1002. Taxes don’t have to be a source of shame or a "black box" of confusion. Whether you’re a lifelong artist, a side-hustler, or a traditional employee, understanding the tax code is the ultimate power move for your bank account. In this episode, Laura sits down with Hannah Cole, an Enrolled Agent, working artist, and founder of Sunlight Tax. Hannah specializes in bringing "tax literacy to the humans"—specifically those who feel like the "black sheep" of the business world. They dive into the mindset shifts needed to conquer financial fear and the tangible steps you can take to legally pay less to the IRS.
1002. Taxes don’t have to be a source of shame or a "black box" of confusion. Whether you’re a lifelong artist, a side-hustler, or a traditional employee, understanding the tax code is the ultimate power move for your bank account.
In this episode, Laura sits down with Hannah Cole, an Enrolled Agent, working artist, and founder of Sunlight Tax. Hannah specializes in bringing "tax literacy to the humans"—specifically those who feel like the "black sheep" of the business world. They dive into the mindset shifts needed to conquer financial fear and the tangible steps you can take to legally pay less to the IRS.
Find Hannah at SunlightTax.com.
If you’re like most people, the topic of taxes is quite intimidating and may even make you feel overwhelmed every year, especially if you’re self-employed. But no matter your comfort level with taxes, I have a special guest who can make even the most complex IRS codes feel lighter and easier!
First, I want to welcome you back to the Money Girl Podcast! I'm Laura Adams, an award-winning author, on-camera spokesperson, female money speaker, founder of The Money Stack, that's my Substack newsletter, and of course host of this podcast Money Girl with over 44 million downloads. You can always connect with me, send your money question, sign up for The Money Stack, and learn more at LauraDAdams.com.
Joining me today is Hannah Cole, founder of Sunlight Tax, where she specializes in friendly, informative tax education for creatives, artists, and people who feel like the black sheep of the business world. She’s the author of the brand-new book, Taxes for Humans: Simplify Your Taxes and Change the World When You’re Self-Employed, and there's also a companion workbook. Hannah is also the host of the Sunlight Tax Podcast.
What I find so interesting about Hannah is that she’s a long-time working artist who also became an Enrolled Agent, a tax credential awarded by the IRS. She’s dedicated her career to empowering people to understand their taxes, conquer their financial fears, and maximize their tax benefits.
Whether you’re a creative entrepreneur or an employee who just wants to understand how to legally pay less tax, this episode is for you. Hannah and I discuss:
Here’s my interview with Hannah Cole.
Laura Adams: Hannah, I am so excited to have you on the show. Thanks for joining me.
Hannah Cole: Oh my gosh, thanks for having me, Laura!
Laura Adams: You have a really interesting background, and I'd just love to start out with a little bit about what you're doing. I understand you're a self-employed artist. You're also a tax expert. Those two things seem very like right-brain, left-brain. So you must have a very balanced brain! Tell me how you've pulled this off, and how you got to where you are today.
Hannah Cole: It's been a journey! I started out as a professional artist. I'm still a professional artist, but really, that's just a small business. Like artists are just self-employed. So it's not actually, it feels weird, but it's actually not very different from just a side hustler or a freelancer. But I felt really frustrated at the kinds of approaches that I got from money and financial people.
Like when I sat down with my dad's accountant for the first time to do my first adult tax return, he asked me when I was going to get a real job. It was so insulting. And it flooded me with shame. And I felt suddenly like I'm not in a space where I'm going to get to ask all these questions I had about bookkeeping, quarterly taxes, like these hard parts of being self-employed.
I suddenly felt in a position where I had to defend myself. And I just don't think anybody should ever have to feel that way. Money is already vulnerable, and to be put in that position is just awful. And it gives, I think it gives a lot of people, especially people who feel sort of weird next to an accountant. It gives them this feeling of like, "I don't belong here," or "this isn't for me." And I think creative people are doing such important work.
Frankly, small businesses do such important work. And a lot of times, if you are a woman or a historically marginalized person, you can also feel alienated from money because you may also have been talked down to in these settings. So, for me, I just felt like going back to school for taxes and accounting to be able to bring this information to people doing good work, like good ethical people doing great work, in a way that feels more kind and caring and sees the value of what you're doing. That was really my mission.
Laura Adams: Love that! That's so amazing. So you went back and became an Enrolled Agent. Is that right? And then started your firm. So, tell me a little bit about that, and are you exclusively working with creative people or is it a mix?
Hannah Cole: Yeah, it's definitely a mix. Because tax literacy in this country is low. Many people don't realize they fall into that category. So self-employed means small business. It's anybody, you know, you may get 1099s, you may invoice clients. It's anybody who files, you know, technically a Schedule C on your individual tax return. That is the default place. So that is who I serve.
Laura Adams: I'm glad you mentioned that, because that's something I talk about upfront in my book: there are so many different jargon, so many different words we use for self-employed. And people do think that a contractor is different from a freelancer, different from a small business person. And I'm like, no, if you're earning any income on your own, you’re self-employed.
So yeah, you're either an employee or you earn your own income, and you're self-employed, as you said. And so, with that comes a responsibility to report that income, and also the right and privilege to claim deductions and take advantage of all the benefits we get there. So I think that's pretty neat that you're able to kind of focus in on that as a creative person. And I'm curious, what kind of art and creative projects are you working on now?
Hannah Cole: Well, I've been sidetracked a little bit because I don't know if you know this, but I live in Asheville, North Carolina. And a year ago, Hurricane Helene destroyed my studio. So I lost my studio and 20 years of work. So that's a hard recovery. Honestly, it's something to be grateful for as taxpayers because I applied for FEMA money.
That’s not a thing anyone ever wants to have happen to them. But if it does, I was glad people pay their taxes, and I could get some help at the moment that I really desperately needed it. But just to answer your question about the projects I'm working on. So art has been a little bit on hold because of that, though I keep a sketchbook. But I've done a lot of writing that I’m really enjoying. It's a different way of reaching people, and I think it's more accessible to people. So I really like it.
Laura Adams: That's great. Yeah, I'm sorry that happened to you. That was such devastation for that whole area, I know.
We often hear about struggling artists. You know, there's this sort of concept of artists and maybe creative people in general that, you know, they are struggling financially. But of course, that's not the case. There are many very, very successful creative people. And so I'm curious as you were starting you career, if you ever felt like, you mentioned feeling uncomfortable with your accountant, how did you get over that and get to the point where you felt like, gosh, like, I'm going to go become a tax expert? That seems like a huge leap to me. How did your mindset shift enough for you to be able to have the confidence to do that? And, you know, and then going into another business, doing taxes? That's really quite a leap. And something I just think is amazing. And so I would love to know more about how you made that leap?
Hannah Cole: Thank you. Well, honestly, what got me to that point was just tremendous pain. I felt it personally as an artist, feeling very misunderstood and, kind of, counted out. And then I actually worked in a design agency in New York City. So I also have experience in the branding and design world, which you know, that's a creative small business sort of close to art, but different.
My boss was running a much bigger company, like this agency in New York City. Well, that company ended up folding because he also had this like allergy to money stuff. And so he didn't really have good bookkeeping set up. And so he would just go from the gut and feel, you know, maybe get nervous about like, oh, I don't know if I'm like, my expenses are higher than my income. I'm not sure I have enough money. So I'll go get another big contract, which is great. And you get a big check, but then you have to hire all these very expensive designers to fulfill the contract.
And fundamentally, the fact that he didn't have that tracking set up, that basic knowledge of if he was profitable, meant that when he finally did go set that up, the company ended up folding. He realized he was bleeding money, and so all of us were let go within the week. So I lost my job because he didn't have a handle on his numbers, and he was a wonderful guy, like I loved that job, and it was a terrible position to be in. I was pregnant, had a toddler at home, and suddenly had no income. So that was kind of the moment where I was like, well, what's next? And so that was my decision point, where it was like, I don't ever want this to happen to anyone. I want people like him to have the knowledge they need to be able to let this wonderful company run the way it should. So that was the moment I decided to go to school for this.
Laura Adams: Interesting. Why do you think creative people have such a tough time with money, whether it's just a solopreneur asking for what they're worth, you know, on an hourly rate or a project, or as you said, just maybe not wanting to really face the numbers or just feel like it's a priority?
Hannah Cole: Yeah, I think it's a couple of things, Laura. I think in the same way that if you just tell girls all the time, you're bad at math, you're bad at math, you're bad at math, they might start to believe that. Even though I don't think there's inherently anything different about boys and girls in terms of their ability to learn math or to know math, right? I think the same thing is true of creative people, where the stereotype is sort of thrown on us like, you're bad at business, you're bad at math, you're bad at organized stuff.
The interesting thing is my own experience as an artist and as a creative business owner is that that's not true at all. Like, if you've ever seen an artist with a project idea, you are watching someone who's going to go get three new skills and work nights and weekends to make that project happen. They're also going to squeeze more out of a budget than you ever thought possible. Artists are resourceful, and they make magic in the world.
And I find that this stereotype about them being incompetent, incapable, and bad with money isn't really true, but they start to believe it themselves. It starts to become a narrative we take on board. And I, you know, I really just think it's like a culture clash between accountants and creative people. That doesn't need to be there. Artists can be great with money. I think Taylor Swift is pretty good with money.
Laura Adams: She is good with money, no doubt! You’ve described money as “neutral.” Tell me what you mean by that.
Hannah Cole: Yeah, so I think one of the kind of mindset things that can really plague anyone, not just creative people, especially if you're kind of operating from a place of like your mission or your values first, and money as more secondary, you're often around other people who are underpaid. It's really easy in those environments to start thinking that people with money are bad or that the money itself is bad, right?
And actually viewing money as negative, or like you're harming someone if you take their money, rather than seeing you are offering value to someone and they're excited to receive that value. And so I think when you can shift your mindset from money being negative to just being neutral, just understanding it as a tool.
And I'm not saying you have to say it's positive or love it. It's just a tool. It's an amplifier. If you're doing good work, money will amplify your good work. That's sort of the mindset shift that I think is helpful. That's what I mean by neutral.
Laura Adams: Yeah, that's great. I totally agree with you. And I do think a lot of people are raised with, you know, these negative ideas that you internalize something negative about money. Maybe it came from something a family member said like, "Well, money doesn't grow on trees," or "Money is the root of all evil." And truly, it is a tool. And we can all use it however we have those values-based missions, those priorities you have, doesn't necessarily have to be spending a lot; think about giving a lot. Earning more gives you the opportunity to do more for others, whether they're your family members or charities or, you know, whatever's important to you.
So it is a pretty important mind shift.
So if somebody is out there feeling a little overwhelmed or anxious about money, maybe they're thinking about "I have to do taxes in a month or two." And I'm going through this right now. I'm gathering all my stuff. I have a very manual system for taxes that I've just kind of done. I had a pretty complicated tax situation for a while. It's a little more simple now.
But if anybody's feeling a little anxiety about that, you know, what advice can you offer right now? Maybe if it's taxes or if it's just not making or not having as much taxable income as they would like.
Hannah Cole: Mmm, such a good question. Yeah, I think if you're feeling some dread of like doing the thing, making yourself do the thing, which I know a lot of people feel when entering into tax season. One recommendation that I can give is to just try to associate it with something really positive. Think rewards.
Now, we're not trying to blow the budget, so I'm not saying go buy a car, but buy your favorite latte or something, sort of a small treat when you complete a task and put time on your calendar. And then, what I would recommend is if you're going to do, opening up your tax documents and starting to go through them. The challenge is really just getting started. Once you're in it, it's usually much, it's not as bad as you think. So the reward is for starting.
And then I recommend just cleaning your desk, getting a nice cup of tea, like doing whatever you can to make that environment feel good, play some nice music, get the kids with a sitter, whatever you need to do. And then actually this book, right behind me, Atomic Habits, talks about what fires together, wires together. So when you do that, when you like go to a hard task, like doing your bookkeeping, opening your tax documents, and you have a candle and you have your tea, and you have your nice music and your clean desk, over time that's going to create an association that it's a peaceful thing to do. And it really does work. So the second time you come back to it, it starts feeling like, "I get to have that tea again." A little bit nicer feeling overtime.
Laura Adams: That's great. Okay, I'm gonna do that. I'm gonna give myself a reward. I haven't decided what that will be. But when I finally get everything shipped off to the accountant, I'm going to do something nice for myself. I really like that concept!
What do you think are misconceptions that entrepreneurs have about taxes? I know new entrepreneurs sometimes are very uneducated about taxes, and they may not even be aware that they have to do some estimated payments. And then all of a sudden, like in year two, they're starting in a hole because they have not paid into the system, and so they're just not prepared for a big tax bill. I know that's something I've seen often.
Are there any misconceptions or just misunderstandings from either new or experienced entrepreneurs that you see may be costing them money or costing them a lot of hassle?
Hannah Cole: Yeah, Laura, so many, so many. I was looking at a study the Tax Foundation did, and they just found that a basic lack of tax literacy costs the average U.S taxpayer over $1,000 every year. And I would say that young entrepreneurs, just starting out, people just starting freelance work, starting a business, are probably losing more than that. And you touched on some of the reasons why.
One, not understanding that estimated quarterly taxes are a thing. They're real. They're an obligation, not an option. And that you pay penalties if you're not doing it. So you get a grace year before penalties start. But even during that year, you still want to be paying taxes as you accumulate income, or else you're going to face a really big tax bill. And that can be a lot bigger than you expect, because another thing people don't understand when they work for themselves is that self-employment tax is going to be a much larger percentage of their tax bill than they realized or than what it was, the equivalent of when they were an employee. So that's a big one.
Your show is so good, and I get so many tax tips from it, but just to review self-employment tax for everybody, could we do that? When you work as an employee, 7.65% of your pay is taken out of your paycheck to fund Medicare and Social Security. And your boss matches that 7.65%, which they're paying.
So you never actually even see that on pay stubs or your W-2s, but it is happening. So when you're self-employed, you're not just the employee, you're also the boss. So you're wearing two hats in one person, and it means you have to pay both halves of that Medicare and Social Security.
People don't know that because it's been invisible to them and because we don't teach taxes in high school like I wish we did. So, you know, self-employment tax, which is what we call that contribution to Medicare and Social Security, is 15.3% of your profits starting from the first dollar you earn. It doesn't have the grace period of the 0% tax bracket that the federal income tax does.
So it's just a massive portion of your tax bill that you often aren't aware is there. So getting friendly with a nice income tax calculator as you go throughout the year, that's something I recommend to just get a sense of, like, okay, if my profit is $50,000, my tax bill would look like this. Just a little check-in with that, in theory, is helpful to getting a handle on how big your tax bill will be. And then learning the rules about quarterly taxes to make sure that you stay caught up with those payments before you face that tax bill that's due April 15th, no extensions.
Laura Adams: Yeah, I think for a lot of people, maybe who are just starting, they feel very uncertain about what their income will be, and they feel like, well, how can I estimate? I don't know what my revenue is gonna be. I'm not even sure what my expenses will be. So how do you recommend people get a handle on that until things maybe smooth out a little bit, or maybe they never do? There are certainly some businesses that are quite seasonal, with big ups and downs in revenue.
Hannah Cole
Mm-hmm. Well, that is actually really where I specialize because a lot of creative people, and frankly, just me and my small business, which is also seasonal, like we have huge swings in income, right? Anybody who has a product-based business, you're going to have a huge amount of income probably in the holiday season and a really dry spell where you're also needing to put cash into buying inventory. So many businesses suffer from this.
Some methods are, mean, honestly, the cheat code is bookkeeping. It's just actually setting up some basic bookkeeping so that you know what your profit is and paying in every quarter, doing a calculation for what tax you would owe based on that quarter's income. That is the most humane way to pay your quarterly taxes, because instead of the option that most accountants and most tax software give you, which is to pay a quarter each quarter to pay one quarter of last year's total tax.
That's an option, and it's fine to do that, but it doesn't work very well if you're in a season where you have no cash, and you can't afford that payment, and then you're in a flush season with tons of cash, and you're going to owe a lot more than that. So doing your bookkeeping and paying every quarter keeps your tax payments in line with the actual money you're earning.
And even though you're estimating, and I think people are very uncomfortable with this concept because they can't get their head around the fact that this is an estimate. It's not exact. But I just want to reassure you that it is. It's called estimated quarterly taxes, not exact perfect quarterly taxes. But it's really humane to pay them each quarter according to the actual money you earn. Because even if you're really wrong with the number, you won't be paying penalties. You'll be much more align to what you actually owe.
Laura Adams: That's great. That's a great tip for people who are feeling like, my gosh, I've got to, and then if you give your accountant some high number and they give you, well, this is what you're gonna have to pay each quarter, you may get into a situation where you're overpaying and then you will get that back if things reconcile in your favor. But yeah, I like the idea of really just trying to be very deliberate about it as you go.
If you're working with an accountant, they can help you set that bookkeeping system up so you've got that foundation, that structure in place to make an educated estimate based on what happened last month, what happened this month. And then we have a whole quarter. We've got, we've got three months of data there to say, you know, this is likely going to be the norm for this quarter, this year, maybe next year's quarter as well. So yeah, that's a great way to look at it.
Where are you seeing people really mess up with taxes, that's costing them money?
Hannah Cole: Good question. I think maybe the number one area that people don't take advantage of is startup expenses. You only get to take startup expenses if you know they exist and know it's a category. But it is, and as you begin your freelancing, you qualify. So what's important to know is that startup expenses are any expense that would be deductible as a business expense, but is incurred before your business actually starts.
So it's actually a retroactive expense. You can take it from a year prior, which is kind of amazing. But people sort of think in their head, "I'm only allowed to take business deductions once I'm operational." Well, think about how you're going to start that business. Are you going to have a conversation with an accountant? Are you going to buy my tax book or program? Are you going to buy Laura's solopreneur book?
I mean, those are expenses that will help you start up that business, right? You might meet with a lawyer, or maybe you want to form an LLC. It's not required, but those are things you do prior to opening your doors that you'll spend money on in order to get that business up and operational.
So you get to actually keep track of those and then take them in the year you opened listed as startup expenses. It's not a category outlined on your Schedule C, and so people don't know. You have to know it to get it. It is a category you put a label on, and it goes in your other expenses block, which is a sort of place to catch all the stuff that Schedule C didn't categorize neatly.
Laura Adams: You see if you don’t know, you don’t know! These are the things where having an accountant and someone who is an expert can really pay off. I love that example. That's terrific. Is there anything else that you see? Maybe for people with like side gigs, you know, maybe they have a day job, but they're also doing side work on nights or weekends? Is there anything that people might be missing?
Hannah Cole: Yeah, well, a lot of those people don't realize that they are fully entitled to business deductions. So that's a really important thing to know. And so you want to be tracking them. I will also say that for people who do side gigs, tracking your deductions can sound intimidating. You do need to keep receipts. But for tracking, the bookkeeping part, you can just use a spreadsheet. It doesn't have to be anything fancy or that you pay a monthly fee for. A spreadsheet is completely fine.
And actually, Laura, this might be a good place to mention that on my website I have a free visual guide to tax deductions, which is really built for people who didn't learn this stuff in high school. And so it shows you, kind of, what you call the stuff that you're paying for in your business. And then points over, in this beautiful rainbow chart, to what the IRS calls it, and exactly where it goes on your tax return. So if people want to find that on the Sunlight Tax website. That is a free download and would be a helpful start.
Laura Adams: Yeah, terrific, I've seen it, it's great, and I'll put a link to it in the notes for the show. And so the website is Sunlighttax.com.
I also wanna talk about anything new that's happening with taxes this year. I know there has been some changes. Talk to me a little bit about any changes that might affect self-employed people that they really need to take advantage of this year. Maybe something that started in 2025, that maybe they didn't even know about.
Hannah Cole: Yeah, so we did have this massive tax bill passed over the summer, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. There are some things that won't affect us until next year and the year after; there are phase-ins. But for 2025, there are four primary things to think about: four new deductions.
They all go on this new schedule that they created, the schedule 1A. You don't have to memorize that number, I'm just saying it. Let me just outline what those are. There are no taxes on tips, which could affect self-employed people. If you work in a barbershop, beauty, the serving industry, a bartender, that kind of thing, an industry that is customarily and regularly receiving tips.
It's up to $25,000 in tips that you get to take a deduction on your federal income taxes. That's the thing to be aware of. There's also no tax on overtime. And there's no provision saying you have to be an employee to get that. If you're doing overtime as a self-employed person or as a contractor, that's valid for you. So that's another one.
And that is $12,500 of overtime pay deductible per individual. So you double that if you're married filing jointly. There's no tax on car loan interest, which is not specifically related to freelancers. That's really for any taxpayer who took out a big car loan. So you can deduct up to $10,000 in car loan interest. That's a big car loan if you're paying $10,000 in interest.
Laura Adams: There are some limitations on which cars, right, that you can deduct? It's not just any car. It has to be specifically made in the USA or assembled in the USA. Definitely find out more details about that.
Hannah Cole: It does. If you want me to share a link in the show notes, there is a VIN decoder. So you actually have to put your VIN number of your car on your tax return. And yes, Laura, what you were mentioning, it has to have final assembly in the U.S. That's part of it. It's about American cars. So you can put your VIN into this VIN decoder, and it will tell you. Cause you don't know. You don't know necessarily if your car was finally assembled in the U.S. or not. This is an online tool from the NTSB that shows you.
The last one, again, not for freelancers specifically, but one of the four new deductions this year is an expanded deduction for seniors. This deduction is basically just an increased standard deduction for seniors. You have to be 65 or older, and it's per spouse. So if you have two spouses who are eligible, you can both get it.
Laura Adams: Yeah, I think it's like $6,000 or $6,500 somewhere in there, which is great. That can offset some other taxes that a senior may have. There are income limits on some of these, too. If you're a tip earner, you've got overtime; they always put income limits on most of these things. Definitely ask about that. But if any of these apply to you, definitely make sure you're aware of whether you can take it or not.
You know, another one that I'm kind of personally excited about is the SALT tax increase. And I think that started last year.
Hannah Cole: It goes up yeah, for 2025, yeah, to $40,000. So it's increased substantially from $10,000.
Laura Adams: Yes! So that's, you know, if you're a homeowner, that alone could make the difference between itemizing or claiming a standard deduction. So, my recommendation for people is to keep as much detail as you can, because you want to make sure that you're not just saying, "oh yeah, I'm just going to claim a standard deduction."
If you add up all the itemized pieces, it may be more advantageous for you. But you're not going to know if you haven't kept up with the details, if you haven't logged it either on it like you're saying, a spreadsheet or some kind of bookkeeping software, or whatever method you're using. You've got to have the details to make some of those important decisions. Otherwise, you may be losing money.
Hannah Cole: So true. Can I mention one more thing–there's a very specific group who needs this. If you had a baby in 2025, one very important thing is that, starting this year on this year's tax return, you can elect to open a Trump account, and you can make a second election to have $1,000 put into it courtesy of the U.S. Treasury.
So this year it's only for people who had a baby in 2025. This will also apply to babies born in 2026, 2027, and 2028. Those babies haven't been born yet. But it's really important to know that this election exists. If you had a baby, get that free money.
Laura Adams: Yes, absolutely. And if you don't, if you miss it on your tax return, you can still apply, right? You don't have to do it with taxes, but it’s easier. If you file that form, it kind of simplifies things. And then I think you can start making contributions this summer. The Trump Account limit is $5,000 for this year. And maybe that will go up adjusted to inflation in future years. We'll see.
Hannah Cole: You can. There is a website about the Trump accounts. It's a little light on info right now because I think they are working out some of the details. Everybody is interested. It's a great idea if you have a child who could benefit. It's a wonderful idea. You know, in a nonpartisan way, I think it's good for all people.
Laura Adams: Absolutely. We can't turn down free money! Even if you have an older child, you can still open a Trump account for them, but they won’t be eligible for the $1,000. They have to born in that 4 year window. And a lot of people are asking me, well, how does that compare with the 529 plan?
I'm saying that the 529 is still great for education expenses, but if you qualify for the thousand-dollar Trump account, do it, have both. There's no rule that says you can't have multiple tax-advantaged accounts, for sure. And the Trump account is for any future use for the child; it's not pegged for education. So there's a little bit more flexibility there. But yeah thank you for bringing that up.
Hannah Cole: Yeah, you can use it to buy a house.
Laura Adams: Once the child is 18, I think it turns into an IRA automatically. And so some of the IRA rules apply. But, you know, at that point, they're eligible to use it, of course, with the rules of the IRA in terms of withdrawals that are early and those sorts of things. So yeah, it's something brand new and a lot of people really don't even know that they exist. So yeah, find out a little more about that for new parents and people who are planning to have a child in the next few years. It's a unique opportunity.
Well, Hannah, as we look forward to tax day, I know you're very busy, and I thank you for spending so much time with me on the show today cause I'm sure you got a lot of things to do in tax season. What advice would you give people, whether they're a solopreneur, whether they're self-employed, or maybe even just somebody who is listening, that happens to be an employee? Do you have any words of advice for helping people save money on taxes as we look ahead to this year's tax season?
Hannah Cole: Hmm. Yeah. I mean, one way to save money is to do your taxes early. I kid you not: most accountants have a February discount. They'll discount their rates a little bit if you get in early because there is such a crunch in the world of accounting towards those last four weeks of tax season. So if you are an early bird, you might be able to get a benefit from your accountant for a discount
Besides that, I think good tracking is the best. It’s such a simple thing, but just having a designated place in your house where you keep all your tax documents, I find that to be really helpful. Like when I have forgotten that there's a 1099 sitting on my dresser, when most of them are on my desk, that's when I end up having a panic moment. So I think every time the mail comes in, like having religion about that 1099, that tax document is gonna go in the same place every single time. That's really helpful. That's probably my best tax calm advice for people right now.
Laura Adams: Yeah, terrific. And your book, of course, Taxes for Humans, is a great read. It's a fun read, too. I love the way you made a very dry topic really fun and engaging. So thank you for that!
Hannah Cole: Thanks! I mean, it's kind of like being a funny dentist. The bar is very low, but I definitely tried to put a lot of humor into it. I want people to actually read it and understand.
Laura Adams: A lot of your personality is there, and that’s great because it's not an easy topic for most people. So yeah, this book, Taxes for Humans, I've got it right here in front of me. You've got a lot of stuff going on. Talk a little bit about the podcast. What types of things are you doing on the show?
Hannah Cole: Yeah. So, in the Sunlight Tax podcast, one of the things that I do is give tax updates. This is sort of important in conjunction with the book because the book I wrote as a reference, right? It's a tool to do your taxes, to get that tax literacy that might be costing you not to have. But to write a book about taxes is to acknowledge tax law changes every year.
So, in the book, the way I structured it to help with that is I gave a sort of baseline rate and saying, "This is the rate for this year." And this is a QR code to the spot on the IRS website that shows you the current-year rates, so this book is just as good in 2027 and 2028 as it is this year. And my podcast is where you can come and see, you know, I talk about Trump accounts, no tax on tips, and all the different healthcare changes that happen with the tax law.
And also just kind of warm encouragement for people doing work that is not necessarily motivated by money, but just, you know, whether it's creative, whether it's care-based, or values-driven work. I want people who really passionately care about the work they do in the world to feel more seen and supported when it comes to their taxes. So the podcast is just a warm place to get a little nugget of tax knowledge every week.
Laura Adams: Fantastic! Hannah, thank you so much for being on the show and sharing all your great tips and just being a light, like a sunlight, being a light in the world of taxes. It just makes it, you know, just a breath of fresh air, really. When we think about how much of a burden it can feel every year, it's nice to have a different angle and perspective on it.
Hannah Cole
Thank you so much! I've learned so much from your show, Laura! I was so honored to be asked on. So I really, really appreciate the work that you are doing. I think it's really important. So thanks for having me.
Laura Adams: You're so kind. Thank you for being here, and everyone, check out Taxes for Humans. You'll love it.
That's all for now. I'll talk to you soon. Until then, here's to living a richer life!
Money Girl is a Quick and Dirty Tips podcast, and we've got a great team! I want to thank Steve Riekeberg for audio-engineering the podcast. Holly Hutchings is our director of podcasts. Morgan Christianson is our advertising operations specialist. Rebekah Sebastian is our marketing and publicity manager. Nathaniel Hoopes is our marketing contractor. And Maram Elnagheeb is our podcast associate.