Hawaii Tax Time Rolls Around Again

Tax time—it’s not all fun and games.

I have a love/hate relationship with the IRS and it’s that time of year again when I have to come face to face with “my year on paper!” I keep great records, and organize my data well, but over the years I have come to understand that there is much more to “keeping more of what I’ve earned” than simply compressing a pile of papers into a refined outline of my income and expenses for the year.

I have had a nice collection of Tax Preparers, CPAs, Accountants, and so on that have helped me convert my data from the big pile to a digital return and ultimately, if I plan well, to a refund check.

This year, I am trying something new. Before I take my prepared data to the Tax Preparer, I am going to be consulting with a Certified Tax Coach. They are going to help me develop an ever evolving strategy that changes along with me, my needs, and my earnings, to take advantage of every single tax advantage I possibly can, and I am going to listen.

A Certified Tax Coach, such as Dominique Molina, whom I will be consulting with this year, will help me create a strategy not only for how to report and file my returns for last year, but how to adapt what I do this year, to deliver the best possible outcome when tax time rolls around again.

I met Dominique through a mutual friend and as most of us on Kauai believe, there are no accidents. She came along just when I needed her, and need her I do.

A few of the things that peaked my interest were in the following list:

• The single most expensive tax mistake of all
• How to slash your audit risk (fly under the IRS radar!)
• How Warren Buffet pays less tax than his secretary!
• Retirement savings strategies for every business
• Can Obama really keep his promise to cut taxes?
• Are higher taxes coming?
• Write off your family medical bills as a business expense
• How to deduct your kids private school and college tuition

I am looking forward to her coaching, and as someone who has been coached a lot, I plan to listen and learn, and maybe even make tax season more fun in the future! Well, maybe not more fun, but less painful!

Who knows, at some point it may become fun and games. Feel free to contact me and see how it goes, I’ll let you know next year around tax time how much fun I am having!