The Tax Strategy Podcast with Fexingo: Tax Planning, Deductions, and Saving Money on Taxes

Lucas and Luna break down the charitable remainder trust (CRT) — a powerful but underused strategy that lets you donate assets to charity, receive lifetime income, and claim a charitable deduction. They walk through a concrete example: a donor with $500,000 in highly appreciated stock who uses a CRT to avoid capital gains tax, generate a 5% annual payout, and leave the remainder to a donor-advised...

Lucas and Luna break down the medical expense deduction for 2026—who qualifies, what counts, and the 7.5% AGI floor that blocks most people. Using a real-world example of a freelancer with $18,000 in unreimbursed medical costs, they walk through the math, the trap of over-the-counter items, and the strategy of bunching expenses into a single tax year. They also cover the new IRS guidance on telehe...

Lucas and Luna break down the Child and Dependent Care Credit for 2026, covering the new higher expense limits, phaseout thresholds, and how the credit interacts with employer-provided dependent care benefits. They walk through a concrete example: a married couple with two kids paying $16,000 in daycare costs. Lucas explains why the credit is now partially refundable for the first time, and Luna h...

In this episode of The Tax Strategy Podcast, Lucas and Luna break down the Saver's Credit — a tax credit that rewards low- and middle-income workers for contributing to retirement accounts. They explain who qualifies, how the credit is calculated, and how it overlaps with other tax breaks like the traditional IRA deduction. Using a concrete example of a couple earning $50,000 a year, they show how...

Episode 25 of The Tax Strategy Podcast explores a little-used tax loophole: using home equity debt to purchase investment property and deduct the interest. Lucas explains the 2026 rules under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, including how the $750,000 debt limit applies, and walks through a concrete example of a homeowner in Portland who refi'd their primary residence to buy a duplex, saving $3,400 in t...

Lucas and Luna unpack the mechanics of Qualified Opportunity Zones as of June 2026. They explain how deferring capital gains into a QOF can reduce your tax bill by up to 15 percent, walk through the 10-year holding period for tax-free appreciation, and highlight a real-world example in Denver, Colorado. They also cover the 2026 sunset of the 10 percent exclusion bump and the new IRS reporting requ...

Lucas and Luna unpack the self-rental strategy, a little-known tax maneuver where a business owner rents property from themselves to shift income, claim deductions, and reduce self-employment taxes. They walk through a concrete example: a real estate agent in Austin who owns her office condo personally and leases it to her LLC, saving roughly $8,000 in 2025. The hosts explain the IRS 'recharacteri...

Episode 22 of The Tax Strategy Podcast breaks down the Qualified Business Income (QBI) deduction under Section 199A, focusing on how it applies to freelancers and small business owners in 2026. Lucas and Luna walk through a concrete example: a freelance graphic designer earning $180,000 per year with $40,000 in qualified business income from a side LLC. They explain the 20% deduction, the phaseout...

Lucas and Luna tackle the tricky IRS rules on hobby versus business income. Using the real example of a freelance photographer who turned her weekend gig into a profitable side business, they explain the key tests the IRS uses to decide if you can deduct losses. They walk through the nine-factor 'profit motive' test, the difference between a hobby loss and a start-up loss, and how the Tax Cuts and...

Most people focus on income tax brackets, but there is a separate 3.8 percent surtax that quietly eats into investment earnings for higher earners. In this episode, Lucas and Luna break down the Net Investment Income Tax (NIIT) — who it applies to in 2026, what counts as 'investment income' (spoiler: rental real estate and capital gains are included), and a surprising exemption for active real est...

If you hire a nanny, housekeeper, or caregiver in 2026, you are likely subject to the 'nanny tax' — paying Social Security, Medicare, and federal unemployment taxes on their wages. In this episode, Lucas and Luna walk through the current thresholds, the Schedule H filing process, and the surprising way this tax interacts with the Child and Dependent Care Credit. Using a concrete example of a famil...

In Episode 18 of The Tax Strategy Podcast, Lucas and Luna break down the American Opportunity Tax Credit—a refundable credit worth up to $2,500 per student for qualified college expenses. They walk through the income phase-outs, what counts as a qualified expense, and the tricky rule about claiming the credit in the same year you use a 529 plan. Using a real example of a family earning $160,000 wi...

Episode 17 of The Tax Strategy Podcast digs into a tax rule that surprises a lot of parents: the kiddie tax. Lucas walks Luna through how unearned income over $2,600 for kids under 19 gets taxed at the parents' marginal rate, not the child's lower bracket. They use a concrete example — a 16-year-old with $8,000 in stock dividends and a part-time job — to show how the tax bill jumps from roughly $1...

Episode 16 of The Tax Strategy Podcast with Fexingo dives into state tax credits that can directly lower your federal tax liability. Lucas and Luna use the real example of the Louisiana Motion Picture Investor Tax Credit, which offers a 30% state credit — but the federal deduction for state taxes paid creates a double benefit. They walk through the numbers: a $100,000 investment in a qualifying fi...

If you've got a side gig — freelance writing, reselling vintage furniture, dog walking, driving for a rideshare — the IRS changed the rules in late 2025 for how you deduct expenses. Lucas walks through two real scenarios: a graphic designer earning $14,000 in 2026 and a reseller who buys pallets of returned goods. The key number is $1,000 — the new de minimis safe harbor threshold for supplies. Lu...

Lucas and Luna unpack the home office deduction specifically for hybrid employees in 2026. They compare the regular method vs. the simplified method, highlight the key eligibility test — exclusive and regular use — and walk through how a graphic designer who works from home three days a week can qualify. They also discuss what happens when you sell your home if you've claimed the deduction, and ho...

In this episode of The Tax Strategy Podcast with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna unpack the Foreign Tax Credit (FTC) — a critical but often misunderstood tool for Americans with foreign income. They walk through a concrete example: a freelance consultant earning $120,000 from a German client who already paid 15% German tax. Lucas explains how Form 1116 works, the difference between foreign earned income e...

Lucas and Luna break down the Solo 401k — a retirement account that lets self-employed individuals contribute up to $69,000 in 2026 as both employer and employee. They walk through the mechanics: the 25% employer profit-sharing contribution on top of the $23,500 employee deferral, the catch-up provisions for those over 50, and the key difference from a SEP IRA — the ability to make Roth contributi...

In this episode of The Tax Strategy Podcast, Lucas and Luna break down Section 1031 like-kind exchanges – a powerful IRS provision that lets real estate investors defer capital gains taxes indefinitely when swapping properties. Using a concrete example of a rental duplex owner in Austin moving up to a fourplex, they walk through the 45-day identification window, the 180-day close rule, and the ris...

Lucas and Luna walk through a real tax-loss harvesting scenario for a hypothetical investor with $50,000 in realized gains this year. They explain the wash-sale rule, how to pair losing positions with winning ones, and why harvesting into December can backfire if you don't plan ahead. They also pull back the curtain on how Fexingo stays listener-supported: buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. No...

In Episode 9 of The Tax Strategy Podcast, Lucas and Luna break down the Roth IRA conversion ladder — a strategy that lets you move pre-tax retirement dollars into a Roth account at a lower marginal rate, then withdraw them tax-free in retirement. They walk through a concrete example: a married couple earning $120,000 who converts $30,000 per year for five years, paying roughly $3,600 in extra tax...

In this episode of The Tax Strategy Podcast, Lucas and Luna explore the recently expanded blended tax credit for child care costs under the 2026 tax code. They break down how the credit now combines elements of the old Child and Dependent Care Credit with a new refundable portion tied to inflation-adjusted income thresholds. Using a concrete example of a family earning $75,000 with two children, t...

Lucas and Luna explore a powerful but often overlooked tax strategy: using a Health Savings Account (HSA) as a retirement savings vehicle. They walk through the triple tax advantage—deductible contributions, tax-free growth, and tax-free withdrawals for qualified medical expenses—and explain why an HSA can be more tax-efficient than a 401(k) for many people. Lucas breaks down the 2026 contribution...

In this episode of The Tax Strategy Podcast, Lucas and Luna dive into Section 179 of the Internal Revenue Code, a powerful tax deduction that allows businesses to immediately expense the cost of qualifying equipment and software. As of 2026, the deduction limit is $1.22 million, with a phase-out threshold of $3.05 million. Using a concrete example of a mid-sized landscaping company, they explain h...

Lucas and Luna explore how donor-advised funds, or DAFs, work as a tax strategy for charitable giving. They walk through a concrete example: a listener who wants to donate $10,000 to several charities but can't itemize deductions under the current standard deduction. By bundling five years of donations into a single year and using a DAF, that listener creates a $50,000 itemized deduction in year o...