There’s a myth floating around that Certified Public Accountants (CPAs) do tax planning. But, the CPA exam does not delve into tax planning. For your average CPA, tax planning is an independent subject, removed from accounting, tax preparation, financial reporting, audits and consulting. So, let’s dispel the myth.

1. When has your CPA or tax preparer shared an idea that saved you at least $1,000 in taxes?  It’s not likely to happen in the future if it has not happened in the past. CPAs are generally not proactive tax planners. They are costing you amazing vacations, college tuition, or new cars. We, on the other hand, save our small business owner clients an average of $21,000 per year in income taxes.

 2. What does the “P” in CPA really stand for? “Public,” as in a publicly-traded company or the general “public?” Either way, the CPA designation was created to teach general accounting principles, not to help you or small business owners lower their taxes. This is a critical distinction. CPAs are not trained to help you lower your taxes. They aren’t even trained to do tax preparation, they are trained to be accountants; they are number historians.

 3. What are four primary tax strategies? If your CPA or tax preparer cannot immediately tell you, he or she doesn’t know. Do you want someone who doesn’t know the four strategies to do your tax planning? By the way, they are; Timing, Shifting, Code and Product

Now you know more than most CPAs.

CPAs are expensive bookkeepers and tax preparers for most people and small businesses. However, we NEED CPAs. We need them for audits and we need them for more sophisticated accounting, like public companies. They have excellent value if you take advantage of their strengths. They have many strengths in the field of accounting, but for tax planning, call us