Latest / Glovisor Podcast / Business Owners: Stop Overpaying Taxes and Keep More Profit [Ep 91]
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: We can think that sweat equity is the only way
- 0:03Speaker 1: to make money in our business, but the smart business owners,
- 0:07Speaker 1: they actually use money to make money. So we're talking
- 0:11Speaker 1: about working smarter and less hard.
- 0:17Speaker 2: Welcome to the GoVisor podcast, where we explore business growth, communication,
- 0:21Speaker 2: and personal development through real conversations with people who make
- 0:24Speaker 2: an impact. Our guest has nearly a decade of hands-on
- 0:29Speaker 2: business management experience. She specializes in proactive tax strategy and
- 0:34Speaker 2: helping business owners keep more of what they built. Globizer
- 0:38Speaker 2: welcomes Hava Lauden.
- 0:41Speaker 1: Hey, Joe. Thank you so much for having me.
- 0:43Speaker 2: Oh, it's a pleasure.
- 0:44Speaker 1: All right.
- 0:45Speaker 2: So, Hava, let's start it off. What specific problem does
- 0:48Speaker 2: your business solve and who do you help?
- 0:51Speaker 1: Yeah, so we primarily work with business owners that are
- 0:55Speaker 1: scaling and growing. I love that we live in a
- 0:57Speaker 1: country where if someone has a product, an idea, a concept,
- 1:01Speaker 1: they can go to work for themselves. The problem is
- 1:04Speaker 1: it's getting very complex just to do that. And so
- 1:08Speaker 1: what we do is we come alongside those business owners
- 1:10Speaker 1: and we handle a lot of the financial side from
- 1:13Speaker 1: bookkeeping to tax filing and tax advisory, helping them make
- 1:17Speaker 1: those decisions so that they are paying less and growing better.
- 1:20Speaker 2: Well, can you explain to us a little bit of
- 1:22Speaker 2: what is the difference between tax filing and the advisory
- 1:26Speaker 2: side of it?
- 1:27Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely. So in the accounting world, we call it compliance, really,
- 1:32Speaker 1: because everybody has to file a return. You know, when
- 1:36Speaker 1: you do B2B, you're usually doing an ROI, right? So
- 1:40Speaker 1: it's like, Joe, I have this thing, you know, whatever
- 1:43Speaker 1: I do, marketing or whatever, but you expect to make
- 1:46Speaker 1: more than what you pay me to do it. Like,
- 1:48Speaker 1: that's just the ROI. With what we do, there's this
- 1:50Speaker 1: kind of complex thing where it's like, you know, you're
- 1:53Speaker 1: not going to make anything when I file a return.
- 1:56Speaker 1: Nobody wins there except really the government. But when it
- 2:00Speaker 1: comes to advisory, what that is, is it's proactive tax
- 2:04Speaker 1: planning because there's a lot like you have to take
- 2:06Speaker 1: the law to find the strategies and then you have
- 2:10Speaker 1: to bookend it with the strategies, right? Or with the law,
- 2:13Speaker 1: because if you do one without the other, you end
- 2:16Speaker 1: up in a bad situation. So compliance, filing and that
- 2:19Speaker 1: type of thing. That is making sure that you're compliant
- 2:22Speaker 1: and that you're not going to get in trouble with
- 2:23Speaker 1: the IRS. That's really what they care about. What I
- 2:27Speaker 1: really am passionate about is helping business owners like look
- 2:30Speaker 1: at the law and say, OK, here's what's going on
- 2:32Speaker 1: in my business, my family, my situation. You know, what
- 2:36Speaker 1: opportunities do I have to capitalize on what the law
- 2:39Speaker 1: is and apply it so I can save more in taxes?
- 2:42Speaker 2: It seems really daunting, especially if you're starting a business
- 2:45Speaker 2: and all of a sudden they're telling you that you
- 2:47Speaker 2: have to file this and you have to file that.
- 2:50Speaker 2: And then it'll be a nightmare even if you start
- 2:52Speaker 2: crossing state lines and you have to file in different states.
- 2:55Speaker 2: Is there an easy way to remember what you have
- 2:58Speaker 2: to do?
- 2:59Speaker 1: I think work with the right professional. But one of
- 3:02Speaker 1: the things that, especially with really new business owners, I
- 3:05Speaker 1: think one of the things that absolutely blindsides them is
- 3:08Speaker 1: that self-employment tax. Because if they've been a W-2 earner,
- 3:12Speaker 1: number one, their portion of FICA has been coming out
- 3:16Speaker 1: of their paycheck, which is 7.2-ish percent. But the other
- 3:21Speaker 1: part is their employer has been paying the other half.
- 3:24Speaker 1: And so when you go into business for yourself and
- 3:26Speaker 1: especially like you're not withholding all year, maybe it's your
- 3:29Speaker 1: first year or maybe this is the first year that
- 3:31Speaker 1: you really made a lot of money. And then all
- 3:33Speaker 1: of a sudden, I can't tell you how many returns
- 3:35Speaker 1: I filed where the majority was that self-employment tax because
- 3:40Speaker 1: you take your net profit and you times it by 15.3%
- 3:45Speaker 1: before you do federal, before you do state, before you
- 3:48Speaker 1: do local, if you have those things, And so sometimes, oftentimes,
- 3:52Speaker 1: especially with small businesses, that is the biggest tax. And
- 3:56Speaker 1: so a lot of small business owners are blindsided by that.
- 3:59Speaker 1: And it's something that, A, when you get to a
- 4:02Speaker 1: certain point, there's things that can be done to mitigate that.
- 4:05Speaker 1: But B, you do need to be planning for it.
- 4:08Speaker 2: Some individuals started off in their own name, right? Small business,
- 4:12Speaker 2: you know, I'm Joe and I'm providing services. And at
- 4:16Speaker 2: some point I have to make a decision. When do
- 4:18Speaker 2: I go to the LLC? When do I go to
- 4:19Speaker 2: the S Corp? Is there a dollar amount that you
- 4:23Speaker 2: professionals have in mind where it would be the next
- 4:26Speaker 2: step or next stage?
- 4:28Speaker 1: I love this question because. I find that business owners
- 4:32Speaker 1: are very confused by this topic, right? So I want
- 4:35Speaker 1: to first start by saying that anybody can do business
- 4:38Speaker 1: in their own name with their own social security number.
- 4:42Speaker 1: You can then become an LLC and get an EIN.
- 4:46Speaker 1: That has no tax implications in and of itself. That's
- 4:50Speaker 1: more of a legal structure. And I'm not a lawyer
- 4:53Speaker 1: and I don't give legal advice, but I do want
- 4:55Speaker 1: to throw out there that I see sometimes people putting
- 4:59Speaker 1: more weight on the protection of those three letters behind
- 5:02Speaker 1: their business name than they should. That is absolutely a
- 5:05Speaker 1: part of it. And I'm not disregarding it. I think
- 5:07Speaker 1: it's a great way to go. Again, that's not legal advice.
- 5:10Speaker 1: But I think people need to understand that does zero
- 5:13Speaker 1: for their taxes. On their tax return, there are still taxes, though.
- 5:17Speaker 1: They're a sole proprietor. Now, an S-Corp is a tax election.
- 5:22Speaker 1: So that takes typically an existing, you know, it can
- 5:25Speaker 1: be done in conjunction with forming a new LLC, but
- 5:29Speaker 1: it takes typically an existing LLC and say, okay, we
- 5:32Speaker 1: want to be taxed as an S-Corp election, do an
- 5:35Speaker 1: S-Corp election. So we're taxed that way. Now, the thing
- 5:38Speaker 1: about the S-Corp election is kind of coming back to
- 5:41Speaker 1: what I mentioned earlier about the 15.3%. Instead of like,
- 5:46Speaker 1: you just like, okay, let's say, let's just use really
- 5:49Speaker 1: simple numbers. Let's say you grossed 20 grand and you
- 5:53Speaker 1: netted 10. And I just want to insert this too.
- 5:56Speaker 1: This is another mistake I'm seeing is business owners will
- 5:58Speaker 1: look at their gross and not their net. And that
- 6:01Speaker 1: is really, you know what, I mean, both numbers matter, right?
- 6:04Speaker 1: But like, let's say you netted. So that's what you're
- 6:06Speaker 1: going to be taxed on. You know, you grow your
- 6:08Speaker 1: gross minus expenses, minus everything that comes out and then
- 6:12Speaker 1: your net. That's what that 15.3% is on. Now, if
- 6:16Speaker 1: you make an S-Core election, you are mandated to go
- 6:20Speaker 1: on payroll yourself. Now you're an employee of your own business.
- 6:24Speaker 1: So you're paying that FICA, you're withholding that as it's
- 6:27Speaker 1: coming out of your check. But what happens is now
- 6:31Speaker 1: it doesn't have to be the entire net of the
- 6:33Speaker 1: business that gets taxed that way. It's what's coming out
- 6:36Speaker 1: of your check. So the additional profit from the business
- 6:40Speaker 1: that does not, it's not subject to that 15.3%. So
- 6:44Speaker 1: it can be a massive savings. However, I do like
- 6:48Speaker 1: to be very clear that it does come with additional requirements.
- 6:52Speaker 1: It comes with its own tax return. It comes with
- 6:54Speaker 1: monthly or court, whatever payroll file, you know, there's stuff
- 6:58Speaker 1: to it.
- 6:58Speaker 2: Right.
- 6:59Speaker 1: And so I think we had chatted about this earlier.
- 7:01Speaker 1: I think that between 50 and 100 grand is often
- 7:06Speaker 1: the most painful portion in an entrepreneur's life. Because once
- 7:11Speaker 1: you cross that 50 grand net, and I'm talking net here,
- 7:15Speaker 1: the FICA self-employment task is really high. It can really
- 7:22Speaker 1: blindside you. But then it becomes a trade-off. Do I
- 7:26Speaker 1: invest in what it takes to go into an S-Corp
- 7:29Speaker 1: and settle that up and maintain it and stuff like that?
- 7:32Speaker 1: And different tax advisors like have very different, I mean,
- 7:35Speaker 1: some will say 40, some will say 60, some will
- 7:37Speaker 1: say 100. You know, one of the things that I
- 7:40Speaker 1: look very heavily at for a business owner is what
- 7:43Speaker 1: is their trajectory, right? Because there's two parts to it.
- 7:46Speaker 1: There's the initial setup that you're going to pay for,
- 7:48Speaker 1: but then there's ongoing maintenance. So If your trajectory is good,
- 7:52Speaker 1: I might say, let's do it a little early because
- 7:55Speaker 1: bite the bullet now or later, it might be a
- 7:58Speaker 1: washout this year, but next year it's going to be great.
- 8:02Speaker 1: But if you're kind of up and down, I might
- 8:04Speaker 1: say wait a little bit until you stabilize. The first
- 8:06Speaker 1: thing is to get that cash flowing. And then once
- 8:09Speaker 1: that cash flowing though, don't forget to go back and
- 8:12Speaker 1: look at what you need to do to capitalize on it.
- 8:16Speaker 2: One thing that came to mind right now is that
- 8:19Speaker 2: I've heard from some of the business owners that it really,
- 8:24Speaker 2: you have to net over a hundred thousand to have
- 8:26Speaker 2: a tax professional really get involved. Otherwise, maybe I can
- 8:29Speaker 2: go to one of those franchise locations and just have
- 8:32Speaker 2: them help me. What do you say about that?
- 8:36Speaker 1: Well, I'm probably a little bit unusual in my field
- 8:39Speaker 1: from the vantage point of like, just inherently, I think
- 8:43Speaker 1: it's sad that people have to pay somebody to tell
- 8:45Speaker 1: them how much they owe. Like that whole scenario is
- 8:47Speaker 1: just a difficult one. So I never begrudge someone who's
- 8:50Speaker 1: like self-filing or, you know, finding an inexpensive way. Again,
- 8:55Speaker 1: the first thing you want to do when you start
- 8:57Speaker 1: a business, aside from like making sure you're set up safely,
- 9:01Speaker 1: you know, but it's to get that net, see that
- 9:04Speaker 1: net growing, right? And so if you do what you
- 9:07Speaker 1: got to do, as long as you're compliant, you know,
- 9:09Speaker 1: I'm just going to say do what you got to do.
- 9:11Speaker 1: I would definitely say the closer you get to 100%
- 9:15Speaker 1: grand of net, the easier it is. And the hard
- 9:18Speaker 1: truth is the more tax liability you have, the easier
- 9:22Speaker 1: it is to mitigate it. Part of that's just because
- 9:24Speaker 1: you have more liquidity, but part of it is just
- 9:26Speaker 1: because more things come in. I mean, more complications come
- 9:30Speaker 1: in as well, right? So that's where you're going to
- 9:32Speaker 1: really see the importance of, you know, advisory, you're going
- 9:37Speaker 1: to see the ROI. So that part of it, I
- 9:39Speaker 1: do like my clients to see ROI. So I'm like
- 9:41Speaker 1: straight up with people. One of the things that we do,
- 9:45Speaker 1: so we do bookkeeping as well. So sometimes what I'll
- 9:48Speaker 1: do is with a new client, I'll say, let's just
- 9:52Speaker 1: start doing your bookkeeping. Because that is an overlooked thing too.
- 9:57Speaker 1: The data from that to grow your business is so critical.
- 10:00Speaker 1: So what I'll do for my clients sometimes though, is,
- 10:02Speaker 1: you know, I'll just check in on it and then
- 10:05Speaker 1: I'll be like, maybe it's time to have this conversation.
- 10:07Speaker 1: Like I have, we have the October 15th deadline right now.
- 10:11Speaker 1: But after that, you know, I have a list of
- 10:12Speaker 1: clients that we're going to have the conversation of what
- 10:15Speaker 1: does this look like now for you? So I would say,
- 10:18Speaker 1: As soon as you can, start working with a tax
- 10:20Speaker 1: professional that's at least open to those conversations. Even if
- 10:23Speaker 1: you're not in an advisory package immediately, at least if
- 10:29Speaker 1: you possibly can, work with someone who's sympathetic and open
- 10:31Speaker 1: to it.
- 10:32Speaker 2: Depending on your training and experience that you have, you
- 10:36Speaker 2: may not know some of the deductions that might be
- 10:39Speaker 2: available to certain business owners at different levels. So that
- 10:42Speaker 2: was one of the reasons I had asked that question.
- 10:45Speaker 2: And with that, I want to ask, what is like
- 10:47Speaker 2: one of the most common things that people overlook that
- 10:50Speaker 2: they can deduct?
- 10:52Speaker 1: So I'm going to answer this a little bit different
- 10:53Speaker 1: because this is more of an uncommon concept that is
- 10:58Speaker 1: just grossly, I think, overlooked. And that has to do
- 11:02Speaker 1: with the home office deduction. I mean, you're familiar with it, right?
- 11:06Speaker 1: The power of the home office deduction is actually not
- 11:10Speaker 1: the home office deduction. it's really not that great. I mean,
- 11:13Speaker 1: unless you're going to like itemize and you're going to
- 11:15Speaker 1: like throw in depreciation, which can also come into issues
- 11:20Speaker 1: like later on things you have to look at, you're
- 11:23Speaker 1: maxed out at $ 1, 500. And that's not like tax credit.
- 11:26Speaker 1: Like that's just like an expense on your profit and loss,
- 11:30Speaker 1: you know? And so it's not great. But what is
- 11:32Speaker 1: great about the home office deduction is having in a
- 11:36Speaker 1: home office means that your mileage can kick in the
- 11:40Speaker 1: moment you leave your house. So let me give you
- 11:42Speaker 1: a scenario. Let's say you have an office or a
- 11:45Speaker 1: place of work, right? But you're going to a conference
- 11:49Speaker 1: and the conference is 50 miles away, whatever, even to
- 11:53Speaker 1: the bank. Let's say it's even to the bank because
- 11:55Speaker 1: the miles add up, right? By the law, you need
- 11:59Speaker 1: to drive to your office and then start tracking your
- 12:02Speaker 1: mileage to the bank or to the conference or wherever
- 12:06Speaker 1: you're going. And then essentially when you come back, like
- 12:08Speaker 1: to that ending place, that's where your mileage tracking ends.
- 12:11Speaker 1: And then you come home. What the home office deduction
- 12:14Speaker 1: does is it lets you start tracking from the moment
- 12:17Speaker 1: you pull out of your driveway. Now let's not, Like
- 12:20Speaker 1: there's always fine print to stuff, right? Like you can't
- 12:23Speaker 1: use it for commuting, like just running back and forth
- 12:25Speaker 1: to your office. Like you have to have like a
- 12:27Speaker 1: legitimate thing you're doing in your office. Like I do
- 12:30Speaker 1: all my administrative tasks in my office, you know, those
- 12:33Speaker 1: types of things. So those are all things that we
- 12:34Speaker 1: make sure our clients are aware of. But the office
- 12:37Speaker 1: has to be exclusively used for your business, but it
- 12:40Speaker 1: can be tiny. Just having that dedicated space allows you
- 12:44Speaker 1: to start that. In many cases, the mileage deduction from
- 12:48Speaker 1: when you leave in that is usually the bigger savings.
- 12:51Speaker 2: That's a great tip. Now, can you share a client
- 12:55Speaker 2: case study that really shows some of the work that
- 12:58Speaker 2: you've done with someone?
- 13:00Speaker 1: Yeah. So this actually happened late last year. It was very,
- 13:06Speaker 1: very late last year. But again, it was a bookkeeping
- 13:08Speaker 1: client that hurt. tax accounting firm had just kind of
- 13:13Speaker 1: dropped her. So she was like, how I'm going to
- 13:15Speaker 1: need you with tax. And I'm like, well, let's, let's
- 13:16Speaker 1: look at your situation here, you know? So netting about
- 13:20Speaker 1: 130 grand for 2025. And this is where she didn't
- 13:25Speaker 1: have an escrow election. And in some cases you can
- 13:29Speaker 1: do a late one. Typically, you know, you want to
- 13:31Speaker 1: do that election between January 1st and March 15th, but
- 13:35Speaker 1: this was at the end of the year and she
- 13:37Speaker 1: qualified for that late election. And so We did it
- 13:41Speaker 1: at the very end of the year and saved her
- 13:42Speaker 1: about $ 14, 000 in taxes. Wow.
- 13:45Speaker 2: That's a win. 100%, yeah.
- 13:47Speaker 1: So on our website, mailtotex.com, we kind of ask you
- 13:53Speaker 1: what you're looking for because we do some representation too,
- 13:55Speaker 1: like sometimes when people are in trouble or back taxes,
- 13:58Speaker 1: those types of things. So if that's what it is,
- 14:01Speaker 1: I'm going to say book a call. Let's talk about
- 14:03Speaker 1: what's going on. Let's see if we can help. If
- 14:05Speaker 1: you're just needing filing, we are still doing that. Like
- 14:08Speaker 1: I say, for those lower, new business owners, the first
- 14:13Speaker 1: couple of years, it might make sense. But for an
- 14:15Speaker 1: ideal advisory client, I'm going to say, let's do a
- 14:18Speaker 1: mantle blueprint. The mantle blueprint takes and maps out your
- 14:23Speaker 1: whole situation. Because this is one of the issues that
- 14:26Speaker 1: I'm seeing is disconnection, like through strategies and through like
- 14:31Speaker 1: even professionals, right? I think we talked about this a
- 14:34Speaker 1: little bit earlier where like, You know, you have a lawyer,
- 14:37Speaker 1: you have a financial advisor, you need them. I'm not
- 14:39Speaker 1: playing either one of those, right? But nobody is just
- 14:42Speaker 1: like saying, okay, what all do you have going on?
- 14:44Speaker 1: And as a person, you probably, a lot of people
- 14:47Speaker 1: wear multiple hats. You could be a business owner. You
- 14:49Speaker 1: could also have a W-2 job. Maybe your wife does.
- 14:52Speaker 1: Maybe you're married. Maybe you're a dad, a husband. Like
- 14:55Speaker 1: all of those different things, when you look at the
- 14:57Speaker 1: whole picture together, can create opportunities for strategies if you
- 15:02Speaker 1: interlock them correctly So the first thing I like to
- 15:05Speaker 1: do is get that all mapped out. What is going
- 15:08Speaker 1: on in your life? What are your goals? What are
- 15:11Speaker 1: your values? Let's take a look at what exists right now.
- 15:15Speaker 1: And then I also do like to have some conversations
- 15:17Speaker 1: in that process with, have you talked to your lawyer
- 15:20Speaker 1: about this? Have you considered this with your financial advisors?
- 15:23Speaker 1: Because those things are so closely connected when you're building wealth.
- 15:27Speaker 1: Tax is the nexus that all of that connects to.
- 15:30Speaker 1: So it We are a great place to start, but
- 15:33Speaker 1: you need to have that coordination with others. So usually
- 15:37Speaker 1: the mantle blueprint is the great place to start. And
- 15:39Speaker 1: then after we see what all is going on, then
- 15:41Speaker 1: we make an individual plan based on your situation and
- 15:45Speaker 1: what we can do for you.
- 15:46Speaker 2: Is there a takeaway that you want our listeners to
- 15:49Speaker 2: remember from this conversation?
- 15:51Speaker 1: Yeah, I think the takeaway, the really important thing is, again,
- 15:55Speaker 1: as business owners and We can get so lost in
- 15:58Speaker 1: just like what we're actually doing to produce money, right?
- 16:03Speaker 1: In that sweat equity portion of it, whether for you
- 16:05Speaker 1: it is actually physical or mental or whatever, I'm just
- 16:08Speaker 1: going to use the word sweat equity. that we can
- 16:11Speaker 1: think that sweat equity is the only way to make
- 16:15Speaker 1: money in our business. But the smart business owners, they
- 16:19Speaker 1: actually use money to make money. So we're talking about
- 16:22Speaker 1: working smarter and less hard, you know, kind of bringing
- 16:26Speaker 1: down some of that sweat. And so, again, you have
- 16:29Speaker 1: to work hard. Look, I'm a business owner. None of
- 16:32Speaker 1: us are going to get away from that probably and
- 16:34Speaker 1: be successful. But I want business owners not to forget
- 16:38Speaker 1: that there's this whole other piece That actually makes you money,
- 16:41Speaker 1: saves you money, you know, and so that you don't
- 16:44Speaker 1: actually have to work as hard if you do it right.
- 16:46Speaker 2: That's a great takeaway. Now, where can people connect with
- 16:49Speaker 2: you online and find out more about your work and
- 16:52Speaker 2: continue this conversation?
- 16:53Speaker 1: So ManselTax.com is our website. A lot of information on there,
- 16:57Speaker 1: connection forms. There's even a calendar on there. You can
- 17:00Speaker 1: also follow me on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram.
- 17:03Speaker 2: Hava Lauden.
- 17:04Speaker 1: It's H-A-V-A-L-A-U-D-O-N.
- 17:07Speaker 2: Hava, thank you so much for joining us. We really
- 17:09Speaker 2: appreciate your time.
- 17:10Speaker 1: I enjoyed talking with you, Joe.
- 17:12Speaker 2: Thank you. Thanks, everyone, for listening. If this episode inspired you,
- 17:15Speaker 2: make sure you share it with someone who needs it.
- 17:18Speaker 2: And don't forget to follow the GlobeEyes podcast for more
- 17:20Speaker 2: conversations that make an impact. Till the next time.