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13 Weeks Left: Your Year End Tax Playbook (Part 2)
Business Owners: How to Build a Tax Smart Business
Here’s something I see all the time. A business owner has a great year. Revenue is up. Profit is up. Then April shows up with a tax bill nobody saw coming.
It’s not because they did anything wrong. It’s because their business was set up by accident, not on purpose.
You have about 13 weeks left in 2026. That’s enough time to change how this year ends.
The Big Idea
Profit is what you make. What you keep depends on how your business is built.
2 owners can have the same revenue and the same profit and pay very different tax bills. The difference is planning.
6 Moves to Make Before December 31
1. Make sure your entity still fits. The LLC you set up when you started may not be the right fit now. For many profitable owners, an S corp can cut self employment tax. But your salary has to be reasonable for the work you do. Too low is an audit flag. Too high wastes the savings.
2. Fund a retirement plan (or open one). This is one of the biggest deductions you control. In 2026, you can put up to $24,500 into a 401(k) as an employee, and total contributions can reach $72,000 with the employer side. Over 50? You get even more. High earners who want to save more can look at a cash balance plan. Some plans need to be set up before year end, so don’t wait.
3. Time your big purchases. 100% bonus depreciation is permanent, and Section 179 lets you write off up to $2.56 million in 2026. But the item has to be placed in service by 12/31. That means set up and ready to use, not sitting in a box. And only buy what the business needs. A deduction on something you didn’t need is still money out the door.
4. Get the full 20% QBI deduction. It’s permanent now, but the rules get tricky as income goes up. Your salary, your entity, and your retirement plan all affect how much you get.
5. Defer income and speed up expenses. The right way. If your business uses cash basis accounting, the timing of your invoices and bills can move income from 1 year to the next. Send some December invoices in January. Pay real bills you already owe before December 31. Done right, that’s smart timing.
Done wrong, it’s a problem. Here’s something most owners don’t know. When an IRS auditor looks at your 2024 return, one of the first things they often ask for is your January 2025 bank statements. They want to see if income was held back or expenses were pushed into the wrong year.
A few rules keep you safe:
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If you already have the money, it counts this year. You can’t sit on a check until January.
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Prepaid expenses generally only count if they cover about the next 12 months.
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Every move needs a real business reason and paperwork behind it.
This has to be strategic and legitimate. We help clients get it right, so it holds up if anyone ever looks.
6. Clean up your books. You can’t plan with numbers you don’t trust. Get current through September now, and stay current through December.
What This Looks Like in Real Life
A married couple came to us with a lot going on: oil and gas consulting, a salon, real estate, and farming. Both businesses were sole proprietorships, and their old CPA only filed returns. No plan. We restructured their entities, added retirement contributions, and found deductions they’d been missing. Their projected federal tax dropped from $90,300 to $35,300. That’s $55,000 saved every year. Same businesses. Same work. Built on purpose.
See the full details in our Case Study – Entity Structure & Optimization
Is This You?
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Your profit went up this year, but you have no idea what you’ll owe
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You haven’t looked at your entity since the day you set it up
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You don’t have a retirement plan, or you don’t max it out
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You’re thinking about a big purchase before year end
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Your books are a few months behind
If you checked 2 or more, keep reading.
Meet Clarity
Most of you know us for tax prep. What a lot of you don’t know is that we do much more.
Clarity is service offering built for business owners. It includes everything in Compliance (your tax prep plus audit protection), plus:
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Forward looking tax projections, so you know what you’ll owe before April
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2 planning meetings a year, where we look at moves like the ones above and pick the ones that fit you
Think of it this way. Compliance tells you what happened. Clarity tells you what’s coming, while there’s still time to change it.
What’s Coming next – 4 Part Tax Planning Series
Every Saturday for 4 weeks, you’ll get 1 part of the playbook:
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Part 1 (Last week – Sept 26th ): Why these 14 weeks matter, and what changed in the tax law
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Part 2 (Today): Business owners. How to build a tax smart business
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Part 3 (Next Week): Real estate investors and LPs. Depreciation, rentals, and K1s
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Part 4 (Oct 17): Big income years. Roth conversions, charity, and what a real tax plan looks like
Each one gives you real moves you can use. No fluff.
Need more ? Your Next Steps
Want to save on taxes, or just want to know where you stand? Not sure which level fits you? Let’s talk.
Book a free 30 minute discovery call. No paperwork. No documents. Just a real conversation about where you are and whether Clarity, Vision, or neither makes sense for you.
👉 Book a tax plan discovery call
14 weeks goes fast. Let’s make them count.
Giveaway Update: 12 of You Are In
Last week, 12 of you entered to win a free Vision tax plan. Thank you! Everyone who referred a friend earned 1 entry.
Here’s the best part: the more you refer, the more entries you get. Refer 3 friends, get 3 entries.
To enter, all you need to do is share The Ledger with business owners, real estate operators, and fund operators who’d get value from it.
The giveaway closes October 24. We’ll announce the winner October 26.
13 weeks goes fast. Let’s build a business that keeps more of what you earn.
Qualified referrals must be active subscribers who sign up between September 26 and October 24, 2026. 1 winner, announced October 26. Winner must complete a tax plan discovery call. No cash value.
We’re hiring
Our values are Leadership , Excellence and Honesty. If you know someone that fits that and you think woudl be a good fit, send them our way.
Until next week. Your success is our success. Thanks for reading !
Vince & the P&C Team
Next week in Part 3, we’re talking to real estate investors and LPs: depreciation, rentals, and what your K1 is really telling you. If you own property, don’t miss it.
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