufacturers, and Ford and Chevy can continue business as usual, if not pump-up production. Now, if we can lower their tax rate, which Trump is looking at- "Maybe instead of giving them 21%, hey, let's even give them a 15% tax rate.”
That is incredible growth for these companies when we're talking billions of dollars of movement a year, and you're saving 6% on that, and your revenues go up. I mean, this is the economics that we're looking at when he's imposing these tariffs is to fuel our internal manufacturing. So, I like it too.
It's just, it is going to hurt though, because we rely on China. I mean, everything- I could probably pick up my water bottle here- "Made in China". Not even joking- "Made in China" on the very bottom of this workout bottle I got. So, things like that- 25% or 10%- let's say, they raise the price of everything 10%.
You've just got to be cautious of what you're buying if this goes through. But that's the way it's going to work.
Mike: I'm going to go on a little sideline on this, Kevin. The reason that bottle is made in China is because Americans could buy it cheaper if it was imported from China. Why is that? Well, they don't have fair labor laws in China. And we buy- that's capitalism. That's a dark side of capitalism. I don't like that side of capitalism.
But Adam Smith wrote this wonderful paper in this theory called the "Invisible Hand" theory. And the fact is, by people trying to look out for themselves to better themselves, to find cheaper products or save money themselves, they are going to affect the market to where you find cheaper and better alternatives.
But it doesn't always work. If you have a country like China that doesn't play fair- they say, "No, we're going to send our 8-year-olds to work in a factory 70 hours a week, and they can have a dollar for doing it. And guess what? America's fine with it because they're buying my water bottle."
That's another ways, and I think, tariffs can make it fair. I mean, you look what China did or Japan did with our steel industry back in the eighties. Japan actually started selling steel at a loss here in America to put our US steel companies out of business, and it worked. The government in Japan was helping them. China has been doing that too. They're dumping product here at a loss to put our companies out of business so, eventually, they can raise them.
That's when tariffs make sense. That's the point of tariffs. But yes, they hurt. I mean, what the Wall Street Journal said in that article, saying "the dumbest trade war, ever"- still mad at you, Wall Street Journal, for that- might've been the smartest trade war ever. We'll see. History will tell.
Kevin: Yeah.
Mike: So, according to that Wall Street Journal [00:09:00] article, if these 25% tariffs across the board in Mexico and Canada go forward, what is that going to do to our respective economies?
It says our GDP will go down by 1.5%, but we'll still be in growth. We won't go into recession. We'll still be growing. However, it's going to put Mexico and Canada in a recession. We have a lot more strength to be bargaining here. We have the chance to bargain from strength, and I've never read Trump's art of the deal, but I suspect it has something about that saying, "Whenever you're going to negotiate, negotiate from strength, you'll get better terms".
I think that's exactly what he's doing now.
Kevin: Definitely utilizing the leverage. I mean, we have one of the biggest economies in the world, just by wealth standards. So, if all that pans out to be true, then, yes, we do have leverage with a lot of countries, to the extent that we, almost Mafia tactics.
That's, kind of, where I feel a little uneasy just because in my whole adult life, I've never seen a president just so strongly say things like, "Hey, give us the Panama Canal, or something powerful is going to happen." I'm like, that is a very strong statement, very strong statement.
Because what if one of these countries calls you on it? We're going to have to put our money where our mouth is. Thankfully, I think all the countries are kind of seeing that, and they're playing along, but what happens when one doesn't?
And this podcast we have is to find hidden money in the tax code. I think we can expand this tax code, especially in this time where our economics are going to be changing rapidly in this country. I think we can almost find hidden money in just the economy, hidden money in anything right now, but the tax code is going to change too.
Mike and I are reading almost every day trying to find something. And Mike found a House of Representatives bill that if you're a tax CPA out there, it could be a little scary, but the odds of it going through? Not likely.
So, do you want to share some insight on that, what you thought?
Mike: Yeah, I mean, just because a bill has been introduced to the floor of the house doesn't mean anything. There's a lot of nonsense introduced, but I just love the way this one sounds. And so, as House Resolution 25 dropped on January 3rd- the title -"To promote freedom, fairness and economic opportunity by repealing the income tax, and other taxes, abolishing the Internal Revenue Service, and enacting a national sales tax to be administered primarily by the states." Introduced yesterday by Representative Earl Carter from Georgia.
It got introduced. Is there any chance that's going to pass? Boy, I wish there was, but I seriously, seriously doubt it. The problem is, regardless whether you're a Republican or Democrat, or a Libertarian like me, and you don't like either party, no matter who you are for, most of them have special interests that they cater to and the Internal Revenue Code, the income tax laws of our country [00:12:00] has made our politicians incredibly powerful.
The one constant thing I think we can rely on, Kevin. We can even trust this, for lack of a better word, but trust the politicians in DC to protect their power. Are they going to write off right away all the power they have to tax people, to give people incentives, and special loopholes?
God, I wish they would. If they did, Kevin, you and I would have to find a new career. I'd be excited to do that with you, man. I want to get into travel or something. I might be a bar owner, but it's not going to happen.
Kevin: Yeah, it's a very big stretch just because it shakes the core of revenue generation in this whole country. If we're going to rely on tariffs, it's a very unstable way to bring in money in my opinion because we're basing our revenue off another country, not our own people.
And the income tax does make sense in the fact that if you're making and generating wealth, the government is going to get their fair share of that, for the services we need and use. Now, our job is to make sure that you're not paying any legal dollar over the amount you have to.
If you're making a couple million bucks, we want you to keep as much in that, in your pocket, as possible because that is the best way to grow the economy is to keep money with the families, to keep money with you to invest, reinvest, grow, and do whatever you want with your money. Spur the local economy that you're in. Purchasing things- that is the way to spur economics.
Now, I think the taxes are a necessary evil, but if those go away and we're going to rely strictly on Canada, Mexico, China, the EU, to provide imports into our country and taxing them with tariffs, what happens if the, the relations in those countries go south, and they're like, "We're not doing business with you at all." and they cut our revenue?
Mike: Or what happens if you have a supply chain issues, like we did in 2020?
Kevin: COVID. Yeah, it's unpredictable. You're not in control of it. You're in control more so of the Internal Revenue Code because you have those levers to push and pull on, of- "Hey, we want to incentivize electric vehicles. Hey, we want to tax this class of people.” You have the ability to be more in control.
And that's why I don't think it would go away either. And I think it's just too unstable in the future. Because, I mean, what if Trump gets this done? I mean, there's a 0.5% chance. Then let's say a Democrat gets elected in 2028. Are they just going to reverse this and we're just going to yo-yo up and down, up and down?
Like, because it just seems so unstable to me, but that's, kind of, Trump's platform. I don't know!
Mike: Yeah. It is hard. I'm still going to be praying and hoping that we can repeal the income tax, and abolish the IRS, and then, [00:15:00] we'll go work for the External Revenue Service. But let's keep it practical here for our listeners. It's probably not going to happen. What's more likely to happen is the Trump tax cuts from 2017 get made permanent.
Maybe change a few things around, like double the SALT cap. Right now, it's $10,000. People are screaming about it. You have five Republican Congress-people in New York state saying, "We will not vote 'Yes' on any tax legislation unless you eliminate the cap on SALT taxes," which is very un-Republican, if you ask me.
But hey, they're in New York. They got to do what they got to do. I think you'll see some things like that, but honestly, I don't think we're going to see any income tax legislation until they figure out this border thing, and now, these tariff things.
Kevin: Yeah, I think that's, I think they've made it clear too, that that's going to be their first item that they're going to have to tackle because that's our biggest emergency in our country. Claiming the Cartel as being a terrorist organization, bringing in all this fentanyl, and bringing all drugs, and human trafficking coming into our country- that takes precedent over money.
It's people's lives, people's dignity. Now, the way they're executing it, you may or may not agree with it, and that's okay. And I think that is, I think they have their laundry list in order, and I think tax codes, tax cuts, or the Tax Cut Job Act, or whatever- that can wait till this summer. What's going to be frustrating is if they backdate any of this Tax Cuts Job back to '24, and we're already 6 months into filing season.
So, that's something to just be aware of because as of now, we're in the thick of filing season. I mean, it's February. People are closing their books. They received their W2s. They're receiving their charity statements, their mortgage statements. They're receiving all the traditional tax docs.
Handing it to your CPA, or implementing the tax plan you've worked so hard last year- you could implement it, and then, in June or July, once everything's under control, and they kind of circle back to the tax code, it'd be frustrating for them to go change 2024 tax law. Hopefully, it's in your favor and that you can go back and amend it.
That's probably what I would do. I wouldn't hold my breath that any tax law is going to go through that's going to go backdated. I would just go ahead and file, do what you have to do today, pending your situation, but most people listening, I think I would advise them to go ahead and file, and we'll see what happens because we went through this last year with that bill, with 100% bonus depreciation.
We kept telling clients, "There's a chance. There's a chance. Let's wait. Let's wait." And then it dies. And then we're like, "Okay, now, let's file 50 returns." Relying on the government to get this stuff done timely, and to do what the actual bill, that when it hits the floor, it's actually going to do what it's going to do- it's got to go through so many steps, and it's going to be revised, and struck. It's just going to be so hard to predict. Impossible to predict.
Mike: Yeah. I think we're in full agreement here. We need to wrap the rest of our team [00:18:00] now, Because we were kind of in a hold-pattern for the whole month of January regarding our clients' filings. Do we file, or do we not file? And now that we're seeing nothing moving legislatively through Congress, I think it's time. Just file.
Yes. If you get 100% bonus back, and we could have claimed on your return, you'll get more money back, but we'll have to amend it. But like you said, last year, we waited, and waited, and waited, and finally, we never even got a news conference out of Congress that says, "Hey, we're killing the bill." It just slowly, quietly died.
Kevin: Yeah.
Mike: So, go ahead and get your taxes filed. Now, what about tax planning? This is probably the biggest part that's driving me nuts right now, Kevin. You and I preach and preach and preach, "You need to be proactively planning your taxes." And it's true, because if you're not proactively planning them, you're just allowing yourself to be a victim of the tax code. Don't do that. That's not good.
But right now, how do we plan when we don't know what the heck the law is going to be in three months, or four months, or five months? That's frustrating.
Kevin: That's the question because we developed this really nice deliverable of a tax plan last year. The issue with deliverable tax plans is they expire, they go bad. It's like some milk on the shelf, except our shelf life might be four years, or five years, on this product. So, we understand tax code. We get it. We educate our clients on it. We enact plans with it.
And then, the expiration dates come in, and then, all of a sudden, it goes sour and we got to revamp it. So, Mike and I have been taking the position that some clients do need tax planning now. Like, they might have a big exit, a sale of an asset, whatever it is... their business might be spiking.
They need to tax plan, and it's January or February of 2025. We know what we know, that tax law is this. Let's start making some moves. I feel like 90% of the tax code is going to be there, like, depreciation is going to be there. Cost segregation is going to be there. The working interest loophole is going to be there. There's going to be ordinary, necessary expenses, retirement planning. I think all that's going to stay there. It's just a matter of how much of it can we do?
Because a lot of our tax plans are education-based. You meet with us, we're going to educate you on the tax code in your specific situation, and then, develop a tax plan revolved around your specific situation. It's a custom tax plan.
And it would do you a disservice for us to create a tax plan in February, March, and then June, it's already expired. So, we're, kind of, doing this hybrid method of, "Hey, let's meet. I know you got a big transaction. Let's just meet and talk over structuring that transaction the best we can, on the tax side."
But then, in June or July, hopefully by then, we know what the tax law is going to be. Now, I'm not holding my breath. It could be October. I don't know, but I'm, my guess is, the way, the pace he's going, it's not. But that's my hunch. But at that point, CPAs and us, we got to get caught up on the [00:21:00] tax law. What's the changes? What's the 'gives'? What's the 'takes'?
And you have to give us a few weeks to even understand what is being pushed through as new tax law. So, there's still a month's lead time before we can get that information pinpointed to your specific situation, more than likely.
Now, we'll do a podcast right out of the gate as soon as we see a big tax code, or tax law change hit the house. We will do a podcast that next day, and we'll get it out to you, and just let you know, walk through it, do a screen share and walk through the bill, and just talk about it. But once it goes to the wall, then at that point we're going to need, probably, a few weeks or so, just to get everything up.
Mike: I'm excited about that time. I mean, those are the highlights in my career. So, I've been doing this, now 25 years, and I can truly remember only about half a dozen times where there was big, substantial, material tax law changes going through Congress. And they were negotiating, and kept changing.
You'd hear something at 11 o'clock one night, and then, 4 in the morning, something else would come out, "No, they changed this." And stand on top of that, figuring out all the permutations of how that's going to impact our tax code, and more specifically, us and our clients, that's exciting. So, I'm looking forward to those sleepless nights when the legislation is being voted on, or starting to be, or seriously negotiated.
Those will be good times.
Kevin: Yeah. Well, I'll tell you, having a newborn, I'm going to be up at 2 or 3 in the morning, anyway. So, my body's already trained to keep my eye on this, so I want it to hit sooner.
Mike: Good job having that baby too, at the end of the year. That was great tax planning.
Kevin: I know. December 23rd- just made it. So, yeah, it was good timing, and maybe the cost would go up. Who knows?
Mike: We are now kicking off in full-swing, tax season 2025. This is going to be one for the record books. What do we do, and when do we do it, is a big question I've been asked a lot, and we have some fun, great reading, and titillating house resolutions being introduced to the floor that are never going to go anywhere. So, let's not base our tax filings on those. I think it's time just to go ahead and file.
Be in touch with your tax strategist. Know what changes might come up. Have them bookmark those things in your tax return. So, if you do file, and the tax changes do come out and they are retroactive, it's an easy process to go and amend that return and get your refund.
But at this point, I don't think you should wait any longer. Go ahead and file your tax return. You agree, Kevin?
Kevin: Yeah, what other areas of our life do we wait on the government? I mean, I'm hopeful that Trump's going to change things. Over time, I mean, there's so many things out there that he can spur our economy with. So, I'm very hopeful that that is the plan.
No, I'm with you. I would go ahead and file because I'm not going to hold [00:24:00] my breath for him because they got bigger fish to fry right now. The tax code is what it is. We're already in February. He's probably not too pressed to make a move on that because his hands are full doing other things.
Now, with that being said, hopefully you have that relationship with your CPA that when tax law changes, you can call him or her and say, "Hey, the bill went through. Can we rerun my return if there's any backdating in the bill?" What is my outcome? What is the cost to amend it? It takes manpower from your CPA, review time from your CPA, documentation. and there's going to be billable time for your CPA. So, we've got to weigh the costs versus the benefits.
So, hopefully, your CPA could just say, "Yeah, back in the napkin, you're going to get a $10,000 more refund. It's going to cost $2,000 for me to do it. Do you want to go forward?"
"Yeah, sure. That's an $8,000 difference. Let's do that." So, just be aware of that analysis, that break, even as you go through it, because it doesn't make sense to always amend.
Mike: I agree completely, and now, the next thing I'm going to talk about is tax planning. And I'm going to be a little contrary to what I've been saying, and will continue to say.
So, it's never too late to start tax planning, or too early to start tax planning. Yes, we don't know exactly what the laws are going to be this year, but there are a lot of tried-and-true tax strategies out there that are, more likely than not, going to continue to exist for the next decades.
If you're new to tax planning, start finding these things out. How are people offsetting their W2 income with oil and gas investments? What is bonus depreciation? Right now, it's only going to be 40% in 2025. Is it still worth it?
Learn about the current law that's in existence. Talk to your strategist. If you're brand new to tax planning, you need to start now. Don't wait till June, or July, or August, whenever these new tax laws come out, and then drink it off from a fire hose. It'll be too much. Learn the basics now. Learn the basic strategies now.
And then, when the law comes out. Like, have all your powder primed and ready to pull the trigger once the laws drop out, because that's another thing we haven't talked about. Majority of good tax mitigation strategies involve making capital investments. Making a personal investment into something, like investing oil and gas to get tangible drilling costs to offset your W2, things like that.
Well, whatever the new law is going to incentivize, there's not going to be a lot of time left. Let's say this comes out and drops in August, or even September. You're going to have five months left in the year for everyone who wants to do tax planning, and everyone who wants to make those types of investments, to make those investments. You're going to see a huge lack of supply to start with.
So, you better be ready to pull the trigger quickly, or you might find [00:27:00] yourself with an amazing tax strategy, but nothing that you can actually execute because it's not available yet, and you'll have to wait until 2026. So, it's not too soon to start tax planning. It's just too soon to finalize any tax plans.
Kevin: That's a good point, and I like what you said there. Get that foundation ready, and we can help with that. We offer a service ourselves. It's called a 'light tax plan', and it's a lot of education-based. We walk you through everything so you're not on your own. You don't buy, like, a book and you have to read it, and self-study, and learn it.
We walk you through the strategies that we talk about here. We walk you through how to pay your children. We're going to walk you through ordinary and necessary expenses. How to deduct your vehicle. How to do home office. The Augusta Rule. How do we do R& D tax credits? EV credits, energy, anything.
We cover all of the tried-and-true methods of tax planning that have been around for generations. They've been around since the '80s. Now, the limitations on these change over time, and we walk you through that too. If you need help getting that foundation, look at our light tax plans, because that might be a good stop gap right now.
Just what can I do in my business today to reduce my taxable income and my estimated payments? Ordinary and necessary expenses aren't changing. It's going to be these higher strategies, and these limitations and credits, those might give and take, but overall business planning, financial planning, it's all going to be there. So, that's just good stewardship of your time and money and energy, is to dedicate some of that to tax planning now.
Then, once you get the light tax plan- you get that foundation- stay in touch with us, and then, in June and July, we can circle back with you and let you know what's changed.
Mike: So, let's say Trump actually is able to have tips become non taxable. Everyone who receives tips in that country, you're not going to have to pay income tax on those tips. They will be non-taxable income, if that actually happens. What do you do with that, Kevin? I don't want to be paid anymore at our firm. You need to tip me.
Kevin: I will tip you. This was a good podcast. I'm going to tip you for it. Good job.
Mike: We can ask our clients, have a low fee, and say, "Hey, this is what it costs to do your work. If we get a tip equal to or greater than that, you're welcome to come back next year." Suddenly, all of our clients are paying us via tips, and now we're not paying tax.
Kevin: Yeah, yeah. There's going to be some abuse in there. I would imagine they tie that up to where it's going to be in certain service industries, like waitstaff, any sort of traditional tip service, because yeah, your mind goes exactly where mine goes- when I see tax-free income, I was like, "How do I do it? How do I classify all my income into that category?"
But I would imagine that they're going to put some guardrails on it. But, [00:30:00] guardrails- they try to do it all the time. They put guardrails on a lot of things, that have holes in it, and that's our main job as proactive tax planners is going to be, what are the holes?
How do I steer my clients to them aggressively, but yet safely? We're not going to bend the law. We're not going to do anything that is against what the nature of the code is saying, but if we have some gray area to work in, that's our playground. That's what we do
Mike: And there's usually a lot more gray area when a new law hits than there will be 10 years later. Why? Because that's how tax law is written. Congress writes the Internal Revenue Code. Bam! That's the new tax law. But no one in their right mind can read that code and say, "Well, how do I actually follow this? How do you apply this law?"
So, they give it to the treasury department to write treasury regulations, which are supposed to explain how to follow the law, and what Congress actually meant when they said that, if it didn't make sense. So, then that'll happen. But then still, there's going to be tons of gray area. Unless you have a lot of money, and you don't mind paying a tax law firm a ton of it to fight against the IRS for you, you don't want to be the test case. You don't want to be the scapegoat with the IRS.
So, what do you do? Keep your ears open. Keep your eyes open. Find a tax strategist, make sure they are staying aware and up to date with whatever the tax laws are doing, because one little change in the tax code can have a waterfall effect, or domino effect, and change 100 different things in the tax code.
Taxes are changing. There's going to be good things. There's going to be bad things. It's not up to you to figure all that out. Find a good tax strategist, and let whatever changes are coming in the tax code become a leverage formula for you to grow your financial freedom.
Please stay tuned to Hidden Money in 2025. We will help you ride through this tax season and not become victims to whatever the new tax law is, but help you to thrive on it, take advantage of it, and make 2025 your best tax year ever.