Planning Basis

Claimed value	Appropriate comparison	Evidence required	Do not do this
Permanent tax reduction	With/without strategy after baseline	Tax model and eligibility rationale	Count existing deductions as new
Deferral	Payment timing and later liabilities	Multi-year cash schedule	Count the deferred tax as permanent savings
Retirement funding	Tax effect plus assets and restricted liquidity	Partner/employee cost and funding model	Treat contributions as free money
Asset purchase	Operating value, finance and after-tax cash	Business need, cost and timing	Buy an unnecessary asset for its deduction
Risk or admin improvement	Specific service outcome	Fewer unresolved issues, clearer ownership	Invent a dollar saving without evidence

Original illustration: Provider A costs $40,000 plus $15,000 of implementation and claims $80,000 of permanent benefits; the incumbent identifies $30,000 already in the baseline. The remaining $50,000 is below the $55,000 cost hurdle. Provider B’s $12,000 project with $5,000 external costs and $25,000 of supported incremental benefit would show $8,000 of simple net benefit. These are hypothetical arithmetic cases, not actual supplier offers, and omit fee tax effects and other interactions.

Explore the structured evidence

Permanent tax reduction

Appropriate comparison

With/without strategy after baseline

Evidence required

Tax model and eligibility rationale

Do not do this

Count existing deductions as new

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Sources cited on this page

This page presents the desk’s editorial framework. Read the section sources →