WHAT WORKING WITH BUSINESS CASUAL TAX ACTUALLY LOOKS LIKE
Your CPA should do more than file the paperwork.
When your income changes, a new contract starts, payroll needs adjusting or a retirement deadline is approaching, those decisions should not land in six different inboxes.
Business Casual Tax keeps the books, payroll, tax plan, retirement strategy and filings moving in the same direction.
A few minutes. Rough numbers are fine. We will review everything before the call.
THE SHORT VERSION
You should not be the project manager for your own tax situation.
Most physicians do not have one isolated tax problem. They have a collection of connected decisions.
Choose a part of the plan
Hover over or select a topic to see the decisions we help coordinate.
Choose a part of the plan
Hover over or select a topic to see the decisions we help coordinate.
Select a topic to see the decisions we help coordinate.
The legal entity and the way it is taxed are separate decisions.
- Should this be an LLC, LLP, corporation or professional entity such as a PLLC or PC?
- How should the entity be taxed, and which business return goes with that choice?
- Would an S-corporation election actually provide enough benefit to justify the additional work?
- Do you need an EIN, and which federal or state registrations come next?
- Does the structure require owner payroll or create other ongoing filing requirements?
The books should do more than collect transactions for tax season.
- Are the bank and credit-card accounts reconciled and the income recorded correctly?
- What happens when you pay a business expense personally—or pay a personal expense from the business account?
- Are owner contributions, distributions, loans and transfers classified correctly?
- Are equipment purchases, debt, payroll and contractor payments being handled properly?
- Are the numbers current and detailed enough to support a useful tax projection?
Payroll is where entity choice, taxes, cash flow and retirement planning start to overlap.
- Does your entity require owner payroll?
- What is a reasonable salary, and what can be taken as distributions?
- Should payroll or withholding change as income changes?
- What changes when you hire an employee, pay a spouse or begin working in another state?
- Are the required registrations, filings and year-end forms being handled—and can missed or insufficient payroll be corrected before year-end?
The question is not only how much tax you owe. The amount, timing and method all matter.
- How much should you reserve based on what you are actually earning now?
- Should payments be made through quarterly estimates, W-2 withholding or both?
- How do variable 1099 income, a spouse’s wages and multistate work affect the projection?
- Does a new contract, large purchase or investment change what should be paid, saved or completed before year-end?
- Will the business, personal and state returns agree with the plan?
The right retirement plan depends on more than the maximum contribution.
- Which plan fits the situation: Solo 401(k), SEP IRA, safe-harbor 401(k), cash-balance plan or something else?
- How do contributions to an employer plan interact with the physician’s business plan?
- What changes when an employee or spouse becomes eligible to participate?
- How much can be contributed, by whom and by what deadline?
- Is the tax benefit worth the required contribution, administration and cash commitment?
If nobody is responsible for those connections, that responsibility quietly becomes yours.
Our job is to understand the complete situation, determine what matters next and make sure the work actually happens.
If something affects your tax plan, we either handle it or coordinate the person who does.
WHAT COORDINATION LOOKS LIKE
One change can touch nearly everything.
This is why “call your payroll company” or “ask your financial advisor” is not a complete answer.
SOMETHING CHANGES
Your 1099 income increases by $100,000.
WE EVALUATE THE CONNECTIONS
We update the projection, determine what should be reserved, adjust estimated payments, revisit the entity and payroll strategy and show you how the additional income affects the retirement options.
YOU RECEIVE A CLEAR DECISION
The answer is not simply “pay more tax.” The amount, timing and method all matter.
SOMETHING CHANGES
You hire an employee or open another location.
WE EVALUATE THE CONNECTIONS
We evaluate the cash impact, payroll setup, state registrations, bookkeeping changes, retirement-plan consequences and the effect on owner compensation.
YOU RECEIVE A CLEAR DECISION
Hiring someone is not only a payroll decision—and finding that out afterward is generally the expensive way to learn it.
SOMETHING CHANGES
You want to fund retirement, purchase real estate or make another large investment.
WE EVALUATE THE CONNECTIONS
We model the tax benefit, contribution or purchase deadline, available business cash and the effect on estimated payments before the money moves. When another professional is involved, we coordinate with the advisor, lender, attorney or plan administrator so you are not carrying information between everyone.
YOU RECEIVE A CLEAR DECISION
A good idea still has to fit the rest of the plan.
The value is not any one item on this list. It is knowing how the items affect one another—and making the decision while there is still time to do something about it.
WHERE THE WORK ACTUALLY GOES
Current numbers. Clear decisions. Actual implementation.
Not every client needs us to perform every task. Every client needs someone to understand how the tasks affect one another.
That is the system: usable information, timely decisions, implementation and accurate filings.
THE RELATIONSHIP
We do not disappear after the return is filed.
Start with the diagnosis
We review the prior returns, current entities, books, payroll, tax payments, retirement plans and the changes you already know are coming.
Then we identify what is working, what is missing and what deserves attention first.
Keep the plan current
As actual income and expenses replace the original estimates, we update the numbers and adjust the plan.
If a contract changes, revenue moves, an employee is hired or a major purchase appears, we do not wait until filing season to discuss it.
Decide before the deadline
We address estimates, payroll adjustments, retirement contributions and other time-sensitive opportunities while the choices are still available.
December is a much better time to make a planning decision than April.
Close the loop
The business and personal returns reflect the decisions made during the year. We identify the next set of priorities and continue forward instead of starting from zero again.
You should know what is happening, what comes next and who is responsible for it.
BUILT AROUND YOUR SITUATION
The scope should fit the situation—not the other way around.
A physician with one W-2 position and a growing side gig does not need the same engagement as a full-time 1099 physician working across several states.
A private-practice owner with employees, debt and multiple entities needs something different again.
You may already have a capable bookkeeper or financial advisor. Great. We can work with them. You may want our team to handle more of the accounting and coordination directly. We can do that too.
We define:
What Business Casual Tax will handle
What another professional will handle
What information we need from you
Which decisions require your approval
When each item needs to happen
You should not be paying us to manufacture work that does not change the result. You should be paying us to identify the work that matters and make sure it gets done correctly.
HOW AGGRESSIVE THE PLAN IS, IS YOUR CALL
Some clients want to keep the strategy straightforward and conservative. Others are comfortable with more documentation or complexity to pursue every supportable planning opportunity.
We explain the options, expected benefit, risk and effort. Then we build the plan around your goals and comfort level.
We will show you where the line is and explain what it means. You decide how close you want to step to it. We do not cross it.
THE DIFFERENCE IS OWNERSHIP
Everyone can complete their task and the plan can still fall apart.
Most CPA firms are built to prepare accurate tax returns. That is not an insult. It is simply the operating model.
The problem appears when you need someone to make a decision before the return exists.
Fragmented support
The bookkeeper records what happened.
The payroll company processes the amount it was given.
The financial advisor asks how much you want to contribute.
The CPA prepares what eventually reaches their desk.
You carry the information between everyone.
Problems are discovered when the return is prepared.
Coordinated support
The books provide reliable information for the projection.
The projection informs tax payments, payroll and available cash.
Payroll and retirement planning are evaluated together.
Recommendations have an owner and a deadline.
The other professionals receive the information they need.
The return reflects a plan that was already implemented.
Technical accuracy is the foundation. It is not the entire relationship.
The better result comes from asking the right question early enough, explaining the tradeoffs and taking responsibility for the follow-through.
WANT TO SEE HOW WE START?
See the work before your first payment.
During the first 30 days, we diagnose the current setup, review the prior filings and build the initial tax roadmap.
You see what we found and what we recommend before the first payment is charged.
If you do not see the value, you can cancel. No notice period. No cancellation fee.
Tell us what is going on.
Take the intro-call questionnaire and give us the basic outline of your situation.
It only takes a few minutes, and rough numbers are fine. We will review your answers before the call and come prepared with an initial game plan.