When you first realize that your biggest personal and business expense—bar none—is taxes, it can come as quite a shock.
Seeing so much of your hard-earned money wind up in the government’s hands can feel like a shakedown. That said, focusing a relatively small amount of time and effort into strategically reducing your taxes can pay major dividends.
Some people resist implementing creative tax strategies because they’re worried it’s going to get them in trouble with the IRS. However, as long as you do things correctly, there’s absolutely nothing illegal or risky about strategizing to pay the least amount of taxes possible.
On the other hand, it is illegal to evade taxes. As the late Martin Ginsburg, Georgetown Law professor and husband of the recently deceased Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, used to say, “Pigs get fat; hogs get slaughtered.” In other words, you want to be smart when it comes to saving on your taxes, but not greedy.
As the end of 2022 approaches, we’re entering into the most critical time of the year for tax strategy, and this two-part series outlines how you can get fat, without getting slaughtered.
PREPARE YOUR FOUNDATION
To save big on your 2022 taxes, your first step should be either building or rekindling your relationship with your team of financial professionals. These individuals will support you in establishing the foundation for developing and implementing your tax-saving strategies. At the very least, this team should include us, your Family Business Lawyer™, a bookkeeper/financial manager, and a tax advisor (either a Certified Public Accountant or an Enrolled Agent).
If your bookkeeper’s job is more about data entry than financial management, you should look for someone new—or quickly get your current staff trained and up to speed. An effective bookkeeper will manage your books on a week-to-week basis (if not daily, depending on your business). Note I said “week-to-week,” not just month-to-month or quarter-to-quarter.
Your bookkeeper’s primary responsibilities should include daily/weekly cash-flow management, monthly review of reports and categorization of expenses, and quarterly updates of your forecast and projections. Again, if your bookkeeper isn’t providing these types of services for you, your business is missing an essential part of its financial foundation.
Outside of your bookkeeper, your tax advisor is the person who actually files your taxes. Ideally, you should meet with your tax advisor at least twice a year: once in May/June (after tax season) and once approaching the year’s end in October/November, which is right now.
The May/June meeting is a general catch-up, mid-year review that lets your tax advisor know what you’re financially on track to do for the year. Based on that information, your advisor can consider the most effective tax strategies.
When you meet again in October/November, that’s when you’ll really get down to business. This is when you’ll project cash flow through the end of the year and get a tax estimate using different assumptions, both with and without tax-saving strategies included.
If your tax advisor cannot provide this level of service and is merely a tax filer, it’s time to get a new advisor. As your Family Business Lawyer™, we can help you with that, so contact us today if you need to find a creative tax advisor who’s capable of handling such matters.
Additionally, we meet regularly with many of our clients and their team of financial professionals to ensure their financial strategies are supported with the legal implementation necessary to tie it all together and ensure it works properly. To find out if we, as your Family Business Lawyer™, might be able to support you in this way, contact us today.
PUTTING YOUR STRATEGIES INTO PLAY
Next week, we’ll discuss how to develop and implement creative tax strategies that will enable you to keep more of your money in your hands rather than the government’s. Until then, contact us, your Family Business Lawyer™, if you have any questions about what you can do to reduce your upcoming tax bill.
Next week, we’ll continue with part two in this series, discussing ways to save big money on your 2022 taxes.
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This article is a service of Sky Unlimited Legal Advisory PC, Personal Family Lawyer®. We don't just draft documents, we ensure you make informed and empowered decisions about life and death, for yourself and the people you love. That's why we offer a Family Wealth Planning Session™, during which you will get more financially organized than you've ever been before, and make all the best choices for the people you love. You can begin by calling our office at (650) 761-0992 today or book online to schedule a Family Wealth Planning Session and mention this article to find out how to get this $750 session at no charge.
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