6 Helpful Tax Strategies for Business Owners in 2025

Before coming to Doescher Group, I spent almost 15 years in public accounting. One of my favorite parts of that prior role was working with clients to get proactive about their taxes. That might not sound fun to everyone, but I loved discussing, brainstorming, and implementing tax strategies. While people love to roll their eyes about taxes and accounting, I know that a good strategy can help a business owner further their business, keep cash in their pockets, and ultimately create stickiness between owner and advisor. 

Does this year look a little unclear to you? You’re not alone.

Even though I’m no longer a practicing tax professional, I still enjoy thinking about how our current clients and prospects could benefit from a little proactive tax planning and brainstorming. 

2024 was a pretty status-quo year in the tax world. However, 2025 is going to be a year with a ton of uncertainty and lack of clarity, at least for now. 

We have a new administration coming into the White House, which always muddies the waters a little bit. In addition, 2025 is the year that many of the original provisions from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 will either start to sunset or expire unless there is action from Congress. This can create a lot of unknowns and anxiety for business owners who are trying to make decisions that will be best for their company. 

With all of this uncertainty, let’s take a look at:

6 Tax Strategies that Business Owners can take now, regardless of what’s to come.

#1: Maximize your Health Savings Account (HSA)

This is an easy tax deferral opportunity, yet so many individuals fail to take advantage of it. An HSA account is one of those rare “triple tax benefit” opportunities if you are enrolled in a High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP). Let me explain. When you contribute to an HSA, that contribution is tax-deductible. Benefit one. Then, any earnings and growth on those contributions once invested are also tax-free. Benefit two. Last, you pay no tax on withdrawals for qualified medical expenses. Benefit three. As a bonus benefit, if you let your HSA accumulate funds through age 65, you can withdraw the funds penalty-free like you would a normal IRA. You’d only be subject to ordinary income tax. The maximum contributions for 2025 are $4,300 for an individual or $8,550 for a family.

#2: Contribute to a Roth IRA 

While you are likely eligible to contribute to your company’s 401k plan, you may also be missing an opportunity to contribute to a Roth IRA as well. Contributing to a Roth IRA allows an individual to contribute funds, allow them to grow over time, and then withdraw those appreciated funds in retirement tax-free. There are income limitations for who can contribute to a Roth IRA, but there are also ways for high-income individuals to contribute via what is known as a “Backdoor Roth conversion”. This is a highly popular strategy and one that can be executed with a well-versed financial advisor.

Recommended Read: The Numbers Tell A Story (So Make it a Good One)

#3: Section 1031 Exchange

Section 1031 is a strategy that requires a lot of planning. I’ll be honest, it’s not for everyone. First, it requires you to own real estate. Second, it requires you to be in a position to sell the property at an appreciated value. If you’ve made it this far, keep reading on. Section 1031 allows you to sell real estate at a gain, reinvest ALL of the proceeds (including debt pay-off) in a “like” property, and defer the gain on the original sale. There are a lot of specific and unique steps to this one, so please consult a tax professional before embarking on this road.

Photo by Kindel Media: https://www.pexels.com/photo/happy-coworkers-standing-on-a-stairway-7688525/

#4: Section 1202 Qualified Small Business Stock (QSBS)

QSBS is a strategy with the future in mind. If you are an owner of an up-and-coming company that may have an eventual sale, this one could be for you.

It allows C Corp taxpayers who are original owners of the stock to defer up to $10 million each upon an eventual sale at some point in the future. You must hold the stock for a minimum of 5 years before a sale.

It’s important to take into account tax considerations and the need to withdraw cash from the business. There are a lot of hoops to jump through to execute this strategy, but if deployed correctly it could pay huge dividends.

If you’re not currently a C Corp, there are ways to convert to a C Corp to take advantage of this provision, but we highly recommend having a tax attorney and CPA involved. Here at Doescher Group, we have helped business owners execute this strategy in the past with successful results.

Recommended Read: Stop the Guessing & Consider a Fractional CFO for Your Business

#5: Gift shares of stock (or other appreciated investments)

This is an important one for those with larger estates. Currently, the estate tax exemption is $13.99 million per individual. This means you could gift this amount in 2025 to any one person or entity without any tax implications. This exemption is scheduled to be reduced dramatically in 2026. It could be cut in half or more. If you are an individual who has a current sizable estate (think $5 million and up), 2025 is a perfect opportunity to take advantage of the high exemption. Many strategies could be employed here, so we would recommend getting all of your professional advisors involved here, including a CPA, an estate planning attorney, and a wealth advisor. 

#6: Consider accounting method changes

There is a whole gamut of accounting method changes that a business owner could implement, depending on their particular situation. Some examples include cash vs. accrual accounting, small business taxpayer methods, accelerated depreciation, and percentage of completion methods. A lot of these are considered “automatic changes”, which means you can implement the change when you file your current year's tax return. However, some of them require IRS approval. These method change requests have to be filed before the end of the tax year, which requires some additional upfront planning. 

Recommended Read: FP&A for Beginners: Small Business Owners Edition - The Most Important System For You To Set Up This Year

As we move throughout the rest of 2025 and gain more clarity on upcoming tax changes, look for additional updates for business owners to come out through our blog. As always, please consult your tax professional before implementing any of these strategies.

At Doescher Group, we are fortunate enough to work alongside many trusted partners who specialize in proactive tax strategy and planning while maximizing return on investment. If you’d like to look at your tax planning more intentionally but aren’t quite sure where to start, please reach out, we’d love to point you in the right direction. 

Happy Tax Planning!