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The Talley Perspective
Straightforward thinking on taxes, retirement, investment decisions, and building a financial life that actually works.
Tax Planning Articles
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Tax Planning
Is an S Corp Worth It in Tennessee?
The S corp advice you've heard was probably written for another state. In Tennessee the payroll-tax savings are real, the excise tax quietly offsets them, and the answer lives in a band with a bottom and a top.
Tax Planning
Should a Business Owner Take the Tax Deduction or Go Roth?
A deduction isn't automatically a win. For a surprising number of business owners, taking it is the expensive choice, and the trajectory of your wealth is what tells you which side you're on.
Tax Planning
Should I Buy a Truck in December to Lower My Taxes?
The write-off is real. The math almost never is. What a $90,000 truck actually does to your taxes, and what to buy instead if the deduction is the thing you're after.
Tax Planning
Can I Really Put My Kids on the Payroll?
Paying your kids through the business is one of the few internet tax ideas that's actually real. The savings are smaller than the videos promise, bigger than most owners realize, and the best part isn't the taxes at all.
Tax Planning
Why Doesn't My CPA Help Me Lower My Taxes?
If your CPA files a clean return every year and has never once suggested a strategy, there's a reason. It's not laziness. It's the lens the job puts on them.
Retirement Planning
What Happens to Company Stock in My 401(k) When I Retire?
Company stock inside a workplace plan follows a different set of tax rules than everything else in the account, and those rules only stay available if you handle the stock before you move the account.
Tax Planning
Should I Do Roth Conversions? The Question Is Dosage
Most people who do Roth conversions do not do enough of them. Here is a plain-English way to think about the right dose, and the short window where it tends to matter most.
Tax Planning
The Widow's Tax: Why Couples Plan Together for the Day Only One of Them Is Here
After the first spouse passes, the survivor is often pushed onto higher single-filer brackets on nearly the same income. Here is what that is, why it happens, and why couples tend to plan for it now, together, with more warmth than worry.
Estate and Legacy
Inherited an IRA? The 10-Year Rule and the Beneficiary-Designation Trap
An inherited IRA is a tax bill on a timer. Here is why planning unequal withdrawals around your own higher and lower income years usually beats both a lump in year ten and ten equal installments, and the quiet trap that a beneficiary form can override your will.
Tax Planning
Moving to Tennessee for the Taxes: What a Retiree Actually Saves
Everyone moving here has heard that Tennessee has no income tax. That part is true. Counting what it is actually worth means looking at what your old state was already doing, and at one year that matters more than the rate.
Tax Planning
Year-Round Tax Planning in Johnson City
Filing records decisions after they are final. Planning happens while you can still change them. Who around here actually needs the second service, and what it looks like in practice.
Tax Planning
Do I Pay State Taxes on Retirement Income in Tennessee?
The short answer is no. The useful answer is knowing where taxes still show up for a Tennessee retiree, and why the missing state layer makes the remaining planning even more valuable.
Business Owner Planning
When Should You Upgrade Your Business Tax Strategy?
The tax playbook for a thriving business is never the same as the one you started with.
Tax Planning
Should I Elect S-Corp Status?
The S-Corp question is not just entity trivia. It is a question about owner pay, payroll taxes, Tennessee rules, cash flow, and whether the added complexity is actually worth it.
Tax Planning
The Roth Conversion Checkbox Problem
Most people doing Roth conversions are barely doing them. The box feels checked. The lifetime math says otherwise.
Tax Planning
The Tax Strategy Gap
Many people with meaningful tax bills cannot name the strategy behind them. Here is what that gap looks like and why closing it matters.
Retirement Planning
The Retirement Risk Nobody Talks About
Retirement risk is not only market decline. Sequence, timing, withdrawals, and tax decisions can reshape the plan just as much.
Tax Planning
What Real Tax Planning Looks Like
Tax planning is not just March paperwork. Real planning coordinates income, investments, Roth conversions, and timing before the tax year is over.
Retirement Planning
What Changes as Financial Independence Gets Closer
As financial independence gets closer, growth stops being the only goal. Coordination, tax timing, and risk control start to matter more.
Tax Planning
Tax Planning for High-Income W-2 Earners
High-income W-2 earners still have meaningful tax-planning options. Here are the moves most worth reviewing before year-end.
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