🛑 4 last-minute tax moves that could save you thousands

Here’s to a very happy Monday, {{first_name | friend}}. Hope your coffee’s stronger than your excuses because today’s trivia quote is here to slap the snooze button off your ambition. “The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.” Savage. Inspiring. Possibly aimed at your Notes app.

🤔 Which iconic cofounder of a major company is credited with repeating this simple, action-oriented quote in meetings? A) Bill Gates (Microsoft), B) Walt Disney (Disney), C) Jeff Bezos (Amazon) or D) Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook). Go with your gut, the real answer’s waiting at the bottom. 

💡 Before the calendar flips: This is for anyone looking to support appetite control, metabolism and energy without waiting for January. It’s designed to help your body stay steady while you work toward your goals. Right now, you can get up to 30% off, plus free shipping and a free gift. Sometimes the best changes start a little sooner.**

Is today the lucky day you win a $100, $200 or $500 Amazon gift card? Check the Golden Ticket section below. You never know when it’s your turn. — Kim

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I’ve been obsessed with taxes lately. I know, fun times. We have a little over two weeks before the 2025 tax year slams shut on Dec. 31.

If you run a small business, side hustle or work for yourself, you still have time to make smart moves that could save you thousands on your taxes. 

Yes, you read that right. Under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), 100% bonus depreciation is back for qualified goods placed into service after Jan. 19, 2025.

(To help you out, I linked to a few of my recommendations below.)

That means if you buy new equipment, say a laptop, desktop, color laserjet all in one printer, inkjet printer, office tech, smart tech, smartphone, even certain vehicles, and put it to use in your business before Dec. 31, you can write off the entire purchase this year. It’s like getting a tax refund for upgrading your business tech.

If you’ve got a payment scheduled for early January, pay it now. Move that expense into 2025, so you can deduct it this year.

Think software subscriptions, AI apps, cyber insurance premiums, office supplies, that sort of thing. Every dollar you shift into your expense column before year’s end is a dollar that doesn’t get taxed.

Got junk sitting on a shelf? Damaged, obsolete or unsellable tech is a hidden tax break.

Write it down, document the loss and either donate, liquidate or destroy the item (and keep records). Not only do you clear space, you cut your taxable income at the same time.

Reminder, visit endoflife.date and search your device to see if it’s been discontinued or lost manufacturer support.

This one’s a power move. Contributing to a solo 401(k) or SEP IRA not only helps future you, it lowers your taxable income today. In 2025, you can contribute up to $70,000, and if you’re over 50, you get an extra $7,500 with the solo 401(k). You can fund a SEP IRA later, but the decision to contribute needs to happen before Dec. 31.

Call your tax pro this week and ask which of these moves will give you the biggest return. You’ve still got time to make it count. They say that two things in life are unavoidable, death and taxes. At least death only happens once.

🤝 Share this important intel now with your family and friends. Use the handy icons below. I bet they need to know this, too!

Move over, NYC cabbies. Waymo cars have an attitude update. They honk, cut people off and break traffic laws. Wow. Then I talk to a woman facing a high-tech nightmare. Thieves use Wi-Fi jammers to blind security cams and break into her cars. Plus: Justin Bieber vs. Apple, and Kim Kardashian joins Fortnite.

Listen on Komando.com →

🎧 Or listen now wherever you get your podcasts, search for “Komando.”

🎄 It’s scam-mas time: Scammers figured out they don’t need to scare you anymore, they merely need to use AI to sound like someone you love. Other scams are also in full effect: fake delivery texts, phony online stores and fraudulent charities. Holiday stress plus AI personalization is a perfect storm. If something feels rushed, emotional or “off,” pause. Take a few beats. Scams hate pauses. 

Be human harder: JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon says AI will kill jobs but maybe not yours if you’re good at thinking and talking. His advice: Learn critical thinking, emotional intelligence, writing and how to function in meetings. In a world racing to automate everything, being thoughtful, adaptable and decent with humans is real job security.

Use any Apple products? A huge sophisticated zero-day vulnerability is in the wild. Apple issued an emergency update to stop the hackers for OS 26.2, iPadOS 26.2, iOS 18.7.3 and iPadOS 18.7.3, macOS Tahoe 26.2, tvOS 26.2, watchOD 26.2, visionOS 26.2 and Safari 26.2. Basically, update any Apple product you own right now.

Hand me the universal translator, Spock: Google Translate, powered by Gemini, is the new translation champion. It’s smart enough to handle slang and idioms and the live audio feature works with any pair of earbuds and over 70 languages for real-time conversation. And in total, Google Translate on the web and app works with 133 different languages. Isn’t that astounding?

👀 Think about the last police sketch you saw: Most look like a kid’s drawing. After a shooting, cops in Goodyear, Arizona, released what looked like a photo of a suspect, except it was AI-generated from a witness description. Same idea as an old-school sketch, way more realistic. Police say it’s already helped ID a suspect. Critics worry once these police sketches looks too real, and people might forget it’s basically a very confident guess. 

Tiny thoughts: Remember that old movie where doctors got shrunk and sent inside a body? We’re not there yet, but scientists built a robot smaller than a grain of salt that can sense, think and move by itself. It took four decades to pull off. Someday these mini bots could treat disease without surgery. I’d absolutely lose this thing immediately.

Flying soon? Look at your boarding pass. Spot these codes, and you could get bumped off your flight.

Listen on Komando.com →

🎧 Or listen now wherever you get your podcasts, search for “Komando.”

⚡️ 3-second tech genius: There is a much faster way to switch apps than dragging your mouse around. On Windows, use Alt + Tab, and on Mac, use Cmd + Tab. Hold Alt or Cmd, then tap Tab to move to the next app until you reach the one you want. Bonus: Press Win + D or Cmd + H to hide everything and go to your desktop. Bravo.

Retail sites often use your ZIP code to automatically adjust pricing. Thanks to AI, if you live in an average- to high-income area, you could be charged more. I use ExpressVPN, a longtime sponsor of my show, to change my location to a different state. Use this link to get 4 extra months. I bet you get lower prices too.*

📬 Clean up your Gmail: Still getting promo emails from that site you signed up for ages ago? Gmail has a hidden fix. On desktop, open the left side panel, click More, then Manage subscriptions. You’ll see every mailing list you’re on. Now tap Unsubscribe next to the ones you don’t want cluttering your inbox anymore. Don’t ban me, please.

Type to Siri: If your iPhone supports Apple Intelligence, go to Settings > Apple Intelligence & Siri > Talk & Type to Siri and turn on Type to Siri. Then double-tap the bottom of your screen, and an Ask Siri window will pop up. You can now text instead of speaking out loud. I use it in meetings or quiet places.

📝 Check for plagiarism in Word: Microsoft Word has a built-in plagiarism tool for your writing or documents you’ve received. At the top, select Review, then Editor. In the menu on the right, scroll to Similarity and choose Check for similarity to online sources. You’ll see what percentage of the text matches other content.

😑 Feeling left behind? Download NetSuite’s free guide called “Dymystifying AI.” No matter what you do and what stage you are in life, you should know more about AI. It’s not going anywhere.*

Google Labs launched Disco, an experimental browser thingy (technical term right there!) whose first trick, GenTabs, turns your open tabs into a custom app. 

The idea is simple in theory: It watches your open tabs, guesses what you’re trying to do, then auto-builds a mini web app. Research project, trip planning, shopping spiral, half-baked life decision. 

In practice, it’s less a browser feature and more Google gently asking, “So what are we actually doing here?” Check out the video to see how it really works. I’m not sure I get it, either.

🐭 The answer: B) Walt “Theme parks and wild dreams” Disney. The man didn’t just doodle a mouse, he built an empire on creativity and getting stuff done. If a man with a dream and a drawing can disrupt an entire industry, you can probably finish that pitch deck. Or at least clean out your 42-tab browser window.

Bad joke time: Walt Disney notices a sharp pain in his knee. He starts rubbing it, icing it, elevating it on a pillow. But over the following days, it only grows worse. He visits his doctor who asks, “Which knee is hurting you, Walt?” The famous film producer points to his left knee, “Disney.” (You can’t say I didn’t warn you!)

✨ A smart start begins now: Mid-December is the perfect time to get ahead before the January rush. Act now to save up to 30% off, with free shipping and a free gift. Let’s head into the new year already feeling stronger and more in control.**

Tomorrow, I have three strategies I use to save money on subscriptions. I’m so tired of getting ripped off. This is the #1 free tech newsletter in the U.S.

✌️ Thanks for letting me in your inbox! Now, go be the Wi-Fi in a crowded room, strong, steady and impossible to ignore. — Kim

📣 Yell to the mountaintops: Send your friends to GetKim.com.

Photo credit(s): Gemini, Matsato, Google

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