Ep. 108 | Rapid Fire Q&A with Teaching Tax Flow
In this episode of the Teaching Tax Flow podcast, co-hosts John Tripolsky and Chris Picciurro tackle a variety of tax-related questions in a rapid-fire format. They begin by highlighting the role of CPAs and EAs in tax preparation and planning, emphasizing the proactive approach to managing taxes. The episode provides listeners with practical insights into estate planning and tax optimization.
Throughout the episode, John and Chris delve into important tax topics such as common misconceptions about taxes, the significance of maintaining accurate financial records, and the benefits of being self-employed. They also discuss income shifting strategies like paying children legally for work done in a family business. The duo provides advice on hiring tax professionals and bookkeepers, ensuring listeners have the tools to nurture beneficial financial relationships. This episode is rich with actionable tips for both individual taxpayers and business owners, highlighting the importance of community and proactive tax management.
Key Takeaways:
- Proactive Tax Planning: CPAs and EAs can significantly impact tax outcomes through proactive strategy and planning, ensuring individuals and businesses pay the least tax legally and ethically.
- Common Misconception: A prevalent myth is that taxes are unmanageable, but through strategic actions, taxpayers can control their tax liabilities.
- Income Structuring: Shifting income to family members, like paying children, can optimize tax savings if done legally and with clear records.
- Accurate Record Management: Maintaining detailed financial records is essential for businesses to maximize deductions and ensure compliance in case of audits.
- Community Support: Being part of a community and utilizing resources like the Teaching Tax Flow group can enhance tax knowledge and confidence in financial decisions.
Notable Quotes:
- “You control your tax by the actions that you take, or lack of actions.” – Chris Picciurro
- “Tax laws are written to encourage and discourage certain behavior.” – Chris Picciurro
- “A tax credit is better than a deduction 99% of the time.” – Chris Picciurro
- “It’s essential for a business to keep accurate financial records.” – Chris Picciurro
- “The best time to have your tax return completed is any time before October 15th that legally and ethically gives you the best result.” – Chris Picciurro
Resources:
- Teaching Tax Flow community on Facebook: DefeatingTaxes.com
- Teaching Tax Flow YouTube Channel with over 200 videos for tax tips and strategies.
Episode Sponsor:
Legacy Lock (http://www.teachingtaxflow.com/legacy)
DISCOUNT CODE: Magic1495
Listeners are encouraged to tune in to the full episode for a deeper dive into these topics and stay updated with future discussions and insights shared on the Teaching Tax Flow podcast.
- (00:02) – Rapid Fire Tax Questions with Chris Pacquiao
- (03:34) – Understanding the Role of CPAs and EAs in Tax Planning
- (13:25) – Tax Benefits and Challenges of Self-Employment
- (20:41) – Managing Tax Payments and Understanding Quarterly Tax Obligations
- (23:50) – Essential Tips for Hiring Tax Professionals and Effective Tax Planning
- (30:02) – Engaging Tax Discussions and Upcoming Surprising Topics
00:00:02.160 –> 00:00:11.200
Welcome back to the Teaching Tax Full of podcast, everybody. Today, episode 108. You’ve been waiting for it. You’ve been asking for it. We’ve been collecting the series of questions for you.
00:00:11.200 –> 00:00:21.025
We are gonna deliver some rapid fire questions to my co host here shortly, but before we do that as always, let’s take a brief moment and thank our episode spots.
00:00:24.925 –> 00:00:47.395
This podcast is brought to you by Legacy Lock. If you are new to estate planning or simply need to review your current plan, Legacy Lock makes it as easy as pie. Legacy Lock is a unique platform that enables you to easily complete your attorney drafted documents conveniently from the comfort of your home or office. Your first step to this peace of mind is simply visiting teaching tax flow dot com slash legacy.
00:00:49.935 –> 00:01:01.050
Alright, everybody. Here we are back again on the podcast, and I just realized too, sometimes actually, most of the time, I don’t even introduce myself. So my name is John Smith. Just kidding. John Chapalski.
00:01:01.270 –> 00:01:19.705
I should say John Smith because by the end of this, I know my cohost here, Chris Pacquero, is absolutely gonna be mad at me. So, Chris, are you are you ready for this, man? I got I got about 30 20 to 30 really good rapid fire questions that you have no idea what I’m gonna ask.
00:01:19.705 –> 00:01:36.970
I know. This one, this episode’s scaring me, but great to be back. And, yeah, this one, man, it’s hard when you, don’t know what’s coming, but that’s alright. And we’re just gonna sometimes a candid answer is the best, and, yeah, you’re right. I have no idea.
00:01:36.970 –> 00:02:02.100
I know you’ve been collecting information from different people in our teaching tax flow community. Some are client you know, some are some we’ve worked on with tax planning. Some some have or just, you know, at this point, just member of the community, member of our private Facebook group, defeating taxes, defeating taxes.com. Jump on in, and let’s see what you got, man. This is a this is a this is a weird one, though.
00:02:02.100 –> 00:02:12.735
Right? We’ve done over a 100 and something episodes. Other than our 100th episode, which we really didn’t have a big plan for, this one, I have no idea what you’re gonna ask me. So And I
00:02:12.735 –> 00:02:23.400
tried to tell you what some of them were maybe about 2 weeks ago or 3 weeks ago when we talked about this. You’re like, nope. I don’t wanna know it. I just wanna answer them. And that that is a honest, situation.
00:02:23.540 –> 00:02:34.665
We’re in here, though. So, I can’t promise anything, but looking through these, they’re all pretty they’re all actually really good. Some of them I know will answer kind of inadvertently. You answer 1. You might answer another one.
00:02:34.745 –> 00:02:47.885
So I apologize if I kinda ask ask it twice 2 different ways. And most of these I know exactly what they mean. So didn’t really categorize these by any stretch, but heck, man. Let’s let’s just jump into these.
00:02:47.990 –> 00:03:09.475
So And we’ve had this situation before. We’ve had some webinars that we’ve done that are just live, people asking questions. We’re actually gonna have additional webinars coming up. So, yeah, this will be fun. If you need to be us to expand on the answer, again, reach out, jump in our community, and, alright.
00:03:09.475 –> 00:03:11.415
Let’s let her rip. Alrighty.
00:03:11.555 –> 00:03:34.355
So in the in the sake of time, we’ll just start kicking these things. So first question, what is your Social Security number, date of birth, and your I’m I’m I’m totally kidding. But it is actually related to this first question. Somebody specifically asked what the role of a CPA or EA is in tax prep and tax planning. Great question.
00:03:34.735 –> 00:04:18.670
Well, they’re yep. Those are 2 different tasks that complement each other. First of all, c CPA stands for certified public accountant and enrolled agent, or EA stands for enrolled agent, both of which are licensed, tax professionals. And we both work under something called Circular 230, which is, what the IRS has put out for what our standards of ethics and care are for clients. Now what our role is, we our role as a tax preparer is to properly report someone’s income, deductions, credits, all of those things on a year end tax form.
00:04:18.670 –> 00:04:46.150
So on a personal level, that’s a form 10 40. And so when you think about tax preparation, think about it as a compliance task and something that’s done retroactively. That’s our role. The tax return deadlines are what they are, and and we could play a role in in extending those returns. We can play a role in in just making sure the information on the tax return is accurate.
00:04:46.690 –> 00:05:15.630
Obviously, we’re going to attempt to get our client the best result possible. The advantage of working with a CPA or an enrolled agent is that they can represent you in front of the IRS. So that is a hue that’s a huge advantage. They’re signing the return, based on attesting that to the best of your knowledge, this information is correct. Ultimately, the numbers on your tax return are the responsibility of the taxpayer.
00:05:17.370 –> 00:05:53.285
But as a as a licensed tax professional, we know that we are required to have, we were required to have continuing education every year, a lot of it, and also ethics training. Now tax planning and strategy is is much more flexible. So tax planning and strategy, the role of your EA or CPA is going to be someone and and I could just speak for myself in in, you know, within creating teaching tax flow. What we’re trying to do is legally and ethically reduce the tax you pay in your lifetime, and you wanna do that using different strategies. So this is very proactive.
00:05:54.225 –> 00:06:27.560
And what we’re trying to do is we’re trying to make the tax return result as favorable as possible, looking forward. So an example I mean, there’s tons of examples, but an example would be someone that, typically, we wanna get to a you know, get to the a prescription. So, John, I’ll give you an example. Let’s say you’ve got a younger couple, and they are looking to buy their first home. And they’re questioning, and they need $40,000 down payment.
00:06:27.700 –> 00:06:57.370
And they’re questioning, they’ve done a great job of savings. They have 40,000 in a money market account. They have $40,000 in a brokerage account, and they have $40,000 in a retirement account. How they get that $40,000 out of those accounts have completely different tax treatments for all of them, with the end result being a deposit on their first property. So those are the things that an EA or CPA can do to help their client prepare or plan.
00:06:58.150 –> 00:07:13.675
If they come to us at the end of the year and they said, oh, we bought a property and we yanked the 40 grand out of x, at that point, there’s nothing we can do other than report that activity, be it favorable or unfavorable, on their tax return. Awesome. Well, great great explanations.
00:07:13.735 –> 00:07:19.675
And I know that one was a little bit longer because it Yeah. The over here, man. It’s all I’ll have I yeah. I’ll mention pickleball.
00:07:20.310 –> 00:07:21.030
I didn’t have to cut
00:07:21.030 –> 00:07:40.065
you off because you didn’t mention pickleball, so we’re safe. But and and these ones, actually, the majority of these ones will will probably be a little bit more of a a quicker response for you. Sure. From your experience and actually going back to that answer too, moral of that story, your tax professional could only be as good as the information you give them. So don’t muck up your numbers too bad.
00:07:40.065 –> 00:07:58.160
Or, you know, this guy’s gonna come after you with a pickleball battle. So the next one, what are some of the most common misconceptions people have about taxes? And I’ll kinda let you answer that one in whatever direction you want to. Is there any specific, deductions? Anything.
00:07:58.380 –> 00:08:00.135
It’s kind of a general question too.
00:08:00.615 –> 00:08:23.660
Sure. The biggest misconception is that you have no control over how much tax you pay. All the other misconceptions are are a ripple from that. You control your tax by the actions that you take or lack of actions. If you take no actions and are completely reactive, the federal government, aka the IRS or whatever state and city you live in, determine your tax.
00:08:25.080 –> 00:08:30.655
Easy enough. Easy enough. This one is a little bit self serving. We actually answered this one on a Facebook post, but
00:08:30.655 –> 00:08:53.430
I’m still in the question anyways. If somebody’s looking for the best places to stay informed on taxpayer knowledge, where is that? And me me, the marketing guy, expects a good answer from you on this. Well, here’s what I would do. We know that teaching tax slope, we put out content, we have a community, and then and then we coach clients, and we coach them on tax planning and strategy.
00:08:54.050 –> 00:09:19.010
If you’re just dipping your toes in for absolutely zero investment, number 1, jumping in jumping into our defeating taxes private Facebook group, like I said, defeating taxes dot com. You can post anonymously in that group any questions that you have. Number 2, subscribe to our YouTube channel called Teaching Tax Flow. We have over 200 videos. They are typically 5 to 7 minutes or less.
00:09:19.010 –> 00:09:38.970
We have a whole, we have several series of videos, channels. Right? And I I don’t know if I’m saying that right, but, and, in one minute tips. And then just follow Teaching Tax Flow on, on all your social media. That is gonna help guide you in the right direction.
00:09:39.210 –> 00:09:52.695
If you’re working with a tax professional right now that you really like, that’s some that’s great. Continue to work with that firm or that person, but this will give you the knowledge needed to have even more intelligent conversations with that person. I’ll give
00:09:52.695 –> 00:10:08.440
you a 9.5 out of 10 on that response. Good job, buddy. They, so this one, it’s funny because there was so this was a Facebook post, I think, when we did a podcast way back when. This is well over a year ago. I have literally written in here 2023.
00:10:09.460 –> 00:10:30.625
Oh, wow. So we’re talking about board of directors. I imagine this was the post that we did a podcast on it specifically and personal board of directors be to be specific. And somebody’s response back to that in some way, shape, or form, I forgot if it was on Facebook or LinkedIn or somewhere. But I I in quotes, it says, I thought this was only for nonprofits or other organizations or large corporations.
00:10:31.100 –> 00:10:47.415
So can you explain to us in 30 seconds or less there what a personal board of directors? Right. We feel at teaching tax law, everyone should have a personal board of directors. Yes. Publicly traded companies and large nonprofits have a paid board of directors of typically former executives.
00:10:48.035 –> 00:11:10.170
That’s okay. You need to build your own board of directors. Your board of directors is your sounding board. So that should be made up of, of trusted advisers. So the most common people on your board of directors would be your an attorney, an estate planning attorney, a tax professional, a tax planner, a bookkeeper, a financial adviser, an asset manager, a banker, a lender.
00:11:10.470 –> 00:11:27.345
Now people could play more than one role in that, but that’s your typically, your your personal board of directors. Your insurance professional, your life insurance consultant, all the people that you go to to make really good financial and tax decisions. Awesome.
00:11:27.810 –> 00:11:33.670
What are some of the most common tax deductions that individuals often overlook?
00:11:35.810 –> 00:12:00.270
Food. Wow. That’s a good one. In individual, I mean, you know, typically, if you’re working with a tax professional or using some type of higher end tax preparation software, they’re gonna guide you through a question question process where you where you don’t where you don’t miss stuff. But I will tell you the most common.
00:12:00.810 –> 00:12:26.990
The most common is is going to be a 5 29 plan contribution at the state level. And why why do I say that? A 529 plan contribution, there’s no deduction on the federal tax return. There’s nowhere even to report this contribution on a federal tax return. But many states give you a deduction if you make a contribution to their state plan on the state return.
00:12:27.050 –> 00:12:36.510
So you typically miss it because you’re thinking this is, like, this doesn’t matter on my federal return. Awesome. So this one,
00:12:36.905 –> 00:12:42.905
I I won’t say a name who they are, but this is somebody that I know personally. I don’t know where they asked me.
00:12:42.905 –> 00:12:44.185
Come on. Gough it up.
00:12:44.185 –> 00:12:50.585
They were they it was probably in a coffee shop. Let’s be honest. And I’m in Michigan, so they’ll there you go. They’re a Michigan resident. Oh.
00:12:50.825 –> 00:13:24.880
And I can’t say even remotely close to they are because it I’m sure they would feel like, oh, crap. I don’t want people to know this. So their comment was and then we can I’ll ask this in a question form was, they started a business with really the misconception that a write off was free or a business expense was free, which we all know is not the case at all. So in talking with them, their question specifically was, well, then why is it better to own a business or be self employed? Why don’t I just go get a full time job?
00:13:24.940 –> 00:13:40.765
Mhmm. So do you have any advice maybe for somebody who’s stuck in limbo as far as it relates to taxes? Obviously, we won’t talk about income or motivation between those. Should you leave a full time w two and go off on your own? What’s your take?
00:13:40.905 –> 00:13:45.465
Well, there’s a lot of factors involved. So for this these per let’s I
00:13:45.465 –> 00:14:10.065
mean, there are so many factors as far as bankability for the for the other factors, what are you classified as? You know, do you have an employment relationship with someone that and and those are though there’s a long list. We have a podcast episode on the difference between a subcontractor and an employee. Let’s pretend that your income would be the same and all these other factors would be the same. The thing to remember would be this.
00:14:10.605 –> 00:14:42.030
If you are your tax laws are written to encourage and discourage certain behavior, one of the 3 laws of teaching tax flow, it’s that tax agencies are your involuntary business partner. What’s that mean? That means that this, we you pay tax on your gross w two wages. Take out if you’re putting pretax into, you know, 401k or whatever, but you pay tax on whatever your w two wages are. And if you have expenses to offset that, home office, driving, etcetera, there’s no deduction for it.
00:14:42.030 –> 00:15:22.770
When you’re a business owner, you pay tax on your net income, and and there are a lot more deductions that are ordinary and necessary, in that in that circumstance. So there are plus positives and negatives to each, but, ultimately, it comes down to someone’s situation. And and there have been times where someone’s overall tax burden would actually be less if they are self employed. Now the final point on this, the main negative being self employed, is that you’re paying both sides of the Social Security and Medicare tax, what we call self employment tax, which is 15.3% of your net income. Where when you’re an employee, you’re paying 7.65, but on your gross income.
00:15:24.565 –> 00:15:41.270
And this one is related to it, and, you could just say yes or no or however short you want to. In your words, how important is it to keep accurate financial records for tax purposes for a business? It’s essential.
00:15:42.930 –> 00:16:02.055
You’re like, I mean, there’s no other response. If you don’t have accurate records, then you’re taking let’s put it this way. Well, lack of records, if you get examined, if you can’t substantiate your expenses, you will you will pay tax on all of your income. You’ve got to be able to substantiate your expenses.
00:16:03.875 –> 00:16:19.990
Excellent. Excellent. No specific question, but somebody can can you describe I imagine they meant legally. Legally, pay my children, which we refer to as income shifting to family members. Can you describe that to us very briefly?
00:16:19.990 –> 00:16:21.015
As brief as possible.
00:16:21.575 –> 00:16:25.515
Right. Well, don’t worry. We have a one minute reel on this. But yeah. So for business owners podcast.
00:16:25.895 –> 00:17:04.260
If we do, we so for for business if you own a business and you have children that work in the business, as long as they are doing, they’re getting paid a reasonable wage for legitimate work. There’s nothing wrong with paying your children through your business. Depending on how your business is structured, there could be additional there could be payroll tax savings, And, ultimately, typically, there’s going to be a tax savings between their marginal tax rate and your marginal tax rate. You have to factor in the costs of paying them, but, typically, there’s gonna be quite a bit of savings if it makes sense. But, again, they have to be doing legitimate work.
00:17:04.260 –> 00:17:28.735
I’ll give you an example, John. We did a, a special event here locally in Franklin just recently. I needed someone because the facility we’re using was closed. I needed someone to stand outside and as people came in, go in to make sure they got into the building. I also needed someone to sit with nice handwriting, check people off that RSVP’d, and make sure they have a name badge.
00:17:29.220 –> 00:17:50.915
My kids did it. My 11 year old and my 14 year old did that. They did legitimate work. It took they were there for 2 hours, and I paid them a a a reasonable amount that you would pay some I can’t pay them a $1,000 for this. But if I was to go hire someone to do this, I would expect to pay about $20 an hour as as this kind of administrative person.
00:17:51.295 –> 00:18:00.640
So that’s an example of a legitimate payment to to minor children. And minor children have different rules than
00:18:00.640 –> 00:18:12.315
adult children. Absolutely. Can you describe exactly what tax credits are and how they relate to tax filing? So probably taxes.
00:18:12.315 –> 00:18:33.760
Absolutely. So what a a tax credit and tax deduction often get you get confused over those 2. Here’s what a tax credit is. A tax credit is a coupon. It’s like a it’s like meaning, maybe that’s not the best way to describe it.
00:18:33.760 –> 00:19:06.150
A tax credit is a payment of tax, where a tax deduction just reduces your taxable income. So a tax credit offsets let’s talk about federal federal income tax. So if you hit a $1200 credit for day care expenses or for energy efficient home improvements, and your federal tax is $10,000, now your federal tax is $88100. So a credit is better than a deduction 99% of the time. A credit is actually an offset to tax.
00:19:07.145 –> 00:19:24.050
Let’s put it let’s say put a caveat in there. There are 2 types of credits in general. There are refundable and non refundable. A refundable credit means that if the credit exceeds your federal tax, you actually get that money back. Right?
00:19:24.190 –> 00:19:38.945
A nonrefundable credit is kinda like a store credit. If you have a $10,000 credit, but your tax is only $9, then you only utilize 9,000. The store is not gonna give you that extra money. So you gotta determine if it’s nonrefundable or refundable.
00:19:40.125 –> 00:19:49.110
Are there are there any credits that actually carry forward too, like, where you can use a percentage of it and then 1 year and then the rest of the next year, or most of them kind of a annual?
00:19:50.050 –> 00:20:09.165
Most of them are annual. There are some that carry forward. There’s a whole form. You know, there there are some, like, foreign tax credit, potential research and development credits. So there are some credits that do carry forward that are more aligned with a certain segment or type of income, and, and those are reported on your on your tax return.
00:20:09.385 –> 00:20:12.850
Yeah. That was my own question. Hey. I got to throw 1 in there. Look at that.
00:20:13.150 –> 00:20:24.450
Yeah. Somebody asked the question a group that we’re all a part of. This could be for individuals and for businesses as well. So that basically saying that they filed previous year’s returns. I don’t know the whole situation.
00:20:24.995 –> 00:20:40.375
Says, what do they do if they can’t afford to pay their tax bill in full when due? So maybe, actually, if I can add another piece to this one too, Chris. If you can answer that, but then also, again, my own question I’m gonna throw in there. Explain to us a little bit about quarterly estimated quarterly tax payments.
00:20:41.130 –> 00:21:32.655
So if you cannot pay your tax bill, the first thing just get the tax return filed because there’s an additional penalty for filing late. If you can’t pay your tax bill, at this point, the IRS is pretty friendly about setting up alternative payment arrangement. The most common is going to be an installment agreement. So you can you can request I believe if you owe under 50,000, I have to double check that, you know, automatic you could you request an installment agreement with the IRS in right on their website, irs.gov, and they would approve it most likely and just have you pay monthly. Now you will still incur some penalties and interest, but at least you don’t get the that doesn’t go on your credit report, and you can get into their good graces as far as paying on a monthly basis.
00:21:33.435 –> 00:21:49.785
If you can’t pay your bill and I think that so let’s say you file a return. First thing is file the return, then you get the the bill saying, hey. We have unpaid taxes. If you and then that’s when IRS says you’ve got options. So you can either pay the whole amount in 90 days, or you can set up an installment agreement.
00:21:50.025 –> 00:22:30.135
There are rare, rare situations where if you can’t pay what you owe and and you’re you basically have no way to pay that balance, you you could try to do a, offer in compromise. I those are very, very rare, and you would definitely need to bring in an expert. We’ve had Andrew Poulos, who’s been on this podcast multiple times. He helps clients do offer and compromises. But answer the question, just file the return for the 95% of people that owe the IRS.
00:22:30.990 –> 00:23:01.950
They can figure out a way to pay them just using an online, installment agreement request and and go on. It’s rare someone owes over $50,000. Estimated quarterly tax payments. So for some so when you’re a w two person, tax is withheld from your payroll. If you don’t have but if you’re self employed or if you have other types of income, you might have to make quarterly estimated tax payments to the IRS.
00:23:02.090 –> 00:23:41.610
So in general, each year, you have to have at least, 90% of your current year tax liability or a 100% of your previous year tax liability to avoid any penalties or interest. So for people that, again, have a lot of income that doesn’t have withholding on it, you would pay quarterly estimated tax payments. I’m gonna put a bow on this topic by saying this. If you owe back tax let’s say you you filed your 23 and you couldn’t afford to pay it and you need you know, know you should probably should make a quarterly estimate for 24 tax year. My recommendation is put those assets towards paying 23 off so you don’t have that bill lingering over your head before you start making quarterly payments for the next year.
00:23:42.470 –> 00:23:48.685
Good advice. Good advice. And I get I’m trying to whittle this down to 2 more questions. I got about 12 more on
00:23:48.685 –> 00:23:50.765
here, but we could save them for around 2 of this.
00:23:50.765 –> 00:23:53.245
Maybe you got some more rapid fire ones. I could Yeah.
00:23:53.245 –> 00:24:11.130
Yeah. Yeah. We’ll we’ll fire off some of these things here. So one of them, we already talked about a little well, actually, a lot about tax planning. What’s some advice you can give somebody if they’re looking to hire a new and then I’ll add in or a you know, not for the first time, but hire a a newer replacement tax professional or bookkeeper?
00:24:11.190 –> 00:24:16.785
Like, what’s some advice you can give them as far as for, you know, the qualifying questions or interview questions
00:24:17.085 –> 00:24:30.920
Mhmm. Per se? Well, I’m gonna say this might sound a little crass, but realize that any good bookkeeper or tax professional is interviewing you way more than you’re interviewing them. Okay? That and no one’s gonna tell you that.
00:24:30.920 –> 00:24:55.700
Why? Because there are way more people that need tax professionals and bookkeepers than there are bookkeepers and tax professionals. What you wanna make sure is that they’re just a good fit. My best advice is, although you might be price conscience, don’t lead with pricing. If you could avoid asking about pricing at all in the first meeting, I would do that for sure.
00:24:56.640 –> 00:25:12.075
You’re going to why? Because the bookkeeper or tax professional, you want that person to be transparent with their pricing and be the one that brings it up. Do you go to the doctor and say, hey, doc. I’ve got this, this, this. How much would it be cost to fix this, this, the you know?
00:25:12.075 –> 00:25:22.095
No. You go there and they might say, look. We’ve got this treatment plan for you or dentist does a good way. Here are the costs associated with it. And, so that that’s my best advice.
00:25:23.690 –> 00:25:58.490
Make sure that you’re you’re if you’re in a good relationship with one of these professionals, make sure that, you can keep it and be an easy person to deal with. Be a 10 of them. You know, if you want them to reply to your emails within one day, which I think is the should happen, then you should do the same thing, before what’s coming up with documents. And, you know, just look for that person that is the, you know, that is the right fit. In oh, one more piece of advice, a little like a dirty secret.
00:25:58.870 –> 00:26:22.570
Don’t bash don’t bash your previous accounts and bookkeepers. That’s a red flag to me. You know, there’s a reason you’re looking. There’s a tactful way to to to say it. The only other thing too is I would I would if I was looking for someone, I would make sure that they might be a one one one stop shop, which is great if that’s the case.
00:26:22.790 –> 00:26:49.740
But make sure that there’s some type of contingency plan if some reason that person retired or won the lotto. And and, that way, they that because if if you’re working with maybe someone that’s a sole practitioner and they they do everything from clean the floors to file the returns, and let’s say they have a stroke and they’re not available for 4 months and hospitalized. How can you even get your documents? So you wanna make sure that if that they have most of them have a friend or someone another person that could pick up that
00:26:49.740 –> 00:27:04.395
slack or a business card. And final question. So I’ve been holding out of this one, and this is a really good question. And it probably yields a little bit of a a lengthier response. So I’ll give you I’ll give you a little grace if you go a couple of minutes on this one.
00:27:05.115 –> 00:27:42.470
Somebody asked a question a while back again, kind of just a snowball effect with this list is, you know, looking at an entire year. So looking at a calendar year, what is the best kind of schedule, if you will, for somebody to, quote, unquote, I think they put it as take care of their taxes? So we’ll kinda give you kind of the air quotes if we can because it is a serious question. But, really, how does that look like? I mean, obviously, there’s tax deadlines throughout, but maybe you can kinda bring a little bit of tax planning, advice into this response as well as maybe some things you can do after the after the year ends, I know, that we’ve talked about.
00:27:42.470 –> 00:27:47.530
So kinda walk us through maybe a a calendar year schedule and beyond if we can.
00:27:47.830 –> 00:28:17.000
So as far as when you say take care of your taxes, let’s focus on tax preparation. My answer is gonna be very short. The best time of year to have your tax return completed is not is not a deadline or a a you know? It’s any time before October 15th that legally and ethically gets you the absolute best result possible. It doesn’t have to be before April 15th.
00:28:17.220 –> 00:28:51.885
It could be and you you might have a very straightforward situation, and it could be February 11th. It could be September 11th. It could be whenever. That means that you have your books and records complete, that your tax professional you work with has the capacity to give you undivided attention, and that changes all, you know, for each person. So focus on the best result legally and ethically possible, whatever that is, and not a certain date.
00:28:53.945 –> 00:28:55.345
Makes sense. So Makes sense.
00:28:55.545 –> 00:29:27.165
That’s my that I want you to think when you when when you’re talking about getting having tax preparation, I want if you’re listening to this to think about your favorite restaurant. And I want you to think about the difference different experience you get going to that restaurant at 6 PM with a party of 8 versus for lunch on a Tuesday with the party of 2? Same food, same menu, same price. Which one’s a better experience? Probably
00:29:27.405 –> 00:29:29.665
Lot less stressed service, I’d imagine.
00:29:30.445 –> 00:29:31.345
So Mhmm.
00:29:31.770 –> 00:29:37.690
Great answer. We ran a lot shorter than I thought you’d give us. So and we we appreciate Tax planning is yeah. Tax planning is
00:29:37.690 –> 00:30:04.470
a tax plan taxes should be a verb and not a noun. Tax planning should be occurring Either set it at a certain certain month of the year that you wanna take a look at things, and then if you have a CLEs, you know, like, big life event. And and and that those are the trigger points typically. Awesome. Well, we didn’t stump you, sir.
00:30:04.470 –> 00:30:25.740
I knew you’d know all the answers. And darn it. You’d actually answered all my questions. So kudos to you for behaving yourself, and there’s a couple on here, you know, I’ll save randomly. And, honestly, if anybody’s listening to this and you you have any of these questions, I’ll probably make another another Facebook poll or something on this in our defeating taxes group.
00:30:25.900 –> 00:30:41.315
Maybe every time we get to a dozen questions, maybe once a quarter, we do have these. Because it I mean, they’re fun. And they’re great questions. And it to me, it it’s very interesting because a lot of them are asked. It’s the same question just in different context.
00:30:41.315 –> 00:30:52.675
So it’s, you know, trying to compile these you know, we might look in and say we have a 150 questions, but there’s really only 6 or something. So this was fun. I I enjoy it. So thank you for entertaining my idea of trying to stump you
00:30:52.675 –> 00:31:00.330
a little bit. My pleasure, and thanks for listening. I look forward to seeing everyone’s questions in the future as well.
00:31:00.870 –> 00:31:14.735
Absolutely. And if you guys are listening to this and not watching it, wherever you are listening to it, check it out on YouTube. So we’re posting all these episodes in their entirety. We’re not it really actually, we’re not editing anything out. You can see it.
00:31:14.735 –> 00:31:37.005
So you can kinda, you know, laugh at Chris’s facial expressions when I try to, you know, ask him about a 10.99 employee or LLCs and all this fun stuff if you early podcast. Hint hint if you really wanna get a good laugh. But thank you everybody again for joining us here on the teaching tax flow podcast. Got some great topics coming up. Looking at our schedule here for the next 4 to 6 weeks.
00:31:37.485 –> 00:31:57.640
Couple curveballs in there. You probably wouldn’t expect to be on a tax related show or finance or business related show. So we look forward to having those guests on those topics. And as always, we’ll see you back here next week, roughly the same time, totally different topic here on the TTF, the Teaching Tax Flow podcast. Thank you, everybody.
00:31:57.700 –> 00:31:58.440
See you soon.
00:31:58.660 –> 00:32:03.410
The content provided is for educational purposes only. We encourage you to seek personalized investment advice from
00:32:03.410 –> 00:32:03.605
your financial professional. For all tax and legal advice, please consult your CPA
00:32:03.605 –> 00:32:20.170
or attorney. Investing For all tax and legal advice, please consult your CPA or attorney. Investment advisory services are offered through Cabin Advisors, a registered investment advisor. Securities are offered through Cabin Securities, a registered broker dealer. The content of this podcast does not constitute an offer of securities.
00:32:20.310 –> 00:32:27.050
Offerings can only be made through an offering memorandum, and you should carefully examine the risk factors and other information contained in the memorandum.