Returning Value Blog

Many small businesses don’t have enough employees to worry about the play-or-pay provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). However, as your business grows, these rules can apply sooner than expected. This issue also may not be on your radar because there’s a common misconception that the repeal of ACA penalties under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act applied to both individuals and businesses. While the individual mandate penalty was eliminated beginning in 2019, the employer shared responsibility rules are still in effect.

 When your financial statements arrive, it’s tempting to glance at the bottom line and move on. After all, you’ve got customers to serve and employees to manage. But your income statement is more than a report card. It can be a strategic tool to help you spot growth opportunities, tighten your execution, and make smarter decisions that move your business forward.

If you own a business or are self-employed and haven’t already set up a tax-advantaged retirement plan, consider establishing one before you file your 2025 tax return. If you choose a Simplified Employee Pension (SEP), you’ll be able make deductible 2025 contributions to it, saving you taxes. Not only is the SEP deadline favorable, but SEPs are easy to set up, and the contribution limits are generous. If you have employees, you’ll generally have to include them in the SEP and make contributions on their behalf, which are also deductible.

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.

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), signed into law on July 4, 2025, extends or enhances many tax breaks for businesses. But the legislation terminates several business-related clean energy tax incentives earlier than scheduled. For example, the Qualified Commercial Clean Vehicle Credit (Section 45W) had been scheduled to expire after 2032. Under the OBBBA, it’s available only for vehicles that were acquired on or before September 30, 2025. For other clean energy breaks, businesses can still take advantage of them if they act soon.

A major tax change is here for businesses with research and experimental (R&E) expenses. On July 4, 2025, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) reinstated the immediate deduction for U.S.-based R&E expenses, reversing rules under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) that required businesses to capitalize and amortize these costs over five years (15 years for research performed outside the United States).

Do you and your spouse together operate a profitable unincorporated small business? If so, you face some challenging tax issues.

Are your company’s financial statements keeping up with how people consume information today? We live in a world that scrolls, swipes, and scans. With information coming at us nonstop, most people don’t have the time — or patience — for dense financial reports.