This is the time of year when everyone in the United States thinks about their taxes and what they could do differently to make their taxes less expensive. There is evidence that a group of people in the past had to give their captors half of what they made. They thought of themselves as slaves. Still, many Americans who make more than $100,000 a year pay much more than that in federal and state income taxes, sales taxes, social security taxes, property taxes, and excise taxes.
I don’t mind paying taxes for government services that are important. the opposite is true. I don’t want to spend a penny more than I have to. But MOST of you are paying a lot more than you have to. Why? Most of the time, it’s just because you got bad tax advice.
The truth is that there are many ways to lower your taxes in the Internal Revenue Code. I’ve spent almost 30 years reading the Code and learning about all of these options. And I’m always finding new ways to cut my taxes. All you have to do is know the law and follow it the way Congress wanted. Yes, Congress wanted to give tax breaks to people and businesses that do things in a certain way. Why? Because Congress has long used the Internal Revenue Code to promote social, energy, and economic policies.
But how do you know if the advice your tax expert gives you is the best? Unless the law says you don’t have to pay taxes, you don’t. The honest answer is that you should have a different, experienced tax advisor look over your past tax returns and your current tax situation. When you were a simple wage earner, you might not have had many options for lowering your taxes. But now you have a business or are buying property as an investment. The problem is that YOU HAVE GROWN TOO BIG FOR YOUR TAX ADVISOR!
Before you agree to work with another advisor, you should have them look at your situation. Don’t expect them to help you out for free. But ask them what they think they could do differently. When I was looking over a tax return the other day, I found that a possible client was paying $60,000 in taxes that we could easily get rid of. What would you do if I could save you $60,000 in taxes EVERY YEAR? I hope that you will take advantage of this chance right away.
“If you always do what you have always done, you will always get what you have always gotten,” no matter what you do.
Accountants for Small Business 