Ryan DeissCo-Founder & CEO, The Scalable Company

My main takeaway: Don’t take tax advice from strangers on the internet.

16 Nov 2025 · 0 min

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This content was created by Ryan Deiss. This content was uploaded by Ryan Deiss. This is a YouTube clip titled "My main takeaway: Don’t take tax advice from strangers on the internet." (created 2025-11-16) featuring a short two-person exchange between SPEAKER A and SPEAKER B. The speakers debate tax and payroll practices for LLC owners: SPEAKER A explains using an owner's draw rather than payroll for LLCs taxed as sole proprietorships/partnerships, while SPEAKER B — who notes they scale 17 companies in a $200M portfolio — adds nuance that LLCs taxed as S corps can legitimately pay salaries and warns against taking tax/legal advice from TikTok/Instagram, recommending hiring a CPA. The clip's topic is practical tax advice and skepticism of social-media tax tips.

Questions this video answers

17 companies.

$200 million.

Ryan Deiss.

2025-11-16.

I'm currently scaling 17 companies in my $200 million portfolio. Here's what I think of this business advice.
Do not pay yourself via payroll if you have an llc, instead do this. He's saying it's illegal. No, it's not. It's not. You set up a owner's draw, which is basically a transfer from your business account to your personal account for the money that you want to pay yourself. Because the money that you pay yourself from your business should not be tax deductible. When you pay yourself via payroll as an LLC owner, you're putting a tax deductible expense and illegal tax deductible expense on your profit and loss statement. So if you're an LLC owner, do not run payroll. Instead, set up an owner's draw by transferring money from your business account to your personal account. This will allow you to stay compliant with the IRS and still pay yourself from your business.
This is why I hate TikTok tax and legal advice. Look, this is mostly true if you elect to have your LLC taxed as a sole proprietorship or a partnership. It's not true if your LLC is taxed as an S Corp or some other corporation. I pay myself a salary and I have an LLC and I'm not doing anything illegal. This kind of nuance is why you shouldn't get tax advice from Instagram or TikTok. In my experience, the people with the most creative tax strategies are also the people with the least taxes to pay, because they're spending more time figuring out how to not pay taxes than they are making actual money. Instagram tax advice is dumb. Just get a real CPA and pay your freaking taxes.