Tax advisor Donna Genie covers the deductions small-business owners most often miss: home office, vehicle mileage, retirement plans with December 31 deadlines, health insurance, Section 179 expensing, and the 20% QBI deduction. She walks through the 2026 rates and contribution limits you need to claim them before year-end.
The tax rules are written for business owners. Most of them just never read them. And that's why every year people who work harder than anybody pay more taxes than they ever had to. Not because they did anything wrong, but because they missed things. Here's what makes it worse. Most of these write-offs have a deadline. If you don't do them by December 31st, you lose them for the year and you can't fix it in April. So today I'm going to show you the write-offs that business owners miss the most. What's new for 2026 and what to do before the year ends. Stay with me because one of the biggest is coming up and most people have never even heard of it. And if you want our team to take a look at your numbers before December 31st, the link to book a call is right below in the description. Let's start off with the one people are scared of, your home office. A lot of owners skip this because someone told them it gets you audited. That is just not true. If you have space in your home that you regularly and exclusively use for your business, You're allowed to write it off. That's the rule, not a trick. The easy way is $5 for every square foot up to $300 or up to 300 square feet. So that's up to $1,500 a year. Or you can write off part of your real home bills like rent, utilities, insurance, based on how much of your home the office actually takes up. Measure the room and take a picture. That's your proof. Now your car. Most people don't track their business driving at all. Or they don't know that they have a choice in how to write it off. You do have 2 choices. The first is a set amount for every business mile you drive. For 2026, that started out at 72 cents a mile, 72.5 cents a mile, and on July 1st, it went up to 76 cents a mile because gasoline got more expensive. The second choice is to add up what your car actually costs you, like gas, repairs, insurance, and write off the part that was for business. If you drive a lot cheaper car, the per mile usually wins. If you drive a bigger, more expensive car, adding up the real costs can win. Either way, you need to track your miles. A free app on your phone will do it for you. Now, quick pause. If you're watching this and thinking, I have no idea if I'm doing any of this right, and that's exactly what our calls are for. We'll look at what you're writing off and what you're missing. The link is below in the description. Okay, here's the big one that I promised. Most business owners pay tax on money they were going to save anyhow. That's a problem. The fix is a retirement account that's made for business owners. Money you put in here comes off your income, so you pay less taxes today. Now, there are 2 popular ones. The first is called a SEP IRA. Your business can put away up to 25% of what you make, up to $72,000 a year. The second, and my personal favorite, is called the Solo 401, and it's for businesses that don't really have employees except maybe a spouse. You can put in up to $24,500 on your own, and then your business can add more on top of that, up to that same $72,000. For most one-person businesses, the Solo 401 lets you save way more. Now here's the catch. The Solo 401 has to be opened by December 31st. If you wait until April, you've lost your chance for this year. So don't put this one off. Health insurance. If you work for yourself and you pay for your own health insurance, you can usually write that off. You can write off what you pay for you, your spouse, and your kids. The one catch is that you can't write it off for months when you could have been on your spouse's insurance through their job. So many people pay for this all year and never write it off. Now, things you buy for your business. This is where the big tax law from 2025 really helps. If you buy things like computers, machines, furniture, or even certain vehicles, you can now write off the full price in the same year you start using them. And that rule is here to stay. It's permanent. But here's the mistake people make. It has to be set up and in use by December 31st. Not just ordered, not paid for, but in use. If it sits in the box until January, the write-off moves into next year. And please, if you're planning a big purchase, talk to us first. Buying something just to get the write-off can cost you more than you save. Book a call. With the link in the description. All right, everybody loves a good meal. How about business meals? You can usually write off half the cost of a meal when you're talking business with a client or a partner. Write down who you met, what you talked about. No notes, but no— if you don't have any notes, you don't have any write-off. Just getting started? The money you spend to get your business going, like research, early marketing, and help from professionals, isn't wasted. You can usually write off up to $5,000 of it in your first year. And the rest a little at a time after that. If this is helping you, please hit subscribe. You, we keep making videos like this so you're never guessing when tax time comes. Now, the last one, the one most people don't know applies to them. If you run your business and it's not a big corporation, you may be able to write off 20% of your profit on top of everything else. This break was supposed to end after 2025. But the new law made it permanent. How much you get depends on how much you make and what kind of business you have. So it's worth having a professional check. So here's your plan. Watch this now and act before December 31st. Don't wait until then. Do it now. Measure your office. Start tracking your miles. Open your retirement plan. Get your new equipment set up and running. Keep notes on your business meals. And if you'd rather not go this alone, And that's what we do here at Calculated Moves. We'll go through your numbers and show you exactly what you're missing. Book your call with the link in the description and subscribe so you catch every update before the deadlines hit.
