Action Academy | Millionaire Mentorship for Your Life & Business

"How to LEGALLY Pay Zero Taxes (for Business Owners & Real Estate Investors)"

Guest: Barbara Schreihans | Host: Brian Luebben | July 8, 2025

Episode Overview

In this engaging and tactical episode, Brian Luebben sits down with Barbara Schreihans—founder of Your Tax Coach—to break down the exact tax strategies that business owners and real estate investors can legally use to pay little to zero taxes. The discussion is packed with practical advice, mindset shifts, insider secrets from Barbara’s experience as a top tax strategist, and actionable steps for entrepreneurs at every stage. They also cover scaling a business, overcoming entrepreneurial fear, the psychology of performance, and how to align your lifestyle with your values.

Barbara’s Journey: From Corporate Ladder to Tax Boss

[00:00–07:05]

• Corporate Origins & Motivation:
  Barbara describes her ten-year climb in public accounting, aiming for partnership at a tax firm—a dream shaped by her upbringing and family expectations.
  • “One in 100 of you sitting in this room will ever be a partner at a tax firm. And in my mind I was like, I'll be that partner.” (01:16, Barbara)
• Triggering Event:
  After saving a client $3M in taxes (the biggest check in firm history), Barbara received no bonus or gratitude, only an email demanding higher goals for the next year, received on Christmas Day—a breaking point.
  • “You get to do this again next year. Like, you need to get a bigger check for us next year. No thank you, no bonus, no nothing.” (01:43, Barbara)
• Catalyst for Entrepreneurship:
  Encouraged by her husband, she started "Your Tax Coach" in January 2020 as a side gig to pay off remaining student loans, earning $30K her first month.
• Key lesson:
  “If that client was your client, how much would they have paid you?... Why don’t you just start your own business?” (03:08–03:19, Barbara's husband)

Mindset and Advice for Aspiring Entrepreneurs

[05:08–14:29]

• Understanding Your True Value:
  Both Brian and Barbara emphasize calculating how much value employees deliver to companies versus what they’re paid—a confidence builder for starting your own venture.
  • “If people would just do the math of how much profit their high salary generates the company, they would be way more confident to go build or buy a business of their own.” (05:08, Brian)
• Building a Personal Brand:
  Sharing professional insights on social media, even before owning a business, eased her transition and amplified her early marketing.
• First Steps & Scaling:
  • Flat-fee pricing (no hourly billing), superior communication, and monthly recurring revenue set her firm apart.
  • Early marketing involved extensive networking (BNI, Chamber of Commerce, etc.) and relentless outreach.
  • “The first 18 months were so terrible…20-hour days as a mom, it was like awful.” (09:41, Barbara)
• Balancing Time:
  It’s always about priorities, not time constraints.
  • “Show me your calendar and I'll show you what's important to you.” (09:58, Barbara)
• Hiring & Delegation:
  • Hire slow, fire fast; don’t delay hiring out of fear.
  • Her first full-time hire was an executive assistant, which transformed her bandwidth.
  • Build your team as you’d build personal relationships—intentionally and with clear criteria.
  • “Delegation is so key and I wish I would have done it sooner.” (13:10, Barbara)

Tax Code Mindset & Essential Real Estate Strategies

[16:04–23:16]

• Tax Code Is for Owners:
  • “The tax code was written for business owners and real estate investors. There’s 7,000 pages…and only 12 of them tell you what to pay in taxes. The other 6,980 tell you how to get out of them.” (16:04, Barbara)
• Step-Up in Basis:
  • Don’t inherit properties as a gift; wait for the step-up in basis for massive tax savings.
  • “Never ever let your parents give you a rental property before they die.” (18:00, Barbara)
• Self-Rental Election:
  • Business owners can buy properties where their business operates, make a ‘self-rental election,’ and use real estate depreciation to offset business income—even without the real estate professional status.
  • “The cost seg on this property...gave me like a $300,000 loss, offset my YTC (Your Tax Coach) income by $300,000. I did not have to be a real estate professional.” (19:50, Barbara)
• Commercial Residential Properties:
  • Buy mixed-use (work/live) spaces in cities you want to visit for dual-purpose leverage and write-offs.

Advanced Tax Strategies Beyond Real Estate

[23:16–35:40]

• Business vs. Real Estate Investments:
  For those who dislike traditional real estate or want higher returns, other vehicles exist.
• Oil & Gas Write-offs:
  • Upfront deductions as high as 90% of investment, plus potential ongoing cash flow.
  • “You can get 85 to 90% as a deduction in oil and gas the year you do it.” (25:57, Barbara)
• Private Foundations:
  • Fund your own charitable organization for immediate tax deductibility with flexible disbursement over years; invest the remainder through the foundation for compounding growth.
  • “You just have to give 5% a year away to an actual 501c3…The cool thing is now you can invest [the rest] in real estate.” (27:00, Barbara)
• Vehicles and Business Use:
  • Car deductions are available if used 50%+ for business—document mileage, consider >6,000 lb vehicles for best write-offs, lease exotics, and track all business-related trips.
  • “You want to make sure [the vehicle] is 50% or more used for business…The best way to deduct is to buy a car over 6,000 lbs.” (30:28–30:45, Barbara)
• Personal Fulfillment:
  • Material items rarely satisfy long-term; time and experiences matter more.
  • “And then you realize all you want in life is time and experiences, period.” (31:26, Barbara)

Real Estate Professional Status, Passive Losses & PIGs

[33:16–35:17]

• Passive vs. Active Income:

  • You need to be a real estate professional (or have a spouse who is) to use passive real estate losses against active income. Otherwise, match PALs (Passive Activity Losses) with PIGs (Passive Income Generators, like franchises/many buy-and-hold businesses).
  • “You need PIGs to go with your PALs.” (34:52, Barbara)

• Classification Is Key:

  • How your interests are declared as ‘active’ or ‘passive’ drastically affects your tax offset options. Double-check how your investments are classified on your returns.
  • “It's literally just a checkbox that says that you're active or passive. And I bet they marked you as active.” (34:41, Barbara)

• Qualified Small Business Stock (QSBS) Election:

  • Structure business purchases to utilize QSBS benefits: $10M (per owner) of capital gains excluded upon sale after 5 years if qualified.
  • “Every owner can exclude up to $10 million at sale…as long as we can qualify you from the beginning.” (35:40, Barbara)

Scaling, Delegating & Building Your Ideal Life

[36:31–38:10]

• Scale with Delegation:
  • Outsource everything below your ‘hourly rate’—whether in business or personal life (house manager, chef, nannies, etc.).
  • Barbara’s hourly rate is $3,000; everything else is delegated.
• Real Estate Professional Life Hack:
  • You or your spouse can be the real estate pro; minor tweaks (e.g., rotating contractors for time tracking) help meet IRS criteria.
  • “You just have to spend more time than they do [on properties]…swap out your subs every 99 hours.” (37:46, Barbara)

Who Should Work with Your Tax Coach?

[38:10–39:11]

• Ideal Client:
  • Business owners making $250k+/year, serious real estate investors, or anyone seeking aggressive legal tax strategy.
  • “If you're below that, the ‘Right Off Your Life’ course teaches thousands of small business deductions.” (38:21, Barbara)
• Service Menu:
  • Tax strategy, cost segregation studies, real estate, business consulting.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “The tax code was written for business owners and real estate investors. There’s 7,000 pages…and only 12 of them tell you what to pay in taxes. The other 6,980 tell you how to get out of them.”
  — Barbara, 16:04
• “If people would just do the math of how much profit their high salary generates the company, they would be way more confident to go build or buy a business of their own.”
  — Brian, 05:08
• “Never ever let your parents give you a rental property before they die.”
  — Barbara, 18:00
• “You need PIGs to go with your PALs.”
  — Barbara, 34:52
• “And then you realize all you want in life is time and experiences, period.”
  — Barbara, 31:26

Key Takeaways and Action Steps

• Build and safeguard your personal brand as early as possible.
• Structure your business and real estate investments intentionally for maximum tax benefit—consult a pro.
• Delegate purposefully to gain freedom and scale faster.
• Passive losses require passive income; review your investment classifications annually.
• Tax benefits aren’t just for the ultra-rich—they’re for business owners and investors willing to learn and act.

How to Work with Barbara Schreihans

• Instagram: @yourtaxcoach
  “That’s the one thing I won’t delegate out is responding to my people.” (38:59, Barbara)
• Offers: Tax strategy consulting, courses for deduction optimization, cost segregation, full-service business and real estate tax planning.

For further resources, the episode description includes all links mentioned above.