Strategic Planning

Strategic Tax Planning to Lower Your Tax Liability

Many factors can influence your taxes, whether you’re an individual or a business owner. During your tax planning session, we address areas such as:

• Choosing the Right Business Entity: We evaluate different business structures (sole proprietorship, partnership, LLC, S corporation, C corporation) to find the most tax-efficient option considering liability protection, administrative ease, and tax benefits.

• State Residency: Understanding the tax implications of your state of residence—including income tax rates and available credits—is crucial.

• Life Events: Major changes like marriage, divorce, the birth of a child, or the loss of a family member affect your filing status, deductions, and credits.

• Charitable Contributions: We maximize tax advantages from donations by advising on deductions, gifting appreciated assets, and establishing trusts or foundations.

• Business Asset Acquisition: Planning for purchases to leverage benefits like bonus depreciation, Section 179 expensing, or R&D credits.

• Personal Asset Purchases: Reviewing tax effects on significant purchases such as homes or vehicles and evaluating applicable deductions or credits.

• Retirement Planning: Exploring tax-efficient retirement strategies, including contributions to IRAs, SEP plans, 401(k)s, and maximizing deductions.

• Sale of Property: Planning for taxes on sales of rental or personal properties, including capital gains, depreciation recapture, and possible deferral strategies like 1031 exchanges.

• Tax Loss Harvesting: Identifying opportunities to offset capital gains by selling investments at a loss, reducing overall taxes.

• Health Savings Accounts (HSAs): If eligible, maximizing contributions to HSAs for triple tax benefits—tax-deductible contributions, tax-free growth, and tax-free withdrawals for medical expenses.

• Equity Compensation (RSUs and ESPPs): Navigating the tax complexities of restricted stock units and employee stock purchase plans to optimize outcomes.

• Capital Gains Strategies: Managing capital gains through holding periods, loss harvesting, deferrals, step-up in basis, QSBS exclusions, and charitable donations of appreciated assets.

• Education Savings: Utilizing tax-favored education savings plans like 529s and Coverdell ESAs for future educational expenses.

• Home Office Deductions: Evaluating eligibility to deduct a portion of your home expenses if you run a business from home.

• Qualified Business Income Deduction: Helping eligible businesses take advantage of up to a 20% deduction on qualified business income.

• Estate and Gift Tax Planning: Preparing for estate and gift taxes through strategic gifting, trusts, and utilizing available exemptions.

• Tax-Efficient Investments: Advising on investment strategies that reduce taxes, such as long-term holdings and tax-managed funds.

• Estimated Tax Payments: Assisting you in staying current with estimated tax payments to avoid penalties.

• Federal and State Credits: Researching applicable credits like R&D, land preservation, and electric vehicle incentives to lower your tax bill.