Need to Create a Business Tax Plan? How to Work With Your CPA
An honest conversation can determine whether your CPA is able to meet your tax planning needs, and if so, getting prepared yourself is imperative to make it possible for them to do a good job.


Ask any business owner to name their most trusted adviser, and they usually mention their accountant. They assume their CPAs will accurately file their companies’ tax paperwork on time, as well as develop a business tax plan with strategies to keep their taxes as low as possible.
This consultation can help you keep and reinvest thousands of dollars in your business rather than sending it out the door to the government. A business tax plan is as important as your marketing plan or your succession and estate plans. It’s proactive and usually regenerates itself annually, providing recurring savings.
Unfortunately, only one of these things usually happens.
If you meet with your accountant just once or a few times a year before tax-filing season, you can reasonably expect them to prepare your IRS filings. They probably won’t provide, or even think about providing, you with specific tax planning strategies that can help you minimize taxes in the years ahead. This is a surprise for most business owners I’ve talked to over the years.
Your CPA isn’t trying to take advantage of you. The truth is that most simply don’t have the training, the time, the staff or even the office infrastructure to create strategic tax plans for their clients. Accountants are trained to look backward. They’re recording history. Very few of them take the time to look forward, especially as the sheer volume of documentation they need to complete for the IRS grows yearly.
A quick meeting with your CPA – anytime except Jan. 1 to April 15 – will help you clear up misunderstandings, set financial goals and position yourself and your business to take advantage of every possible tax code benefit.
Here's how to learn if your accountant is the right fit for your needs and, if they are, how you can partner with them to have the best possible legal tax outcome.

Have an Honest Conversation With Your Accountant.
Ask your CPA whether they have the knowledge and resources to create a tax plan that will provide recurring savings. If they can’t do it in-house, do they have a network of professionals they can tap? If the answer is no to both questions, find another accountant or be content to pay them to merely fill out and file documents for you.

Know What You Want to Accomplish With a Tax Plan.
Do you want to preserve working capital, build wealth outside your business, obtain equipment to help expand capacity or create new capabilities, or something else? It’s not enough for business owners to tell their accountants they just want to pay less taxes. Be specific. If you and your spouse have different goals, strike a balance between them so you can present a clear objective.
Consider the example of a wife who owns a small business with annual gross revenue of $15 million and net income of $2 million. She keeps pouring money back into the company. Her spouse, meanwhile, worries that the $200,000 they’ve saved outside the business isn’t enough to support them if economic conditions unexpectedly slow. In that instance, a tax planning accountant can develop an asset-protection strategy that will help the couple build and keep wealth outside the company using a variety of tools, including life insurance.

Start the Tax Planning Process Well Before Year’s End.
Initiate discussions about a tax plan for the current year by September or October. Don’t wait until December. By then, accountants won’t have the time to put a plan in place and effectively implement it. It will have to be deferred until next year.

Make Sure Your Business’ Accounting Records Are Up to Date.
I talk to many small-business owners who can rattle off how much revenue they’ve collected year-to-date, but they don’t know their current net profit. That’s because they haven’t taken the time or spent the money to organize their finances. Hire staff, invest in technology, whatever it takes. Without current data, your accountant can’t create an accurate and appropriate tax plan.

Have a Strong and Capable Back Office.
A supportive and smart administrative staff can collect the necessary information. This is the single most important factor in helping your accountant to develop a tax plan because it markedly improves the success rate. Your team must be savvy about cash flow and cash reserves.

Follow Through.
Respond to emails, make the phone calls to recommended vendors — do all the necessary tasks to execute the plan. A strong back office can help here as well. I put clients in touch with vendors to execute strategies, but many times they don’t follow up.
I had one client who owed $500,000 in taxes last year. He wasn’t happy about that, so I gave him a plan for this year and explained the strategy. Months later, he still hasn’t contacted the vendor I recommended to help execute the plan. Time is running out.

Be Prepared to Pay.
It could cost your business thousands of dollars to pay your accountant for a tax plan, but a good one will deliver savings that are four to five times that amount. This should not be looked upon as an expense, even though its cost is deductible as a business expense. Rather, you should regard it as an investment that, if executed properly, will yield a valuable return.
Don’t assume. It’s worth your time to ask if your accountant will suggest forward-looking tax strategies. And it’s worth the investment to follow through.
--
This article was written by and presents the views of our contributing adviser, not the Kiplinger editorial staff. You can check adviser records with the SEC or with FINRA.
Profit and prosper with the best of Kiplinger's advice on investing, taxes, retirement, personal finance and much more. Delivered daily. Enter your email in the box and click Sign Me Up.

Bruce Willey has been working with small to midsize businesses across the country for more than a decade, helping them navigate business and tax law in a variety of situations. His services include assisting with business start-ups, operations, growth, asset protection, exit planning and estate planning.
-
Last Call for Fortnite Refunds: Parents Can Still File a Claim
The FTC is sending out $126 million in refunds to families whose kids were charged for unwanted items in Fortnite — and there’s still time to file a claim.
-
Stock Market Today: Stocks Swing as Trump Scraps Canada Trade Talks
Despite a mid-afternoon slip, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq ended the day at new record highs.
-
Why Smart Retirees Are Ditching Traditional Financial Plans
Financial plans based purely on growth, like the 60/40 portfolio, are built for a different era. Today’s retirees need plans based on real-life risks and goals and that feature these four elements.
-
To My Small Business: Well, I've Been Afraid of Changin', 'Cause I've Built My Life Around You
While thinking about succession planning might feel like anticipating a landslide (here's to you, Fleetwood Mac), there are strategies you can implement to manage the uncertainty and the transition.
-
These Are the Key Tariff Issues to Watch in Coming Months
While they're not dominating headlines right now, tariffs are not over. Some key dates are coming up fast that could upend markets all over again.
-
Technology Unleashes the Power of Year-Round Tax-Loss Harvesting
Tech advancements have made it possible to continuously monitor and rebalance portfolios, allowing for harvesting losses throughout the year rather than just once a year.
-
The Fiduciary Firewall: An Expert's Five-Step Guide to Honest Financial Planning
Armed with education and awareness, you can avoid unethical people in the financial industry by seeking fee-only fiduciaries and sharing your knowledge with others.
-
How Private Capital Could Be the Key to Rebuilding America
Private capital investment in infrastructure could be a more efficient and effective alternative to government funding, potentially stimulating the economy during uncertain times, creating jobs and delivering projects on time and within budget.
-
Real Estate Bridge Funds: An Expert Guide to Investing in a Volatile Market
Investors looking for passive income are buying into these funds, which offer capital to borrowers for short-term financing.
-
Bill Bought a Fridge, and Then His Nightmare Began
A Lowe's customer reached out to me after he encountered the retailer's 48-hour return window for major appliances when his brand-new fridge turned out to be defective.