For businesses, managing taxes should be a year-long process, not an afterthought with an end game of April 15. That is the business mission of Daniel P. Vigilante.
For more than three decades, the certified public accountant with a master’s degree in taxation and a certified tax coach, has been helping small-business owners who have at least $100,000 in annual salary and profits locate loopholes and discover deductions that add up to significant savings.
Vigilante, whose tax advisory firm is based in Morris Plains, offers some tips, tactics and straight talk on how businesses can maximize tax opportunities.
Why should businesses look beyond just filing a tax return?
I teach my clients to live tax deductively by creating a lifetime tax strategy to save them money through our tax advisory service. By doing this, I save them a minimum, on average, of $20,000 per year or $100,000 over five years. With some clients who have bigger businesses, I’m able to save them $100,000 or more per year.
We work year-round together, not only at tax-filing time. Though I accept new clients at any time, optimally, we should start soon after April 16 so we can plan for the next tax year. We start with a free 30-minute discovery consultation, which usually ends up being an hour-and-a-half or even two hours.
After I explore your lifestyle and situation and review your previous tax returns, I lay out a personalized tax plan, implement the tax-savings strategies we have selected and then we maintain the plan throughout the year. Clients answer a comprehensive set of questions. Based on the answers, I produce a 50-page book for each client that describes tax-reduction strategies and details actual tax savings. It’s about much more than tax payments. We talk about the entity selection for the business, retirement planning, family planning for distribution of income, tax loopholes and credits and hidden deductions.
From there, we meet quarterly at the convenience of the client—often over Zoom, but if preferred, in person—to review the plan and adjust as necessary.
What is one of the biggest issues you see with new clients?
One is the entity structure of the business. About 20 million U.S. businesses are set up the wrong way. We review your entity choice and determine if it is the correct tax base and adjust as necessary; sometimes people need multiple structures.
Clients can save $10,000-plus with the correct entity structure. Once it’s set up correctly, business owners will see an immediate pay off.
What are other issues that you alert small businesses to?
Many do not have the best business retirement plan and are not maximizing their retirement options.
Also, the home office is probably one of the most underutilized business deductions. Businesses can save thousands of dollars by using a home office as a tax-saving strategy. Most clients shy away from the home office deductions as they think it’s an auditable area, but if the entity structure is set up correctly, that is not the case.
The home office also opens up other deductions, including a company’s ability to deduct a higher percentage of their business vehicle. It is one of the best tax deductions out there.
Find out more at dpvcpa.com.
