Tax

Here’s an easy question: Do you need more 2025 tax deductions? If the answer is yes, continue reading. 

Next easy question: Do you need a replacement business vehicle? 

If so, you can simultaneously solve or mitigate the first problem (needing more deductions) and the second problem (needing a replacement vehicle) if you can get your replacement vehicle in service on or before December 31, 2025. Don’t procrastinate. 

To ensure compliance with the “placed in service” rule, drive the vehicle at least one business mile on or before December 31, 2025. In other words, you want to both own and drive the vehicle to ensure that it qualifies for the big deductions.

Now that you have the basics, let’s get to the tax deductions.

1. Buy a New or Used SUV, Crossover Vehicle, or Van

Let’s say that on or before December 31, 2025, you or your corporation buys and places in service a new or used SUV or crossover vehicle that the manufacturer classifies as a truck and that has a gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of 6,001 pounds or more. This newly purchased vehicle gives you four benefits: 

1. Bonus depreciation of 100 percent (if you don’t elect out of it)
2. Section 179 expensing of up to $31,300
3. MACRS depreciation using the five-year table
4. No luxury limits on vehicle depreciation deductions

Example. On or before December 31, 2025, you buy and place in service a used $50,000 qualifying SUV for which you can claim 90 percent business use. Your business cost is $45,000 (90 percent x $50,000). Your maximum write-off for 2025 is $45,000.

2. Buy a New or Used Pickup

If you or your corporation buys and places in service a qualifying pickup truck (new or used) on or before December 31, 2025, then this newly purchased vehicle gives you four big benefits: 

1. Bonus depreciation of up to 100 percent
2. Section 179 expensing of up to $2,500,000
3. MACRS depreciation using the five-year table
4. No luxury limits on vehicle depreciation deductions

To qualify for full Section 179 expensing, the pickup truck must have

• a GVWR of more than 6,000 pounds, and
• a cargo area (commonly called a “bed”) of at least six feet in interior length that is not easily accessible from the passenger compartment.

Example. You pay $55,000 for a qualifying pickup truck that you use 91 percent for business. You can use either bonus depreciation or Section 179 to write off your entire business cost of $50,050 ($55,000 x 91 percent). 

Short bed. If the pickup truck passes the more-than-6,000-pound-GVWR test but fails the bed-length test, the tax code classifies it as an SUV. That’s not bad. You can use 100 percent bonus depreciation to write off 100 percent of the business cost.

If you would like to discuss these vehicle strategies and more, please call me on my direct line at 408-778-9651  

• By Leon Clinton
• December 2, 2025

2025 has been an excellent year for investors in cryptocurrency, with Bitcoin reaching all-time highs.

With high profits, however, can come high taxes. Fortunately, there are several strategies you can employ before year-end to reduce your 2025 crypto taxes.

If you invested only in Bitcoin, you may not have any crypto losses. But you could have losses if you invested in other forms of crypto. 

If so, you should consider selling your losers before the end of the year. You may fully deduct your losses from any capital gains you realize during the year, such as gains from selling other crypto or stocks at a profit. 

If your losses exceed your capital gains for the year, you can use your remaining losses to offset up to $3,000 in personal income. You can carry over any unused losses to future years to offset future gains or income.

Donating appreciated crypto to charity is a great tax strategy if you’re charitably inclined. You’ll not only help a charity but also get two terrific tax benefits:

• You avoid long-term capital gains taxes on your appreciated crypto.
• You can get a charitable contribution deduction equal to the appreciated value.

To obtain these two benefits, you must itemize your deductions on Schedule A, and you must have held the crypto for more than a year.

You should also consider giving crypto to a child, a grandchild, or another loved one. For 2025, you may gift up to $19,000 each to an unlimited number of people without triggering any tax or reporting obligation for you or the recipients. If you’re married, you and your spouse may gift $38,000 per recipient.

Another strategy is establishing a self-directed IRA or a self-directed solo 401(k) to purchase crypto. You can use a self-directed regular or Roth IRA or 401(k).

If you want to discuss your crypto holdings, please call me on my direct line at 408-778-9651  

• By Leon Clinton
• November 28, 2025

Wow, how time flies! Yes, December 31 is just around the corner. 

That’s your last day to find tax deductions available from your existing business and personal (yes, personal) vehicles that you can use to cut your 2025 taxes. But don’t wait. Get on this now!

Take Back Your Child’s or Spouse’s Car, and Sell It

We know—this sounds horrible. But stay with us.

What did you do with your old business car? Do you still have it? Is your child driving it? Or is your spouse using it as a personal car?

We ask because that old business vehicle could have a big tax loss embedded in it. If so, your strategy is easy: sell the vehicle to a third party before December 31 so you have a tax-deductible loss this year.

Your loss deduction depends on your percentage of business use. That’s one reason to sell this vehicle now: the longer you let your spouse or teenager use it, the smaller your business percentage becomes and the less tax benefit you receive.

Cash In on Past Vehicle Trade-ins

In the past when you traded vehicles in, you pushed your old business basis to the replacement vehicle under the old Section 1031 tax-deferred exchange rules. (But remember, these rules no longer apply to Section 1031 exchanges of vehicles or other personal property occurring after December 31, 2017.)

Whether you used IRS mileage rates or the actual-expense method for deducting your business vehicles, you could still find a significant deduction here.

Example. Check out how Sam finds a $27,000 tax-loss deduction on his existing business car. Sam has been in business for 15 years, during which he

• converted his original personal car (Car One) to business use;
• then traded in Car One for a new business car (Car Two);
• then traded in Car Two for a replacement business car (Car Three); and
• then traded in Car Three for another replacement business car (Car Four), which he is driving today.

During the 15 years Sam has been in business, he has owned four cars. Further, he deducted each of his cars using IRS standard mileage rates.

If Sam sells his mileage-rate car today, he will realize a tax loss of $27,000. The loss is the accumulation of 15 years of car activity, during which Sam never cashed out because he always traded in for his next car. (This was before he knew anything about gain or loss.) 

Sam thought his use of IRS mileage rates was the end of it—nothing more to think about (wrong thinking here, too).

Because the trades occurred before 2018, they were Section 1031 exchanges and thus deferred the tax results to the next vehicle. IRS mileage rates contain a depreciation component. That’s one possible reason Sam unknowingly accumulated his significant deduction.

To get a mental picture of how this one sale produces a cash cow, consider this: when Sam sells Car Four, he is really selling four cars—because the old Section 1031 exchange rules added the old basis of each vehicle to the replacement vehicle’s basis.

Examine your vehicle for this possible loss deduction. Did you procure the business vehicle you are driving today in 2017 or earlier? Did you acquire this vehicle with a trade-in? If so, your tax loss deduction could be big! 

Put Your Personal Vehicle in Business Service

Lawmakers reinstated 100 percent bonus depreciation for 2025, creating an effective strategy that costs you nothing but can produce substantial deductions.

Are you (or is your spouse) driving a personal SUV, crossover vehicle, or pickup truck with a gross vehicle weight rating greater than 6,000 pounds? Would you like to increase your tax deductions for this year?

If you answered yes to both questions, place that personal vehicle in business service before December 31.

Check Your Current Vehicle for a Big Deduction

Your current business vehicle, regardless of when it was purchased, could have a big deduction waiting for you.

Example. Jim purchased a $60,000 vehicle in 2022 and used it 85 percent for business. During the four years he used it (2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025), Jim depreciated the vehicle $10,000. If he sells the vehicle today for $25,000, he has a $19,750 tax loss. 

If you see opportunities for deductions that you would like to discuss with me, please call me on my direct line at 408-778-9651  

• By Leon Clinton
• November 25, 2025