Tax Strategy & Consulting

We help clients make better tax decisions before year-end, before a big transaction, and before another year produces avoidable surprises.

Tax preparation looks backward. Tax strategy looks forward. We work with clients who want to make better decisions before year-end, before a major transaction, before an entity choice, or before another year produces surprises that didn’t need to happen.

That includes business owners, entrepreneurs, high net worth individuals, creatives, actors, models, stylists, real estate professionals, recruiters, expats, and private clients with multi-source income or multi-entity structures. The common thread is that their tax lives are shaped by more than annual filing.

What Tax Strategy Looks Like in Practice

Tax strategy isn’t just about “finding deductions.” It’s about understanding how the entire return is built and making choices that improve the outcome across multiple lines and multiple years. Those building blocks are explored in detail across our pillar-post system, including:

Tax Strategy & Consulting is where those building blocks turn into forward-looking decisions.

Common Areas We Cover in Strategy Conversations

Depending on the client, strategy work touches:

estimated tax planning,
entity choice,
owner compensation,
retirement contribution timing,
gain and loss recognition,
multi-state filing implications,
distribution planning,
income shifting across years where appropriate,
business-expense discipline,
and coordination with advisors around investment or private-client decisions.

For some clients, strategy means reducing the annual tax surprise. For others, it means evaluating larger structural decisions that affect multiple years.

Why Clients Work With Us on Tax Strategy

Most of our strategy clients want advice grounded in how the return actually works and how their financial life actually operates — not abstract theory or generic checklists. The best tax planning we do happens when we already handle the client’s returns, books, and entity work, because we’re not guessing at the numbers. We’re looking at them.

Frequently Asked Questions

When should I start thinking about tax planning for this year?

The best time is mid-year — around June or July — when there’s still time to make changes that affect the current year’s return. By December, most of the decisions that matter have already been locked in. Waiting until tax season means you’re looking backward instead of planning forward.

Is tax planning worth it if my income is under $100K?

It depends on the situation more than the dollar amount. A freelancer earning $80K with no entity structure, no retirement contributions, and inconsistent estimated payments can benefit significantly from even a single planning conversation. The value comes from fixing structural issues, not just chasing deductions.

How often should I meet with my tax advisor during the year?

For most clients, two to three touchpoints work well — a mid-year planning check-in, a pre-year-end review, and then the return itself. Clients with more moving parts (multiple entities, large transactions, changing income levels) may benefit from quarterly conversations.

What’s the difference between tax strategy and tax preparation?

Tax preparation reports what already happened. Tax strategy shapes what’s going to happen. Preparation is backward-looking and compliance-focused. Strategy is forward-looking and outcome-focused. The best results happen when both are done by the same firm, because the return informs the plan and the plan improves the return.

Can tax planning reduce my self-employment tax?

In many cases, yes. Entity election (such as S-corp treatment), retirement contributions, and income-timing strategies can all reduce the self-employment tax burden. The specifics depend on your income level, business structure, and willingness to maintain the administrative requirements that come with certain elections.

Related Resources

Request a Consultation

If you’re making decisions this year that will affect next year’s return, it’s worth talking through the tax side before you commit. The consultation is confidential.

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