For the last few years, we’ve all seen the TikTok and Instagram “tax hack” videos:

For the last few years, we’ve all seen the TikTok and Instagram “tax hack” videos:

“Write off your whole life”

“Turn your vacation into a deduction”

“Pay no self-employment tax with this one trick!”

Most of these came from well-meaning but clueless young influencers who didn’t understand the Internal Revenue Code or even basic tax principles. 

Bad advice, but easy to spot.

But something has changed, and it’s far more dangerous.

We’re now seeing licensed CPAs and EAs posting the same type of content:

Promoting entity structures that don’t actually work.

Peddling ideas like “avoid SE tax by adding a C-Corp partner to your LLC”.

Selling $10k–$20k masterminds and coaching programs.

Repeating strategies that collapse under basic IRS scrutiny.

Marketing ideas that can expose taxpayers to audits, penalties, or worse.

These are professionals who could be making an honest living doing real tax work, but instead push MLM-style “secret loopholes” that simply don’t exist. 

At that point, it stops being “innovation” and starts looking like a get-rich-quick scheme designed to hook desperate CPAs searching for a magic solution to grow their practice.

When a random TikTok creator says something wrong about taxes, the harm is limited.

But when a licensed professional tells a layperson, “Do this - it’s a legal loophole your old CPA never told you,” people believe it. And they can end up facing real consequences.

This isn’t strategy.

And it certainly isn’t tax planning.

It’s dangerous misinformation wrapped in professional credentials.

Real tax planning is built on the Internal Revenue Code, regulations, case law, substantiation, economic substance, and strategies that can actually survive an audit.

Here’s the part these influencers never mention:

Everything truly legitimate in tax planning is already in the basic industry textbooks every trained tax professional studies. 

There’s no need for struggling CPAs or EAs to pay tens of thousands for “secret strategies” that are either (1) already in the book, or (2) not in the book for a very good reason.

Before acting on any “hack,” ask someone who actually prepares returns, signs their name, and stands behind the work, and who can explain the concepts clearly and answer your questions.

If it sounds too good to be true, pay for a second opinion from another qualified tax professional without flashy advertising.

It costs far less than cleaning up a disaster later.