Tax Planning & Advisory
Make Tax Decisions Before the Year Is Over.
Forward-looking tax planning helps identify options, estimate consequences, and define practical next steps before a filing deadline removes the opportunity to act.
Tax Preparation Reports the Past. Tax Planning Evaluates the Future.
Preparing a return generally applies the tax law to transactions that have already occurred. Planning is a separate process that models possible actions before they are completed and while timing, structure, withholding, estimated payments, or other choices may still be changed.
A planning engagement may include calculations, comparisons, implementation steps, and follow-up based on an agreed scope. It does not guarantee tax savings or a particular outcome.
Planning Is Most Useful When
- A decision has not yet been finalized
- There is enough time to gather reliable facts
- Alternative outcomes can be compared
- The taxpayer is prepared to implement agreed steps
Common Planning Events
Estimated Taxes and Withholding
Review current income, withholding, credits, and projected payments to identify potential underpayment or unnecessary overpayment.
Business Entity Decisions
Compare tax and administrative consequences of remaining a sole proprietor, electing S corporation treatment, or using another structure.
Retirement and Roth Decisions
Evaluate retirement contributions, Roth conversions, distributions, Social Security taxation, Medicare IRMAA exposure, and income timing.
Major Purchases and Asset Sales
Consider depreciation, financing, capital gains, installment treatment, basis, recapture, and timing before a transaction closes.
Year-End Planning
Review income, deductions, retirement contributions, charitable giving, business spending, and timing options before the calendar year closes.
Life and Business Changes
Marriage, divorce, a new child, retirement, relocation, business expansion, succession, sale, or another material change may require advance review.
Planning Options
Tier 1 — Tax Preparation
Included in filing fee
- Tax Prep: Full tax return, no limitation on forms.
- Communication & Access: Email support for return-related questions during filing season.
- Corrections: Free resolution of IRS/state notices tied to a return we filed.
- Planning: None — this tier is preparation, not advice on future decisions.
- Response Time: Tax-season dependent.
Best fit: Anyone who needs a return filed and doesn’t have upcoming decisions (property sale, retirement transition, income change) that need planning ahead of time.
Tier 2 — Annual Check-In
$295 / yr
- Tax Prep: Everything in Tier 1.
- Communication & Access: One scheduled planning call per year (late summer/fall), plus season-time email support.
- Planning Topics Covered: Whichever of these apply to you — RMD timing, Social Security taxation thresholds, Medicare IRMAA income cliffs, capital gains/loss timing before year-end.
- Corrections: Same as Tier 1.
- Response Time: Standard turnaround; the annual call is scheduled, not on-demand.
What $295 buys: One dedicated planning conversation, timed to catch anything that would otherwise surprise you at filing time — roughly the cost of one restaurant dinner out, once a year, to avoid a preventable tax bill.
Best fit: Clients with a stable, mostly-predictable financial picture who still want a yearly checkpoint before year-end deadlines pass.
Tier 3 — Reactive Planning
$650 / yr
- Tax Prep: Everything in Tier 1.
- Communication & Access: Everything in Tier 2’s annual call, plus on-demand access throughout the year — email or call as your situation changes, not just once annually.
- Planning Topics Covered: Tier 2 topics, plus responsiveness to real-time changes — new job, self-employment income, a move, a property sale, multi-state filing.
- Corrections: Same as Tier 1.
- Response Time: Priority turnaround on planning questions (faster than standard email support, though not a guaranteed same-day SLA).
What $650 buys: The Tier 2 annual call, plus year-round access whenever life doesn’t wait for your scheduled check-in — roughly $54/month for a standing line to your preparer.
Best fit: Clients whose year isn’t fully predictable — recent retirees still adjusting, self-employed individuals, anyone with a multi-state or life-event year.
Final scope and any add-on work outside a selected tier depend on complexity, records, entities, number of scenarios, and research required. Return preparation, bookkeeping, legal work, investment management, and representation are not included unless expressly stated.
The Process
How a Planning Engagement Works
Define the Question
Identify the decision, relevant deadline, desired comparison, and facts that could materially affect the analysis.
Gather Reliable Information
Provide current income, withholding, business records, prior returns, transaction documents, and reasonable projections.
Compare the Options
Review projected tax effects, cash-flow implications, administrative burdens, assumptions, and uncertainties.
Implement and Revisit
Complete agreed steps and update the analysis when income, law, timing, or other assumptions materially change.
Professional-Scope Boundaries
Tax planning addresses federal, state, and local tax considerations within the written engagement. It is not legal advice, investment advice, investment management, insurance advice, valuation work, or comprehensive financial planning unless another qualified professional is separately engaged for that service.
Sensitive Records
Do not send tax returns, Social Security numbers, account statements, banking data, or transaction documents through ordinary email or public website forms. Use the secure client portal or another approved secure method.
Have a Decision That Needs Analysis?
Schedule a tax-planning consultation to define the question, determine whether sufficient time and information are available, and identify the appropriate scope.
Website content is general educational information and does not create an engagement or provide individualized tax, legal, investment, or financial advice.