In the United States we have a “Marginal Tax Bracket” system, which means the more income you earn, the higher your tax bracket will be. This is why Tax-Advantaged Investments come in handy for high-income earners.

Tax-Advantaged Investments or TAIs are just a fancy way of talking about investments that have tax benefits tucked inside of them.

We’ve all heard stories of the richest families in America making billions of dollars, yet on paper they are taxed in some of the lowest tax brackets. How is that possible?

Tax-Advantaged Investments are one of the tools they use to accomplish this, and the private market is the place to go if you want to find these types of investments.

One of the biggest industries that participates in Tax-Advantaged Investments is the Energy Industry. As a nation, we do not produce enough energy to keep up with how much we consume. The government knows this and has provided tax benefits, to incentivize investments in the energy industry, for over a century.

This means if you invest in certain energy investments, you could take advantage of a tax benefit that could lower your overall adjusted income, and therefore could put you in a lower tax bracket.

One of the most popular Tax-Advantaged Investments these days is oil drilling. Most oil drilling projects allow investors to take advantage of internal revenue code section 263(c) which references IDC’s or Intangible Drilling Costs. In basic terms this means that investors with an operating interest could potentially write off expenses associated with drilling the well.

Some projects allow investors to write off around 90% of the investment amount, which is subtracted from the investor’s adjusted gross income. So, let’s break this down.

If I make $600,000 a year and file my taxes as married filing jointly, my marginal tax bracket will be somewhere around 33%. If I invest $300,000 into a drilling program that offers a 90% IDC tax deduction, then my adjusted gross income for the year could drop from $600,000 to $330,000 (ex. $600,000 – ($300,000 * 90%) = $330,000) This could lower my tax bracket from 33% to somewhere around 23%. HUGE DIFFERENCE!

There are many types of Tax-Advantaged Investments out there and some are riskier than others, so it is important to work with professionals that can help you evaluate and research different investment opportunities. If you are interested in learning more about oil drilling investments or other Tax-Advantaged Investments, please schedule time with me to see how these opportunities could potentially lower your tax burden.