Financial Check-up Time

You’ve filed and paid last year’s taxes (fist pump). So you can forget about it all until next year, right? Uh, no.

Jonathan and I make the case to get proactive now to avoid those unpleasant IRS surprises:

Why May is the perfect time to schedule a strategic tax planning call with your CPA.

How to pay yourself and fund your tax liability, even when you have spikes in your income.

Who you need on your team to get the right advice—and why it’s worth hiring experts (hint: peace of mind is priceless).

Setting up tax-advantaged plans now instead of waiting until year-end.

Quotables

“So I have these like quarterly spikes…that make it hard to have a set it and forget it payroll.”—JS

“As long as you give your accountant a couple of weeks to breathe (after tax day), they’re usually anxious…to think strategically vs. just plowing out a bunch of tax returns.”—RM

“I’d rather have the IRS hold it (my tax withholding)…I just don’t want to know about it. I don’t want to ever see it.”—JS

“I’m pretty sure my tax accruals are more than I’m going to need. And so after I pay the IRS next year, I’ll pay myself a bonus with whatever’s left.”—RM

“When I started my solo consulting business, I got a financial planner, a bookkeeper and a lawyer.”—JS

“People who have left consulting (to go solo), the first thing they do is incorporate because they’re worried about liability. You’re like, ‘ah, the first thing I’m going to do is protect myself and my assets’.”—RM

“It still makes sense to check in with someone who has got a bigger picture, knows more detail about what’s going on—we’re fans of expertise over here.”—JS

“You have a lot of options depending on your business structure to tuck some money away pre-tax…it’s worth having that chat with your accountant.”—RM