Tax Planning Services That Reduce Exposure

A tax planner looks at the year ahead instead of the year behind. We project your income, check whether your entity setup still makes sense, look at owner pay, retirement contributions, equipment purchases and estimated payments, and flag transactions that need thought before they happen. The point is to make decisions with the tax effect already known, using options the tax code plainly allows.

For a W-2 employee with one job and a standard deduction, probably not much. For a business owner, an investor with rental property, someone with income from several states or countries, or a contractor growing fast, usually yes. Those are the situations where timing and structure change the bill, and where waiting until April means most of the choices have already been made for you.

Ideally early in the year, with a check in each quarter as real numbers come in. At minimum, start before any big event: selling a business or property, adding a partner, a large bonus, a move abroad or a new contract. A planning meeting in mid December still helps, but a meeting in March of the following year is mostly just preparation.

Business owners, especially S corporation owners setting their own salary. High earners with bonuses or equity. Real estate investors. Government contractors whose structure affects both taxes and indirect rates. Anyone with foreign accounts, foreign income or a non U.S. spouse. If your finances have more moving parts than a single paycheck, planning is worth a conversation, because those moving parts are exactly where the tax code gives you choices.

Preparation reports what already happened, accurately and on time. Planning shapes what's about to happen, while you can still choose. You need both. A good preparer can tell you why you owe; a good planner can tell you how to owe less next year, or at least not be surprised by it.

Yes. Our founder came up in GovCon finance, so we plan with DCAA, FAR cost principles and indirect rates in mind. Owner compensation, for example, affects both your tax bill and what's allowable on a cost type contract. We can coordinate tax planning with the contractor's accounting setup and, where helpful, provide fractional CFO support so the budget and the tax plan come from the same numbers.

Yes. We work with expats, foreign nationals with U.S. income, and U.S. companies with overseas operations. That brings in FBAR and FATCA reporting, foreign tax credits, treaty questions and entity choices abroad. The reporting penalties alone can be serious even when no tax is due, so we build those deadlines into the plan from the start.

Your last two years of returns, year to date financials or pay stubs, a rough estimate of the rest of the year, ownership details for any entities, and a list of big plans: purchases, sales, hires, moves. Bring any IRS letters too. If there's an existing balance, we'll want to deal with the tax resolution side before building a forward plan on top of it.