February 16, 2026 • 26 mins
Taxes don’t have to be confusing, scary, or something you only think about in a panic every March.
In this episode of the Powerful Women Rising Podcast, I’m joined by Mike Jesowshek - CPA and founder of TaxElm, to discuss how small business owners can stop reacting to taxes and start making simple, legal moves in advance that lead to more money in their pockets.
We dive into:
- The difference between tax preparation and tax planning (and why it matters)
- When to start tax planning as a new or growing business owner
- Common deductions (like home office, vehicle, phone and internet) made simple
- The money saving power of pre-tax vs. after-tax spending
Mike provides practical examples that apply to most small business owners and shares tools and resources that will help you keep things simple.
Links & References:
- Come network with us! CLICK HERE to attend your first PWR Connection Network virtual speed networking event at no cost!
- Listen to the Small Business Tax Savings Podcast
- Buy the Small Business Tax Savings Handbook
- Follow Mike on YouTube, Instagram or TikTok
Connect with Your Host!
Melissa Snow is a Business Relationship Strategist and the founder of Powerful Women Rising - a business growth ecosystem for female entreprenuers who want to create real momentum through real relationships.
Inside the PWR Connect Network and the PWR Business Growth Mastermind, Melissa helps women in business get build relationships, increase visibility and get more referrals without pressure, perfection or performative networking.
She's on a mission to change the way women grow their businesses - proving that you can be authentic, values-driven and profitable at the same time.
Melissa lives in Colorado with two dogs (Peyton and Ally), three cats (Giorgio, Karma and Betty) and any number of foster kittens. She hates winter, seafood and feet. She loves iced coffee, Taylor Swift, and buying books she'll never read.
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SPEAKER_01 (00:04):
Welcome to Powerful Women Rising, the podcast for
female entrepreneurs playing bytheir own rules and growing
their businesses their way.
Join Business RelationshipStrategists and your host,
Melissa Snow, as she brings youpractical perspectives and
candid conversations.
Each episode guides you to makesmarter decisions and take bold
(00:26):
action as you build a businessthat's both profitable and
aligned.
Because the world is a betterplace when powerful women rise
together.
SPEAKER_02 (00:36):
Hey everyone, welcome back to another episode
of the Powerful Woman Risingpodcast.
I'm your host, Melissa Snow.
I'm a business relationshipstrategist and the founder of
Powerful Woman Rising.
We do a lot of things over hereat Powerful Woman Rising, not
just this podcast, which we loveand is super fun.
But we also have the PowerfulWomen Rising Connection Network,
which is a virtual networkingcommunity for female
(00:59):
entrepreneurs who maybe don'tlove traditional networking.
Maybe you've tried it before andit feels a little salesy,
there's too much small talk, youfeel kind of awkward, you're not
really into the transactionalrelationships, you really want
to create genuine connectionswith other people who are not
only people that you like andwould like want to hang out with
on a Friday night, but they'realso people who take business
(01:20):
seriously, their business andyours.
They say your name in rooms thatyou're not in.
They're looking foropportunities for you to
advance, to get more visible, tofind new clients, and you're
doing the same for them.
Inside the Powerful Women RisingConnection Network, so many new
connections are being builtevery day.
And we would love to have you asa member.
(01:42):
Click the link in the show notesand check it out if you're
interested.
All right, let's dive intotoday's episode because this
might be one of the mostimportant podcast episodes we've
ever had here at Powerful WomenRising.
This episode might be the thingthat changes your life, changes
your business, changes yourincome, changes your lifestyle
forever and ever.
And I'm not even exaggerating.
(02:04):
This interview with MikeJezuschek is about taxes, which
I know doesn't sound exciting,but it's something that we all
have to deal with, especially asbusiness owners.
And there are ways that we candeal with our taxes that allow
us to still feel like we are incontrol, that we know what we're
doing.
We're not just handing it off tosomeone else, and also feel
(02:24):
really confident that things arebeing done correctly and that we
are maximizing the amount ofmoney that is coming to us at
the end of the day.
You know, if I bring a maleguest onto the podcast, it's
going to be good.
It's only happened a few timesin the past, but this is no
exception.
When I got Mike Jezoshek'sapplication to be on the
podcast, I knew I had to havehim on as a guest.
(02:46):
I've listened to his podcast forseveral months now.
And the way that he talks abouttaxes is really a way that makes
sense, that you can understand,that you don't feel like he is
mansplaining to you or talkingdown to you.
And it really, really does helpyou feel empowered in your
business.
So I was really excited to sitdown with him today and talk to
(03:07):
him about all things businesstaxes.
Mike Jozechek is a CPA and thefounder of Tax Elm, host of the
Small Business Tax SavingPodcast, and the author of the
Small Business Tax SavingsHandbook.
He's helped thousands ofentrepreneurs legally reduce
their tax bills through clear,actionable strategies.
And he's on a mission to maketax savings simple, accessible,
(03:28):
and stress-free for everyone.
Good morning, Mike.
Welcome to the Powerful WomenRising Podcast.
SPEAKER_00 (03:33):
Melissa, thanks for having me.
SPEAKER_02 (03:35):
Yes, I'm so excited to have you.
It's funny because most of ourpodcast guests have been
females.
I've been doing this podcast foryears now.
I think this is episode like 130something.
And I think you're like thethird or fourth man to have on
here.
So we're very excited.
SPEAKER_00 (03:50):
I was looking at that when I was when I was
signing up and I did notice someother males on there.
So I'm like, okay, I think Ithink I can uh I think I could
bring some value.
So hopefully it's it's good.
SPEAKER_02 (03:59):
Yeah, no, we're excited to have you.
And I'm excited to talk to youabout taxes today because this
is something that I think mostpeople, especially business
owners, don't necessarily findexciting, but it's something
that we need to know about andwe need to think about.
And I think a lot of times welearn these things through trial
and error.
We get years into our businessand someone mentions something
(04:20):
to us about tax planning or, youknow, something like that.
And we're like, what are youtalking about?
So I think this is a reallyexciting topic to talk about for
people who um for people who arebrand new to business and don't
really know how to even like setthings up, but also people who
have been in business for awhile and may be able to do
things a little bit differentlyto increase their bottom line.
(04:42):
So before we get started, telleverybody a little bit about you
and about what you do.
SPEAKER_00 (04:47):
Yeah.
So I've been an entrepreneursince the age of 14.
Uh, really kind of got startedin the online marketing
industry.
And so uh was doing all sorts ofthings within the online
marketing industry, but uheventually went to school in
college for accounting.
And really that was just mybackup plan.
I was still running a company atthat time and had a partnership
with a lot of people, uh, butgraduated, got my CPA, and was
(05:08):
running the finance part of ourcompany.
And we had a company with sevenpartners at that time, and we
were all trying to, we were allreally good at what we did, but
it was all very different partsof the industry.
And so we were trying to pullthis company into a bunch of
different directions.
And at that point in time said,uh, instead of trying to do all
that, why don't we go out andand do our own thing?
And so uh that is when we splitoff.
And I started a cloud-basedaccounting firm back in in 2013.
(05:31):
And uh, cloud-based accountinglike is pretty common now, but
in 2013 it really wasn't.
But the industry I came from wasa lot of younger generation.
Everyone at that time wasautomatic uh already working
remotely, and uh that was theindustry that would start out
in.
But you kind of mentioned thisidea of uh people not really
knowing from a tax standpointwhere they kind of fall into it,
(05:52):
or they they realize that theyneed to do tax planning um when
it's too late, or or whenthey've had an experience of
like, okay, I don't want to facethat bill again.
How do I how do I tackle that?
That's really how my journeyinto tax planning went.
When I started my accountingfirm, I didn't do anything from
a tax standpoint.
I was strictly accounting,finance, bookkeeping uh was our
focus, but saw such a need forsmall business owners to
(06:14):
understand tax strategiesavailable.
And I was facing the same thing.
And whenever I would reach outto accountants, I just couldn't
get a good referral partner forthe tax planning piece.
It found great tax repairs outthere, but just really kind of
struggled to um find the pieceon the planning side, on the
strategy side.
And so uh started to build,started to build the tax side of
(06:35):
it and started a podcast abouteight years ago focusing on
teaching these tax strategies tosmall business owners and just
really fell in love with the taxplanning piece, ended up selling
the majority stake in my firmback in 2021 to go full-time
into podcasting, and then alsolaunched a software uh two years
ago as well.
So that's kind of a a longroundabout way is I'm I'm living
out my backup plan for the lastuh 13, 14 years now.
SPEAKER_02 (06:59):
That's awesome.
I love that.
What a cool story, and amazingthat you started when you were
14.
I don't even know what I wasdoing at 14, eating dirt,
probably.
SPEAKER_00 (07:07):
Yeah, no, I I actually say, you know, uh what
I what I was doing was was a lotof eBay type stuff.
And so my dad started this.
He was uh he used to go toauctions, buy stuff, resell it,
had an antique store, thosetypes of things.
And and I had no interest inthat.
But when I was like six, I wouldgo to the auctions with him and
I would go play pool in the backor you know, do whatever I want
to do while while he was at theauction.
(07:27):
But he bought at one auctionthis box of bottle caps, and
they were just the caps from itwas a soda or a beer, I can't
remember what it was, but theywere the caps from that.
And he spent like 50 bucks onthis box of like 1,500 bottle
caps, and he made that myproject.
He said, Okay, we're gonna take50 of these and put them in a
plastic baggie, and then we'regonna go on eBay and we're gonna
sell 50, you know, take all thetake the 1500, break them out in
(07:49):
50, and resell them.
And I think each bag sold forlike 30 or 35 bucks.
So uh that was kind of like justmy intro into this concept of
like, whoa, like we just took$50and turned it into$1,500.
And at such a young age, it wasjust kind of a cool thing.
And so when I got started in theonline marketing industry, it
was a lot of uh that type ofwork in it.
SPEAKER_02 (08:07):
Yeah, that's super cool.
Okay, so before we really diveinto taxes and the the meat of
our conversation, I'm gonna tellyou what I tell my CPA.
You have to explain things to melike I'm in kindergarten.
Because as you probably know,because you've been doing this a
long time and with your podcasttoo, the people who are
listening to your podcast areprobably not CPAs.
(08:27):
They're normal people like me.
And we want to understand inregular people language what
you're talking about.
So you said a lot when you weretalking in your introduction and
things that you do about taxplanning.
So, what is the differencebetween like people who are
listening and are like, oh yeah,I have a guy he does my taxes,
right?
Or like, oh yeah, I use turbotax or whatever it is.
(08:48):
What's the difference betweenwhat you're talking about with
tax planning versus I have a guywho does my taxes?
SPEAKER_00 (08:54):
Yeah, I and I think that's so important because even
with accountants, people havemisunderstood, like, oh, what
this idea of tax strategy is ortax planning.
And so I break it down to taxplanning versus tax prep.
And so tax prep is what peopletypically think about when they
think of taxes, when they thinkof working with an accountant.
And that is just preparing andfiling a tax return and then
sending it off to thegovernment, the IRS, or the
(09:16):
state agencies.
And so tax prep is just saying,here's all the activity that we
had last year.
Here's the income I had, maybesome interest, maybe some
capital gains I had, whatever itmight be.
Here's all the income I had, andhere's some deductions, and
here's the amount that I paid intax throughout the year.
Uh, and then we're finding ourtax return.
We're either getting a refund,which means that we paid the
government too much, or we havean amount due, which means that
(09:38):
we didn't quite pay thegovernment enough, and we're
kind of trueing that up.
And so tax prep's important, taxprep's required by law, but all
tax prep is it's takinginformation, telling the
government, here's what my lifelooked like from an income and
expense standpoint throughoutthe year.
And that typically happens afterthe year's over.
So we're we're we're lookingback at it.
We file in January, February,March, April for last year's
(09:59):
type of activity.
When we look at tax planning,tax planning is saying, what
strategies can I implement?
What things can I do in mybusiness between January and
December before the year is evenover, but what things can I do
within my business to help lowermy tax liability?
So it's working about strategy,not just so much sending
information up.
And I think that's where there'sa lot of confusion because a lot
of people say, Well, I do taxplanning.
(10:21):
Like my accountant tells me sendin estimated tax payments of
this amount.
And I said, Well, that's that'stax, that's planning for taxes
owed, I guess it is a planningof some sort, but that's not
what we're talking about.
When we talk about tax planning,we're saying, hey, how do we
legally hire your kids in yourbusiness and take expenses,
money that you pay your kidsanyways, or help support them
(10:42):
in?
How do we make that into abusiness deduction?
Or how do we, you know, you'reworking in a home office, how do
we turn that into a businessdeduction?
Or, you know, you're you're howdo we set your entity structure
up the right way to make surethat you're paying, you know,
protected from a liabilitystandpoint, but also uh paying
the least amount of taxes aslegally possible.
That's the planning piece.
And then at the end of the year,that tax prep and filing, that's
(11:02):
just taking the information andsending it up to the government.
So I don't mean to say that taxprep and filing isn't important.
It is, it's it's required bylaw, but tax planning comes way
before that.
And it's thinking through whatstrategies inside my kind of
tool bucket can I implement inmy scenario to make sure that
when I do prepare that taxreturn, when I do file that tax
return, I know that I've donethe best I could to pay the
(11:25):
least amount of taxes legallypossible, doing it the right
way.
SPEAKER_02 (11:28):
Yeah, yeah.
Is there a point that peopleneed to be more or less
concerned about tax planning?
Like if I just started abusiness or I'm thinking about
starting a business, or youknow, sometimes we hear things
like, oh, you should be in theLLC if you're making less than
this much a year, or you shouldtransition to S-Corp after
you're making six figures, orlike, do we need to worry about
(11:48):
tax planning if we're onlymaking$25,000 a year?
Is there a point that it startsto matter?
SPEAKER_00 (11:54):
Yeah, I mean, immediately.
And so when we talk about taxstrategy, I have what I call
core tax strategies and advancedtax strategies.
And to move the focus to corestrategies, core strategies are
strategies that are available toeverybody.
So whether you're making$5million a year or you're making
$5,000 on a side gig, core taxstrategies are available to you.
And these are those things likehome office, hiring your kids,
(12:16):
automobile deductions,maximizing deductions, S
Corporation, those are allstrategies that we start to
explore at even that lowerlevel.
And I oftentimes tell somebodythat because of the advantages,
the government incentivizespeople to be a business owner.
And when we talk about taxstrategy, we're just taking
advantage of incentives that thegovernment gives us.
So let's use home office as anexample.
(12:38):
If I'm a W-2 worker working forsomebody else and I work out of
my home, I have my home office,I get no tax deduction for that
because I'm a W-2 worker, I'mworking for somebody else.
But if I'm a business owner, nowI get a deduction for that same
exact home office, that sameexact thing that I'm working at,
I get a deduction as a businessowner that I don't get as a W-2
owner.
And so what why is that?
(12:58):
And it's really because thegovernment wants people to be
business owners.
They want people to hireemployees, they want to build
the economy, they want US-madestuff, they want all of that.
And so their way of gettingpeople to become business owners
is incentivizing them.
And that way of incentivizing isthrough the tax code and gives
us those opportunities.
And so when we look at being abusiness owner, uh, even people
(13:20):
that start side gigs can easilybe producing income from a cash
flow standpoint, but reallyshowing a loss from a tax
standpoint because they'rethey're opening up opportunities
for a lot of expenses thatweren't there traditionally.
Now, I wouldn't necessarily saya loss, but let's say you have
$5,000 in side gig income,you're not paying taxes on
$5,000.
There has to be some sort ofexpense associated with that
(13:43):
where you're lowering that tosome extent, you know, whether
that's close to zero or not,it's all gonna depend on the
scenario.
But tax planning starts at anylevel and should start right at
the beginning.
And I always say, like, as a newbusiness owner, we need to have
a solid foundation for ourbusiness.
So tax planning is going toevolve, you're gonna add more
and more strategies, more andmore things as your business
grows, but you need to have thatfoundation.
(14:04):
You know, what are we buildingoff of from the start?
And what are we preparingourselves for just to make sure
that we have the most successfrom a tax standpoint and a
business girl standpoint?
SPEAKER_02 (14:13):
Yeah, absolutely.
You've touched on this a littlebit, but one of the things that
I really wanted to ask you waswhat cause some of the common
mistakes are that you see smallbusiness owners making when it
comes to taxes?
I mean, obviously, I'm thinking,you know, not planning and doing
the things like you're talkingabout or thinking this is
something I need to worry aboutlater on in business.
But there is there anything elsethat we haven't talked about
(14:33):
that you see frequently?
SPEAKER_00 (14:35):
Yeah, I think, you know, some of the big ones are
business owners just assumingthat their accountant's gonna
take care of it for them.
Uh, thinking that if they go totheir accountant to say, hey,
you're gonna file my tax return,you're my tax accountant, that
they're just automatically gonnado tax planning.
And that's and that's amisconception because a lot of
people think that.
They're like, well, you're myaccountant, shouldn't you be
saving this?
But they're not necessarilypaying them to do that.
(14:57):
Like they're paying them a costand an amount that covers the
tax return.
And there can be a lot ofconfusion there because people
expect that to be as part of it.
So it's don't necessarily expectyour accountant to be able to do
that.
Uh, but also if that's somethingyou're interested, ask them
because they might be offeredthat service.
It's gonna be an additionalcost, there's gonna be an
additional piece to it, but theymight do that.
Or there's a case where a lot oftax repairs just are not
(15:20):
planners, and that's totallynormal.
That's totally fine as long asyou have that expectation going
into it.
And you know, the second piece,and this is one of the most
important parts when we talkabout tax planning, is I always
talk about we want to learn taxstrategy.
So dive into materials, diveinto podcasts, dive into books
about the tax strategy, but youcan't just stop there.
(15:40):
You have to then go andimplement it because you can
know every tax strategy outthere, but if you don't do
anything with it, it providesyou no tax savings.
And then even a more key part ofthat implementation piece is
correct implementation becausethat's what guarantees or bullet
keeps you bulletproof from anIRS audit.
I always tell business owners,I'm not afraid of an audit.
The IRS comes knocking at mydoor, I'm not afraid of it
(16:02):
because I know that everythingI'm doing is above law and I'm
doing it the correct way.
I'm down to my eyes and crossingmy T's on the implementation
piece.
If they ask, say, hey, I seeyou're hiring your kids, how
does that work?
I have timesheets, I have justjob descriptions, I have pay,
you know, what am I determiningthe reasonable play is based on
the job they're doing, locallocalities.
I have all this documented to dothat.
(16:24):
Now, if I'm on the flip side andI'm hiring my kids and just
writing them a check for$15,000a year and having no
documentation, now I'm afraid ofan audit.
So it's all about those are two,both people are utilizing,
implementing the strategy.
They know a tax strategy hiringyour kids, and they're
implementing it.
One's doing it the right way,one's not doing it the right
way.
And that correct implementationis that key part.
(16:45):
So it's it's more than justsaying, oh, I heard a 30-second
TikTok video, let me go now, gopay my write a check to my child
and my business.
It's much more than that.
So, you know, that's the dot inyour eyes crossing your T's
piece that I just highlyencourage people.
It's not a ton of work, it'sit's nothing crazy.
It's not like it's gonna takehours and hours of work to do
that, but it's what helps yousleep at night.
And it's what helps you knowwhen that if you get that
(17:06):
dreaded letter from the IRS,it's like not a big deal.
Here's my information, here's mydocumentation, and we move on
from that.
SPEAKER_02 (17:13):
Yeah, that's very smart.
Yeah.
Because I think there's a lot ofthings, there's a lot of things
in business that we think we canDIY, right?
Especially in the beginning.
Um, and there's a lot of thingsthat we can DIY, and a lot of
times the stakes are not thathigh, right?
Like if I do my own website or Iam keeping track of my own
calendar or whatever it is, likeand I mess something up, okay,
(17:36):
fixable, we can do it.
But perhaps maybe taxes andfinances are something that we
want to make sure that we aredoing correctly.
SPEAKER_00 (17:44):
Yeah, you know, and one thing that really caught my
eye, and the reason I startedour podcast eight years ago is
because I was referring out taxwork and expecting with these
people I refer to to get taxhelp from them.
And let's look at the hired kidsbecause it's it's an easy
example to talk through.
I would ask some of theaccountants that we work with,
I'd say, hey, I have a client ofours that wants to hire their
(18:04):
kids.
You know, can you give me someinsight of what what needs to be
done?
How do we how do we do this theright way?
And they'd say, Well, itdepends.
I need to know this and that,and I need all this information
to give you any kind of feedbackfrom that.
And as soon as clients hearthat, they they'd say, Okay, I'm
going the other way.
Sounds like way too much workfor a little bit of a tax
deduction.
And as I started to get intothis tax side, researching it on
(18:27):
my own, implementing it myself,I started to realize that yes,
everyone's situation isdifferent, and it does depend.
But when we look at a taxstrategy, it's the same.
90% of that strategy is the samefor everybody.
So if we look at hiring yourkids, how you do it correctly,
what the process is, all of thatis the same for everybody, up to
90%.
Now, a plumber is gonna hiretheir kids a little bit
(18:48):
differently than uh, you know, aconsultant, or someone with an
eight-year-old is gonna hiretheir kids differently than
someone with a 15-year-old.
And that's that last 10% thatyou got to tweak for yourself.
But that 90% of the strategy isthere.
And so our my goal and ineverything that we do is to say,
how do I help small businessowners get 90% of the way there?
So instead of going to theiraccountant and saying, How do I
hire my kids?
(19:08):
It's no, I'm gonna hire my kids.
Here's the kind of jobs I'm Ihave gonna have them doing,
here's the amount of hours thatthey're doing per week.
I've already researched some payrates for the type of work
they're doing and theirexperience on what would be
good.
Can you help me button this upand just and and finalize the
last piece?
That accountant's gonna takethat and they're probably gonna
get them through the finish lineversus the hey, how do I hire my
(19:28):
kids piece?
You know, that's the kind ofpiece where it's it's letting
business owners know that thisstuff's out there, it's
relatively easy.
You just gotta put in a littlebit of effort and it could
provide some massive, massivetax savings.
SPEAKER_02 (19:40):
Yeah, absolutely.
One of the things that I'veheard you talk about on your
podcast before is after taxversus pre-tax spending.
Can you talk a little bit aboutwhat that means?
SPEAKER_00 (19:50):
Yeah, so this is a concept that a lot of people,
when they hear tax planning, uh,they think estimate taxes, and
we've done talked about thattoo.
But another concept that I hearso many people say is, oh yeah,
my accountant tells me go buy apiece of equipment at the end of
the year.
Or, you know, you do need a newvehicle, go buy a new vehicle
before 1231 because you get abig tax deduction for that.
And while that's true, like ifyou need a new piece of
(20:10):
equipment, yeah, let's takeadvantage of it when it makes
sense.
If you need a new vehicle, let'slet's take it and find a way to
use that to be to its mostadvantage.
But when I talk about maximizingdeductions, what I typically
say, and there's so many, thisis a root strategy that has so
many branches leading off to itto different strategies.
I talk about this concept of howdo we take spending?
Spending that you're alreadydoing, but turn it from after
(20:32):
tax into pre-tax spending.
And so I like to give an examplewhen I talk about this.
Is let's say you're a W-2employee, you're working for
somebody else, you get yourgross wages, and your employer
takes all these taxes out, andthen you get your take-home pay.
And any spending that you do,you know, you're you're sending
your kids to soccer camps,basketball camps, you are uh
paying for your home andutilities, your cell phone bill,
(20:54):
all that, all of that spendingyou do is after tax spending.
You're using money, yourtake-home pay that's already
been taxed, and you're doingthat spending.
Now, as a business owner, andthis is part of that incentive
that the government gets us, wehave revenue or sales in our
business, and then we have allthese expenses that cut against
that revenue or sales and giveus to a profit number.
And that profit is what we'retaxed on.
(21:14):
So any spending that we doinside of our business is
considered pre-tax spending.
And so my goal and strategy isto say, how do we turn after tax
spending?
Things that typically we'regonna have these costs anyways,
but how do we turn after taxspending into pre-tax spending?
And in a good example of that isa home office deduction.
As a W-2 worker, I get nodeduction for a home office.
(21:34):
As a business owner, I do.
I didn't have any added costs inthere as a business owner.
It's my home costs the same.
If I'm renting my rent costs thesame, there is no different
additional money out of mypocket, but now I'm turning
moving money from an after taxinto a pre tax.
Or if we look at hiring ourkids, I'm gonna send my kid to a
basketball camp or a baseballcamp or a volleyball camp or
(21:54):
whatever it might be.
Typically, I'm gonna use aftertax dollars for that.
And here, you go to your camp.
Well, what if I could findsomething that they could do in
my business, get a businessdeduction, they likely pay no
income tax on that, and thenthey go pay for their volleyball
camp or they go pay for theirbasketball camp.
And so that's this concept ofsaying, hey, we're not going and
spending more money that wedon't need or buying things that
we don't need in our business.
(22:16):
We're just shifting, finding abusiness purpose to some of the
spending that we're alreadydoing as long as we're doing it
within reasons.
You can look at cell phone billsand taking a percentage of your
cell phone bill and you know,all those different things are
all kind of playing that conceptof maximizing deductions and
moving money, money that we'realready spending from after tax
into pre-tax spending.
SPEAKER_02 (22:34):
Yeah, that's brilliant.
I know your podcast is a reallygood resource, and I love how
you explain things on yourpodcast, very similar to what
you're doing now in a way thatmakes sense and makes us feel
like, okay, I can maybe try tofigure some of this out myself,
even if you're like me and I'mlike anything that involves math
or numbers or anything evenremotely close to accounting,
(22:54):
I'm like keep it away from me.
So your podcast is a very goodresource.
Are there any other like booksor resources that you recommend
for people who are just startingout thinking about tax planning?
SPEAKER_00 (23:05):
Yeah, the biggest thing is I say is just kind of
get involved in it.
Start to learn, start to hearsome of the lingo out there,
start to hear some of that.
So our podcast is a great, uh,great point.
We also have a book on Amazoncalled the uh Small Business Tax
Savings Handbook.
Um, a really good kind ofdesktop guide.
It's it's it was written andbuilt uh for something that can
continue on.
So it's not something that hasto be renewed every single year.
(23:26):
Most of the concepts can becarried on year to year.
But I always say that's a goodlike once-a-year read to just
kind of refresh yourself onthese opportunities because a
lot of tax saving opportunities,they're around you all year
long, every single day.
And it's just keeping thatmindset tied to it of like, oh,
here's a planning opportunity.
Oh, I need to do this.
Here's a here's a planningopportunity, or oh, we're going
(23:47):
on a family vacation.
I also have a conference in thatplace that we're going on family
vacation is.
Can I tie that together?
Is there a way to do that thatmakes sense or not?
But at least we're thinking, wehave that mindset that we're
changing the way we think alittle bit to involve tax
planning uh around our everydaydecisions inside of our
business.
So those are kind of the twoareas I'd say are really good
starting point.
Our podcast, a ton of freecontent.
(24:09):
We do YouTube videos, a blogpost for every podcast episode,
and then our book on Amazon isalso a good opportunity.
SPEAKER_02 (24:16):
Awesome.
I will link both of those in theshow notes.
If people want to connect withyou further, if they want to
know more about what you do,I'll put the link to your
YouTube channel in the shownotes as well.
But is there any other placesthat you like to connect with
people or website that they cango to?
SPEAKER_00 (24:30):
Yeah, two main places that they can go to.
The first one istaxsavingspodcast.com.
That's a good resource that hasall of our blogs and all those
information.
And then we also have a softwarecalled Taxome, and that's
T-A-X-E-L-M.com.
And that's really kind of takingit to that next level.
If people say, okay, I got the90% there.
I need help with the last 10%,or I want someone to hold my
hand through this, or I wantsomeone to kind of explicitly
(24:51):
tell me exactly what strategy Ishould be focusing on.
Uh, that's where our softwarecan come into play.
So those two places are reallygood starting points.
SPEAKER_02 (24:57):
Awesome.
I will link all of that in theshow notes so that people can
click on that.
Thank you so much for coming onthe podcast and sharing this
information with us.
It's really, really helpful.
It's so funny because I have thebest guests on the podcast, and
there's always a point in theconversation where I know I've
got the right guests because Istart thinking, I probably need
to hire this guy.
Yeah, I probably need to hirethis person.
(25:18):
So thank you so much.
This was really, really helpful.
SPEAKER_00 (25:21):
Yeah, Melissa, thanks for having me.
SPEAKER_01 (25:23):
That's a wrap on this week's episode of Powerful
Women Rising.
Thanks for hanging out with us.
If you're looking for a fun,consistent, low pressure way to
meet other women in business andcreate more visibility, leads,
and momentum.
Check out the Powerful WomenRising Connection Network.
Looking for deeper support, aplace to think things through,
get honest feedback, and stayfocused as you grow.
(25:46):
You can learn more about ourmasterminds through the links in
the show notes.
If you loved the episode, besure to subscribe, share, and
leave us a review.
And until next time, keep risingbecause building a business your
way really is the best way.
Welcome to Powerful Women Rising, the podcast for
female entrepreneurs playing bytheir own rules and growing
their businesses their way.
Join Business RelationshipStrategists and your host,
Melissa Snow, as she brings youpractical perspectives and
candid conversations.
Each episode guides you to makesmarter decisions and take bold
(00:26):
action as you build a businessthat's both profitable and
aligned.
Because the world is a betterplace when powerful women rise
together.
SPEAKER_02 (00:36):
Hey everyone, welcome back to another episode
of the Powerful Woman Risingpodcast.
I'm your host, Melissa Snow.
I'm a business relationshipstrategist and the founder of
Powerful Woman Rising.
We do a lot of things over hereat Powerful Woman Rising, not
just this podcast, which we loveand is super fun.
But we also have the PowerfulWomen Rising Connection Network,
which is a virtual networkingcommunity for female
(00:59):
entrepreneurs who maybe don'tlove traditional networking.
Maybe you've tried it before andit feels a little salesy,
there's too much small talk, youfeel kind of awkward, you're not
really into the transactionalrelationships, you really want
to create genuine connectionswith other people who are not
only people that you like andwould like want to hang out with
on a Friday night, but they'realso people who take business
(01:20):
seriously, their business andyours.
They say your name in rooms thatyou're not in.
They're looking foropportunities for you to
advance, to get more visible, tofind new clients, and you're
doing the same for them.
Inside the Powerful Women RisingConnection Network, so many new
connections are being builtevery day.
And we would love to have you asa member.
(01:42):
Click the link in the show notesand check it out if you're
interested.
All right, let's dive intotoday's episode because this
might be one of the mostimportant podcast episodes we've
ever had here at Powerful WomenRising.
This episode might be the thingthat changes your life, changes
your business, changes yourincome, changes your lifestyle
forever and ever.
And I'm not even exaggerating.
(02:04):
This interview with MikeJezuschek is about taxes, which
I know doesn't sound exciting,but it's something that we all
have to deal with, especially asbusiness owners.
And there are ways that we candeal with our taxes that allow
us to still feel like we are incontrol, that we know what we're
doing.
We're not just handing it off tosomeone else, and also feel
(02:24):
really confident that things arebeing done correctly and that we
are maximizing the amount ofmoney that is coming to us at
the end of the day.
You know, if I bring a maleguest onto the podcast, it's
going to be good.
It's only happened a few timesin the past, but this is no
exception.
When I got Mike Jezoshek'sapplication to be on the
podcast, I knew I had to havehim on as a guest.
(02:46):
I've listened to his podcast forseveral months now.
And the way that he talks abouttaxes is really a way that makes
sense, that you can understand,that you don't feel like he is
mansplaining to you or talkingdown to you.
And it really, really does helpyou feel empowered in your
business.
So I was really excited to sitdown with him today and talk to
(03:07):
him about all things businesstaxes.
Mike Jozechek is a CPA and thefounder of Tax Elm, host of the
Small Business Tax SavingPodcast, and the author of the
Small Business Tax SavingsHandbook.
He's helped thousands ofentrepreneurs legally reduce
their tax bills through clear,actionable strategies.
And he's on a mission to maketax savings simple, accessible,
(03:28):
and stress-free for everyone.
Good morning, Mike.
Welcome to the Powerful WomenRising Podcast.
SPEAKER_00 (03:33):
Melissa, thanks for having me.
SPEAKER_02 (03:35):
Yes, I'm so excited to have you.
It's funny because most of ourpodcast guests have been
females.
I've been doing this podcast foryears now.
I think this is episode like 130something.
And I think you're like thethird or fourth man to have on
here.
So we're very excited.
SPEAKER_00 (03:50):
I was looking at that when I was when I was
signing up and I did notice someother males on there.
So I'm like, okay, I think Ithink I can uh I think I could
bring some value.
So hopefully it's it's good.
SPEAKER_02 (03:59):
Yeah, no, we're excited to have you.
And I'm excited to talk to youabout taxes today because this
is something that I think mostpeople, especially business
owners, don't necessarily findexciting, but it's something
that we need to know about andwe need to think about.
And I think a lot of times welearn these things through trial
and error.
We get years into our businessand someone mentions something
(04:20):
to us about tax planning or, youknow, something like that.
And we're like, what are youtalking about?
So I think this is a reallyexciting topic to talk about for
people who um for people who arebrand new to business and don't
really know how to even like setthings up, but also people who
have been in business for awhile and may be able to do
things a little bit differentlyto increase their bottom line.
(04:42):
So before we get started, telleverybody a little bit about you
and about what you do.
SPEAKER_00 (04:47):
Yeah.
So I've been an entrepreneursince the age of 14.
Uh, really kind of got startedin the online marketing
industry.
And so uh was doing all sorts ofthings within the online
marketing industry, but uheventually went to school in
college for accounting.
And really that was just mybackup plan.
I was still running a company atthat time and had a partnership
with a lot of people, uh, butgraduated, got my CPA, and was
(05:08):
running the finance part of ourcompany.
And we had a company with sevenpartners at that time, and we
were all trying to, we were allreally good at what we did, but
it was all very different partsof the industry.
And so we were trying to pullthis company into a bunch of
different directions.
And at that point in time said,uh, instead of trying to do all
that, why don't we go out andand do our own thing?
And so uh that is when we splitoff.
And I started a cloud-basedaccounting firm back in in 2013.
(05:31):
And uh, cloud-based accountinglike is pretty common now, but
in 2013 it really wasn't.
But the industry I came from wasa lot of younger generation.
Everyone at that time wasautomatic uh already working
remotely, and uh that was theindustry that would start out
in.
But you kind of mentioned thisidea of uh people not really
knowing from a tax standpointwhere they kind of fall into it,
(05:52):
or they they realize that theyneed to do tax planning um when
it's too late, or or whenthey've had an experience of
like, okay, I don't want to facethat bill again.
How do I how do I tackle that?
That's really how my journeyinto tax planning went.
When I started my accountingfirm, I didn't do anything from
a tax standpoint.
I was strictly accounting,finance, bookkeeping uh was our
focus, but saw such a need forsmall business owners to
(06:14):
understand tax strategiesavailable.
And I was facing the same thing.
And whenever I would reach outto accountants, I just couldn't
get a good referral partner forthe tax planning piece.
It found great tax repairs outthere, but just really kind of
struggled to um find the pieceon the planning side, on the
strategy side.
And so uh started to build,started to build the tax side of
(06:35):
it and started a podcast abouteight years ago focusing on
teaching these tax strategies tosmall business owners and just
really fell in love with the taxplanning piece, ended up selling
the majority stake in my firmback in 2021 to go full-time
into podcasting, and then alsolaunched a software uh two years
ago as well.
So that's kind of a a longroundabout way is I'm I'm living
out my backup plan for the lastuh 13, 14 years now.
SPEAKER_02 (06:59):
That's awesome.
I love that.
What a cool story, and amazingthat you started when you were
14.
I don't even know what I wasdoing at 14, eating dirt,
probably.
SPEAKER_00 (07:07):
Yeah, no, I I actually say, you know, uh what
I what I was doing was was a lotof eBay type stuff.
And so my dad started this.
He was uh he used to go toauctions, buy stuff, resell it,
had an antique store, thosetypes of things.
And and I had no interest inthat.
But when I was like six, I wouldgo to the auctions with him and
I would go play pool in the backor you know, do whatever I want
to do while while he was at theauction.
(07:27):
But he bought at one auctionthis box of bottle caps, and
they were just the caps from itwas a soda or a beer, I can't
remember what it was, but theywere the caps from that.
And he spent like 50 bucks onthis box of like 1,500 bottle
caps, and he made that myproject.
He said, Okay, we're gonna take50 of these and put them in a
plastic baggie, and then we'regonna go on eBay and we're gonna
sell 50, you know, take all thetake the 1500, break them out in
(07:49):
50, and resell them.
And I think each bag sold forlike 30 or 35 bucks.
So uh that was kind of like justmy intro into this concept of
like, whoa, like we just took$50and turned it into$1,500.
And at such a young age, it wasjust kind of a cool thing.
And so when I got started in theonline marketing industry, it
was a lot of uh that type ofwork in it.
SPEAKER_02 (08:07):
Yeah, that's super cool.
Okay, so before we really diveinto taxes and the the meat of
our conversation, I'm gonna tellyou what I tell my CPA.
You have to explain things to melike I'm in kindergarten.
Because as you probably know,because you've been doing this a
long time and with your podcasttoo, the people who are
listening to your podcast areprobably not CPAs.
(08:27):
They're normal people like me.
And we want to understand inregular people language what
you're talking about.
So you said a lot when you weretalking in your introduction and
things that you do about taxplanning.
So, what is the differencebetween like people who are
listening and are like, oh yeah,I have a guy he does my taxes,
right?
Or like, oh yeah, I use turbotax or whatever it is.
(08:48):
What's the difference betweenwhat you're talking about with
tax planning versus I have a guywho does my taxes?
SPEAKER_00 (08:54):
Yeah, I and I think that's so important because even
with accountants, people havemisunderstood, like, oh, what
this idea of tax strategy is ortax planning.
And so I break it down to taxplanning versus tax prep.
And so tax prep is what peopletypically think about when they
think of taxes, when they thinkof working with an accountant.
And that is just preparing andfiling a tax return and then
sending it off to thegovernment, the IRS, or the
(09:16):
state agencies.
And so tax prep is just saying,here's all the activity that we
had last year.
Here's the income I had, maybesome interest, maybe some
capital gains I had, whatever itmight be.
Here's all the income I had, andhere's some deductions, and
here's the amount that I paid intax throughout the year.
Uh, and then we're finding ourtax return.
We're either getting a refund,which means that we paid the
government too much, or we havean amount due, which means that
(09:38):
we didn't quite pay thegovernment enough, and we're
kind of trueing that up.
And so tax prep's important, taxprep's required by law, but all
tax prep is it's takinginformation, telling the
government, here's what my lifelooked like from an income and
expense standpoint throughoutthe year.
And that typically happens afterthe year's over.
So we're we're we're lookingback at it.
We file in January, February,March, April for last year's
(09:59):
type of activity.
When we look at tax planning,tax planning is saying, what
strategies can I implement?
What things can I do in mybusiness between January and
December before the year is evenover, but what things can I do
within my business to help lowermy tax liability?
So it's working about strategy,not just so much sending
information up.
And I think that's where there'sa lot of confusion because a lot
of people say, Well, I do taxplanning.
(10:21):
Like my accountant tells me sendin estimated tax payments of
this amount.
And I said, Well, that's that'stax, that's planning for taxes
owed, I guess it is a planningof some sort, but that's not
what we're talking about.
When we talk about tax planning,we're saying, hey, how do we
legally hire your kids in yourbusiness and take expenses,
money that you pay your kidsanyways, or help support them
(10:42):
in?
How do we make that into abusiness deduction?
Or how do we, you know, you'reworking in a home office, how do
we turn that into a businessdeduction?
Or, you know, you're you're howdo we set your entity structure
up the right way to make surethat you're paying, you know,
protected from a liabilitystandpoint, but also uh paying
the least amount of taxes aslegally possible.
That's the planning piece.
And then at the end of the year,that tax prep and filing, that's
(11:02):
just taking the information andsending it up to the government.
So I don't mean to say that taxprep and filing isn't important.
It is, it's it's required bylaw, but tax planning comes way
before that.
And it's thinking through whatstrategies inside my kind of
tool bucket can I implement inmy scenario to make sure that
when I do prepare that taxreturn, when I do file that tax
return, I know that I've donethe best I could to pay the
(11:25):
least amount of taxes legallypossible, doing it the right
way.
SPEAKER_02 (11:28):
Yeah, yeah.
Is there a point that peopleneed to be more or less
concerned about tax planning?
Like if I just started abusiness or I'm thinking about
starting a business, or youknow, sometimes we hear things
like, oh, you should be in theLLC if you're making less than
this much a year, or you shouldtransition to S-Corp after
you're making six figures, orlike, do we need to worry about
(11:48):
tax planning if we're onlymaking$25,000 a year?
Is there a point that it startsto matter?
SPEAKER_00 (11:54):
Yeah, I mean, immediately.
And so when we talk about taxstrategy, I have what I call
core tax strategies and advancedtax strategies.
And to move the focus to corestrategies, core strategies are
strategies that are available toeverybody.
So whether you're making$5million a year or you're making
$5,000 on a side gig, core taxstrategies are available to you.
And these are those things likehome office, hiring your kids,
(12:16):
automobile deductions,maximizing deductions, S
Corporation, those are allstrategies that we start to
explore at even that lowerlevel.
And I oftentimes tell somebodythat because of the advantages,
the government incentivizespeople to be a business owner.
And when we talk about taxstrategy, we're just taking
advantage of incentives that thegovernment gives us.
So let's use home office as anexample.
(12:38):
If I'm a W-2 worker working forsomebody else and I work out of
my home, I have my home office,I get no tax deduction for that
because I'm a W-2 worker, I'mworking for somebody else.
But if I'm a business owner, nowI get a deduction for that same
exact home office, that sameexact thing that I'm working at,
I get a deduction as a businessowner that I don't get as a W-2
owner.
And so what why is that?
(12:58):
And it's really because thegovernment wants people to be
business owners.
They want people to hireemployees, they want to build
the economy, they want US-madestuff, they want all of that.
And so their way of gettingpeople to become business owners
is incentivizing them.
And that way of incentivizing isthrough the tax code and gives
us those opportunities.
And so when we look at being abusiness owner, uh, even people
(13:20):
that start side gigs can easilybe producing income from a cash
flow standpoint, but reallyshowing a loss from a tax
standpoint because they'rethey're opening up opportunities
for a lot of expenses thatweren't there traditionally.
Now, I wouldn't necessarily saya loss, but let's say you have
$5,000 in side gig income,you're not paying taxes on
$5,000.
There has to be some sort ofexpense associated with that
(13:43):
where you're lowering that tosome extent, you know, whether
that's close to zero or not,it's all gonna depend on the
scenario.
But tax planning starts at anylevel and should start right at
the beginning.
And I always say, like, as a newbusiness owner, we need to have
a solid foundation for ourbusiness.
So tax planning is going toevolve, you're gonna add more
and more strategies, more andmore things as your business
grows, but you need to have thatfoundation.
(14:04):
You know, what are we buildingoff of from the start?
And what are we preparingourselves for just to make sure
that we have the most successfrom a tax standpoint and a
business girl standpoint?
SPEAKER_02 (14:13):
Yeah, absolutely.
You've touched on this a littlebit, but one of the things that
I really wanted to ask you waswhat cause some of the common
mistakes are that you see smallbusiness owners making when it
comes to taxes?
I mean, obviously, I'm thinking,you know, not planning and doing
the things like you're talkingabout or thinking this is
something I need to worry aboutlater on in business.
But there is there anything elsethat we haven't talked about
(14:33):
that you see frequently?
SPEAKER_00 (14:35):
Yeah, I think, you know, some of the big ones are
business owners just assumingthat their accountant's gonna
take care of it for them.
Uh, thinking that if they go totheir accountant to say, hey,
you're gonna file my tax return,you're my tax accountant, that
they're just automatically gonnado tax planning.
And that's and that's amisconception because a lot of
people think that.
They're like, well, you're myaccountant, shouldn't you be
saving this?
But they're not necessarilypaying them to do that.
(14:57):
Like they're paying them a costand an amount that covers the
tax return.
And there can be a lot ofconfusion there because people
expect that to be as part of it.
So it's don't necessarily expectyour accountant to be able to do
that.
Uh, but also if that's somethingyou're interested, ask them
because they might be offeredthat service.
It's gonna be an additionalcost, there's gonna be an
additional piece to it, but theymight do that.
Or there's a case where a lot oftax repairs just are not
(15:20):
planners, and that's totallynormal.
That's totally fine as long asyou have that expectation going
into it.
And you know, the second piece,and this is one of the most
important parts when we talkabout tax planning, is I always
talk about we want to learn taxstrategy.
So dive into materials, diveinto podcasts, dive into books
about the tax strategy, but youcan't just stop there.
(15:40):
You have to then go andimplement it because you can
know every tax strategy outthere, but if you don't do
anything with it, it providesyou no tax savings.
And then even a more key part ofthat implementation piece is
correct implementation becausethat's what guarantees or bullet
keeps you bulletproof from anIRS audit.
I always tell business owners,I'm not afraid of an audit.
The IRS comes knocking at mydoor, I'm not afraid of it
(16:02):
because I know that everythingI'm doing is above law and I'm
doing it the correct way.
I'm down to my eyes and crossingmy T's on the implementation
piece.
If they ask, say, hey, I seeyou're hiring your kids, how
does that work?
I have timesheets, I have justjob descriptions, I have pay,
you know, what am I determiningthe reasonable play is based on
the job they're doing, locallocalities.
I have all this documented to dothat.
(16:24):
Now, if I'm on the flip side andI'm hiring my kids and just
writing them a check for$15,000a year and having no
documentation, now I'm afraid ofan audit.
So it's all about those are two,both people are utilizing,
implementing the strategy.
They know a tax strategy hiringyour kids, and they're
implementing it.
One's doing it the right way,one's not doing it the right
way.
And that correct implementationis that key part.
(16:45):
So it's it's more than justsaying, oh, I heard a 30-second
TikTok video, let me go now, gopay my write a check to my child
and my business.
It's much more than that.
So, you know, that's the dot inyour eyes crossing your T's
piece that I just highlyencourage people.
It's not a ton of work, it'sit's nothing crazy.
It's not like it's gonna takehours and hours of work to do
that, but it's what helps yousleep at night.
And it's what helps you knowwhen that if you get that
(17:06):
dreaded letter from the IRS,it's like not a big deal.
Here's my information, here's mydocumentation, and we move on
from that.
SPEAKER_02 (17:13):
Yeah, that's very smart.
Yeah.
Because I think there's a lot ofthings, there's a lot of things
in business that we think we canDIY, right?
Especially in the beginning.
Um, and there's a lot of thingsthat we can DIY, and a lot of
times the stakes are not thathigh, right?
Like if I do my own website or Iam keeping track of my own
calendar or whatever it is, likeand I mess something up, okay,
(17:36):
fixable, we can do it.
But perhaps maybe taxes andfinances are something that we
want to make sure that we aredoing correctly.
SPEAKER_00 (17:44):
Yeah, you know, and one thing that really caught my
eye, and the reason I startedour podcast eight years ago is
because I was referring out taxwork and expecting with these
people I refer to to get taxhelp from them.
And let's look at the hired kidsbecause it's it's an easy
example to talk through.
I would ask some of theaccountants that we work with,
I'd say, hey, I have a client ofours that wants to hire their
(18:04):
kids.
You know, can you give me someinsight of what what needs to be
done?
How do we how do we do this theright way?
And they'd say, Well, itdepends.
I need to know this and that,and I need all this information
to give you any kind of feedbackfrom that.
And as soon as clients hearthat, they they'd say, Okay, I'm
going the other way.
Sounds like way too much workfor a little bit of a tax
deduction.
And as I started to get intothis tax side, researching it on
(18:27):
my own, implementing it myself,I started to realize that yes,
everyone's situation isdifferent, and it does depend.
But when we look at a taxstrategy, it's the same.
90% of that strategy is the samefor everybody.
So if we look at hiring yourkids, how you do it correctly,
what the process is, all of thatis the same for everybody, up to
90%.
Now, a plumber is gonna hiretheir kids a little bit
(18:48):
differently than uh, you know, aconsultant, or someone with an
eight-year-old is gonna hiretheir kids differently than
someone with a 15-year-old.
And that's that last 10% thatyou got to tweak for yourself.
But that 90% of the strategy isthere.
And so our my goal and ineverything that we do is to say,
how do I help small businessowners get 90% of the way there?
So instead of going to theiraccountant and saying, How do I
hire my kids?
(19:08):
It's no, I'm gonna hire my kids.
Here's the kind of jobs I'm Ihave gonna have them doing,
here's the amount of hours thatthey're doing per week.
I've already researched some payrates for the type of work
they're doing and theirexperience on what would be
good.
Can you help me button this upand just and and finalize the
last piece?
That accountant's gonna takethat and they're probably gonna
get them through the finish lineversus the hey, how do I hire my
(19:28):
kids piece?
You know, that's the kind ofpiece where it's it's letting
business owners know that thisstuff's out there, it's
relatively easy.
You just gotta put in a littlebit of effort and it could
provide some massive, massivetax savings.
SPEAKER_02 (19:40):
Yeah, absolutely.
One of the things that I'veheard you talk about on your
podcast before is after taxversus pre-tax spending.
Can you talk a little bit aboutwhat that means?
SPEAKER_00 (19:50):
Yeah, so this is a concept that a lot of people,
when they hear tax planning, uh,they think estimate taxes, and
we've done talked about thattoo.
But another concept that I hearso many people say is, oh yeah,
my accountant tells me go buy apiece of equipment at the end of
the year.
Or, you know, you do need a newvehicle, go buy a new vehicle
before 1231 because you get abig tax deduction for that.
And while that's true, like ifyou need a new piece of
(20:10):
equipment, yeah, let's takeadvantage of it when it makes
sense.
If you need a new vehicle, let'slet's take it and find a way to
use that to be to its mostadvantage.
But when I talk about maximizingdeductions, what I typically
say, and there's so many, thisis a root strategy that has so
many branches leading off to itto different strategies.
I talk about this concept of howdo we take spending?
Spending that you're alreadydoing, but turn it from after
(20:32):
tax into pre-tax spending.
And so I like to give an examplewhen I talk about this.
Is let's say you're a W-2employee, you're working for
somebody else, you get yourgross wages, and your employer
takes all these taxes out, andthen you get your take-home pay.
And any spending that you do,you know, you're you're sending
your kids to soccer camps,basketball camps, you are uh
paying for your home andutilities, your cell phone bill,
(20:54):
all that, all of that spendingyou do is after tax spending.
You're using money, yourtake-home pay that's already
been taxed, and you're doingthat spending.
Now, as a business owner, andthis is part of that incentive
that the government gets us, wehave revenue or sales in our
business, and then we have allthese expenses that cut against
that revenue or sales and giveus to a profit number.
And that profit is what we'retaxed on.
(21:14):
So any spending that we doinside of our business is
considered pre-tax spending.
And so my goal and strategy isto say, how do we turn after tax
spending?
Things that typically we'regonna have these costs anyways,
but how do we turn after taxspending into pre-tax spending?
And in a good example of that isa home office deduction.
As a W-2 worker, I get nodeduction for a home office.
(21:34):
As a business owner, I do.
I didn't have any added costs inthere as a business owner.
It's my home costs the same.
If I'm renting my rent costs thesame, there is no different
additional money out of mypocket, but now I'm turning
moving money from an after taxinto a pre tax.
Or if we look at hiring ourkids, I'm gonna send my kid to a
basketball camp or a baseballcamp or a volleyball camp or
(21:54):
whatever it might be.
Typically, I'm gonna use aftertax dollars for that.
And here, you go to your camp.
Well, what if I could findsomething that they could do in
my business, get a businessdeduction, they likely pay no
income tax on that, and thenthey go pay for their volleyball
camp or they go pay for theirbasketball camp.
And so that's this concept ofsaying, hey, we're not going and
spending more money that wedon't need or buying things that
we don't need in our business.
(22:16):
We're just shifting, finding abusiness purpose to some of the
spending that we're alreadydoing as long as we're doing it
within reasons.
You can look at cell phone billsand taking a percentage of your
cell phone bill and you know,all those different things are
all kind of playing that conceptof maximizing deductions and
moving money, money that we'realready spending from after tax
into pre-tax spending.
SPEAKER_02 (22:34):
Yeah, that's brilliant.
I know your podcast is a reallygood resource, and I love how
you explain things on yourpodcast, very similar to what
you're doing now in a way thatmakes sense and makes us feel
like, okay, I can maybe try tofigure some of this out myself,
even if you're like me and I'mlike anything that involves math
or numbers or anything evenremotely close to accounting,
(22:54):
I'm like keep it away from me.
So your podcast is a very goodresource.
Are there any other like booksor resources that you recommend
for people who are just startingout thinking about tax planning?
SPEAKER_00 (23:05):
Yeah, the biggest thing is I say is just kind of
get involved in it.
Start to learn, start to hearsome of the lingo out there,
start to hear some of that.
So our podcast is a great, uh,great point.
We also have a book on Amazoncalled the uh Small Business Tax
Savings Handbook.
Um, a really good kind ofdesktop guide.
It's it's it was written andbuilt uh for something that can
continue on.
So it's not something that hasto be renewed every single year.
(23:26):
Most of the concepts can becarried on year to year.
But I always say that's a goodlike once-a-year read to just
kind of refresh yourself onthese opportunities because a
lot of tax saving opportunities,they're around you all year
long, every single day.
And it's just keeping thatmindset tied to it of like, oh,
here's a planning opportunity.
Oh, I need to do this.
Here's a here's a planningopportunity, or oh, we're going
(23:47):
on a family vacation.
I also have a conference in thatplace that we're going on family
vacation is.
Can I tie that together?
Is there a way to do that thatmakes sense or not?
But at least we're thinking, wehave that mindset that we're
changing the way we think alittle bit to involve tax
planning uh around our everydaydecisions inside of our
business.
So those are kind of the twoareas I'd say are really good
starting point.
Our podcast, a ton of freecontent.
(24:09):
We do YouTube videos, a blogpost for every podcast episode,
and then our book on Amazon isalso a good opportunity.
SPEAKER_02 (24:16):
Awesome.
I will link both of those in theshow notes.
If people want to connect withyou further, if they want to
know more about what you do,I'll put the link to your
YouTube channel in the shownotes as well.
But is there any other placesthat you like to connect with
people or website that they cango to?
SPEAKER_00 (24:30):
Yeah, two main places that they can go to.
The first one istaxsavingspodcast.com.
That's a good resource that hasall of our blogs and all those
information.
And then we also have a softwarecalled Taxome, and that's
T-A-X-E-L-M.com.
And that's really kind of takingit to that next level.
If people say, okay, I got the90% there.
I need help with the last 10%,or I want someone to hold my
hand through this, or I wantsomeone to kind of explicitly
(24:51):
tell me exactly what strategy Ishould be focusing on.
Uh, that's where our softwarecan come into play.
So those two places are reallygood starting points.
SPEAKER_02 (24:57):
Awesome.
I will link all of that in theshow notes so that people can
click on that.
Thank you so much for coming onthe podcast and sharing this
information with us.
It's really, really helpful.
It's so funny because I have thebest guests on the podcast, and
there's always a point in theconversation where I know I've
got the right guests because Istart thinking, I probably need
to hire this guy.
Yeah, I probably need to hirethis person.
(25:18):
So thank you so much.
This was really, really helpful.
SPEAKER_00 (25:21):
Yeah, Melissa, thanks for having me.
SPEAKER_01 (25:23):
That's a wrap on this week's episode of Powerful
Women Rising.
Thanks for hanging out with us.
If you're looking for a fun,consistent, low pressure way to
meet other women in business andcreate more visibility, leads,
and momentum.
Check out the Powerful WomenRising Connection Network.
Looking for deeper support, aplace to think things through,
get honest feedback, and stayfocused as you grow.
(25:46):
You can learn more about ourmasterminds through the links in
the show notes.
If you loved the episode, besure to subscribe, share, and
leave us a review.
And until next time, keep risingbecause building a business your
way really is the best way.
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