Tax Planning Frequently Asked Questions
What is proactive tax planning?
Proactive tax planning is the process of reviewing your income, business structure, real estate activity, financial decisions, and anticipated transactions before the tax year ends.
Unlike tax preparation, which reports what already happened, tax planning focuses on identifying potential opportunities, estimating tax exposure, and making informed decisions while there may still be time to act.
How is tax planning different from tax preparation?
Tax preparation focuses on accurately reporting prior-year income, deductions, credits, and other tax information.
Tax planning is a separate advisory service that may include:
Current-year tax projections
Entity-structure analysis
Owner-compensation planning
Retirement-plan opportunities
Real estate tax strategies
Estimated-tax planning
Multi-state considerations
Implementation recommendations
Tax preparation does not automatically include a comprehensive tax plan.
Who is tax planning designed for?
Our tax-planning services are primarily designed for:
Women-owned small businesses
Profitable sole proprietors and LLC owners
S-corporation shareholders
Multi-entity business owners
Real estate investors
Rental-property partnerships
High-income entrepreneurs
Business owners experiencing significant growth
Taxpayers facing large or unexpected tax liabilities
Tax planning is generally most valuable when there is sufficient income, complexity, or tax exposure to justify the planning investment.
Do I need to be a woman-owned business to work with your firm?
No.
Our small-business tax-planning services are intentionally focused on supporting women entrepreneurs and women-owned businesses. However, our real estate tax-planning services are available to all qualified investors, including individuals, married couples, partnerships, and multi-entity owners.
What issues may be reviewed during tax planning?
Depending on your circumstances, we may evaluate:
Business entity structure
S-corporation eligibility
Reasonable compensation
Payroll and owner distributions
Retirement-plan opportunities
Accountable-plan reimbursements
Business-use deductions
Estimated-tax payments
Multi-state tax exposure
Depreciation planning
Cost-segregation opportunities
Real estate professional status
Material participation
Rental-property grouping elections
Property acquisitions and sales
Partnership ownership structure
Hiring family members
Business expansion or major purchases
Not every strategy applies to every client.
What is included in a comprehensive tax plan?
A comprehensive tax-planning engagement may include:
Review of prior-year tax returns
Review of current financial information
Current-year tax projection
Analysis of applicable planning opportunities
Estimated impact of recommended strategies
Written tax-planning roadmap
Strategy presentation meeting
Implementation timeline
Documentation and maintenance guidance
The exact scope depends on the client’s entities, income, properties, states, ownership structure, and planning needs.
Is the discovery call the actual tax plan?
No.
The discovery call is an introductory consultation used to learn about your situation, identify potential areas of concern, and determine whether a formal tax-planning engagement may be appropriate.
A formal tax plan is not prepared until the engagement agreement has been signed, the planning fee has been paid, and the requested documents have been received.
Any ideas discussed during the discovery call are preliminary and should not be implemented without further analysis.
How much does tax planning cost?
Comprehensive tax-planning engagements varies.
The final fee depends on factors such as:
Number of businesses and entities
Number of owners
Number of rental properties
States involved
Complexity of the tax issues
Quality of the financial records
Number of strategies evaluated
Implementation and coordination requirements
A written scope and fee are provided before the engagement begins.
Is the tax-planning fee based on the amount of tax savings?
No.
The fee is based on the professional time, analysis, complexity, documentation, and expertise required to prepare the tax plan.
Projected savings are estimates based on the information available at the time of the analysis. Actual results may differ based on income, implementation, timing, documentation, changes in tax law, and other circumstances.
Can you guarantee that I will save money?
No.
Tax savings cannot be guaranteed. Every recommendation depends on the client’s specific facts, eligibility, income, documentation, implementation, timing, and applicable federal and state tax law.
The goal of tax planning is to identify legitimate planning opportunities, improve decision-making, and help reduce avoidable tax surprises.
Are the strategies IRS-approved?
We evaluate strategies based on applicable federal and state tax law, IRS guidance, regulations, and established legal authority.
However, no strategy is automatically approved for every taxpayer. Each recommendation must be supported by the client’s facts, proper documentation, business purpose, eligibility, and correct implementation.
Do you only recommend aggressive tax strategies?
No.
Our approach focuses on compliant, supportable, and practical tax planning. We consider the potential benefits, documentation requirements, implementation costs, audit exposure, and ongoing maintenance before recommending a strategy.
A strategy should make financial and operational sense—not merely create a deduction.
Do I have to implement every recommendation?
No.
You decide which recommendations you want to implement.
The tax plan may present several opportunities, but you are under no obligation to implement every strategy. We will explain the potential benefit, cost, timing, documentation, and maintenance requirements so you can make an informed decision.
Is implementation included in the tax-planning fee?
Unless specifically stated in the engagement agreement, implementation is a separate service.
Implementation may include:
Entity elections
Payroll changes
Accountable-plan documents
Retirement-plan coordination
Bookkeeping procedures
Tax elections
Cost-segregation coordination
Compliance filings
Ongoing monitoring
Separate fees may apply based on the work required.
Does the tax plan include tax-return preparation?
No, unless tax-return preparation is specifically included in the engagement agreement.
Tax planning, tax preparation, implementation, bookkeeping, payroll, and ongoing advisory are separate services.
How long does the tax-planning process take?
The timeline depends on the complexity of the engagement and how quickly complete information is provided.
Delays may occur when:
Financial statements are incomplete
Tax returns are missing
Bookkeeping requires cleanup
Ownership documents are unavailable
Additional analysis is needed
Information is received in stages
The planning process begins after the engagement is accepted, payment is received, and all required documents have been submitted.
What documents will I need to provide?
Requested documents may include:
Prior-year personal and business tax returns
Current-year profit-and-loss statement
Current-year balance sheet
Recent payroll reports
Owner-compensation information
Estimated-tax payment records
Entity formation and ownership documents
Rental-property schedules
Property closing statements
Depreciation schedules
Retirement-plan information
Details of anticipated purchases, sales, or income changes
All sensitive documents should be uploaded through the secure TaxDome portal.
Can you work with my current CPA, attorney, financial advisor, or retirement-plan provider?
Yes.
Tax planning often requires coordination with other professionals, including:
Attorneys
Financial advisors
Retirement-plan administrators
Payroll providers
Insurance professionals
Cost-segregation providers
Bookkeepers
Mortgage and real estate professionals
We do not provide legal, investment, insurance, or retirement-plan administration services unless properly licensed and separately engaged to do so.
Do you offer tax planning for real estate investors?
Yes.
Real estate planning may include review of:
Rental-property ownership
Depreciation
Cost segregation
Real estate professional status
Material participation
Short-term rental activity
Grouping elections
Partnership structure
Property purchases and sales
Multi-state rental activity
Estimated-tax exposure
Eligibility depends on the investor’s facts, ownership, participation, documentation, and income.
Does owning rental property automatically qualify me as a real estate professional?
No.
Real estate professional status is determined under specific tax rules and generally requires meeting both time and participation requirements.
Simply owning rental property, working from home, or managing a property does not automatically qualify someone for real estate professional status.
Detailed time records and supporting documentation are important.
Does a cost-segregation study always create tax savings?
No.
A cost-segregation study may accelerate depreciation, but the actual benefit depends on factors such as:
Property type
Purchase price
Land allocation
Placed-in-service date
Taxpayer income
Passive-activity limitations
Material participation
Future sale plans
Depreciation recapture
State tax treatment
The potential benefit should be evaluated before ordering the study.
Can tax planning eliminate all of my taxes?
No.
The goal of legitimate tax planning is not to eliminate every dollar of tax. It is to identify lawful opportunities, improve timing, reduce unnecessary exposure, and help the client make informed financial decisions.
Claims that a strategy can eliminate all taxes should be evaluated carefully.
Do you provide services nationwide?
Yes.
AccuTax provides virtual tax-planning and advisory services to clients throughout the United States.
Each engagement is evaluated based on the states involved, filing requirements, complexity, and whether the matter falls within the firm’s service capabilities.
How do meetings and document exchanges work?
AccuTax is a virtual-first firm.
Meetings are generally held through Zoom, and documents are exchanged through the secure TaxDome client portal. Sensitive tax information should not be sent through regular email or text message.
How do I get started?
The first step is to Book a Tax Planning Discovery Call.
During the call, we will discuss your business, real estate activity, current concerns, and planning goals. If the engagement appears to be a good fit, you will receive a proposed scope, engagement agreement, and fee.
Important Disclaimer
Tax-planning strategies and projected savings depend on each client’s individual circumstances, taxable income, eligibility, documentation, implementation, timing, and applicable federal and state law.
No specific tax result or savings amount is guaranteed. Tax planning does not constitute legal, investment, insurance, or retirement-plan advice. Coordination with appropriately licensed professionals may be required.