If you’re like most small-business owners, you launched your business with a great idea for a product or service and a passion for delivering it to consumers or other businesses. You were probably unaware at the time of the heavy burden of managing your business, especially the complex financials, and especially those related to taxes. Like other business owners, you most likely started out not even knowing what you didn’t know, and that is perfectly understandable.

Surely you can’t be expected to know what you haven’t been taught, right? Unfortunately, the government (federal, state, and local) and their corresponding taxing authorities do expect you to know and follow the tax code. You have probably heard the edict, “Ignorance of the law is no excuse.” It’s true. In fact, what you don’t know about the tax code can cost you dearly in both penalties (for non-compliance) and overpayments (for not taking full advantage of your eligible tax breaks).

Small Business Guide to Legally Reducing Your Tax Burden

Many small-business owners are so afraid of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) or so terrified of making a mistake that they end up paying more than their fair share in taxes — sometimes a lot more. And that makes those of us at Stees, Walker & Company, LLP want to scream. Why? Because we know that while making money is hard, keeping it is fairly easy, as long as you know what you’re doing and choose to work with a tax and financial planning firm like ours. And, for the most part, all that involves is knowing the tax code and keeping good records, both of which are our areas of expertise.

One way we can help without it costing you any more than your time is to provide free guidance and insight. As part of that focus, we’re launching an 11-part series here on our blog on how to reduce your tax burden legally. Starting next week and over the course of the next three months or so, we will be posting one part per week, each focusing in on a single technique for reducing taxes.

Here’s what we’ll cover in each part:

Part 1: Tax Planning — The bad news is that the tax code is so complicated Albert Einstein wouldn’t be able to unpack it. The good news is that you don’t have to be Einstein to reduce your taxes. You just need to know how to plan ahead — with the tax code in mind — in order to minimize your reported income and maximize the tax savings of deductions and credits. In Part 1, we show you how.

Part 2: Audit Proofing Your Tax Returns — “Audit-proofing” your business return means documenting deductions so that you can provide them in the event you’re audited. Today’s historically low audit rates make it pay to be aggressive, but you should file your return as though you expect to be audited. That way, if it happens, you can support your deductions and walk away a winner. In this part, we explain how to reduce your chances of being audited and prepare ahead just in case the auditors call.

Part 3: Selecting a Business Entity — A business entity is a legal/financial structure within which a business operates. Your choice of business entity boils down to answering two fundamental questions: 1) Do you want to remain personally liable for your business debts? and 2) How do you want your business profits taxed? How you answer these two questions can have a significant impact on your personal exposure to risk and on how much you pay in taxes. In Part 3, we lead you through the process of answering these questions.

Part 4: Deducting a Percentage of Your Qualified Business Income — The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) lowered the top tax rate on C corporation income from 35 percent to 21 percent. This is considerably lower than the top 37 percent on pass-through income from proprietorships, partnerships, and S corporations. To help balance the scales, the TCJA allows you to deduct up to 20 percent of your qualified business income (QBI) from your taxable income for the year calculated on an activity-by-activity basis. If that last sentence leaves your head spinning, you won’t want to miss Part 4 of the series.

Part 5: Leveraging the Tax Savings Power of Retirement Accounts — Retirement accounts, such as individual retirement accounts (IRAs) and 401Ks, are good for more than just socking away money for your golden years. They also serve as powerful tax-cutting tools. Understanding the plethora of options can make or break your post-business-life life, and in this part, we explain your options and how to use them alone and together to maximize your tax savings.

Part 6: Putting Your Family to Work Reducing Your Taxes — “Allowance” and other financial aid you extend to your children, grandchildren, or even parents is a deductible business expense if you pay them reasonable compensation to perform bona fide work for your business. Of course, in that context, it isn’t allowance. It’s wages. And now that they’re earning their keep, they can stop treating you like “The First National Bank of Mom and Dad,” which effectively puts some of that money back in your pocket. Tune into Part 6 to see how this works.

Part 7: Improving Your Medical Benefits While Cutting Your Taxes — Taxes used to be a small-business owner’s biggest concern. Now it’s rising health insurance and medical costs. But you can kill two birds with one stone by using tax benefits to cut taxes and using the money you save on taxes to offset the cost of health insurance. Sound too good to be true? Well, it doesn’t entirely eliminate the expense, but you can implement techniques that take some of the sting out of rising costs. In Part 7, we explain how.

Part 8: Maximizing Your Home Office Deduction — Home offices may be the most misunderstood deduction available. Many entrepreneurs and business owners fear that by claiming the deduction, they increase their chance of being audited. Turns out, home offices can save thousands in taxes, and it’s easier than ever to qualify. In Part 8, you find out how to qualify for and max out this deduction.

Part 9: Deducting Qualifying Car and Truck Expenses — Car and truck expenses for trips on behalf of your trade or business are a deductible business expense. The only challenge is, you need to keep and maintain impeccable records. Calculating your deduction is simple arithmetic. In this part, we reveal the two options for calculating this business expense and show you how to do the math.

Part 10: Deducting the Costs of Qualifying Meals and Entertainment — Meals you host in the course of doing business are deductible if they’re directly related to the active conduct of your business or they take place directly before or after substantial, bona fide discussion directly related to the active conduct of your business. How about dinner out with family members, all of whom are on your payroll? Well, maybe we should stop short of that. However, in Part 10, we show you how to take full advantage of this deduction without overstepping.

Part 11: Calculating Tax Withholding and Estimated Taxes — Withholding and estimated tax payments are the dirty little secrets to making today’s pay-as-you-go tax system work. Departments of revenue at all levels of government expect individuals and businesses to pay taxes on the money they earn as they earn it. If you don’t pay enough early enough, you get slapped with a penalty. Pay too much too soon, and you’re essentially giving the government a free loan. In this part — the last in this series — we lead you through the process of estimating your tax liability more precisely to avoid both of those undesirable scenarios.

Here at Stees, Walker, & Company, LLP we are eager to launch this new series and start you on the rewarding path of keeping more of the money you earn and beating the tax authorities at their own game.