January 2nd, 2025
No Lab Today
January 9th, 2025
The Tax Lab session, led by Veronica Herrera, focused on tax strategies for mitigating capital gains, particularly for clients with significant tax liabilities from stock and cryptocurrency sales. Strategies discussed included capital loss harvesting, alternative investments like leveraged entity ownership (LEO) and oil and gas investments, and qualified opportunity zones. Emphasis was placed on understanding clients' risk tolerance and educating them on the complexities and risks associated with higher-risk strategies. Contributors like Don O'Dell, Keithie Graham, and Haley Nguyen provided insights, including screening clients for suitability and using discovery sessions to assess client needs effectively. The session concluded with practical steps for presenting tax plans and engaging clients through structured processes.
January 16th, 2025
In this Tax Lab session, led by Veronica Herrera, the group discussed strategies for maximizing Solo 401(k) contributions under the SECURE Act 2.0 and clarified the nuances of employer and employee contributions for sole proprietors. Hiroko Nozaki raised a complex case involving Roth contributions, leading to insights from others on tax deductibility, reporting requirements, and strategy implementation. Deidra Pittman shared her extensive experience, emphasizing the importance of setting boundaries with clients who opt out of maintenance plans, while Courtney reflected on maintaining professional limits and conveying the value of ongoing services. Veronica also highlighted new TaxPlanIQ features, such as the RAP tool’s detailed strategy descriptors, and encouraged attendees to use these tools to streamline tax planning. Lastly, David Tunstall sought advice on crafting client communications for the 2024 tax season, receiving recommendations to create separate, tailored messages for current and prospective clients. This session fostered collaborative problem-solving, showcasing the power of shared expertise in tackling tax challenges.
January 23rd, 2025
In this Tax Lab session, hosted by Veronica Herrera, the group reviewed a complex tax plan for a married couple in Texas with multiple income sources, including real estate, S-Corp earnings, and oil and gas royalties. The session focused on identifying tax-saving strategies such as cost segregation, accountable plans, pre-tax benefits, backdoor Roth IRAs, and alternative investment strategies like healthcare RTU and solar passive investments. The group discussed the importance of properly structuring tax plans, optimizing deductions, and ensuring accurate implementation. There was also a discussion on ethical considerations, pricing tax plans, and maintaining compliance with CPA disclosure requirements. Additionally, the group explored potential strategies to mitigate Medicare IRMAA increases and the challenges of selling maintenance tax planning packages to clients.
January 30th, 2025
In this tax lab session, Kendall Chavez and Courtney Holness discussed a client case involving Roth conversions, real estate tax strategies, and tax offsets. The client, a real estate investor with 25 rental properties, seeks to minimize tax impact while converting retirement accounts to Roth. Key topics included Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs), real estate professional status, passive vs. non-passive losses, cost segregation, short-term rental strategies, and alternative investment deductions. The team analyzed the client's tax return, explored potential tax-saving opportunities, and considered ways to offset taxable income from the Roth conversion.