Tax Planning
One of the most common phrases heard by the pubic is “Who does your taxes?” Its one of those phrases you rarely will hear from our firm. The correct phrase is “Who plans and assists you with your year end tax situation? The planning strategies for businesses and individuals is without a doubt the most important part of the overall tax services a CPA firm can provide, especially for businesses and individuals with more complex or unique issues.
A primary goal of our firm is to work with our clients prior to the end of the year in order to minimize their tax liabilities for that year as well as in future years. We are continuously examining ways to reduce your tax liabilities throughout the year with a detailed review of your records prior to the end of each year.
Some of our tax planning strategies include:
- Recommendations regarding deductions which may be claimed in one year or over several years depending on the tax rates. An example of this type of planning is described in a published article written by us entitled “Is Accelerating Depreciation Costing Your Business Valuable Tax Dollars”.
- Advising you of or recommending additional types of deductions, credits, etc. that may be available to you through the review of your records. For example there are certain cities in the United State where businesses and individuals are entitled to substantial tax credits. We commonly find that these credits are overlooked.
- Determining which type of entity is most appropriate for your new business to select considering the individuals involved, type of business, future plans and legal requirements.
- Deferring your tax liabilities by utilizing retirement plans, various investment vehicles and other tax deferral choices.
- Shifting or splitting income or expenses among different entities depending on the tax rates of the various entities.
Tax planning can be basic for some businesses or individuals and very complex for others. We evaluate each situation independently and prepare a careful, complete analysis of your data in order to determine the appropriate strategy for you. Our clients can save a substantial amount of money through our planning and analysis. We also provide you with the explanations of why we are making our recommendations so that you have a complete understanding of our analysis.
Tax Preparation
We prepare tax returns for Corporations, Partnerships, Individuals, Limited Liability Companies and Trusts. Preparing tax returns has become more and more complicated over the past years and preparing tax returns manually is now obsolete. Although there are tax preparation software packages available through retailers and online, many of these packages are not sophisticated enough even for relatively simple tax filings. Our tax software has consistently been rated at the highest level by all the software rating companies.
When preparing your tax return we are still evaluating your tax and financial situation and providing you with any recommendations in the areas of tax savings ideas, business advice, investment alternatives, general accounting and bookkeeping recommendations, etc. We take the opportunity to offer these services when preparing your tax returns since we have been trained to be more than just tax preparers. When preparing your return you can be assured of the following:
- Your return will be prepared accurately in content and mathematical calculations.
- You will be able to file your return electronically, whenever possible, which provides for a more timely and accurate filing with the Service. In fact the government is now mandating that certain returns be filed electronically.
- If applicable we will inform you at the time of preparation any potential future tax saving strategies we may find.
- Timely service and assistance in the organization of your data. We also offer our free “Tax Organizer” which is available through our Website.
Other Tax Services
The firm has extensive experience in working with governmental agencies to resolve issues that may arise in the tax area. From time to time our clients may receive notices or letters from the taxing authorities indicating that an item reported to the government by a third party may have been omitted or different from their records. We offer services to respond to these “notices” and assist in rectifying the situation.
Some additional tax services we offer include:
- Payroll tax preparation or review
- IRS Audit representation
- Specialized Industry tax form preparation
- State Annual Report preparation or assistance
- Electronic filing or assistance of specific other tax forms
- Sales/Meals tax issues