Tax Strategy

Tax Strategy Articles

Tax Strategy

Estate Tax Planning Strategies 2026: $15M Exemption Guide

If you've read that the estate tax exemption is about to crash back down to roughly $7 million, that's outdated information. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA, P.L. 119-21), signed July 4, 2025, permanently eliminated the scheduled 2026 sunset and set the federal estate and gift tax exemption at $15 million per individual and $30 million per married couple through portability (IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32, 2025).That permanence changes the planning conversation. Estate tax planning strategies for 2026 no longer center on racing the clock before an exemption cliff. They center on a different question: which mix of lifetime gifting, trust structures, and basis step-up planning actually minimizes your family's total tax burden under law that's now built to last.

Lenny Whiting

Jul 28, 2026

Tax StrategyTax Planning

SALT Cap at $40K: When the PTE Election Still Wins

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed into law in 2025, raised the federal SALT deduction cap from $10,000 to $40,400 for 2026. That sounds like great news for S-corp owners and LLC members in high-tax states. And for many taxpayers, it is. But here's the catch: if you own a pass-through business in California, New York, or New Jersey and your state tax bill already exceeds $40,400, the new cap still leaves tens of thousands of dollars in deductions on the table. A California S-corp owner earning $500,000 in pass-through income pays roughly $46,500 in state income tax. The SALT cap covers $40,400 of that. The remaining $6,100 or more disappears under the new law. And for anyone with income above $500,000, the SALT cap phases out entirely, dropping back toward $10,000 once your MAGI hits $600,000. That's where the pass-through entity (PTE) election still wins in 2026. This guide explains exactly who benefits, how to calculate the advantage, and what you need to do before the deadlines close.

Lenny Whiting

Jul 23, 2026

Business PlanningTax Strategy

QSBS Exclusion 2026: Founders Can Exclude $15 Million

If you're a startup founder who has held C-corp stock for five or more years, 2026 brought you some of the best news in tax law history. On July 4, 2025, President Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) into law, and one of its most founder-friendly provisions permanently raised the Section 1202 QSBS exclusion from $10 million to $15 million per taxpayer, per issuer. At the federal long-term capital gains rate of 23.8%, that's an extra $1.19 million in federal tax savings compared to the old limit.This isn't a small tweak. For founders, early employees, and angel investors holding qualifying stock, the expanded $15 million QSBS exclusion cap can mean the difference between walking away from an exit largely whole and handing nearly a quarter of your gains to the IRS. Understanding exactly how it works, who qualifies, and how to multiply the benefit across your family is worth every minute of your time.

Lenny Whiting

Jul 15, 2026

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