Tips, credits, and chaos: what the new bill really does

You want the truth about the One Big Beautiful Bill. Not headlines. Not wishful thinking. The real impact on your money and your business. That is what we cover today.

Morgan Anderson joins me to break down what changes now, what phases in next, and where the media is getting it wrong. We hit the mess around “no tax on tips” and why it is not the free pass people think it is. We talk expiring credits, retroactive tweaks, and why Q4 tax planning beats “see you in March” every single time.

If you own an S corp or LLC, pay attention. We talk practical realities for business owners, from what deductions still pass the laugh test to new wrinkles you have not heard about. We also dig into common mistakes with DIY tax software and why first-time accuracy is going to be shaky after a major code shift.

We close with a September checklist you can run this week. W-2s, use the IRS withholding calculator. Business owners, sit down with your CPA or EA and your advisor. Adjust estimates. Map Roth conversions, HSAs, 529s, and risk management moves that help you get ahead of what is coming.

Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/yp7ziDcCg0o

As always we ask you to comment, DM, whatever it takes to have a conversation to help you take the next step in your journey, reach out on any platform!

Twitter, FaceBook, Instagram, Tiktok, Linkedin

DISCLOSURE: Awards and rankings by third parties are not indicative of future performance or client investment success. Past performance does not guarantee future results. All investment strategies carry profit/loss potential and cannot eliminate investment risks. Information discussed may not reflect current positions/recommendations. While believed accurate, Black Mammoth does not guarantee information accuracy. This broadcast is not a solicitation for securities transactions or personalized investment advice. Tax/estate planning information is general - consult professionals for specific situations. Full disclosures at www.blackmammoth.com.

Chapters

• 0:00 Why Q4 tax planning actually matters
• 2:00 Stop waiting until March and playing defense
• 3:00 Key dates you cannot miss this fall
• 4:00 Expiring credits and retro changes you need to manage
• 7:00 The “laugh test” for deductions that won’t get you burned
• 12:00 “No tax on tips” explained without the fairy tale
• 17:00 Entity realities for owners, vehicles, and what still works
• 22:00 DIY software traps after code changes
• 26:00 Withholding vs estimates and how to fix numbers now
• 31:00 How to choose and verify a real tax pro

Transcript

Stoy Hall: 0:22

Well then it's time. It's that time of the year again, tax planning and the one big beautiful bill is, uh, a thorn in some people's sides, better for others and ultimately pretty sure the media's getting some of this wrong of what you guys are reading and what is true. So today obviously we have our tax expert here, Morgan Anderson. So you've seen her before. We'll dive into more. But she's part of the collective and getting this conversation about the one big beautiful bill, which is so hard to say for me. That is going into this and figuring out what's really going on, and we're gonna hit a high level. If you guys do have more questions, let us know. We'll get a right back on and answer those directly. But let's, uh, let's take time to go over the overview. So Morgan, welcome back. Welcome on, welcome part of the collective, all of

Morgan Anderson: 1:16

Yes, it's an honor for all of it, just a blanket.

Stoy Hall: 1:20

Just a blanket statement. See, we always, it's a vibe thing. It's a vibe thing. So yes, it's, let's do a quick brief overview of the importance of Q4 tax planning. Obviously business owners, this is more directed towards you. Mm-hmm. But let's do a quick overview of why the importance of Q4 tax planning is so important, and then we'll, we'll kind of do an overview of the, of the bill itself. So can you explain to everyone why tax planning specifically now-ish is vitally important to not only the end of this year, but for. You know, the, the, the, the tax season that everyone hates.

Morgan Anderson: 1:53

Yeah. The people that are at the biggest disadvantage, especially business owners, are the ones who contact their CPA or EA on March 1st of next year and say, here's a box of receipts. Tell me, tell me what the outcome is and I don't wanna owe, well, at that point you're talking about historical data. It's already, we're already past the time where you could make any type of pivots with your financial management to minimize the tax consequence, and that's really the name of the game as a business owner, you know. You hear about all of these big CEOs and owners of of multi corporations, and people complain about them not paying taxes. Well, they have a team of tax professionals who watch every move they make to strategize and minimize the tax consequence. It's not that they don't pay tax, it's just they shift it in different ways where it becomes a business expense instead of a personal. So that's what you wanna be doing right now is getting with your tax professional and saying, okay, here's what we look like so far this year. What pivot do we need to make or pivots do we need to make to minimize my tax consequence as of December 31st of this year? And you can, you can make so many changes and moves right now, even if it's just funding more money into your firm. Okay. Something simple like that is going to save you a lot of money when it comes to that tax bill you owe related to the income you earned this year

Stoy Hall: 3:29

and the 1230 one's a deadline. Yeah, it's the end of the year everybody. But like even if you came to me on December 15th and we're like, Hey, I need a star solo K or a 401k and all these things, like that's not enough time. Right, and that's why it's important not only from the tax perspective, but for your, your CFP or your advisor, like for us to do our jobs too. We need to get involved and be involved from now, right? Because that deadline comes up quick and once really the calendar changes, there's very minimal. That any of us can do from a, a tax planning perspective. So get into it, get into it now, but why is this year going to be different? And I don't just mean this year because of this bill, but every time we have a tax code change, it's important that that something changes this year. So why right year and what are some things that people need to look at from this Bill's perspective that affect them in 2025 tax year? Um, and we'll get to what affects them in 2026.

Morgan Anderson: 4:28

Yeah. So first and foremost, all of these green energy credits that people have been banking on, those are all expiring. There's a multitude of them that are expiring in September of this year, and then one's expiring next year. If people are thinking about buying a new, a new vehicle, a used vehicle, and it's electric, you're not gonna get the benefit that you would've gotten a year ago. You know, there's all these changes with, they say no tax on right? But it's not really. It's not that simple. It's not that black and white, but there are different things that have happened throughout the year that this bill addresses retroactively that will impact your tax consequence at the end of the year, especially this year, because we have this mid-year change where things go back and and can count. Effective January one. And you may be first and foremost, that is a, is a factor. But then if you're looking at certain things where you are counting on taking energy credits or, or credits for other financial moves that have now been expired because of this bill, you may need to pivot with your strategies for first quarter next year. So especially this year, with everything that has changed, you need to get with your financial advisor and your, your accountant, your CPA. As soon as you can.

Stoy Hall: 5:53

Oh, absolutely. Alright, so what society and media are saying a little, uh, a little bit of, is this true? Is it false in your opinion? So first one,

Morgan Anderson: 6:05

yes,

Stoy Hall: 6:06

this one kills me and I love how this is the first one. Why don't you just write off everything? Can't we just write off everything? You know, my clothes, my haircut, you know, my kids' bike. Uh, my pool. What do you say when you say that and you hear that of like, yeah, I could just write off everything as a business owner.

Morgan Anderson: 6:25

Oh my gosh. So do you want to have the IRS looking up your skirt for the next 10 years? If so, go ahead, try it. You're not gonna win that battle. Sorry to be so blunt, but. Anytime the IRS looks at what you report financially on your tax return, you have to remember that it has to pass, pass a laugh test, as we call it. It needs to be reasonable. I've seen, seen some tax strategies touted on social media about well pay your children through your business and then it's not taxable to them if you keep it below a certain limit. Well, the problem is if you're trying to pay your 3-year-old under payroll, like, come on, you've gotta have it. Make sense? Make it make sense. If you have a business where you're cleaning pools, okay. You can get, get away with supplies, equipment relative to your cleaning pool equipment. But if you're also trying to say, well, then I need three big screen TVs in my office and I need to rent an office space for 4,000 square feet and I have no employees. But then I go out to, I take clients out to dinner once a week, you know? It starts smelling bad and, and that's what I would say to business owners is make sure it makes sense. Yes, there are some gray areas where you can. Have a little bit of liberty to, if you're going out to dinner with friends and you're talking to them about your email campaign and saying, wow, it's not hitting, can I get your input on this? That is a business expense. If you're going out with your friends for happy hour and you're just celebrating a big football game win or whatever, that's not gonna be a business, a business expense that you can write off. So make sure it just, if you look at it from an outside perspective, it makes sense for you, for your type, the type of business that you're in, the type of client outreach that you do. Just have it make sense

Stoy Hall: 8:37

and be able to back it up, right? I mean, at the end of the day, like you gotta answer to that question. I truly hope your EA or your CPA or someone is, is telling you, Hey, that that's dumb. Let's not do that. If you are doing it yourself at the end of the day, you better be able to back it up and actually provide a reasoning besides, I thought it was a good idea. Um, this next one we're gonna skip over pretty fast because we've already answered it. If you didn't and you're just using this section and listening to it, you gotta go back to the intro. Sorry. But the, the, the quote is, I'll figure it out at tax time again. We've pounded this one. Don't do that. Don't wait until tax time. Tax planning is vitally important. One thing I want to ask you though, within that is how important is it for personal, on the personal side of things to be doing tax planning and not waiting until tax time?

Morgan Anderson: 9:28

Oh, it's just as important. It really is. You know, we all have lives that move pretty quick. We have family members that get old and pass away. We have children that are born. We change jobs. All of these things impact your financial condition. And if you are not in a constant communication with your accountant, your ea, your CPA, and they don't know what's happening in your life, they can't give you guidance before the end of the year. Right. Anytime I have a shift with my family. One of the first people I call is my CPA and the second one I call is my financial advisor. And I had a, a parent pass away two years ago. First thing I did was call my CPA after grieving. Of course I'm not a robot, but. Um, but I called her and I said, okay, I know my mom had these investments. I know things are coming to me. What do you need so you can help me evaluate it? Called my financial advisor. Said the same thing. The three of us actually got on a call and made a game plan. So for, for individuals it is just as important to, to use foresight and to look out for yourself.

Stoy Hall: 10:47

You're so damn good. You answered, you answered the next quote. And that way my CPA will just take care of it. And it like, because like they don't know what they don't know. Right? We can, you guys cannot just make up strategies for you and just implement them if you don't know what's going on. And again, tax time is too late to be telling you, oh yeah, I had a kid, we bought a new car, I inherited this. Or you know, I started this. You just can't just throw those out there in March. This last one is less of a quote, but more of kind of what we had prepped with a little bit off air is what are some current misinformations about the one big, beautiful bill in the, in the policy changes that are going on that you are seeing in the media right now that aren't as truthful and simple as they're putting it out there to be.

Morgan Anderson: 11:35

Boy, you know, for as many different size of our political realm within the US there's different viewpoints, right? And even the mainstream media, they'll share a nugget of information, but it's not the whole picture. So the information we're getting is semi true, but it's not black and white. Everything you need to know about each section of the OBBB as, as they call it, O-B-B-B-A, the OB. Can we

Stoy Hall: 12:05

just

Morgan Anderson: 12:05

say,

Stoy Hall: 12:08

comes out with these policies when you have named them, it's easier to say,

Morgan Anderson: 12:12

man. Right. I know. It's, uh, it's sad because I, I saw a business network that released the list for the no tax on tips. Okay. Let's talk about that one really quick. Yeah. Theoretically that is what they said this bill was going to do. Okay. No tax on tips. You shouldn't have to pay tax on that, which is a good, good idea. Honestly, it's fine, but. There are caveats to the rule the way it actually was finalized in the bill where you're limited to how much you can claim. You are limited by industry if you can claim it or not as a deductible line item. It doesn't say, guess what it, it's absolved from paying income tax on it, but you're still gonna have state tax. You're still gonna owe fica the Social Security and Medicare on that money. So it's not truly no tax, right? It's just an adjustment to, um, to how much you're taxed and on what source of income. But I was reading this article on a business network and it was talking about the industries that you can claim it. It's like if you're in these industries, you can claim your tips to not be taxed. That was all they said. They didn't talk about the maximum amount. They didn't say that at income levels, your ability to have that not be taxed gets phased out. They didn't say that. They just said, guess what? If you are a housekeeper at a hotel, you can claim no tax on those tips. So it was very misleading. It's like, yes, they give you some information, but just enough to be dangerous.

Stoy Hall: 14:04

And it's like, okay, this is my conspiracy hat, everybody. Right? This is not financial advice, blah, blah, blah. All those regulation things, I'm supposed to say from when I read this and the whole purpose behind it,'cause it does phase out I think in five years, right? Is a lot of these people that get tips, they get'em in cash. Mm-hmm. A lot of cash tips. Right? And yet you're supposed to claim that and you're supposed to do all of that. A lot of people don't. Right. So. What is being forced in my opinion, is the fact that now they're not gonna give all this information. People are gonna like, Ooh, I don't pay taxes, so now I'll claim it. Now it's gonna show up. You're gonna pay more in state, you're gonna pay fica. And when it phases out, they're gonna come back and say, you've already made all this in tips before. Why are you not claiming it this year? And they're gonna go back at'em. For me, it's just a push to get people taxed more while hiding it under something like that. And that's what I don't like about the overall bill is like it's, it's secondary things and a lot of people's lives are going to change because of it. And a lot of it is because it, they do take cash and there's nothing wrong with that part, but you gotta recognize that that is what's gonna happen. So conspiracy, head off.

Morgan Anderson: 15:12

Well, and you know what's so funny is I, I made a list of some of the industries that I didn't think about that would get taxed or that would get tips to begin with, and then they said, well here, all these people like home movers. Movers. Tailors when you go take clothes in to get tailored and fitted tips to them. I wasn't aware of that. Locksmiths, tradesmen, like electricians and plumbers and I was kinda like, okay, this is pretty far reaching. Right. Yeah. Maybe I, I've been cheap my whole life, but I've never tipped a plumber when I've had to call them.

Stoy Hall: 15:52

No, they cost him. I,

Morgan Anderson: 15:53

I've never thought of that.

Stoy Hall: 15:55

Yeah.

Morgan Anderson: 15:57

Yeah.

Stoy Hall: 15:58

Interesting.

Morgan Anderson: 15:59

So it was, it was just very interesting to see what they included in this. I think it's, I don't think that there was any intention for the conspiracy theory of Gotcha when these bills expire. But here's another, you brought up a great point. These bills do expire. And what I don't like about this, I'm probably jumping ahead on our, our conversation, but what I don't like about this is some things, some parts of it were made permanent, but a lot of these superficial talking points behind this bill expire at the end of 28. Well, what happens in 28? We've got another election cycle, so it's this like bribe and I, that to me, doesn't feel good.

Stoy Hall: 16:46

Absolutely. And then we gotta go through this whole thing again. 28. We're going through it again one way or one. It's

Morgan Anderson: 16:51

exhausting.

Stoy Hall: 16:52

One side or another. We're gonna have to go through this all over again, but let's get to our next segment, which is your point of view, which we've kind of already done a little bit, but a little bit. We'll, we'll, uh, we'll dive more into it. So. What does this bill actually mean? And we, I know we've been a little negative, everybody on it, but like mm-hmm. We'll talk a little more about positives and things, but what does the bill actually mean for business owners specifically, like our S corps, our LLCs? Um, what are some things that have changed that you're like, oh yeah, no, actually, like this is gonna benefit them quite a bit compared to years past.

Morgan Anderson: 17:25

So I think that there's some r and d tax credits that are gonna be, that are gonna be more beneficial to businesses, but it's research and development, right? That's the manufacturing technology corner of our industry, and I just don't feel like most small business owners even touch that. What I do see is. And this was another interesting part of the, the whole bill, the Trump account. Mm-hmm. Right. Businesses can invest if, if there are children born to their employees This year through 2028 when this Trump account is being offered, businesses can do a fringe benefit to the family by investing up to$2,500 per kid into that, which isn't a bad way to spend money and to benefit your employees and their families. I thought that was an interesting option for businesses because it's a great expense, right? It benefits the family, it benefits your employee, but I, I thought that was a unique option available.

Stoy Hall: 18:36

Yeah, I did too, for sure. Yeah. Um. But I, what about, I think the other one that I saw that I know it comes into play in 2026 was like depreciation on a vehicle and things like that. What's been the biggest change from our current tax to 2026 for taking depreciation upfront or over long periods of time?

Morgan Anderson: 18:57

You know what I I, the depreciation schedule, so again, my area of focus is more on the backend of the tax world. So a lot of what is in the, the one big beautiful bill. It doesn't touch what I do, but I, I love tax theory and, and digging into these things. I haven't even gotten to the depreciation section yet. I was telling story before we jumped on. I've gone through five different continuing education classes just focused on the changes in the. B. B and I, we haven't even gotten to that section of it yet, and I've probably invested 12, 13 hours of just digging into the bill from different areas. What I found was interesting though, was that auto loan depreciation, the interest deduction, and it's not for businesses, it's just for individuals, which I thought was kind of crappy to do to businesses, right? But. There is a little line item that I wanted to share because if you bought a vehicle in 2025 and you refinance the vehicle, you can then qualify for this interest deduction. Even if it was purchased before the bill got signed. I thought that was interesting. But it has to be a new car. It has to be US assembled, but you can't increase the principal amount of the loan. I was like, well, what? Okay. It just, some of the ways that they tried to create talking points out of it, I didn't think made a whole heck of a lot of sense.

Stoy Hall: 20:36

I agree. Um, that one got me. Yeah.

Morgan Anderson: 20:39

The other one for businesses that you brought up that I thought was interesting was now in order to claim charitable donations, it has to be at least 1% of the gross income of the business, which I was like, wow, that's a lot of money,

Stoy Hall: 20:57

right?

Morgan Anderson: 20:58

To be able to claim it because I, I know a lot of small business owners who sponsor baseball teams and do donations to kids' school events and things like that, and it's not a, it's not going to amount to 1% of their gross income. So that was, that was an interesting line item that I didn't agree with.

Stoy Hall: 21:18

Yeah, I a hundred percent agree there. One percent's massive.

Morgan Anderson: 21:22

Yeah,

Stoy Hall: 21:22

it's lots lot. They're like, it's a hundred bucks. It's not gonna hurt me. But we gotta think about the, I know, you know, the billions, right? Like it's a massive number. Right? Right. It truly is. And I, I don't, I don't see people trying to take advantage of that as much. Mm-hmm. Um, at that 1%. So, uh, no, that's a lot. Next topic, what are some common mistakes that you see? In the tax world, obviously this is more in your world of like mistakes and now you gotta fix'em, but what are the most common mistakes that people make when it comes to their tax situation?

Morgan Anderson: 21:56

Honestly, I think. A lot of the mistakes I, I see are not planning ahead. Right. And how that ends up surprising people with bills that they, they then can't pay. But anytime we have a big shift in policy like this, we're gonna find as people are trying to wrap their, their head around the changes, they're going to commit errors on self prepared tax returns that are gonna send examinations all over these cases. Right, and people are gonna end up with accuracy related penalties and additional tax because let's say somebody's doing their own tax return on TurboTax, and they're like, no, no, no. I donated a thousand dollars. And then it, it doesn't stop that claim from going through, and then it hits examination. They're like, no, with the tax change, you can't claim that much money because you didn't hit the minimum threshold. I think we're gonna see some of those hiccups in the tax software for the first year. I think the other thing that we're gonna see is that people are going to miss out on deductions that they could have claimed had they worked with a CPA or an enrolled agent. There are a lot of small business owners who say, well, I'll just use TurboTax and it'll guide me. It will ask me all the questions and it will give me a good tax return. Or I'll go to h and r block, right? And I'll take them, my business p and ls, my balance sheet, and my bank statements, and they're gonna give me a great. They're gonna do a great job on my tax return. And the hard part is that anytime you have these tax bills that go through, that changes the scope of our basic taxation practice. A lot of those. Tax softwares and the h and r blocks in Jackson Hewitts for the higher end stuff. They're not going to be as knowledgeable, and I'm sorry, I hope I don't offend people, but you, you really get what you pay for when you're dealing with a tax advisor. When you're dealing with a CPA or your ea, you really do get somebody. Who saves you money by putting in better strategies on your behalf than just going through TurboTax and following along with their prompts, because it doesn't know what you don't tell it.

Stoy Hall: 24:20

And let's be real with what you had talked about of how many hours you've put in. Everyone is putting in an absolute ton of hours. Mm-hmm. And so in order for a software to even get it. You still have someone has to figure it out right. In order to make sure it's running operationally correct. And when we do changes it it things go through the cr, the cracks and it kind of is what it is, right? Even a lot of us out there, CPAs and EAs, I don't say US'cause I'm not one of either of those. There's gonna be things that are missed as well. And I know just from our CFP conversations with some of these changes, I've been corrected and I've corrected someone already as well with what the actual code does for us in our planning. And it's like when there's massive changes, people, you're not going to have the a hundred percent accuracy. It's just not possible for us because there's a hundred thousand million pages and there's different ways to misconstrue things. And ultimately, at the end of the day, what everyone's looking for is a loophole, right? They're looking for what they can do, what is best for them in their situation. Well, when you get handed a new playbook, it takes a while to understand how to work those plays. So everyone listening. It's gonna be a little messy. Breathe one, hire somebody, two, breathe. Everyone will try to make, make do with what they have. So the last segment we go into is actionable steps. Now this is the takeaway that people can use right now. Besides we give them a ton already. Take'em from right now in this conversation to move forward. So first one is, it is the month of September. Mm-hmm. What is something that they need to check this month right now in order to start their tax planning or start to even think about tax planning?

Morgan Anderson: 26:01

I would do, if you're W2. Employee do a payroll tax calculator. The IRS has it on their website. It'll walk you through entering your gross wages, your taxes paid so far. Just make sure that at the end of the year it calculates that you don't owe anything. If you will adjust the withholding through the rest of the year to compensate, you don't want to amass a lot of money due back to you by the IRS. But you certainly don't wanna owe them anything for small businesses. Get with your bookkeeper, your CPA, your ea. Go through your numbers now. See what's gonna show as flow through income to you. Make sure you have enough estimated tax payments paid, and if you're an S corp, make sure that you've had enough withholding from your payroll. Make pivots and adjustments as needed as appropriate because again, you don't wanna overpay the IRS and have them owe you money. Them holding your money is not good, but you certainly don't wanna be on the other end where you have a big bill that you just aren't prepared for. The other thing I would do is with all of these tax changes coming up, the ones that are in place now, the ones that are still shifting a little bit, you want to use forward thinking skills. You wanna get with your advisors and say, okay, we're in a position right now where we're actually gonna have more people pass away than people are being born. And whenever that happens, you can see down the road that taxes are gonna actually end up increasing the amount of tax that you're gonna have to pay at the state and federal level. So start using your advisors now. Look at long-term care policies, annuities, life insurance, HSAs, Roth conversions, 5 29 plans. There are some new changes happening with opportunity zone investments, which is like way out there, but there's some, some benefits that shifted with the one big, beautiful bill that are very enticing for that type of investment. But start planning now. Don't wait five years. Don't wait 10 years. Just be conservative with the way you manage your money and, and what you see coming down the the road at you.

Stoy Hall: 28:31

Take the politics out of it as much as possible. I know, trust me, this is a whole thing in our country, but when, when a bill comes out, it is what is law. It is what we need to follow and do our best to make it best for you. Don't rely on anything changing anytime soon with any politician being changed hands, right? You need to attack this thing for what it is and what is imp in front of us and even better is be proactive for what is coming down the pipe like you had just mentioned. So, uh, really great take there. What are some key deadlines that people need to mark down or remember starting here in September, all the way through April 15th?

Morgan Anderson: 29:10

Yeah, so September 15th is the third estimated tax payment for self-employed individuals. So make sure you tend to that. You know, that's the big one that I could say right now. If you have, if you have employees, you know you've got your 9 41 that's due at the end of October for third quarter, but that's really it. Just look at these. These expiration dates on the credits and make sure that you're planning accordingly. I'm trying to think. There was, there's some questions on how tips would be reported on the, the U twos from employers. If you're an employer and you have employees who fall into this tip op. Because it's retro to January 1st. There's all these, these conversations happening in the tax world about nobody even knows how the heck we're supposed to report them on the W twos. All the software's being shifted right now to accommodate, and then it's like, well, how do we account for what happened four months ago? We have no idea what they got. We have no idea how much should be reported. Just stick. Stick close to your CPAs and your EAs, your bookkeeper. Have them monitor the situation if you are not, and make sure you're very clear on what the instructions will be as we get closer to the end of the year.

Stoy Hall: 30:30

Now, I think we've beat a dead horse of telling people they need to hire someone. I would love to have a counter going of how many times we, however, ah. There is an issue within the, the private sector as well with taxes. Right. There are a lot of accountants that are, they have wait lists. They aren't taking on new clients. Mm-hmm. It's not the easiest thing to find one, but when you do and people are out there trying to find one, one, you better be doing that now, by the way. Like, get to it. What are like three questions that. These people should be asking their tax pro while they're interviewing them to make sure that they fit for who they are and what they have going on. That way they can, at least besides the vibe check,'cause you have to do that first. Yes, absolutely. At least understand that hey, this person knows what they're doing and can actually help me, my situation. So what are three, three questions they should be asking these uh, tax pros?

Morgan Anderson: 31:20

That's a great question. First thing I would say is call and make an appointment with them. See how long it takes you to get on the phone with them. We're, we're in a funky time of the year right now, September 15th is the extension deadline for the corp, and then October 15th is the extension deadline for the and everything else. So right now, all of these CPAs and EAs are in this kind of turmoil cycle. See how long it takes to get on a phone call with them. If it takes more than a week, go to the next one on your list. Even though they're busy right now, they should still be able to make time to speak with you or have somebody on their staff get with you. You know, as long as it's somebody that's worked with them for a really long time, you should be be able to get a good feel from them. The second thing I would ask is give them a summary of your tax picture, right? I am married, I've got two kids. I have my own business. My husband is a W2 employee. We have some investments, we have a trust, we have caves. Are you familiar? Do you have a lot of clients that are in that type of situation? Because what you don't wanna do is have somebody cutting their teeth on your case if they've never handled your type of situation before. Experience is key because you want somebody who is going to take everything that they've learned, not only in their education, but through working with other people that are in similar situations to you. If you have a manufacturing business, you do not wanna go to a CPA. Who only handles doctors and dentists, that's not gonna be a good fit. They'll have no perspective. They'll have no direct experience handling a situation similar to yours. And the third thing I would do is look them up online. Anybody can complain about anybody online, right? I don't know anybody who is self-employed that hasn't had some nasty. Comment left about them online, but you can throw out the worst one. Throw out the one that's the biggest cheerleader and get a good feel for what people say about them. Double check their credentials as well. If they're a CPA. Check with the CPA board for the state. If they're an ea, check with the national Registry with the IRS. Just make sure they're in good standing.

Stoy Hall: 33:46

All great points and at the end of the day, make sure you like them. Yeah, right. You gotta like them. I mean, yes, you're knee deep in everything with them, so make sure it all, all comes along with that.

Morgan Anderson: 33:58

Yeah. It's one of the more, I'm so sorry. It's one of the more intimate relationships that your professional relationship that you will have in your life, them and your financial advisor. Those two people know more about you, you're in a very vulnerable position because you're like fully transparent and saying, here's all of my money. Here's what we look like, and here are all of my bad habits. And I mean, you are, for lack of a better word, naked with these people. Right? So you have to make sure that the relationship feels good.

Stoy Hall: 34:34

Absolutely. Because you see a lot. Not gonna lie, we see a lot. We hear a lot, and we know a lot.

Morgan Anderson: 34:39

Yeah.

Stoy Hall: 34:40

Yep. Well, I appreciate your time and I know like everybody, this, this bill conversation is, is a massive thing. So we hope some of this helps a little bit. Obviously come ask us more questions as we get into 2026. We'll have more like specific strategies and ideas because some of this doesn't come into play until next year and some of it is still getting figured out. So while we're all trying to figure this out and learn, just breathe a little bit. Make sure you're getting with your accountant. If you don't have one, go get one at the other side of it. Keep listening to us. Stay tuned. We'll have more coming out. Morgan, appreciate you. You have a great rest of your week and we'll get you back on here shortly.

Morgan Anderson: 35:19

Sounds great, Stoy. Thanks so much.

Black Mammoth: 35:34

The proceeding program was sponsored by Black Mammoth. Any awards, rankings, or recognition by unaffiliated third parties or publications are in no way indicative of the advisors future performance or any individual client's investment success. No award ranking or recognition should be construed as a current or past endorsement of black mammoth. Information regarding specific awards, rankings, or recognitions is available on the Black Mammoth website, www.black mammoth.com. All investment strategies have the potential for profit or loss Investment strategies such as asset allocation, diversification, or rebalancing do not assure or guarantee better performance and cannot eliminate the risk of investment losses. There are no guarantees that a portfolio employing these or any other strategy will outperform a portfolio that does not engage in such strategies. This broadcast should not be construed by any client or prospective client as a solicitation to affect or attempt to affect transactions and securities or the rendering of personalized investment advice due to various factors including changing market conditions. The information discussed in this broadcast may no longer be reflective of current positions or recommendations. While information presented is believed to be factual and up to date, black mammoth, do not guarantee its accuracy and it should not be regarded as a complete analysis of the subjects discussed. The tax and the estate planning information discussed is general in nature and is provided for informational purposes only, and should not be construed as legal or tax advice. Listeners should consult an attorney or tax professional regarding their specific legal or tax situation. Past performance is not indicative of future results.