Let’s get straight to it. A sketchy CPA who “finds all the loopholes” is the last thing you want. When it comes to creative business owners, people often think their CPA will get creative with their tax return too. Well, we just can’t do that. We have a “no BS” attitude when it comes to your taxes.
It’s not because of our unshakeable integrity (there’s that too). It’s because taking a gamble on your taxes has multiple consequences. What’s more, the ramifications go way beyond you as our client.
Instead, we use our expertise to whip your accounting into the leanest, highest performing version of itself. We focus on minimizing risk, maximizing the cash you keep and playing it reeeal smart, so you can sleep well at night.
Here’s what we do (and don’t do) for our clients.
We’re extremely tax efficient and we’ll reduce your bill as much as possible.
When it comes to write-offs, it’s our MO to be on the lookout for opportunities within existing laws to be as tax efficient as possible. Ultimately, we take it as our responsibility to make sure you’re deducting everything you possibly can.
In terms of how our clients get money from their business, we structure your finances in a way to ensure the owner gets the most out of it. There’s loads of ways a company can pay its owner but we make sure the tax structures our clients use make the most sense to them.
What that means is, it wouldn’t make sense if we created something that resulted in you paying really low corporate taxes but astronomical personal tax.
That’s where our overarching view of structuring comes in. We think of you as a whole being, owner and person, and make sure your taxes are minimized across the board.
We work to prevent the shocks and unearth all the surprises.
We’ve seen the nightmare story too many times… you have your first really successful year, the business is now generating a healthy amount of profit, and now you get slammed with a massive tax bill for all the income and self-employment taxes you weren’t expecting.. Even worse, if you can’t pay it there’s all sorts of penalties and fees that come with lack of preparation. It’s extremely unsettling and can destabilize an otherwise strong upcoming year for your business.
At Revel we go with “heads up” planning year-round. We work with our clients throughout the year to look at what’s coming in terms of taxes. It’s remarkable how different your experience of the tax process is when you know what to expect. Suddenly, tax meetings are way less “rip off the bandaid” and more proactive and even exciting. Do we sometimes still get caught off guard by a crazy last-minute curveball? Of course. Nothing is perfect and the world of an entrepreneur is all about the unexpected. But it’s still so much better knowing we’ve planned for everything we can plan for.
We want to make sure you’re sleeping well at night.
It’s hard to put a value on this. It’s not just sleep (but wow, what a precious commodity.) It’s the emotional energy of worrying about the unknown. Anxious thoughts about a nasty letter from the IRS and the consequences of an investigation. This is usually because you took a gamble on an untenable tax position or you filed your return quickly, or late.
We’d never want that kind of worry in our life and we just won’t let it happen for our clients. We want them to feel taken care of with any problems anticipated. We’re working towards hearing that sigh of relief when they realize they’re in good hands.
Now, that’s everything we do for our clients when it comes to tax. Here’s what we won’t do.
We don’t play fast and loose with risky, unsupported tax positions.
We’re not here to take a chance on whether something will be picked up by an IRS agent. We take solid tax positions we know we can back up, based on the actual tax code and real court decisions.
A lot of prospects don’t realize that our signature and ID numbers go on every return we file. If there’s a pattern of questionable entries from a CPA, they’ll pull every return we’ve filed for review. That throws all of our clients in jeopardy.
It’s not necessarily about a prospect’s willingness to take a risk, it’s about how that risk would affect the welfare of our whole client base. We could just never, ever do that to the people we know and work for.
We don’t play with fire.
It’s been evidenced in the NY times that black Americans are disproportionately at risk of audit. We know there are higher standards for many groups in this country—many of the groups of clients we’re proud to serve.
The US has a hell of a way to go when it comes to things being just and fair but at least we can say our marginalized clients are protected by brilliant accounting. Not sketchy tax tactics that will land them in hot water.
If they are subject to scrutiny, we safeguard our black-owned business clients, and all of our clients, by making sure their tax return is watertight. It’s the least we can do.
We don’t make things up (or bend rules to fit with our plan).
We won’t make it look like you pay a family member when really it’s someone who’s too young to do the work. We’d never make up a business use for a vehicle if there’s no business use. We wouldn’t take egregious advantage of applicable food and drink allowances for your business.
We take positive action when it comes to your taxes and want to be as smart as possible. We’re never going to “hope it flies” with the IRS. (spoiler alert, it won’t…)
Lastly, we don’t BS our clients.
We want the best outcome, not the most tantalizing, so we don’t sensationalize what we can do for you and your taxes. We’re gonna tell you how it is while being as proactive and engaged as possible. That means we’re not going to pique your interest with alluring tax breaks if we know they just won’t apply when push comes to shove.
Our clients fundamentally know we want them to keep as much of their money in their pockets as possible. We don’t need to sell out to prove our worth.
Yup, we’re pretty firm on what we will and won’t do for you. But you need that in your CPA.
When it comes down to it, no one wants to pay tax, but if you’re going to you might as well have the right type of firm in charge. If what we’ve said has got you nodding your head in agreement then it sounds like you’re our kind of creative business owner and you have “no BS” attitude when it comes to your taxes too.
Fill in this form and we’ll let you know exactly what we can do for you.
