"Why doesn't my accountant call me with ideas on how to save on taxes?"

Trevor Myres, CPA/PFS posted the question (and answer) on LinkedIn to that question. His answer: "I hear this all the time, and the answer is direct: you aren't paying them to! Tax planning, done well, requires proactiveness and attention that most accountant's frankly don't want to do."

That's certainly one facet of the question being asked.

If we're talking purely about tax saving ideas for the current tax year in question, if your accountant isn't reaching out, then you reach out to them and pay a consultation fee for advice and ideas.

However, I think that's a narrow view and a narrow question to ask regarding tax planning. The objective of such a meeting is often "How can I save money on my taxes THIS year?"

There are far more extensive ideas that could be implemented on a multi-year basis that can help lower your LIFETIME taxes or even the taxes that would be due when you sell your business.

These ideas may not be on your CPA's "radar" of attention!

• What if there was an idea where if you turned your assets from "forever taxed" to "never taxed", but to do it, it requires that your current year taxes to increase for a few years to do it? Would that be worthwhile?

  • If your CPA is not aware of it, would they bring it up?

    
    

• What if you could use the business checkbook to help you retain and reward your top people to secure THEIR retirement for less money as long as they stay with your company?

  • If your CPA is not aware of it, would they bring it up?

    
    

• What if there was a way to restructure and reorganize your company into a tax-exempt organization (not a non-profit) and the money you were sending to the Federal and State Governments in tax payments could be reinvested back into your company instead?

  • If your CPA is not aware of it, would they ever bring it up?

There are more ideas, but these examples are real and are certainly compliant with the current tax code. Proactive ideas for lifetime lowering of taxes may not come from your CPA... but they may come from a tax-focused financial consultant.

In short, if your CPA is not incentivized to look for other ideas, they won't bring them up.

CPAs are often wonderful authorities on the tax code, often and primarily as it relates to current year taxation. They have that wonderful advantage of being able to say "As a CPA...". For some of the more elaborate planning areas, look for an ethical and knowledgeable financial consultant and then have your CPA verify the concepts.