July 28, 2023 • 24 mins
Shauna Wekherlien is an author, speaker, investor, and highly sought-after tax strategist whose reputation has been built on 20+ years of experience and implementing innovative tax solutions for individuals and businesses. Shauna has been featured on many news and radio stations (CBS, NBC, FOX, ABC, Sonoran Living, The List, KFNX, KFYI, etc) as well as written publications (CNNMoney, The Arizona Republic, Phoenix Women, AZBiz, etc). She is an educational Tax Professional who loves to see the light bulb turn on for those she teaches, mentors, and guides. She truly is a “Tax Goddess.”
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
This week on the Art of Improvement, I'll be speaking with Shauna the Tax
Gottess. You know what, She'san author, a speaker, an investor,
a highly sought after tax strategist,and her reputation has been built on
twenty plus years of experience. You'llwant to hear all about her tax experience.
It's coming up next on the Artof Improvement. Thank you so much
(00:27):
for joining me on the Art ofimprovement. My guest today is somebody.
I don't know if it's good newsor bad news when you get your taxes
done. But we have Shauna theTax Gottess on and she's gonna talk all
about taxes. Hi, Shauna,Oh Hi, how are you? We're
not that bad well strategist to helpyou, not the evil side of the
(00:48):
tax That is so true. Butevery time I go to get my taxes
done, I'm like, what surprisesam I gonna face this year? I
mean, it's serious, that's awful. That's the worst part about it,
right, is that you know whenyou don't have a tax strategy, that's
what happens is it is a surpriseversus when you have a tax strategy.
(01:08):
You know exactly what that bill isor is not going to be hopefully your
refund by December thirty first, whichis the fund bit. Well, let
me ask you. I have beentold several times why are you getting a
refund? You should always try tobreak even on your taxes. What do
you have to say about that?Absolutely? Well, in my mind,
(01:30):
I agree, right, a refundmeans you're giving an interest free loan to
the government. So certainly, I'mpersonally I'm not a big fan of that.
I know some people like that,but I am not a big fan
of that. But for me,I tend to prefer to look at everything.
I don't even want you to paytaxes in the first place, right
(01:51):
now, of course, looking everythinglegal, looking at everything above board.
But if you're doing your planning properly, you should first of all know whether
there is or is not a taxbill. But secondly, hopefully there's no
tax bill and you don't have anythingowed and therefore no refund either. So
yeah, that's very interesting, becausehow can we not pay taxes? I
(02:13):
mean, taxes are always going tobe taken out of our paychecks, right,
so this is the question, right, and one percent death and taxes,
right, the only two things thatwe can't get away from right.
So the big question here is whoare we talking about. So, if
you're a W two employee, youare one percent correct, right. It's
(02:35):
your employer's requirement to even having youas an employe, to withhold taxes and
to attempt to withhold them properly.Right. So, or you married,
you have kids, do you owna house. You know, all of
these things will modify how much taxwithholding you should or should not do on
your W two. However, ifyou or a spouse are a business owner,
(02:57):
business owners are allowed to look atthe total amount of income that they
bring in and then write off allof their expenses, right, anything that
is ordinary, necessary and reasonable fortheir business. So with a business owner,
the point is to bring in asmuch money as you can, but
track all of your expenses properly,make sure you're using tax strategies to bring
(03:20):
your net profit down to zero.And if your net profit is zero,
then there's no taxes to pay.So it's much much much better if you
can be a business owner or evenhave some sort of a side gig like
an uber, lift, door Dashsomething like that, which can help you
take expenses to offset your taxes.Okay, I definitely want to talk about
(03:43):
that. The unemployment rate is verylow right now. But what I have
found is it's low because people havetwo and three jobs, and so people
are getting jobs, but they're havingto get more jobs in order to make
ends meet. So when you sayyou can go and do uber or you
(04:06):
know, door dash, how isit? I don't know because I don't
work there, But how is itthat they get paid? And what can
you do to offset taxes? Ifyou do have to take on a couple
of jobs? Love it? Loveit so? And you're right, you
know, for many people this islike, oh, this is awful.
(04:27):
I have to work two jobs tobe able to make ends meet, which
which is bad, right, wewould all prefer to work one job and
make ends meet. But you canuse a side gig, a side business
like that to your advantage. Sonot only are you earning the cash,
but you also get all of thesetax benefits. So let's pick a specific
example, right, Let's do anUber driver. So you have your W
(04:51):
two job and you're making fifty thousanddollars a year on your W two job,
and of course they're going to withholdtaxes that you know, your taxes
are paid. That is what itis. But you also have this Uber
job and the suber gig, andso you've made ten thousand dollars driving for
the year. Well, from thatten thousand dollars, you're allowed to write
(05:11):
off ordinary, necessary and reasonable expenses. So you've got gas for the car,
insurance for the car, your cellphone plan, right because you need
the map to drive around. You'vegot water bottles that you've bought for the
car to put in back for yourguests. You've got special telephone cable so
that your guests can charge their phone. Maybe you had to buy new tires.
(05:33):
Right. There's all sorts of expensesthat could belong to your business,
right because now you're a ten ninetynine, which is a contractor for Uber.
So yeah, this is key becausewhen you're a ten ninety nine or
a contractor, you are effectively yourown business owner. So you know,
(05:55):
maybe you've brought in ten thousand dollarsworth of expenses, but you buy that
new car and you had all ofthese expenses. So your net profit with
negative seven, that negative seven willoffset your fifty thousand dollars W two.
So you've made ten thousand in cash, but you actually get some of your
(06:16):
taxes back from your W two becauseyou had a negative on the business.
Does that make sense? It absolutelymakes sense, Shawna the tax of Goddess.
Before we go one extra second,can you tell people how they can
get in touch with you? Absolutely? We are super easy to find tax
gooddess dot com awesome, very cool. And so let me ask you about
(06:41):
limits because every year I definitely itemizeon my tax returns. So is there
a place to go to find outhow much you can take on certain items
like tires or gasoline and stuff likethat? And well, let me just
(07:06):
answer that question because the other one'sway too long. Go ahead. I
love it. I love it,and I think your question is brilliant because
we get asked this all the time. So, Seana, how much am
I allowed to take in gas?How much am I allowed to take in
medical expenses? Or take for charity? Right? Whatever those items are,
(07:28):
there is no limit, Okay,So I'm going to say that very plainly,
there is no limit. The onlything is that it has to be
for a business expense. It hasto be ordinary, necessary and reasonable.
Right, you heard that third one. So if you're driving ten thousand dollars
for uber. You can't buy afifty thousand dollars rolex and call it advertise,
(07:50):
right, not gonna work, notgonna work. So ordinary, necessarily
reasonable and on the personal side,right, So things like charity for exam,
charity is thirty percent of your adjustedgrowth income. But if you put
in more than that, you know, some people are very very charitable.
If you put in more than that, you don't lose it. It just
rolls over to the next year.Ah, okay, so yeah, And
(08:13):
do I need receipts for all ofthese deductions. Absolutely? Absolutely. The
one habit that I want everyone todo is any time you buy anything personal
business, for your dogs, thatdoesn't matter. Every time you buy anything,
you pull out your phone, yousnap a picture of the receipt,
(08:33):
and then you throw the receipt away. And the reason why I want you
to do that, okay, totwo main reasons. One, receipts in
the heat will turn white, whichmeans you have no more records, right,
so if you're only keeping physical receipts, that could be a problem.
And two, if you get inthe habit of doing that, if there's
(08:54):
ever an audit and the auditor says, well, I need to see this
receipt for that one thousand dollars worthof times you bought. You just go
to the day you bought it.You go, here, you go,
time stamp date. Here's me inthe tire shop holding up my receipts.
Ever, that is such a smartidea, So let me ask you,
do you do personal taxes business taxes? Who can come to you? Because
(09:20):
I know I go in a littlekiosk and I'm telling you it's a lot
of money and to get my taxesdone, but I always go because I
want somebody to take care of it. So how who can come to you?
Absolutely, and thank you for asking. So we specialize in business owners,
(09:41):
which is why I know a lotabout the business side. So we
specialize in business owners making at leasta million dollars a year in gross revenue.
And we do have partners that wework with. So if you're a
W two person looking to open aside business like an uber, we've got
partners that we've work with that workwith mostly W two people that still want
(10:03):
some of those tax strategies on theside. It is a smart idea.
I mean I know that just theten forty easy is what a lot of
people do because they are expecting theirrefund and it's pretty cut and dry.
But what happens are people losing moneywhen they do it that way. It
(10:24):
all depends on who you are.So there are certainly some people out there,
and I love the way you phrasethat, some people that just want
to get it done and over with. I paid my taxes. I just
want to be done and over Letthe government tell me whatever I need to
do, okay. And then there'sother people that say, you know what,
the government has enough of my money, and I'm going to use every
law that was legally written for thecongressman and the senators. If they can
(10:46):
use it, I can use it. So depending on how much additional work
you want to put into it,we have cases where it's fifty thousand dollars
worth of W two. By openinga side business, you pay zero tax.
So it really just depends on howmuch effort you want to put in
and how much your tax dollars areworth to you. So it is so
(11:09):
funny that you mentioned you know senators, and you know, I guess every
time somebody's going to run for theoffice of president, we hear in the
news. You didn't pay any taxes. You know, you make this much
and you got away with it.You cheated the government, you didn't pay
taxes. But there is a way, honestly, if you're smart to do
(11:35):
that, correct, I mean legally, absolutely, And I think that's the
key here, right. So Ipersonally, I'm a CPA. I have
my master's and taxation. I'm rankedin the tap one percent in the country
for tax strategy. The people thatpay zero to five six percent in tax
use people like me to follow therules, right, I'm crossing all this
(12:00):
He's dot of those eyes. Everythingis legal because senators and congress people don't
want to go to jail, rightdon't. I don't. They don't.
Nobody wants to go to jail.So they're doing everything legally. And that's
what I love about being a citizenin the US. If the laws are
there for them, they're here forme. So I can use the exact
same strategies that they do. Ijust maybe I'm not doing it in the
(12:22):
millions of dollars. I'm doing itat the five thousand dollar level. But
the law is the law, Soif they can do it, I can
do it and I will love thatabout our country. Absolutely, if you
just started listening, this is SHAWNA, the tex Gottess, and I forgot
to ask you. I mean whenyou say tex scottis dot com, we
don't need to know your name,just texcottus dot com. That's how to
(12:43):
get to you taxcottus dot com.Yeah, we are super easy to find.
I've got a team of eighty ninepeople in the company, so hopefully
you'll talk to me at some point, but yeah, you'll definitely start with
my team when you come and reachout to us. And so you I
understand you or an author, aspeaker, investor, sought astor tax strategies.
(13:05):
What books do you have? Canyou talk to us about that?
Absolutely? So my first book thatI ever wrote was The Tax Gooddess Guide
to Starting a Small Business. Youcan find out on Amazon. So if
you're going to start that uber andyou want to know everything about how to
do it and how to do itright and get it all set up from
scratch, that would be a greatone to start with. And my new
(13:26):
book, which should be out herein a couple of months, is called
The six Percent Life. Seven legalloopholes that any business owner can use to
design their life and pay the governmentsix percent or less. So exactly what
we're talking about today. Oh,that's so great, that's so great,
and can will we be able toget that on Amazon? Also, yes,
ma'am, give it a couple ofmonths and then yes, it will
(13:48):
be up on Amazon. So thisis a crazy question. But when you
were a little girl, did yousay, when I grow up, I'm
going to be a tax goddess.How did you get into the business love
it? Well, a very longstory short, I actually started off in
astrophysics, so not a tax goddess, but a star goddess kind kind of
(14:11):
close, but yeah, I knowthat. The very long story short is
my mother is my goddess. Youknow, I'm single. Mom looked up
to her. She was my world. And when I was about eighteen,
we were sitting at the kitchen table, you know, eating breakfast, and
normally she's very very stoic, andshe was opening the mail and she kind
(14:35):
of threw her hands down and pushedher chair back from the table and this
is ridiculous and you know, kindof blew up, which was very shocking
to me. Right, I said, well, what's going on? Are
you Okay, got a notice fromthe i RS they want more money,
and it triggered something in me thatyou know. Of course, I wanted
to protect my mom and so I'mgoing to learn every tax strategy, every
(14:56):
option, dig into every detail andand so that's that's how I became a
tax goddess. I was protecting thefamily, and now I get to protect
hundreds of families, thousands of familiesacross the country. So it's pretty cool.
Love that story. I absolutely lovethat story. I hope everything turned
out okay for her. It did. She is now a part of the
(15:18):
six percent, so it's good stuff. Oh. Absolutely. So, um
if I also understand that you area speaker, I mean, can people
hire you to come talking who whattype of groups do you talk to?
Absolutely, yes, ma'am, theycan. Um, well, I just
came back from the National Seavers Associationin North Texas, so any anyone can
(15:41):
hire me to speak. Generally,I do speak on tax strategy, you
know, business taxation structures and waysto minimize tax. So generally they look
at big groups. That group wasa little over three thousand people, So
it's all dependent on who you haveand what you need. But again,
you can find us on taxbous dotcom and we'd be happy to talk through
(16:03):
with you. So we are.I guess I read in the news recently
that the government's going to be hiringso many more eighty irs, Yes,
eighty seven thousand agents to the irs. I mean, why are they doing
that? And how is going toaffect us and especially business owners? Absolutely?
(16:26):
Absolutely, So the first thing isdon't panic, Okay, I know,
you know the government likes to throwoff the big we're the big brother
and we're here and we're going tobe watching out of those eighty seven thousand
agents. So first things first isa ten year plan. Okay. Out
of the eighty seven thousand, fiftythousand are purely and simply to replace agents
(16:49):
that are going to be retiring.Right, many businesses are running into this.
You know, the boomers are done, they're retiring, so this is
just replacement. And the extra thirtyseven are actually coming in because when COVID
hit, you know the government haslost quite a bit of funding. So
in a way, these new agentsare coming in. It's hopefully actually going
(17:11):
to be a good thing for thetaxpayers. They're increasing their technology, they're
increasing their customer service, lines.You know, if you've ever tried to
go into the IRS, the waittime at this point used to be up
until a couple of months ago,used to be over eight hours just to
get an agent right. So yeah, so they really are trying to make
(17:33):
it, you know, the betterfriendlier IRS. And they are creating some
extra special divisions, one of themfor cryptocurrency. So if you if you're
doing any cryptocurrency stuff, you know, definitely some of them make sure you're
doing it right and legal and aboveforge you across thems DOTT. And secondly
also for fraud of course, thathas become a huge thing over the past
(17:56):
you know, five to seven years, people stealing identification numbers, buying false
tax returns, this kind of stuff. Well, and you think, I
mean not to talk badly about thei RS like everybody else does, but
if you have to wait on theline to talk to an agent for eight
hours, you can only imagine tome how easy it must be to steal
(18:22):
somebody's information if that is your goal. So hopefully that's something that they'll address
exactly. I mean, really,that's what they're working on, is walk
and stuff down and protecting our Americanpublic. So and guys, everybody,
I do not work for the darkside. Okay, I'm definitely an independent,
but I do absolutely believe, Yes, audits are going to go up.
(18:45):
But you know, like we're sayingon today, right cross or TSE
dot drives, do everything legal,make sure you've got the backup. Why
are you doing what you're doing,and you're going to be just fine.
So would you suggest, then,with the implementation and of many more IRS
agents, that it might be agood idea for businesses, especially small businesses,
(19:07):
to have a professional do their taxes. Absolutely absolutely, you know,
I am a firm believer. Imean I don't change the oil in my
car. I don't, you know, try to fix my car. I
don't you know, I hand thingsto the experts every time because and not
even only so much from the standpointthat, yes, the audits are going
to go up. Yes there's moreagents, but from the standpoint you don't
(19:30):
know what you're leaving on the tableuntil somebody lets you know, hey,
you're leaving this on the table.I mean, for example, some of
the most popular ones, And justto give three quick little strategy shout outs
here. The first one is ifyour child is over the age of seven,
they need to be paid in yourbusiness. If you have dogs that
(19:52):
at their shoulder are taller than theheight of your knee, you can write
them off of security in your business. Okay, if you're not using something
calls an accountable plan, you areleaving money on the table. And these
are three of the basic ones thatwhen clients come to us, your tax
gottus, we see the missed forthe past ten fifteen years. How much
(20:15):
money have you been leaving on thetable because you're not doing the basics.
Oh, that's fantastic to know.I mean that those are the kind of
things that every business owner really shouldbe aware of, even if it is
you know, something that you wouldthink is ridiculous, like the heights of
your dog. I mean, howwould you, as a you know,
(20:37):
a small business owner or even alarge business owner know that that's even out
there. You'd have no clue.And that's really I mean. I know
that CPAs are expensive, right,I mean I get it. They're more
than going to the kiosk in themall right, right, But if you
go to the CPA and they giveyou one, one or two strategies and
(21:00):
that not only paid for them,but also got you some additional cash back.
Why would you not do that?I mean, it's money that is
old to you under the law.Absolutely, So every year I always wonder
are things changing or have there beenany new laws that I can take advantage
of? Obviously you must really payclose attention to all of that. Just
(21:23):
ma'am. Oh, yes, ma'am, I'm laughing just a little bit in
the background. The irs rules changethree times a day. Oh okay today,
right, okay, so you know, yeah, just just minor changes,
you know, little things. Sofor example, because our team specializes
impact strategy, we actually watched thedaily changes, so you know, a
(21:48):
minimum of three times a day atthe federal level plus all fifty states right
now, the states, depending onthe state, it's typically once a day,
summer, once a week, somethinglike that. But yeah, there's
a significant amount of change that happenevery single day, and it's part of
the reason why. Really, youknow, if you're an expert at fixing
(22:10):
cars, be the expert at fixingcars. Right. If you're a baker,
be the expert at baking. Right, let the CPAs, let's the
tax trap. Just do what we'reamazing at. So Okay. One final
quick question as we end here isso many people are moving from California to
Texas, New York to Texas,Michigan to Texas. What if you move
(22:32):
mid year and is it going toaffect the way you have to do your
taxes? Oh? Great question,great question. Well, first of all,
for all of those of you movingfrom high tax states to a no
tax state. Round of applause.Congratulations smart you're saving, Yes, very
smart, saving yourself anywhere from sixto ten percent, so very very smart.
(22:56):
Yes, you absolutely have to lookat what's going to happen with your
taxes because if you now effectively you'reliving in two states. For most people,
you're stopping being a resident in onestate and you're starting being a resident
in a new state. So definitelyit will have an impact on your taxes.
We may have to file in twostates, so take a look at
(23:18):
that. You also will have tocheck with your employer or wherever it is
that you're earning your money and informthem that you've moved, right, because
a lot of people these dates haveremote jobs and employers don't necessarily know where
you live, right, make surethat you're informing and updating that information as
well. Fantastic Shaun of the taxGoddess. You can find your at tax
(23:41):
gooddess dot com. Is there anywhereelse that we need to know about whose
taxes you do so that people cancontact you? You are a sweetheart taxcottess
dot com. It's definitely the place. We're super easy to find there,
and me and the whole team areready to chat and to work with you.
Best clients for tax got us fortax strategy, business owners grossing a
(24:06):
million dollars or more or high earningW two so five hundred thousand dollars a
year or more on W two.But if you don't fit those categories,
don't worry. We have lots ofpartners that we work with with small small
businesses. You know you're ten thousanddollars your Uber drivers. We would love
to make sure that, even ifit's not us, you are with somebody
(24:27):
who is good and vetted and aboveboard and will help you pay the minimum
amount of tax necessary. Fantastic Shanna. Thank you so much for joining me
today. I've learned a lot,and I'm sure everybody else has two.
Thank you so much for having me. It's been such a pleasure.
This week on the Art of Improvement, I'll be speaking with Shauna the Tax
Gottess. You know what, She'san author, a speaker, an investor,
a highly sought after tax strategist,and her reputation has been built on
twenty plus years of experience. You'llwant to hear all about her tax experience.
It's coming up next on the Artof Improvement. Thank you so much
(00:27):
for joining me on the Art ofimprovement. My guest today is somebody.
I don't know if it's good newsor bad news when you get your taxes
done. But we have Shauna theTax Gottess on and she's gonna talk all
about taxes. Hi, Shauna,Oh Hi, how are you? We're
not that bad well strategist to helpyou, not the evil side of the
(00:48):
tax That is so true. Butevery time I go to get my taxes
done, I'm like, what surprisesam I gonna face this year? I
mean, it's serious, that's awful. That's the worst part about it,
right, is that you know whenyou don't have a tax strategy, that's
what happens is it is a surpriseversus when you have a tax strategy.
(01:08):
You know exactly what that bill isor is not going to be hopefully your
refund by December thirty first, whichis the fund bit. Well, let
me ask you. I have beentold several times why are you getting a
refund? You should always try tobreak even on your taxes. What do
you have to say about that?Absolutely? Well, in my mind,
(01:30):
I agree, right, a refundmeans you're giving an interest free loan to
the government. So certainly, I'mpersonally I'm not a big fan of that.
I know some people like that,but I am not a big fan
of that. But for me,I tend to prefer to look at everything.
I don't even want you to paytaxes in the first place, right
(01:51):
now, of course, looking everythinglegal, looking at everything above board.
But if you're doing your planning properly, you should first of all know whether
there is or is not a taxbill. But secondly, hopefully there's no
tax bill and you don't have anythingowed and therefore no refund either. So
yeah, that's very interesting, becausehow can we not pay taxes? I
(02:13):
mean, taxes are always going tobe taken out of our paychecks, right,
so this is the question, right, and one percent death and taxes,
right, the only two things thatwe can't get away from right.
So the big question here is whoare we talking about. So, if
you're a W two employee, youare one percent correct, right. It's
(02:35):
your employer's requirement to even having youas an employe, to withhold taxes and
to attempt to withhold them properly.Right. So, or you married,
you have kids, do you owna house. You know, all of
these things will modify how much taxwithholding you should or should not do on
your W two. However, ifyou or a spouse are a business owner,
(02:57):
business owners are allowed to look atthe total amount of income that they
bring in and then write off allof their expenses, right, anything that
is ordinary, necessary and reasonable fortheir business. So with a business owner,
the point is to bring in asmuch money as you can, but
track all of your expenses properly,make sure you're using tax strategies to bring
(03:20):
your net profit down to zero.And if your net profit is zero,
then there's no taxes to pay.So it's much much much better if you
can be a business owner or evenhave some sort of a side gig like
an uber, lift, door Dashsomething like that, which can help you
take expenses to offset your taxes.Okay, I definitely want to talk about
(03:43):
that. The unemployment rate is verylow right now. But what I have
found is it's low because people havetwo and three jobs, and so people
are getting jobs, but they're havingto get more jobs in order to make
ends meet. So when you sayyou can go and do uber or you
(04:06):
know, door dash, how isit? I don't know because I don't
work there, But how is itthat they get paid? And what can
you do to offset taxes? Ifyou do have to take on a couple
of jobs? Love it? Loveit so? And you're right, you
know, for many people this islike, oh, this is awful.
(04:27):
I have to work two jobs tobe able to make ends meet, which
which is bad, right, wewould all prefer to work one job and
make ends meet. But you canuse a side gig, a side business
like that to your advantage. Sonot only are you earning the cash,
but you also get all of thesetax benefits. So let's pick a specific
example, right, Let's do anUber driver. So you have your W
(04:51):
two job and you're making fifty thousanddollars a year on your W two job,
and of course they're going to withholdtaxes that you know, your taxes
are paid. That is what itis. But you also have this Uber
job and the suber gig, andso you've made ten thousand dollars driving for
the year. Well, from thatten thousand dollars, you're allowed to write
(05:11):
off ordinary, necessary and reasonable expenses. So you've got gas for the car,
insurance for the car, your cellphone plan, right because you need
the map to drive around. You'vegot water bottles that you've bought for the
car to put in back for yourguests. You've got special telephone cable so
that your guests can charge their phone. Maybe you had to buy new tires.
(05:33):
Right. There's all sorts of expensesthat could belong to your business,
right because now you're a ten ninetynine, which is a contractor for Uber.
So yeah, this is key becausewhen you're a ten ninety nine or
a contractor, you are effectively yourown business owner. So you know,
(05:55):
maybe you've brought in ten thousand dollarsworth of expenses, but you buy that
new car and you had all ofthese expenses. So your net profit with
negative seven, that negative seven willoffset your fifty thousand dollars W two.
So you've made ten thousand in cash, but you actually get some of your
(06:16):
taxes back from your W two becauseyou had a negative on the business.
Does that make sense? It absolutelymakes sense, Shawna the tax of Goddess.
Before we go one extra second,can you tell people how they can
get in touch with you? Absolutely? We are super easy to find tax
gooddess dot com awesome, very cool. And so let me ask you about
(06:41):
limits because every year I definitely itemizeon my tax returns. So is there
a place to go to find outhow much you can take on certain items
like tires or gasoline and stuff likethat? And well, let me just
(07:06):
answer that question because the other one'sway too long. Go ahead. I
love it. I love it,and I think your question is brilliant because
we get asked this all the time. So, Seana, how much am
I allowed to take in gas?How much am I allowed to take in
medical expenses? Or take for charity? Right? Whatever those items are,
(07:28):
there is no limit, Okay,So I'm going to say that very plainly,
there is no limit. The onlything is that it has to be
for a business expense. It hasto be ordinary, necessary and reasonable.
Right, you heard that third one. So if you're driving ten thousand dollars
for uber. You can't buy afifty thousand dollars rolex and call it advertise,
(07:50):
right, not gonna work, notgonna work. So ordinary, necessarily
reasonable and on the personal side,right, So things like charity for exam,
charity is thirty percent of your adjustedgrowth income. But if you put
in more than that, you know, some people are very very charitable.
If you put in more than that, you don't lose it. It just
rolls over to the next year.Ah, okay, so yeah, And
(08:13):
do I need receipts for all ofthese deductions. Absolutely? Absolutely. The
one habit that I want everyone todo is any time you buy anything personal
business, for your dogs, thatdoesn't matter. Every time you buy anything,
you pull out your phone, yousnap a picture of the receipt,
(08:33):
and then you throw the receipt away. And the reason why I want you
to do that, okay, totwo main reasons. One, receipts in
the heat will turn white, whichmeans you have no more records, right,
so if you're only keeping physical receipts, that could be a problem.
And two, if you get inthe habit of doing that, if there's
(08:54):
ever an audit and the auditor says, well, I need to see this
receipt for that one thousand dollars worthof times you bought. You just go
to the day you bought it.You go, here, you go,
time stamp date. Here's me inthe tire shop holding up my receipts.
Ever, that is such a smartidea, So let me ask you,
do you do personal taxes business taxes? Who can come to you? Because
(09:20):
I know I go in a littlekiosk and I'm telling you it's a lot
of money and to get my taxesdone, but I always go because I
want somebody to take care of it. So how who can come to you?
Absolutely, and thank you for asking. So we specialize in business owners,
(09:41):
which is why I know a lotabout the business side. So we
specialize in business owners making at leasta million dollars a year in gross revenue.
And we do have partners that wework with. So if you're a
W two person looking to open aside business like an uber, we've got
partners that we've work with that workwith mostly W two people that still want
(10:03):
some of those tax strategies on theside. It is a smart idea.
I mean I know that just theten forty easy is what a lot of
people do because they are expecting theirrefund and it's pretty cut and dry.
But what happens are people losing moneywhen they do it that way. It
(10:24):
all depends on who you are.So there are certainly some people out there,
and I love the way you phrasethat, some people that just want
to get it done and over with. I paid my taxes. I just
want to be done and over Letthe government tell me whatever I need to
do, okay. And then there'sother people that say, you know what,
the government has enough of my money, and I'm going to use every
law that was legally written for thecongressman and the senators. If they can
(10:46):
use it, I can use it. So depending on how much additional work
you want to put into it,we have cases where it's fifty thousand dollars
worth of W two. By openinga side business, you pay zero tax.
So it really just depends on howmuch effort you want to put in
and how much your tax dollars areworth to you. So it is so
(11:09):
funny that you mentioned you know senators, and you know, I guess every
time somebody's going to run for theoffice of president, we hear in the
news. You didn't pay any taxes. You know, you make this much
and you got away with it.You cheated the government, you didn't pay
taxes. But there is a way, honestly, if you're smart to do
(11:35):
that, correct, I mean legally, absolutely, And I think that's the
key here, right. So Ipersonally, I'm a CPA. I have
my master's and taxation. I'm rankedin the tap one percent in the country
for tax strategy. The people thatpay zero to five six percent in tax
use people like me to follow therules, right, I'm crossing all this
(12:00):
He's dot of those eyes. Everythingis legal because senators and congress people don't
want to go to jail, rightdon't. I don't. They don't.
Nobody wants to go to jail.So they're doing everything legally. And that's
what I love about being a citizenin the US. If the laws are
there for them, they're here forme. So I can use the exact
same strategies that they do. Ijust maybe I'm not doing it in the
(12:22):
millions of dollars. I'm doing itat the five thousand dollar level. But
the law is the law, Soif they can do it, I can
do it and I will love thatabout our country. Absolutely, if you
just started listening, this is SHAWNA, the tex Gottess, and I forgot
to ask you. I mean whenyou say tex scottis dot com, we
don't need to know your name,just texcottus dot com. That's how to
(12:43):
get to you taxcottus dot com.Yeah, we are super easy to find.
I've got a team of eighty ninepeople in the company, so hopefully
you'll talk to me at some point, but yeah, you'll definitely start with
my team when you come and reachout to us. And so you I
understand you or an author, aspeaker, investor, sought astor tax strategies.
(13:05):
What books do you have? Canyou talk to us about that?
Absolutely? So my first book thatI ever wrote was The Tax Gooddess Guide
to Starting a Small Business. Youcan find out on Amazon. So if
you're going to start that uber andyou want to know everything about how to
do it and how to do itright and get it all set up from
scratch, that would be a greatone to start with. And my new
(13:26):
book, which should be out herein a couple of months, is called
The six Percent Life. Seven legalloopholes that any business owner can use to
design their life and pay the governmentsix percent or less. So exactly what
we're talking about today. Oh,that's so great, that's so great,
and can will we be able toget that on Amazon? Also, yes,
ma'am, give it a couple ofmonths and then yes, it will
(13:48):
be up on Amazon. So thisis a crazy question. But when you
were a little girl, did yousay, when I grow up, I'm
going to be a tax goddess.How did you get into the business love
it? Well, a very longstory short, I actually started off in
astrophysics, so not a tax goddess, but a star goddess kind kind of
(14:11):
close, but yeah, I knowthat. The very long story short is
my mother is my goddess. Youknow, I'm single. Mom looked up
to her. She was my world. And when I was about eighteen,
we were sitting at the kitchen table, you know, eating breakfast, and
normally she's very very stoic, andshe was opening the mail and she kind
(14:35):
of threw her hands down and pushedher chair back from the table and this
is ridiculous and you know, kindof blew up, which was very shocking
to me. Right, I said, well, what's going on? Are
you Okay, got a notice fromthe i RS they want more money,
and it triggered something in me thatyou know. Of course, I wanted
to protect my mom and so I'mgoing to learn every tax strategy, every
(14:56):
option, dig into every detail andand so that's that's how I became a
tax goddess. I was protecting thefamily, and now I get to protect
hundreds of families, thousands of familiesacross the country. So it's pretty cool.
Love that story. I absolutely lovethat story. I hope everything turned
out okay for her. It did. She is now a part of the
(15:18):
six percent, so it's good stuff. Oh. Absolutely. So, um
if I also understand that you area speaker, I mean, can people
hire you to come talking who whattype of groups do you talk to?
Absolutely, yes, ma'am, theycan. Um, well, I just
came back from the National Seavers Associationin North Texas, so any anyone can
(15:41):
hire me to speak. Generally,I do speak on tax strategy, you
know, business taxation structures and waysto minimize tax. So generally they look
at big groups. That group wasa little over three thousand people, So
it's all dependent on who you haveand what you need. But again,
you can find us on taxbous dotcom and we'd be happy to talk through
(16:03):
with you. So we are.I guess I read in the news recently
that the government's going to be hiringso many more eighty irs, Yes,
eighty seven thousand agents to the irs. I mean, why are they doing
that? And how is going toaffect us and especially business owners? Absolutely?
(16:26):
Absolutely, So the first thing isdon't panic, Okay, I know,
you know the government likes to throwoff the big we're the big brother
and we're here and we're going tobe watching out of those eighty seven thousand
agents. So first things first isa ten year plan. Okay. Out
of the eighty seven thousand, fiftythousand are purely and simply to replace agents
(16:49):
that are going to be retiring.Right, many businesses are running into this.
You know, the boomers are done, they're retiring, so this is
just replacement. And the extra thirtyseven are actually coming in because when COVID
hit, you know the government haslost quite a bit of funding. So
in a way, these new agentsare coming in. It's hopefully actually going
(17:11):
to be a good thing for thetaxpayers. They're increasing their technology, they're
increasing their customer service, lines.You know, if you've ever tried to
go into the IRS, the waittime at this point used to be up
until a couple of months ago,used to be over eight hours just to
get an agent right. So yeah, so they really are trying to make
(17:33):
it, you know, the betterfriendlier IRS. And they are creating some
extra special divisions, one of themfor cryptocurrency. So if you if you're
doing any cryptocurrency stuff, you know, definitely some of them make sure you're
doing it right and legal and aboveforge you across thems DOTT. And secondly
also for fraud of course, thathas become a huge thing over the past
(17:56):
you know, five to seven years, people stealing identification numbers, buying false
tax returns, this kind of stuff. Well, and you think, I
mean not to talk badly about thei RS like everybody else does, but
if you have to wait on theline to talk to an agent for eight
hours, you can only imagine tome how easy it must be to steal
(18:22):
somebody's information if that is your goal. So hopefully that's something that they'll address
exactly. I mean, really,that's what they're working on, is walk
and stuff down and protecting our Americanpublic. So and guys, everybody,
I do not work for the darkside. Okay, I'm definitely an independent,
but I do absolutely believe, Yes, audits are going to go up.
(18:45):
But you know, like we're sayingon today, right cross or TSE
dot drives, do everything legal,make sure you've got the backup. Why
are you doing what you're doing,and you're going to be just fine.
So would you suggest, then,with the implementation and of many more IRS
agents, that it might be agood idea for businesses, especially small businesses,
(19:07):
to have a professional do their taxes. Absolutely absolutely, you know,
I am a firm believer. Imean I don't change the oil in my
car. I don't, you know, try to fix my car. I
don't you know, I hand thingsto the experts every time because and not
even only so much from the standpointthat, yes, the audits are going
to go up. Yes there's moreagents, but from the standpoint you don't
(19:30):
know what you're leaving on the tableuntil somebody lets you know, hey,
you're leaving this on the table.I mean, for example, some of
the most popular ones, And justto give three quick little strategy shout outs
here. The first one is ifyour child is over the age of seven,
they need to be paid in yourbusiness. If you have dogs that
(19:52):
at their shoulder are taller than theheight of your knee, you can write
them off of security in your business. Okay, if you're not using something
calls an accountable plan, you areleaving money on the table. And these
are three of the basic ones thatwhen clients come to us, your tax
gottus, we see the missed forthe past ten fifteen years. How much
(20:15):
money have you been leaving on thetable because you're not doing the basics.
Oh, that's fantastic to know.I mean that those are the kind of
things that every business owner really shouldbe aware of, even if it is
you know, something that you wouldthink is ridiculous, like the heights of
your dog. I mean, howwould you, as a you know,
(20:37):
a small business owner or even alarge business owner know that that's even out
there. You'd have no clue.And that's really I mean. I know
that CPAs are expensive, right,I mean I get it. They're more
than going to the kiosk in themall right, right, But if you
go to the CPA and they giveyou one, one or two strategies and
(21:00):
that not only paid for them,but also got you some additional cash back.
Why would you not do that?I mean, it's money that is
old to you under the law.Absolutely, So every year I always wonder
are things changing or have there beenany new laws that I can take advantage
of? Obviously you must really payclose attention to all of that. Just
(21:23):
ma'am. Oh, yes, ma'am, I'm laughing just a little bit in
the background. The irs rules changethree times a day. Oh okay today,
right, okay, so you know, yeah, just just minor changes,
you know, little things. Sofor example, because our team specializes
impact strategy, we actually watched thedaily changes, so you know, a
(21:48):
minimum of three times a day atthe federal level plus all fifty states right
now, the states, depending onthe state, it's typically once a day,
summer, once a week, somethinglike that. But yeah, there's
a significant amount of change that happenevery single day, and it's part of
the reason why. Really, youknow, if you're an expert at fixing
(22:10):
cars, be the expert at fixingcars. Right. If you're a baker,
be the expert at baking. Right, let the CPAs, let's the
tax trap. Just do what we'reamazing at. So Okay. One final
quick question as we end here isso many people are moving from California to
Texas, New York to Texas,Michigan to Texas. What if you move
(22:32):
mid year and is it going toaffect the way you have to do your
taxes? Oh? Great question,great question. Well, first of all,
for all of those of you movingfrom high tax states to a no
tax state. Round of applause.Congratulations smart you're saving, Yes, very
smart, saving yourself anywhere from sixto ten percent, so very very smart.
(22:56):
Yes, you absolutely have to lookat what's going to happen with your
taxes because if you now effectively you'reliving in two states. For most people,
you're stopping being a resident in onestate and you're starting being a resident
in a new state. So definitelyit will have an impact on your taxes.
We may have to file in twostates, so take a look at
(23:18):
that. You also will have tocheck with your employer or wherever it is
that you're earning your money and informthem that you've moved, right, because
a lot of people these dates haveremote jobs and employers don't necessarily know where
you live, right, make surethat you're informing and updating that information as
well. Fantastic Shaun of the taxGoddess. You can find your at tax
(23:41):
gooddess dot com. Is there anywhereelse that we need to know about whose
taxes you do so that people cancontact you? You are a sweetheart taxcottess
dot com. It's definitely the place. We're super easy to find there,
and me and the whole team areready to chat and to work with you.
Best clients for tax got us fortax strategy, business owners grossing a
(24:06):
million dollars or more or high earningW two so five hundred thousand dollars a
year or more on W two.But if you don't fit those categories,
don't worry. We have lots ofpartners that we work with with small small
businesses. You know you're ten thousanddollars your Uber drivers. We would love
to make sure that, even ifit's not us, you are with somebody
(24:27):
who is good and vetted and aboveboard and will help you pay the minimum
amount of tax necessary. Fantastic Shanna. Thank you so much for joining me
today. I've learned a lot,and I'm sure everybody else has two.
Thank you so much for having me. It's been such a pleasure.
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