Whether you’re running a trucking operation along the I-5 corridor, a construction company building out a Fresno development, or an agricultural operation in the heart of the Central Valley, 2026 has introduced a cost pressure that shows up on virtually every invoice: tariffs. With import duties at levels not seen in close to a century, businesses that depend on equipment, raw materials, or imported components are absorbing real margin compression.
What many business owners haven’t fully explored is that the tax code changes introduced by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) contain meaningful opportunities to help offset rising costs. Your CPA isn’t just there to prepare returns; they’re there to uncover strategies that can reduce your tax burden and put money back into your business.
What’s Happening with Tariffs Right Now
Trade policy shifted dramatically in 2025 and uncertainty remains. Tariffs on goods from multiple major trading partners remain elevated, with ripple effects reaching the cost of steel, machinery, vehicle components, agricultural inputs, and consumer goods. For Central Valley businesses, where agriculture, logistics, construction, and food service all operate at scale, the compounding impact on cost structures is significant.
The result: higher cost of goods sold, squeezed margins, delayed capital investments, and in some cases, disrupted vendor relationships that took years to build. Tax strategy can’t eliminate these costs, but it can meaningfully offset some of the burden.
Bonus Depreciation Is Now Permanent
One of the most powerful tools available in 2026 is the permanent restoration of 100% bonus depreciation under the OBBBA. For Central Valley businesses that have been deferring equipment purchases due to tariff-driven price increases, this changes the math.
If your business purchases qualifying equipment, machinery, a delivery vehicle, or other depreciable property and places it in service in 2026, you can deduct the full cost in the current year rather than spreading it across several years. For a Fresno trucking company buying a new semi at $150,000, or a construction firm investing in heavy equipment for a Valley project, that immediate deduction can substantially reduce taxable income in the same year the higher costs hit, a direct financial counterweight to tariff pressure.
Section 179 for Flexible Expensing
Section 179 continues to offer immediate expensing for qualifying property with updated 2026 limits. Unlike bonus depreciation, Section 179 lets businesses select which assets to expense, giving flexibility in how deductions are applied against income. For dealerships, gas stations, convenience stores, and franchise restaurants that have delayed equipment upgrades due to rising costs, structuring those purchases for maximum deductibility is an immediate win.
The QBI Deduction Lowers Your Effective Rate
Pass-through business owners, S-corp shareholders, LLC owners, sole proprietors, may also benefit from the Qualified Business Income (QBI) deduction, which allows eligible taxpayers to deduct up to 20% of qualified business income. For a Central Valley business owner facing tighter margins due to tariff costs, a lower effective federal tax rate on business income offsets some of what tariffs take at the cost level. Maximizing the QBI deduction requires planning around income thresholds, compensation structure, and entity type, not just a calculation at filing.
Inventory Strategy and Cost of Goods
Businesses holding imported inventory purchased at elevated tariff costs face accounting decisions about how those costs are recognized. FIFO vs. LIFO inventory accounting, the timing of cost recognition, and how your books reflect increased input costs all affect taxable income and financial statement presentation. For agricultural operations, convenience stores, and franchise restaurant groups in the Fresno area, these decisions have downstream effects on tax liability and loan covenants alike.
Working with a Fresno CPA firm that understands your specific industry ensures your financial statements and tax filings accurately reflect the economic pressures your business is absorbing.
Proactive Planning Is the Differentiator
The businesses navigating this environment most effectively aren’t the ones reacting at tax time, they’re the ones who met with their CPA mid-year to model the impact of tariff costs, plan capital purchases strategically, and position deductions to maximize after-tax income.
For Central Valley business owners who haven’t had that conversation yet, the second half of 2026 is the window. Specifically worth reviewing before December 31: planned equipment purchases and their bonus depreciation eligibility, your entity structure relative to the QBI deduction, current-year income projections vs. expected deductions, and whether inventory accounting methods need adjustment given higher input costs.
DeMera DeMera Cameron has served the industries most affected by these cost pressures, agriculture, trucking, construction, and dealerships, for over 80 years. We know the Central Valley, and we know the margin pressures our clients are navigating right now. The businesses that come through periods of economic disruption in the strongest position are consistently the ones that stayed close to their CPA and made proactive decisions, not reactive ones.
Call DDC at (559) 226-9200 or visit ddccpa.com to schedule your mid-year business tax review.