Services

Tax planning before the year closes

Decisions made in October rather than April, so the bill in spring is one you already knew about and had a chance to change.

Book a free consultation All services

Latonia Farris-Jenkins meeting with a client in her Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois office

What this is

By April, most of the decisions are already made

A tax return reports what happened. It cannot change it. Nearly everything that moves the number, entity structure, timing of income and purchases, retirement contributions, how owners pay themselves, has to be decided before the year ends.

Tax planning is the conversation that happens while there is still time to act. For clients on monthly bookkeeping it is straightforward, because the figures it relies on are already current.

What you get

A projection of where the year is heading, built from real figures

Entity structure reviewed against what the business has become

Owner compensation and distributions looked at properly

Timing of income, purchases and write-offs

Retirement contribution options

Estimated payments set so April holds no surprises

Who it is for

When planning earns its fee

The business had a good year

Profit is up and nobody has looked at what that means until the return is being prepared. This is the most expensive time to find out.

You are still a sole trader

The structure that suited you at the start may not suit you now. Whether that is worth changing is an arithmetic question, not an opinion.

The bill is a surprise every year

Estimated payments were set years ago on figures that no longer apply, and every April brings a number nobody predicted.

How it works

Scoped and priced before anything starts

The first call is free and takes about twenty minutes. Latonia looks at your file and your last filed return, then comes back with a written scope and a fixed price. You decide from there. No hourly meter, and no charge for the conversation.

Start here

Book twenty minutes

Pick a time that suits you. Bring your questions and the honest state of your books.

See available times

Questions

About tax planning

When is the right time to do this?

Autumn, in most cases. Late enough that the year is largely known, early enough that there is still time to act on it. Waiting until January means reporting the result rather than influencing it.

Is this only for larger businesses?

No. Some of the biggest proportional savings come from small businesses where nobody has ever reviewed the structure or how the owner is paid.

Will you promise me a specific saving?

No, and be careful of anyone who does before looking at your figures. Latonia will tell you what the options are, what each is worth in your situation, and what it costs to do.

Service area

Where Farris Fair works

Based in Oakbrook Terrace and working across the western suburbs and into Chicago. Most work is done remotely, so distance rarely matters, but there is an office if you would rather sit down together.