Over half of accountants see the profession as a gateway for entrepreneurship, according to a new study.

The latest edition of an annual report by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants found that 54% of North American respondents say they have career ambitions to be entrepreneurs, including 78% of Gen Z respondents. The ACCA surveyed over 10,000 accounting and finance professionals from 175 countries on topics including career ambitions, hybrid working, inclusivity practices, upskilling, mental health and employability issues. 

Courtesy of ACCA

“Our 2025 data continues to show a workplace in transition, but one of the exciting themes emerging this year is how accountancy training can be a brilliant early career pathway for building entrepreneurial skills,” Jamie Lyon, global head of skills, sectors and technology at the ACCA, said in a statement. “There’s no doubt this in part reflects how career ambitions continue to transform at work.”

Two-thirds of respondents are interested in pursuing accounting careers focused on environmental issues, and 79% agree that reputation on social and humans rights issues would be a key factor in deciding whether to work at an organization.

Employability confidence is high among respondents, with 68% wanting to move roles in the next two years, and 43% expecting their next career role to be outside their current organization. Respondents also favor hybrid work (71%), while only 12% say they want to be in the office full time. Thirty-five percent report their office is fully office-based, up from 23% in 2024. 

Cost of living is the top concern for 41% of respondents — with 56% being dissatisfied with their current wages — followed by the effects of a potential economic downturn (35%). And 39% of respondents reported concern over rising socioeconomic barriers, doubled from 19% in 2024.

Additionally, 46% of respondents say their mental health suffers due to work pressures, and 56% want more support in this area. And the proportion of respondents from North America (52%) who want to move internationally has doubled since 2024 (28%).

House Republicans’ release of the tax provisions in their massive fiscal bill provides a crucial initial reading of what party leaders think could pass, culminating weeks of intense negotiations among fractious GOP lawmakers. 

But the bill still may change as leaders strike more deals to secure passage in the House. And Senate Republicans are likely to follow their own path, requiring more compromises. 

Business lobbyists notched many of the top tax breaks they were seeking, while avoiding levy increases that were instead targeted at renewable energy projects, immigrants, foundations and colleges. The bill is officially scored as losing $3.7 trillion in revenue, within the $4.5 trillion limit lawmakers set for themselves.

Here’s a rundown of the tax bill’s main provisions impacting individuals and businesses: 

No millionaire tax

House Republicans rejected the so-called “millionaire tax” floated by President Donald Trump, which would have set a higher income tax rate for individuals making more than $2.5 million in a year.

The draft would permanently set the top tax rate for individuals at 37%, extending the rate set by President Donald Trump’s 2017 tax bill. Without new legislation, the top rate is set to expire and would revert back to 39.6%. 

$30,000 SALT limit

The limit on state and local tax deductions would rise to $30,000 – a slight increase from the existing SALT cap, but likely not enough to appease Republicans from high-tax states like California and New York. The proposed SALT cap would be $30,000 for individual filers or married couples filing joint returns but $15,000 for married individuals filing separate returns. 

The bill also would place a new income test on eligibility for the tax deduction, phasing it out for individuals earning more than $200,000, or married couples earning more than $400,000. 

At least five Republican lawmakers rejected the new limit in advance as too low. They could stop the entire tax bill if they stick to their guns. 

Business lobbyists meanwhile beat back an attempt to limit the ability of companies to claim a SALT deduction.

Tips, overtime and autos

Tips and overtime pay would be exempt from income tax through 2028, the end of Trump’s second term, fulfilling — at least for four years — a Trump campaign promise. The GOP bill would also make interest on auto loans deductible through 2028, addressing another Trump campaign promise. All three provisions would be retroactive to the beginning of this year.

Interest expensing

Private equity and other heavily indebted business sectors won a major fight in the tax bill on interest expensing. The bill adds depreciation and amortization when determining the tax deductibility of a company’s debt payments. The maximum amount any company can get in such tax write-offs is calculated as a percentage of earnings. That’s why using EBITDA – which is typically bigger than EBIT — in this process would generate heftier tax deductions.

Carried interest

The bill does not make any changes to the tax treatment of carried interest after a massive lobbying campaign by affected industries. Trump has pushed Republicans to tax carried interest as ordinary income, raising taxes on private equity, venture capitalists and real estate investors.

University endowment tax

Some private universities would face a dramatic tax increase on investment income generated by their endowments, posing a serious penalty to some of the nation’s wealthiest schools.

The provision would create a tiered system of taxation so that wealthy colleges and universities that meet a threshold based on the number of students would pay more. Under Trump’s 2017 tax law, some colleges with the most well-funded endowments currently pay a 1.4% tax on their net investment income. The levy would rise to as high as 21% on institutions with the largest endowments based on their student population.

The provision is a major escalation in Trump’s fight with Harvard and other elite colleges and universities, which he has sought to strong-arm into making curriculum and cultural changes that he favors. Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Princeton and MIT would face the maximum 21% tax rate, based on the size of their endowments in 2024, according to data from the NACUBO-Commonfund Study of Endowments.

Private foundation tax

Private foundations also would face an escalating tax based on their size: 2.78% for private foundations with assets between $50 million and $250 million, 5% for entities with assets between $250 million and $5 billion; and 10% for foundations with assets of at least $5 billion, such as the Gates Foundation, a longtime target for Republicans.

Sports teams

The bill would limit write-offs for professional football, basketball, baseball, hockey and soccer franchises that claim deductions connected to the team’s intangible assets, including copyright, patents or designs.

Electric vehicles

A popular consumer tax credit of up to $7,500 for the purchase of an electric vehicle would be fully eliminated by the end of 2026, and only manufacturers that have sold fewer than 200,000 electric vehicles by the end of this year would be eligible to receive it in 2026. Tax incentives for the purchase of commercial electric vehicles and used electric vehicles would also be repealed.

Renewable tax credits

Popular production and investment tax credits for clean electricity would be phased out by the end of 2031 and new requirements against using materials from certain foreign nations would be added. Those credits weren’t set to expire until the later part of 2032 or until carbon emissions from the U.S. electricity sector decline to at least 75% below 2022 levels. A tax credit for the production of nuclear energy would also be phased out by 2031.

Bonus for elderly

Americans aged 65 and older who don’t itemize their taxes would get a $4,000 bonus added to their standard deduction through 2028. That benefit would phase out for individuals making more than $75,000 and couples making more than $150,000. It would be retroactive to the beginning of this year.

Trump had campaigned on ending taxes on Social Security benefits, but that proposal would have run afoul of a special procedure Republicans are using to push through the tax law changes without any Democratic votes. The higher standard deduction is an alternative way of targeting a benefit to the elderly.

Targeting immigrants

Immigrant communities would face a new 5% tax on remittances sent to foreign nations. Many immigrants send a portion of their earnings abroad to support family members in their home countries. Tax credits would be available to reimburse U.S. citizens who send payments abroad.

Multinational corporations benefit

Multinational companies would get an extension of current lower rates on foreign profits, marking a win for corporate America.

Factory incentives

The bill does not include Trump’s call for a lower corporate tax rate for domestic producers, but instead allows 100% depreciation for any new “qualified production property,” like a factory, if construction begins during Trump’s term — beginning on Jan. 20, 2025, and before Jan. 1, 2029, and becomes operational before 2033. That would be a major incentive for new facilities as Trump wields tariffs to drive production to the U.S.

Child tax credit

The maximum child tax credit would rise from $2,000 to $2,500 through 2028 and then drop to $2,000 in subsequent years. 

‘MAGA’ accounts

The bill would create new tax-exempt investment accounts to benefit children, dubbed “MAGA” accounts, referring to his Make America Great Again campaign slogan. The accounts would allow $5,000 in contributions per year and adult children would be able to use the funds for purchasing homes or starting small businesses, in addition to educational expenses. The bill would authorize one-time $1,000 government payments into accounts for children born from 2025 through 2028.

Pass-through deduction

Owners of pass-through businesses would be allowed to exclude 23% of their business income when calculating their taxes, a 3% increase from the current rate. The increase is a win for pass-through firms — partnerships, sole proprietorships and S corporations — which make up the vast majority of businesses in the U.S.  

Research and development

The draft would temporarily reinstate a tax deduction for research and development, a top priority for manufacturers and the tech industry. The deduction will last through the end of 2029.

Clients who decide to make a “fresh start” after April 15 and launch their own business venture may seek guidance from their tax professional regarding the form or business structure they should choose. The tax pro’s response should be simple enough to be understandable without confusing the issues, and comprehensive enough to include potential snags or traps for the unwary.

Think of business structures as different vehicles that can get you to the same destination — business success — but with very different rides along the way, said Miklos Ringbauer, a CPA in Southern California. 

An LLC, or limited liability company, offers a favorable blend of flexibility and protection. It separates personal assets from business liabilities, while giving options on how the business owner is taxed. It’s the go-to choice for solopreneurs and business owners who want simplicity without sacrificing protection.

Marlon Lopez MMG1design/mmg1design – stock.adobe.com

S corporations function technically as corporations but with tax advantages flowing through to the personal returns of the owners. The owner can potentially slash their self-employment tax by paying themselves a reasonable salary plus distributions. There are restrictions, however: They are limited to 100 shareholders, all of whom must be U.S. citizens or residents, and there can be only one class of stock. 

C corporations are the corporate giants, existing as completely separate entities with their own tax rates. They can have unlimited shareholders of any nationality and multiple classes of stock. The drawback, of course, is double taxation, due to a tax on profits at the corporate level and again when distributed as dividends. 

Although there are numerous “do-it-yourself” websites and incorporation kits, Ringbauer does not recommend them for someone starting a new business. 

“There’s an incredible amount of information on the internet, but much of it is not suitable or is incomplete for a taxpayer when they decide to make a choice,” he said. “It is extremely valuable to speak with a professional — a trusted CPA tax advisor and a lawyer. I can’t tell you how often I’ve seen DIY-created entities from a novice who used an online platform. The system asked the user to check certain boxes, and the user doesn’t know whether that’s the right checkbox or a wrong addition to their bylaws or to their incorporation documents. … It’s very valuable to engage an attorney to do this upfront, because once you do the incorporation and order your bylaws, you might have to spend an incredible amount of financial resources upfront to fix it if it’s incorrect.”

“Most people are aware of LLCs, S corporations and C corporations,” he said. “One unique thing to know is that, except in a few restricted cases, it does not matter what entities you incorporate; you can elect to be taxed as a different type of structure. For example, you can create an LLC for state purposes, but as a taxpayer, you can choose to be taxed as a C corporation or as an S corporation on the federal level. With the projected tax law changes, it’s going to be very important.”

It’s important to discuss the projected lifecycle of the entity with the client and what the taxpayer intends to do. Do they envision selling it, passing it to their heirs, dissolving it or going public? The answer may determine potential tax strategies and timing. 

While California prohibits accountants from incorporating an entity, in other states a CPA can do so, according to Ringbauer. And in states like California, it’s important for an accountant to provide guidance as to which rules and filing requirements and everything else the new business venture will be subject to.

The requirement that an S corporation not have a foreign member can result in a disqualification in the event of a divorce where both spouses own shares, and one is a noncitizen, he noted. 

“If part of the shares will be given to the noncitizen spouse, in the old days that would automatically disqualify the entity from its S corporation status,” he explained. “But from 2017 on, the IRS made the rule change that the entity has the ability to correct that by having the noncitizen spouse sell their shares within a very short period of time in order for the entity not to lose its S status.”