It’s true — there are certain people for whom this note doesn’t apply. There are those who are perfectly fine paying the amount of tax they pay every year, thank you very much.
However, since YOU have chosen to invest yourself in our services (or at one point considered it), you are probably in the second group: those who would love to pay less in taxes, THIS year.
If that’s the case, well, there are two main things you need to understand:
Roberts’ Irrefutable Fact #1: Our tax system is not fair.
It is too true — the Elon Musks, Warren Buffetts, Mark Zuckerbergs, etc. operate under a vastly different system than most “regular” taxpayers. This is NOT because they are politically-connected (though they are), but because of the people they have who do wonders on their behalf.
And the sooner you quit complaining about those who *seem* to be connected … and make the decision to JOIN their ranks, the sooner you will pay less in taxes.
Because all of those people, and other people like them, understand the second fact…
Roberts’ Irrefutable Fact #2: A tax return is a report, NOT a strategy.
Yes, we’re pretty good at coming behind with our magic brushes and cleaning up the mess made by many of our Louisville clients in their finances and taxes. But there is a much better way to fly.
It’s called tax planning strategy, and it’s essentially comprised of three parts:
1) Strategic review:
Assess the current situation, and identify short-, mid-, and long-term strategies to lessen your taxes, and grow your income.
2) Implementation:
This can be a little tricky (especially if you do it yourself), because there are bound to be accounting and local regulatory questions which arise. We recommend that you stay with your same team who developed the tax strategy so they make sure you’re doing what you need to do.
3) Proper compliance:
There are plenty of people out there who will give you “the secrets to paying less taxes!!!” — but are they willing to put their name on a dotted line and defend it? If not, RUN from these people. They are hype artists. Or worse, they know that their advice will lead to a fraudulent return.
The main thing to understand is that in order to REALLY get your tax situation improved, you MUST plan ahead.
Otherwise, you’re just cleaning up a mess that was already made (and can’t be fixed) when filing your tax return.
This is all especially true with the brand new
tax code in place for this year.
The good news is that there is still plenty of time to do some great work on your 2018 taxes, even now that we are headed into the final quarter. We have a pretty full couple of months ahead of us with extension returns, but we can still schedule a time to talk about ways to better your tax strategy now, so that we aren’t just cleaning up after a mess.
Call my office this week: (502) 426-0000 (or reply to this note through the email us button at the top of the page) and request one of our limited Tax Planning Saver Sessions. During this session, we will analyze your current situation and identify clear action steps for the last quarter of 2018 — designed to save your bottom line hundreds (or even thousands).
You CAN control your tax strategy … and we can help.
Until then…
Kevin Roberts
(502) 426-0000
Roberts CPA Group