If your goal is to reduce taxes, year-end 2025 offers real opportunities. But smart owners don’t treat tax planning as a one-night-only event. Every move you make now—how you expense equipment, when you recognize income, how you fund retirement, how you structure compensation—echoes into 2026, 2027 and beyond. At B.A.A.P., we approach year-end as part of a rolling, multi-year plan that connects taxes to cash flow, growth, and valuation. Any CPA firm can record history. Our firm will help you build a future.
Ask, “How does this decision play out over the next three years?” Instead of chasing the biggest deduction today, model the after-tax cash position across multiple years. That perspective helps you avoid two traps: pulling too many deductions into 2025 and starving next year’s profits, or deferring too much income into 2026 and creating a tax spike. With a multi-year lens, you smooth cash needs, protect valuable deductions like QBI, and keep lenders and investors confident.
It depends on your multi-year trajectory. If 2026 looks like a breakout year, keeping 2025 moderately profitable may prevent losses you can’t use soon. If 2026 appears softer, pulling deductions into 2025 can stabilize cash and reduce estimates. A future-focused plan would compare side-by-side scenarios—accelerate, defer, or blend—to show not just the 2025 result, but also the impact on 2026 quarterly estimates, working capital, and bank covenants.
Expensing equipment can drop your 2025 tax bill fast, but it also reduces depreciation available later. The question isn’t “Can I deduct it?”—it’s “When is the deduction most valuable?” For growing firms, a common strategy is to combine targeted expensing with scheduled depreciation to smooth taxable income, protect QBI, and support consistent EBITDA for lenders. Delivery dates and in-service timing still matter, but the strategy should live in a three-year model, not a single December sprint.
Retirement plans are one of the most reliable small business tax tips because they create recurring, controllable deductions that also build owner wealth and help retain talent. The right design (safe harbor 401(k), profit sharing, or cash balance) can deliver a meaningful 2025 deduction while setting predictable contributions for 2026–2027. A multi-year plan would map owner age, comp levels, and hiring plans so your benefit dollars hit the right tax years and your team sees a steady, credible benefit—not a one-time bonus.
Yes. If you invest in product or process improvements, timing and documentation determine whether you get deductions now and how they affect future-year results. Multi-year planning sequences contracts, prototypes, and vendor milestones to keep deductions aligned with your revenue curve. The objective is steady after-tax cash for innovation—not boom-and-bust cycles that spook your board or your bank.
An accountant asks what happened this year. An advisor asks what you want to happen next year and the year after—and then designs the current year to support that path. At B.A.A.P., we coordinate tax, bookkeeping, payroll, forecasts, and financing so your year-end actions create compounding benefits. That’s why our process centers on rolling multi-year tax maps: you would know which levers to pull in 2025, what that means for 2026–2027, etc., and how to pivot when facts change.
Maya runs a mobile urgent-care practice with $1.6M in revenue. In September 2025, she plans to add two vans and hire a nurse practitioner in Q1 2026. In this scenario, we would build a three-year tax and cash model to compare options:
With our process, we plan across years. In this illustrative case, a decision like Scenario C would reduce 2025 tax meaningfully while making 2026 and 2027 cash flow more predictable. That could avoid a spike in quarterly estimates, help meet bank coverage ratios, and support ordering a third van in late 2026. Same tools, different outcome—because the planning horizon spans multiple years.
Buyers and lenders value predictability. A tax plan that stabilizes after-tax cash over multiple years supports better debt terms, healthier owner distributions, and a higher valuation multiple. That’s why B.A.A.P. ties tax to operating rhythms—pricing changes, hiring waves, capital purchases, and seasonality—so your financial story improves every quarter, not just every December.
Want this tailored to your business? Book a call now.
Checklists chase deductions today. Multi-year planning sequences deductions, income timing, and compensation so your after-tax cash is steady across 2025–2027—better for staffing, debt, and growth.
Not always. Deferring can push you into a higher bracket later or reduce deductions you could have used next year. Model both years before deciding.
Sometimes—but expensing everything can leave you with fewer deductions in 2026–2027. Blending immediate and scheduled write-offs often delivers better multi-year results.
Yes. Well-designed plans provide recurring deductions and predictable cash needs, support retention, and build owner wealth year after year.
Quarterly is ideal. Markets, hiring, and rules change; a rolling three-year plan lets you adjust while there’s still time to make a difference.