Your CPA Files Taxes.
We Find Money They Miss.

A cash balance plan lets a profitable owner contribute far beyond 401(k) limits, often $150,000 to $300,000 or more per year, all pre-tax. For an owner in the top federal and California brackets, that can mean $100,000+ in combined tax savings in a single year while building retirement assets you control. The catch is timing: the plan has to be designed and adopted during the year, which is exactly why annual-filing CPAs never bring it up.

The way your business is structured decides how much of your profit you keep, and most owners set it up once, years ago, at a fraction of today's income. A sole proprietor or single-member LLC netting $400K pays self-employment tax on all of it. With an S corporation election and a defensible salary, the same business often saves $15,000 to $20,000 per year, every year. Past a certain profit level, the right answer changes again. Structure isn't a one-time decision. It's a dial to be adjusted as your business grows.

Section 280A lets you rent your home to your own business for up to 14 days a year, completely tax-free to you, fully deductible to the business. Board meetings, planning retreats, client events. At defensible local rental rates, that's often $10,000 to $20,000 in deductions that cost you nothing. Small on its own, and a good test of whether your current accountant is actually looking for money or just filing forms.

One of the most talked-about strategies in tax planning, and one of the most carelessly executed. Pay your child a fair wage for legitimate work in your business: the wages are deductible to you and federally tax-free to them up to roughly $16,000 in 2026, and their earned income can fund a Roth IRA decades early. The catch: the work must be real, the pay market-rate, the paperwork airtight, and the payroll tax exemption vanishes if you operate as an S corporation.

If you have a financial interest in or signature authority over any foreign bank, brokerage, or investment account, and your combined foreign balances exceeded $10,000 at any point in the year, you likely need to file an FBAR. It is filed separately from your regular tax return and has its own deadline. Most people who miss it never knew the rule applied to them.

Your 401(k) has a hidden second limit. Beyond the $24,500 you can defer in 2026, the overall plan limit is $72,000, and many large employers let you fill that gap with after-tax contributions that convert immediately to Roth. That's $30,000 to $40,000 per year moving into an account that grows and pays out tax-free forever, with no required minimum distributions. Most people at companies that offer this have no idea it exists, because it never appears on a tax return until it's already working.

When a rental property averages guest stays of 7 days or less and you materially participate, the tax code treats it as an active business: your hours running the property, guest communication, pricing, turnovers, are what flip the switch. Accelerated depreciation from a cost segregation study then offsets your W-2 income directly, and on a $1M property, first-year deductions frequently reach $200,000 or more. California doesn't conform to bonus depreciation, and we plan for both sets of rules from day one.

For households where one spouse can dedicate 750+ hours to real estate activities, REPS makes rental activities non-passive: losses become active and offset all income, including a high earner's W-2. Qualification is strict and heavily audited, which is exactly why it's worth doing correctly or not at all. We assess honestly whether your facts support it before you build a strategy on it.

The 30% federal investment tax credit is real money, and current law puts it on a clock. For business owners, solar on your own facility generates active credits and deductions, full stop. For W-2 earners, the outcome follows your role: take genuine operational responsibility and meet the IRS material participation tests, and the benefits can offset active income including wages; invest passively behind a management company, and they offset passive income only. We review the deal documents and your actual role before you invest a dollar.

Every dollar in a traditional 401(k) or IRA carries a tax bill that hasn't come due yet, and the bill grows with the account. A Roth conversion pays that tax now, at a rate you choose, instead of later at a rate you can't control. The move works best in deliberately chosen years: a sabbatical, a gap between jobs, early retirement before Social Security, any year your income dips. Converted dollars then grow and come out tax-free forever, with no required minimum distributions. California taxes conversions too, so we model both bills before you convert a dollar.

First-year expensing on business equipment is among the largest deductions in the code, up to $2.56 million under Section 179 in 2026, with 100% bonus depreciation now permanent. Who gets to use those deductions against what income comes down to the same question as every leasing deal: rental structure and your real involvement. Equipment rented in short-term increments with genuine operator involvement can produce active deductions; hands-off deals behind a management company produce passive ones, whatever the brochure says. We read the lease structure and tell you which one you're buying before you sign.

If you have a financial interest in or signature authority over any foreign bank, brokerage, or investment account, and your combined foreign balances exceeded $10,000 at any point in the year, you likely need to file an FBAR. It is filed separately from your regular tax return and has its own deadline. Most people who miss it never knew the rule applied to them.

For non-willful individuals who are behind on foreign account or income reporting, the IRS has a formal program to get compliant. If you recently realized you should have been filing FBARs or reporting foreign income and have not been, you may be eligible. Timing matters: you become ineligible the moment the IRS has already contacted you or opened an examination.