Tax Loophole: backdating 2023 expenses to Dec 31, 2022

[Michael Plaks]

Apology for the click bait title. There is no such loophole. However, one Texas CPA claims that there is.

Today, one investor publicly posted (and then wisely removed) a quote from his CPA suggesting this hat trick: before writing any business checks in January 2023, skip a few. Then, "if you need to", you can backdate these checks 12/31/2022, maintaining the correct chronological sequence of check numbers and send them. And, according to this CPA, you can deduct them in 2022. Since these checks will be cleared in early January, he claims, the IRS is unlikely to challenge this deduction. Wow.

Let me make this 100% clear: BACKDATING CHECKS IS ABSOLUTELY FRAUDULENT. No exceptions. The fact that the IRS is unlikely to "challenge" it (which is true) does not open the door to cheating. The end.