TAX PLANNING
A lot of clients were shocked by the outcome of their 2018 tax return. The reason was that most clients refused to plan for all of the changes that happened. However, as Senior Tax Advice Columnist for CPA Practice Advisor, AccountingWEB, Accounting Today, and AICPA Tax Section, Craig wrote many articles about the new tax law, and the strategies that could be taken to drastically reduce client’s tax liabilities.
Unfortunately, most clients only think of tax accountants at tax time. They believe that we have a “magic wand,” and can make our client’s taxes lower. At tax time, there are a handful of strategies that can be employed to minimize your tax obligations. However, employing tax planning throughout the year can drastically reduce your tax obligations.
Based on your financial goals, personal tax history and business situation, we help you develop a personal, family and business tax plan that maximizes your tax savings today and over the long run.
What is Year Round Tax Planning?
Tax planning is an ongoing process that minimizes taxes, maximizes credits and protects assets. We do the initial tax review of your situation when you join CWSEAPA® PLLC and continue to provide tax planning strategies for you to consider on an annual basis.
Annually, we would:
-
Review your previous year’s tax return
-
Assess your current record keeping and reporting requirements
-
Update strategies to reflect changes in tax legislation and your personal business situation
Our integrated approach provides tax deductions, tax credits, and is designed to put more money in your pocket tax-free. We develop tax planning strategies that take your individual, family and business all into account.
Advanced Tax Planning Strategies:
We’ll flag tax-saving opportunities appropriate to your situation, such as:
-
Income splitting
-
Income averaging or deferral
-
Income conversion
-
Tax credit, incentive and deduction optimization
-
Business organization
What is Tax Planning?
Tax planning is the analysis of a financial situation or plan from a tax perspective. The purpose of tax planning is to ensure tax efficiency, with the elements of the financial plan working together in the most tax-efficient manner possible. Tax planning is an important part of a financial plan, as reducing tax liability and maximizing eligibility to contribute to retirement plans are both crucial for success.
Tax planning encompasses many different considerations, including the timing of income, purchases and other expenditures; the selection of investments and types of retirement plans; and a person’s filing status and common deductions.
Financial planning is the art of implementing strategies that help you reach your financial goals, be they short-term or long-term. That sounds pretty simple. However, if the actual execution was simple, there would be a lot more rich folks.
Tax planning and financial planning are closely linked, because taxes are such a large expense item as you go through life. If you become really successful, taxes will probably be your single biggest expense over the long haul. So tax planning strategies to reduce taxes is a critically important piece of the overall financial planning process.
What Tax Planning Actually Means
Tax planning is the art of arranging your affairs in ways that postpone or avoid taxes. By employing effective tax planning strategies, you can have more money to save and invest or more money to spend. Or both. Your choice.
Put another way, tax planning means deferring and flat out avoiding taxes by taking advantage of beneficial tax-law provisions, increasing and accelerating tax deductions and tax credits, and generally making maximum use of all applicable breaks available under our beloved Internal Revenue Code.
