Tax Consultation & Planning

While the Lawrence Tax Service (“LTS”) brand is known for its excellence in the area of income tax preparation….the essential exercise which keeps us in touch with all our clients annually…tax consultation and planning remains a strategic hallmark of that core yearly professional service. We concur with the logic stated by Judge Learned Hand in Helvering v. Gregory that “any one may so arrange his affairs that his taxes shall be as low as possible; he is not bound to choose that pattern which will best pay the Treasury; there is not even a patriotic duty to increase one’s taxes.” The following is a brief review of the consultation and planning goals/values we address with our various individual, business and fiduciary clients during our annual engagements, and throughout the year, as we meet so we can be proactive rather than reactive in our planning:

• Steps necessary to prepare accurate and defensible tax returns including the “audit proofing” involved with sufficient books and records;
• Tax minimization within the multifaceted context of changing tax laws and changes in your financial life and family. This conversation involves interactive education: we share with you about the current and future of tax laws; you share with us relevant life events and goals so we can apply the tax law to your life facts to develop a meaningful and efficient strategy;
• Coordination of tax strategy with other important financial, estate planning, business succession, asset protection and life goals;
  • Choice of Entity considerations and administration whether starting, managing, growing, transferring or winding down a business;
  • Trusted advisor and successor agent considerations including personnel and various HR issues e.g. worker classification, compensation and benefits;
  • Virtue: Maintaining perspective between keeping things simple vs. complex and the role of automation in this equation;
  • Financial survival, independence and retirement.