Let’s talk some tax. Before Trump and Congress Republicans threw a new tax act into the mix, people generally accepted that taxes are the worst and it’s way too complicated to learn. Hey - I agree with you. The law was over 2 million words so it’s no wonder people felt that way. Thankfully the new law added 1,097 or so pages to those 2 million, so yeah... “simplification”. But fear not, friends. Carson & Co, CPAs is here to the rescue.
My hero and our lead partner, Henry W. Carson CPA, instilled in me since infancy (note the shared last name) the Essence of Tax Preparation. He said, “Phil, tax is not a science. It’s an art” [as he made circular hand motions like Bruce Lee sizing up his next villain and make whooshing sounds]. It took many moons before I could truly see Dre’s vision.
There are few things more misunderstood in our daily lives than taxes. How does osmosis work? What can Vegans even eat? Where has Wesley Snipes been all these years? The answer to that last one at least is taxes. Evasion. Don’t do it, folks. Es No Bueno. The truth is taxes have an impact on nearly every facet of our lives. There are sales taxes on purchases. Your marital status greatly impacts your income taxes. There is a world of tax law relating to the environment. Let’s not forget about sin taxes on our booze and cigarettes. And of course, our children! Nearly every major parenting decision has a tax implication from pre-K to graduate school. Want to buy a house? You better know how much of a mortgage interest tax deduction you’ll get on your tax returns. Have student loans? Tax deduction implications. What about charitable contributions…Taxes. Taxes. Taxes. I don’t mean to scare you; merely highlight that this topic is unavoidable. Let’s embrace it together.
So now it’s time to learn. It’s a dawning of a new day. No longer will the masses acquiesce to Uncle Sam and the IRS. This is your tax refund! We will no longer stand for Taxation Without Education® (trademark pending). Let Carson & Co, CPAs get you a great tax return, with excellent service and empower you along way. Who’s with us?!
The Process
How do we do it? What’s the secret sauce? It’s pretty simple, to be honest. We listen. And I don’t mean “listen”. I mean we reeeeeealllly listen. The more we know about you, your family, and your goals, the better tax answer we can achieve together. There’s more to it than knowing if you use the standard deduction or claim itemized deductions. That’s why every tax season we meet with all of our clients, because the truth of the matter is, most people don’t know what they need to tell us! Every time we communicate with our clients, we are receiving and processing information that may be useful to the tax returns. A casual water-cooler chit chat or quick email note could be a clue to identifying a tax issue relevant to you. That’s exactly why we don’t want to be that tax preparer you see once a year and then forget about. We want to be more like the owner of the Italian restaurant in your local town that knows your name. Who stops by your table every time you come in to ask about the kids and then overstays their welcome making the rest of meal extremely uncomfortable, but the food is so damn good you keep coming back despite the unwanted conversation. That’s us! But with taxes! Fortunately for us all, we break the CPA mold and all the accountant stereotypes. Like it or not, constant communication can be the difference maker between a good tax answer and a phenomenal one.
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Not Just a Tax Return
Go to any tax firm, use TurboTax or H&R Block and you’ll get a lot of the same stuff. They all have free wage tax calculator tools. Guaranteed, you’ll get an individual tax return Form 1040 with a lot of other IRS forms with IRS efile. No shock there. Hopefully for your sake it’s a good one, because when most people look at a tax return they have no clue if it’s “right”, “wrong”, “good”, or “bad”. It’s not just about your IRS tax refund. It’s not just about what tax bracket you’re in. Maybe this firm has a secure website you can electronically send files. Lovely – we have one too. NBD. Everyone should have it. But since Equifax and Yahoo, let’s be real; no one is really safe from identity theft, so we communicate with our clients anyway they choose: G-Drive, Dropbox, snail mail and anything in between.
We’re here to make the tax process as simple as possible. But not just simple, but FUN! So let me entertain you with the most [_____] (insert adjective based on your age: 18-25 “lit”, 26-34 “bomb”, 35-44 “totally bitchin”, 45+ “agreeable”) social media posts on the inter-web! My posts will leave you laughing all while subliminally delivering highly technical tax content. Be sure to follow @PhilCarsonCPA on twitter, IG, and facebook. For longer content, subscribe to my email blast. Each blast comes with at least 3 curated GIFs that keep you learning all that juicy tax knowledge as your eyes move down the page. That’s the Carson touch. That’s the magic. That’s the secret sauce there for the taking. Look out, Big 4 accounting firms. Phil Carson, CPA is coming for ya. Try and stop me!