Tax Planning
Making decisions during the year that reduce what you owe, rather than finding out what you owe after the year is over.
What it is
Tax preparation is backward-looking: it reports what already happened. Tax planning is the work that happens before the year closes, when you can still change the outcome.
That means looking at your entity structure, the timing of income and expenses, retirement contributions, equipment purchases, and owner compensation, and making deliberate choices instead of accidental ones. Most of the meaningful opportunities disappear on December 31.
Who it's for
- Owners whose income varies significantly year to year
- Businesses considering a change in entity structure
- Owners taking distributions or setting their own salary
- Anyone planning a large purchase, sale, or investment
- Businesses that were surprised by their tax bill last year
What's included
- Review of entity structure and owner compensation
- Income and expense timing strategy
- Retirement and benefit plan considerations
- Depreciation and capital purchase planning
- Estimated payment strategy to avoid penalties
- Mid-year and year-end planning check-ins
Where it fits
Tax planning is included with the Full Advisory Partner membership and can be added to a base tax membership. It works best alongside current bookkeeping, since planning requires knowing where you actually stand.