INDIVIDUAL TAX ADVISORY AND PREPARATION
As the complexities of the tax code increase, the time involved in tax return preparation does as well. The simplistic tax returns are almost non-existent as more and more individual tax clients who consider their tax position “average” see how to avail themselves of more complicated areas of planning. In so many cases, we counsel and advise our individual tax clients all throughout the year on various topics, some of which include:
- Analysis of exemptions claimed on their W-4 for adequacy of withholdings
- Analysis of the effect of stock sales or real estate transactions on the upcoming tax return
- Advisory regarding estimated tax payments and their applicability
- Advisory regarding the tax effect of divorce, marriage or the birth of a child
- Advisory regarding self-employment and how that career change affects the tax return
- Availability of deductions for IRA or other retirement plan contributions.
We encourage our individual tax clients to stay in touch with us during the year to let us know when events such as these occur. As is often the case, what seemed to be one simple question opened the door to many other questions, and more planning opportunities were explored to the benefit of the taxpayer. The few examples of life events mentioned above can have far-reaching effects on a client’s tax return, so we encourage our clients to ask us whether an event will change their tax position rather than wait until it’s too late for us to make a constructive recommendation.
We occasionally encounter questions from our individual tax clients regarding investment decisions or long-range retirement decisions. In those cases, we advise the client to consult with a certified financial planner for those answers. We are more than happy to provide you with the name of a trusted advisor who would be able to accommodate you. We believe that we should provide guidance in the form of well-researched and credentialed referrals if we cannot provide the actual service to our clients.
