Tax Deferral and How to contribute to solo 401k

[Bryan O.]

As tax season is approaching, I'm trying to find more ways to reduce my taxable income to get down to the more favored brackets.

If I have passive income (rent) coming into an LLC, can I pay myself a management fee to count as income to invest into the solo 401k? It sounds like this strategy means I show regular taxable income, then put it into tax deferred, which is really net 0 gain. This seems a good way to grow the 401k, but not reduce or defer taxes.

My solo 401k plan includes profit sharing. Is there a way to leverage profit sharing to reduce my taxable income?

Quickly into active income: is self-employment income based on gross? Or net? i.e. I make $20 consulting, but spend $10 on advertising and other expenses. Can I contribute $20 or $10?

Are there any strategies that make sense to reduce my taxable income? I cannot qualify as a RE Pro, nor can my wife. Maybe next year she can, but not currently. Other thoughts? I would really like to wield the 401k to it's highest potential, but as additional/alternate strategies I can max non-Roth IRAs and do charitable donations. All your thoughts welcome and appreciated!

@Dmitriy Fomichenko

@Brandon Hall

@Linda Weygant