Hello Reader,

It’s no secret accountants are busy this season! Here’s how high earners should use valuable face time with their tax team.

3 things to share with your accountant this season:

𝟭. 𝗧𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝗺𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲’𝘀 𝗴𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗮𝗺𝗯𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀

If I don’t know what you want your money to do, I can’t structure it correctly.

𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘺𝘱𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘨𝘰𝘢𝘭𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳:

• Funding college,

• funding a sabbatical,

• leaving millions to charity,

• dying with zero.

𝘎𝘰𝘢𝘭𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵:

• how aggressively we plan for taxes,

• how much liquidity you need vs. can defer,

• how your business is structured,

• how and when money can be pulled out.

Last year, a client wanted me to confirm a ROTH strategy from his financial advisor, yet conversions made no sense for this client’s lifestyle and estate goals.

Goals I knew because I talk purpose with my clients.

𝘚𝘰, 𝘐 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘮 1.07 𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘢𝘹𝘦𝘴.

If I only know your numbers and not your ambitions, then I’m “optimizing” nothing.

𝟮. 𝗗𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝘀𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗱𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘀

Most financial damage doesn’t come from bad decisions, but from decisions made too late or too quickly.

A client recently told me she was trying to get pregnant and wanted to plan for the drop in her income.

Instead, I set up a payroll strategy to take full advantage of her state’s paid family medical leave, a strategy she did not know about, and I only knew to deploy because she spared me no details.

You’re not expected to know all the rules, so 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘢 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘢 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦.

𝟯. 𝗕𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝗲 𝗴𝗼𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗽

𝘉𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦:

• The thing your mastermind swears by

• The TikTok tax hack

• The “this saves millions” advice

𝘉𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦:

• Some strategies only work in very specific situations

• Some people are confidently wrong

• And sometimes there is something smart we should explore further

𝗜𝗻 𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗹, 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗻𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗳𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄 𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗱𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗳𝘂𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱.

Not that you need to understand compliance, but you should know enough to double-check I’m getting the results you’re expecting.

𝗜𝘁 𝗶𝘀𝗻’𝘁 𝗺𝘆 𝗷𝗼𝗯 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗮𝘆 𝘆𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗿 𝗻𝗼 𝘁𝗼 𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗮𝘀, 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝘂𝗿𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗹𝘆 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆 𝗶𝗻 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝘅𝘁.

Happy tax season!