You see the number before you decide
Every recommendation comes with a dollar figure attached. You are never asked to take a strategy on faith.
Tax Planning
The tax bill is decided long before the return is filed
Planning is the part of the work that actually moves the number. We model your year while there is still time to change it — and show you, in dollars, what each decision is worth.
Planning is arithmetic, not alchemy
There is no secret loophole. What there is, is a long list of ordinary provisions in the Internal Revenue Code and the California Revenue and Taxation Code that only help you if someone applies them before 31 December.
Retirement plan design. Entity election. Reasonable compensation. Timing of income and expenses. Depreciation method. Accountable plans. Each one is small. Stacked correctly and documented properly, they are the difference between a comfortable April and a painful one.
What a planning engagement looks like
We build a live projection of your taxable income for the current year, then run scenarios against it. You see the baseline, you see each strategy, and you see the net effect on federal tax, California tax, self-employment tax and your cash position.
Then we implement. A plan that sits in a PDF saves nobody anything — so we file the elections, set up the plan documents, adjust payroll, and confirm the bookkeeping reflects it.
Included
What you get
Current-year tax projection
A working model of where your return will land, updated as the year develops rather than guessed at in December.
Written strategy memo
Each recommendation with the estimated saving, the authority behind it, the cost to implement and the risk profile. In plain language.
Entity & compensation analysis
Whether your current structure still fits, and what a defensible owner salary looks like for your industry and revenue.
Retirement plan design
Solo 401(k), SEP, SIMPLE, defined benefit and cash balance modelling — often the single largest legitimate deduction available to a profitable owner.
Credit sweep
R&D, hiring credits, energy and efficiency provisions, and California-specific credits that are routinely left on the table.
Quarterly check-ins
Four short calls a year so the plan tracks reality. Most of the value is in catching the change of course early.
Why it matters
What changes for you
Defensible, not aggressive
We do not sell schemes. Every position we recommend is one we would be comfortable defending in an examination — because we are the ones who would defend it.
Coordinated with the rest of your life
Tax decisions touch payroll, cash flow, lending and retirement. We look at all of it rather than optimising one number in isolation.
Compounding value
A plan set up correctly this year keeps working every year after. The retirement plan, the entity election and the accountable plan do not need to be re-bought.
The process
How the engagement runs
01
Discovery & data
We pull your last two returns, current books and payroll. Ninety minutes of your time, and we do the rest.
02
Model & scenarios
We build the projection and run the strategies that actually apply to you — not a template list.
03
Strategy session
We walk the numbers together and you decide what to implement. Nothing happens without your sign-off.
04
Implementation & monitoring
We file the elections, set up the plans, adjust payroll, and check in quarterly to keep the projection honest.
Questions
Tax Planning & Strategy, answered
Still not sure? Ask us directly — the first conversation costs nothing and we will tell you honestly whether this is what you need.
The earlier in the year the better, because more of the levers are still available — but a first meeting in October or November still catches most of them. After 31 December, the options shrink to retirement plan contributions and a small number of elections.
Preparation reports what already happened. Planning changes what happens. They are separate engagements with separate fees, and planning is the one that moves the number.
No. Every strategy we recommend rests on a specific code section, regulation or ruling, and we document the support in your file. We decline work that depends on positions we would not want to defend.
Then we tell you that in the first meeting and you do not pay for a planning engagement. Not every situation has room in it, and it is cheaper for both of us to find that out early.
Related
Often needed alongside this
Individual & Business Tax Preparation
Every return we file is prepared by a licensed professional, reviewed by a second set of eyes, and walked through with you before it is signed. No surprises in April, no letters in October.
Learn more
Outsourced CFO & Financial Advisory
Forecasting, margin analysis, pricing and capital decisions — the work a full-time CFO would do, scaled to a business that does not need one full time.
Learn more
Business Formation & Entity Structuring
The entity you register and the way it is taxed are two separate decisions. Most people make only the first one, and pay for it every year afterwards.
Learn more
Let’s talk about your tax planning & strategy.
A thirty-minute call, no charge, and a fixed quote before anything begins. If we are not the right firm for this, we will tell you that too.