Tax Planning
Reducing the amount you owe
Tax planning involves more than maximizing deductions at tax time. Active planning throughout the year is essential. We take the time to understand your business and its goals to help craft an effective tax plan. We’ll keep you informed all year about tax planning issues that impact on you and your business. As Orange County’s premier CPA firm, you’ll rest assured that we stay on top of all the tax law changes and actively communicate with you to help maximize your profits. Whether it’s setting up a retirement account, choosing an investment, or restructuring a business or trust, we have effective strategies that will keep more money in your pocket.
How we do it
​As a valued member of the Tehrani + Velez family, business clients who have an ongoing accounting engagement with us also enjoy tax plan update 3 – 4 times a year. For clients without an ongoing engagement, we make ourselves available for planning as-needed.
A tax plan update can be as simple as generating estimated tax payments based on year-to-date performance or making suggestions to position your business for the greatest tax savings. With over 30 years of experience serving Irvine area individuals and businesses, we have the experience to provide you with expert tax planning services. By using a structured approach to tax planning, we are able to identify specific areas where inefficiencies may be hiding.
1. Analysis of Structure and Compensation Planning
We’ll review your company’s financial performance to determine which entity structure optimizes your tax savings. While the S-Corporation is the most popular structure, it may not be the right fit for your business.
By reviewing your business’s historic financial results and partnering with you to project your future performance, our team of experts will run numerous scenarios to recommend the right tax structure to minimize your tax bill.
Considering your business’s overall goals with things like whether you plan to take on outside capital investors, partners, or if you are planning to acquire real estate, we’ll help you find the right entity.
Our team has decades worth of experience helping businesses like yours with these decisions.
2. Stay and Local Tax (SALT)
We help you reduce the amount of state and local tax you pay including income, franchise, and property taxes. Our SALT team works to analyze this complex area of tax to find permanent and recurring savings while helping you remain compliant and avoid penalties.
We’ll help you keep more of your money by identifying state and local tax credits for your industry.
Although we’re based in Orange County, our team can help you if you have multi-state taxation issues. With your help, we can identify income-sourcing and residency matters.
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3. Scorecard Deductions
One of the most common tax planning tools is reviewing your expenses to get the maximum business tax deduction. Tax deductions should be ordinary and necessary for your business, but often time business owners overlook deductions. For things like automobile expenses, home office deductions, travel, meals, and education, how much you can deduct is dependent on numerous factors. Our team of experts knows all the rules to secure the maximum tax benefit.
4. Avoid Penalties and Interest
When we update your tax plan during the year, it will also focus on keeping you compliant with all your tax filing and estimate your tax payment requirements to avoid paying penalties and interest. ​We’ll develop a calendar with important dates and deadlines, so you don’t have to think about it. And our Irvine-based team can prepare tax forms and payments for you to simplify the process even more.
5. Retirement Planning
Preparing for retirement starts early. Helping you maximize your retirement savings through smart tax planning is where we shine. We’ll help you understand the differences between a traditional IRA, a Roth IRA, a SEP, SIMPLE IRA, and 401(k) while positioning you for the greatest tax savings.
Company-sponsored retirement plans are great for tax planning and employee retention.
And when you get closer to retirement age, we’ll be there to assist you. We’ll help you develop a distribution plan to lower your taxes while allowing you to maintain your lifestyle
6. Revenue and Expense Recognition
Tax planning also involves when and how to record revenue and expenses. While most businesses use the accrual method of accounting internally (to track things like accounts receivable), some businesses may benefit from using a different accounting method for tax purposes. The key is choosing accounting methods that best reflects your business.
For businesses with inventory, there are several ways you can value it. Depending on your industry, we’ll help you decide if using the first-in first-out (FIFO), last-in first-out (LIFO), or weighted average method provides the best tax savings for you.
7.Capital Investments and Depreciation
​Thinking of spending money on large dollar assets and want to know if your investment will pay off? We’ll help you calculate your return on investment. Whether you’re buying one large piece of equipment or numerous smaller pieces, our team has the know-how to calculate how quickly your investment will pay off.
After you make the purchase, you can depreciate it, which is a fancy way of saying write it off. There are numerous options and rules surrounding depreciation, ranging from writing it off all in the first year to spreading out the cost over a period of years. Depending on your year-to-date results, we’ll recommend the most advantageous depreciation method to legally maximize your tax savings.
8. Employee Benefits
Providing your employees with benefits is one way you attract and retain good talent. If you already have medical insurance and employee retirement plans in place, we’ll always help you remain tax compliant. By keeping an eye on things like employee participation percentages and compensation amounts, you won’t have to worry about whether your plans meet IRS requirements.
Health benefits provided through a qualified Cafeteria 125 plan have special tax benefits not available to other employee benefits.
If your business is looking to add or change employee benefit plans, our specialized team will design different scenarios so you can see how the changes will affect your bottom line.
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9. Spesicif Tax Deductions
Did you know certain businesses qualify for specific tax deductions not available to everyone? Our tax experts do, and they will see if you can claim them.​Available until 2025, the Section 199A Qualified Business Income Deduction, also known as the 20 percent pass-thru deduction, is a powerful deduction currently available to small business owners.
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10. Specific Tax Credits
Just like with deductions, there are specific tax credits your business may be able to claim. Depending on the nature of your business you can claim credits like the research credit, general business credit, or the work opportunity credit. There are numerous credits available for renewable energy and going green. Before you make an investment in renewable energy, let our tax experts know so they can provide a solution for the best tax credit for you.
11.Advanced Tax Strategies
If your business has unique tax planning needs, let us know and we’ll work to craft a plan that’s right for you.
If you’re looking to expand your business into overseas markets, our tax experts will help you navigate the international tax waters to ensure you aren’t double-taxed.
Or considering taking on additional investors or working with private equity firms? We can help prepare projected financial statements and budgets that future investors will want to see.
Those are just a few examples of ways we can help. But whatever your business tax planning needs are, we’ve got the team to help you every step along the way.
12. Exit Planning
Every business needs a succession plan to prepare for an owner’s retirement. Ideally, that planning should start three to five years before an owner is ready to leave. Building the right team will ensure the business’s future success. Let us be your trusted resource for securing your legacy.
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