Eli5: In the TV show Ozark, Marty uses falsified expenses to launder money. But how would expenses help you to keep money that you earned illegally?

Question

I get how you could buy a business and inflate your revenue in order to launder money you acquired illegally, but why would falsely inflated operational costs help you?

In: Other

Answer 1

From a legal standpoint, some operational expenses are tax-deductible so it could have been a bookkeeping tactic to limit tax liability.