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).

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: Continue reading… Continue reading… Continue reading…