year-end - Linkenheimer LLP CPAs & Advisors

2025 in Review: Lessons Learned and Setting the Stage for 2026

As 2025 draws to a close, it’s clear this has been a year of both opportunity and complexity. At Linkenheimer LLP, we’ve seen clients across all industries navigate evolving tax rules, shifting market conditions, and tighter reporting demands. These changes underscore one truth we’ve always believed: proactive financial management — not reactive compliance — is what drives lasting success.

This year, the conversation wasn’t just about filing returns or meeting reporting deadlines. It was about maintaining high-quality financial data, understanding where your business stands in real time, and planning strategically amid uncertainty.

Key Trends We Saw in 2025

Growing Focus on Data Integrity and Financial Readiness

Clean, accurate, and timely financial information proved to be a differentiator this year. With credit conditions tightening and lenders requesting more granular reporting, companies with well-organized accounting systems and reconciled statements had a clear advantage.

Financial institutions increasingly required interim financials and management-prepared statements to support credit renewals.
Auditors and stakeholders placed greater emphasis on documentation quality, accounting estimates, and revenue recognition policies under GAAP.
Businesses that invested in cloud-based accounting systems, automation, and standardized chart of accounts found it easier to analyze performance and make informed […]

By Linkenheimer LLP|2025-10-27T21:40:54+00:00October 27th, 2025|Advisor, year-end|0 Comments

Review Your Business Expenses Before Year End

Now is a good time to review your business’s expenses for deductibility. Accelerating deductible expenses into this year generally will reduce 2025 taxes and might even provide permanent tax savings. Also consider the impact of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA). It makes permanent or revises some Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) provisions that reduced or eliminated certain deductions.

“Ordinary and necessary” business expenses

There’s no master list of deductible business expenses in the Internal Revenue Code (IRC). Although some deductions are expressly authorized or excluded, most are governed by the general rule of IRC Section 162, which permits businesses to deduct their “ordinary and necessary” expenses.

An ordinary expense is one that is common and accepted in your industry. A necessary expense is one that is helpful and appropriate for your business. (It doesn’t have to be indispensable.) Even if an expense is ordinary and necessary, it may not be deductible if the IRS considers it lavish or extravagant.

OBBBA and TCJA changes

Here are some types of business expenses whose deductibility is affected by OBBBA or TCJA provisions:

Entertainment. The TCJA eliminated most deductions for entertainment expenses beginning in 2018. However, entertainment expenses […]

By Linkenheimer LLP|2025-10-27T19:31:54+00:00October 27th, 2025|business, expensing, New Tax Laws, tax planning, year-end|0 Comments

End-of-Year Tax Strategies: Gifting and Charitable Giving

As the year draws to a close, it’s the perfect time to review your financial and tax strategies. Whether you’re looking to benefit loved ones or support charitable causes, there are several ways to make tax-efficient financial decisions before December 31. This guide highlights two key strategies: annual exclusion gifts to reduce your taxable estate and qualified charitable distributions (QCDs) to maximize the tax benefits of your charitable contributions.

Annual Exclusion Gifts

As the end of the year approaches, many people start to think about their finances and tax strategies. One effective way to reduce potential estate taxes and show generosity to loved ones is by giving cash gifts before December 31. Under tax law, you can gift a certain amount each year without incurring gift taxes or requiring a gift tax return. Taking advantage of this rule can help you reduce the size of your taxable estate while benefiting your family and friends.

Taxpayers can transfer substantial amounts, free of gift taxes, to their children or other recipients each year through the proper use of the annual exclusion. The exclusion amount is adjusted for inflation annually, and in 2024 is $18,000. It covers […]

By Linkenheimer LLP|2024-11-18T19:24:34+00:00November 18th, 2024|charity, contributions, gift tax, year-end|0 Comments

Make Year-End Tax Planning Moves Before It’s Too Late!

With the arrival of fall, it’s an ideal time to begin implementing strategies that could reduce your tax burden for both this year and next.

One of the first planning steps is to ascertain whether you’ll take the standard deduction or itemize deductions for 2024. You may not itemize because of the high 2024 standard deduction amounts ($29,200 for joint filers, $14,600 for singles and married couples filing separately, and $21,900 for heads of household). Also, many itemized deductions have been reduced or suspended under current law.

If you do itemize, you can deduct medical expenses that exceed 7.5% of adjusted gross income (AGI), state and local taxes up to $10,000, charitable contributions, and mortgage interest on a restricted amount of debt, but these deductions won’t save taxes unless they’re more than your standard deduction.

The benefits of bunching

You may be able to work around these deduction restrictions by applying a “bunching” strategy to pull or push discretionary medical expenses and charitable contributions into the year where they’ll do some tax good. For example, if you can itemize deductions for this year but not next, you may want to make two years’ worth of charitable […]

By Linkenheimer LLP|2024-10-02T14:57:27+00:00October 2nd, 2024|tax planning, year-end|0 Comments

It’s Time for Your Small Business to Think About Year-End Tax Planning

With Labor Day in the rearview mirror, it’s time to take proactive steps that may help lower your small business’s taxes for this year and next. The strategy of deferring income and accelerating deductions to minimize taxes can be effective for most businesses, as is the approach of bunching deductible expenses into this year or next to maximize their tax value.

Do you expect to be in a higher tax bracket next year? If so, then opposite strategies may produce better results. For example, you could pull income into 2024 to be taxed at lower rates, and defer deductible expenses until 2025, when they can be claimed to offset higher-taxed income.

Here are some other ideas that may help you save tax dollars if you act soon.

Estimated taxes

Make sure you make the last two estimated tax payments to avoid penalties. The third quarter payment for 2024 is due on September 16, 2024, and the fourth quarter payment is due on January 15, 2025.

QBI deduction

Taxpayers other than corporations may be entitled to a deduction of up to 20% of their qualified business income (QBI). For 2024, if taxable income exceeds $383,900 for married couples filing jointly (half […]

By Linkenheimer LLP|2024-09-11T14:22:17+00:00September 11th, 2024|tax planning, year-end|0 Comments