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How to defer US taxes

taylor.town

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Re: How to defer US taxes

#31

Post by gautamcgoel »

jeffreyrogers wrote: post #9

Pretty good overview of how/why these deductions reduce your taxable income. Couple of things to note. Depreciation is recaptured if you sell an asset for more than its depreciated basis. People sometimes get into trouble with this if they rapidly depreciate real estate and then sell it. Even if you sell for less than your purchase price it is possible to owe taxes. You also aren't going to be able to pay no taxes si…

The thing I don't understand with these loan arguments is: don't you eventually need to pay taxes in the income you use to repay the loan? It seems to me that folks who take out such loans are just kicking the can down the road.

Re: How to defer US taxes

#32

Post by bluGill »

anon291 wrote: post #23
jt2190 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you elaborate? As a business owner in the U.S. I can opt to reinvest all revenue back into the business, thus would show zero net profit but (presumably) increase my company’s value. (And remember there are other taxes and fees paid to various governments, not just tax on income/profit, so it’s not typically like nothing gets paid.)

As a business owner, if you provide labor to the business, you have to pay yourself a salary.

This is why many people make minimun wage - they get a salary but they use the business profits to live on. See your accountant for all the fine print before doing this.

Re: How to defer US taxes

#33

Post by phkahler »

singron wrote: post #10
hirako2000 wrote: post #3

I'm not sure to understand how deferring taxes is a better deal than paying it here and now. Since I'm not a financial adviser, someone asked me take on which 4k projector to buy last Xmas. I explained that the tech has improved so much lately, they've become somewhat affordable, I recommended a model and pointed ou that he would certainly get a better device next Xmas, for half the price. I thought he would follow s…

Deferring taxes is essentially an interest-free loan from the government to you. You can take that money, invest it, and then keep most of the earnings when you eventually pay the taxes. There are also some loopholes where capital gains taxes deferred until after death just don't get paid at all. This is the "step-up basis" where your inheritors get to reset the basis of capital assets and neither you nor they has to…

This is what they call "buy borrow die" or some such. Buy an asset, borrow against it, die to reset the basis. Your estate will still have to repay the loans, but... that one part I don't really understand. Do they just refinance, taking a new loan against the newly valued asset?

This all seems to benefit from low interest rates. Was it a thing in the 90's? Or even the 80s when rates were much higher?

Re: How to defer US taxes

#34

Post by compiler-guy »

josefritzishere wrote: post #5

This feels like a great way to get audited by the IRS. It does not feel like sound advice.

All of these techniques are entirely routine for the average company with even a semi decent accountant, and only marginally increase the chance of an audit.

You do have to be sure you follow the rules and avoid various gotchas that other people in this section have pointed out, but otherwise it is entirely legal and routine.

Re: How to defer US taxes

#35

Post by jeffreyrogers »

gautamcgoel wrote: post #31
jeffreyrogers wrote: post #9

Pretty good overview of how/why these deductions reduce your taxable income. Couple of things to note. Depreciation is recaptured if you sell an asset for more than its depreciated basis. People sometimes get into trouble with this if they rapidly depreciate real estate and then sell it. Even if you sell for less than your purchase price it is possible to owe taxes. You also aren't going to be able to pay no taxes si…

The thing I don't understand with these loan arguments is: don't you eventually need to pay taxes in the income you use to repay the loan? It seems to me that folks who take out such loans are just kicking the can down the road.

You do. I think these loans are generally used for short term liquidity. For example if you want to buy a new house before selling your old one. You'd get a loan against your assets, buy the home with the loan proceeds, sell your old home and pay off the loan.

If your assets are growing faster than the interest it would also be possible to payoff the loan with a new (larger) loan, so you are still kicking the can down the road but eventually you would die and never need to pay the taxes while you were alive. I doubt this is done that often in practice, but who knows.

Re: How to defer US taxes

#36

Post by OkayPhysicist »

gautamcgoel wrote: post #31
jeffreyrogers wrote: post #9

Pretty good overview of how/why these deductions reduce your taxable income. Couple of things to note. Depreciation is recaptured if you sell an asset for more than its depreciated basis. People sometimes get into trouble with this if they rapidly depreciate real estate and then sell it. Even if you sell for less than your purchase price it is possible to owe taxes. You also aren't going to be able to pay no taxes si…

The thing I don't understand with these loan arguments is: don't you eventually need to pay taxes in the income you use to repay the loan? It seems to me that folks who take out such loans are just kicking the can down the road.

As mentioned in the article, death (and subsequent inheritance), solves this problem. Once you're dead, your tax situation changes significantly, and selling your assets to settle your debts is subject to estate taxes, not capital gains.

Re: How to defer US taxes

#37

Post by nout »

gautamcgoel wrote: post #31
jeffreyrogers wrote: post #9

Pretty good overview of how/why these deductions reduce your taxable income. Couple of things to note. Depreciation is recaptured if you sell an asset for more than its depreciated basis. People sometimes get into trouble with this if they rapidly depreciate real estate and then sell it. Even if you sell for less than your purchase price it is possible to owe taxes. You also aren't going to be able to pay no taxes si…

The thing I don't understand with these loan arguments is: don't you eventually need to pay taxes in the income you use to repay the loan? It seems to me that folks who take out such loans are just kicking the can down the road.

You repay with another loan. Repeat multiple times. And then you die.

This is the strategy that people follow.

Re: How to defer US taxes

#38

Post by whaleofatw2022 »

gautamcgoel wrote: post #31
jeffreyrogers wrote: post #9

Pretty good overview of how/why these deductions reduce your taxable income. Couple of things to note. Depreciation is recaptured if you sell an asset for more than its depreciated basis. People sometimes get into trouble with this if they rapidly depreciate real estate and then sell it. Even if you sell for less than your purchase price it is possible to owe taxes. You also aren't going to be able to pay no taxes si…

The thing I don't understand with these loan arguments is: don't you eventually need to pay taxes in the income you use to repay the loan? It seems to me that folks who take out such loans are just kicking the can down the road.

Sometimes its about the layers.

I.e. what kinds of loans can be tax deductible? To be clear theres decent effort into this, you can't just do a cash-out refi on a home, but loopholes exist for those who find it worth the effort.

Re: How to defer US taxes

#39

Post by gamerdonkey »

gautamcgoel wrote: post #31
jeffreyrogers wrote: post #9

Pretty good overview of how/why these deductions reduce your taxable income. Couple of things to note. Depreciation is recaptured if you sell an asset for more than its depreciated basis. People sometimes get into trouble with this if they rapidly depreciate real estate and then sell it. Even if you sell for less than your purchase price it is possible to owe taxes. You also aren't going to be able to pay no taxes si…

The thing I don't understand with these loan arguments is: don't you eventually need to pay taxes in the income you use to repay the loan? It seems to me that folks who take out such loans are just kicking the can down the road.

The strategy is called "Buy, Borrow, Die"

https://www.theatlantic.com/economy/archive/2025/03/tax-loop... (viewable by disabling JS)

Re: How to defer US taxes

#40

Post by munk-a »

dleslie wrote: post #24

That's a great deal more complicated than our TFSA and RSP programmes, here in Canada.

RRSP first time home buyer credits can get a bit complicated though. Also, a fun fact - dual US-Canadian citizens can't (effectively) use TFSAs because the US considers appreciation in a TFSA to be taxable income.
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