A tax consultant prepares, gives advice and assists individuals or companies with tax filing and returns. A consultant will suggest steps which would help the company save more money and also follow the government’s tax rules and regulations Tax Audit Assistance. Depending on their areas of expertise, consultants are broadly classified in to two types:
- Individual tax consultants, and
- Corporate tax consultants
Duties of a Tax Consultant:
A consultant’s main objective is to help keep his clients’ taxes to a minimum. A reputed consultant will provide necessary information to ensure that his client is following all the legalities. A consultant reviews records of his clients, make adjustments, deductions and credits will give advice based on the financial ability of people or companies.
What do you gain by hiring a tax consultant?
- Tax policies are very technical and complex and can be confusing for a lay man. An expert consultant makes the job easier and simpler, since he understands the process with ease.
- Consultants are professionals who have undergone extensive training to become qualified before they set foot in practicing; they are experts in document reading and interpreting.
- They are well acquainted with both government and banking policies, which enables them to handle all your taxes smartly leaving you tension-free in the area of investments.
- Ignorance of law is not an excuse: Errors in filing your tax returns can attract heavy penalty when investigated by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). However, hiring the expert services of a consultant, who understands the tax laws, can save you from a disaster.
- If you have different sources of income like sale of property, self-engaged services, rentals, etc., it is only best to hire a consultant; for appropriate planning, on one hand, and for protecting your assets, on the other.
More Over
- Tax structures change every year: An expert consultant keeps himself updated of all policies and schemes related to taxation. Therefore, he is quick and prompt in choosing a best suited option for each of his clients.
- It is also pertinent to hire a consultant for your business enterprise, because he is capable of exposing his client to business figures in a simple and an understandable manner and at the same time maintain confidentiality of the client.
- A consultant will keep track of your returns and complete the filing by the deadline because returns that are sent in after the deadline can often cause negative side effects for the business.
- A consultant will help in reducing the tax liability so that the resources can be allocate towards other areas of developing the business.
- A professional consultant will look through returns from previous financial years of a company to ensure they were complete properly.
Citizen to pay the Tax
It is the duty of every citizen to pay the Tax. The Tax that you pay plays an important role in the development of your Country (say) better roads and the development of new projects. People often think that paying some cash as Tax is not a big deal at all. However, paying Taxes has some disputes too. You’d have noted that several disagreements arise while paying taxes every year. Starting from the late payment of Tax to the extra amount taken from your account, there are many disputes which come in the way. This is where the tax consultants come into play. The tax consultants will be able to provide you with a clear plan to manage the Taxes every year without any disputes.
Keeping track of the taxes is a major problem
Keeping track of the taxes is a major problem. Tax disputes arise if you fail to pay any particular tax in the given time. As you will come up with different taxes like property tax, road tax and so on, it will be very much difficult to maintain a record of the taxes you pay. Moreover, you should also know the right time to pay the taxes because the property tax is collected once in a year whereas the road tax will be collected each time you cross the toll gate. Hence it is very much essential to hire a professional tax consultant to keep a track of the taxes and pay them in time without any disputes.
Maintaining the tax records
Maintaining the tax records in corporate offices will even harder. You will be well aware of the fact that big corporate companies will have to pay countless number of taxes. Moreover, the corporate Tax rates will be changing very frequently. Hence it will be a neck breaking job to keep a track of all the taxes and the updates. Thankfully there are some corporate tax consultants who are ready to help these corporate companies. Surveys indicate that the corporate tax consultants play an important role in the innovation of the companies. As the corporate Tax consultants help the companies in preparing a very effective budget plan, they help the companies to grow rapidly.
Main function of these tax consultants
The main function of these tax consultants is that they will check and ensure that you are paying the Taxes only for what you have to. They will also keep you informed about any updates in the Tax rates. Hence you will not be losing even a single penny as extra Tax. Moreover, these Tax consultants will also let you know what items are subjected to get sales Tax. For example, sales Tax is applicable only to the items that you can handle (say) computers, groceries etc.
A tax preparer or tax consultant
You don’t have pay any Tax for services (say) haircuts etc. Tax Consultants will let you know the Taxable items and hence you can save a great deal of money while shopping. The corporate Tax consultants also prevent the Taxes from accumulating and hence they will provide a stress-less working environment for the finance manager of the Corporate.
HR Block and Liberty Tax
As tax season draws near, mostly everyone (I hope) is getting ready and setting appointments to get their tax returns prepared and filed. Good for you. With the speed and convenience of retail franchises like HR Block and Liberty Tax or even online free software, most people don’t have to worry too much about where or how they will get their tax returns done before the filing deadline. But then, there are those that dread tax filing season because:
- They have more than one source of making money like having a two income household;
- They operate a business;
- They make a lot of money;
- They have more than one type of income like wages from a job, income from a side business, retirement income, or even income from investments;
- They own either personal or business assets that they might have sold or gave away during the year
So… what do these people do? Better yet, what’s better: a tax preparer or tax consultant? Let’s discuss…
A Trusted Advisor
Though most preparers are trustworthy, they’re primarily available during tax season (January to April). For those that are working at retail tax franchises, they are working part-time hours and have limited accessibility beyond the time they are preparing taxes. Tax consultants are usually available all year because tax preparation and consulting is their full-time business. Another advantage of being available for the entire year is for you to consult with tax consultants on transactions that could cause you to pay too much or not enough in taxes.
Deep Knowledge of the Tax Code
It’s typically the norm for consultants to have a deep and thorough knowledge of the tax code. Most of them either have professional credentials such as Enrolled Agents (EA), Certified Public Accountants (CPA), or certifications obtained through accredited programs such as the National Tax Training School and other vocational institutions. Also, they have usually acquired many years of experience either working with clients or through past jobs related to tax prep or consulting. Why is this important? It’s not to sound like a tax nerd and talk in lingo that’s too hard for anyone to understand.
Absolutely not.
Unlike preparers (not all, but most), consultants rely on their knowledge of the code to offer strategic options for reducing your tax bill that’s legal and fair. Also, this saves you time because they are often able to locate the reference needed in the code to take a certain deduction or exclusion without much effort or research.
1. You Are Paid Very Well for Specialized Knowledge
In his classic self-help book “Think and Grow Rich,” Napoleon Hill makes the point that the accumulation of wealth requires one to apply specialized knowledge to solving problems for others. As a property tax consultant that is exactly what you will be doing.
Because you are applying specialized knowledge (knowledge that others could easily learn for themselves but in fact few are willing to learn) you are rewarded handsomely for it.
How much can you expect to earn?
As a highly compensated independent consultant you can expect to earn a third or even half of the tax savings you accomplish on behalf of a client. And once you’ve learned the basics of how to do this for clients, you’ll understand that most cases will involve just a few hours of your time to complete.
Obviously no one (including myself) can predict what you will actually earn. This is your own business after all and your results will be largely based on your work ethic and overall effort. But it’s fair to say that your own real estate tax consulting business has true six figure potential if you are willing to operate it like a real business.
2. You Can Learn the Basics Quickly
Unlike becoming a licensed real estate broker for instance, there are generally few barriers to entry as a property tax consultant. Overall there are no licensing requirements to become a property tax consultant. Some locations may require that you have a simple business operating license for example. If you aren’t sure just check with your local town or city hall to find out what requirements exist.
Several good low-priced home study courses exist that will supply you with everything needed to get started, and it is totally possible for you to complete one of these courses within a few days.
3. Business is Strong and Getting Stronger
The meltdown in the real estate markets in recent times has created the “perfect storm” of opportunity for property tax consultants.
Property assessors are increasingly unable to keep up with changing real estate values, with the result that huge numbers are now incorrectly assessed for tax purposes. And the likelihood is that far more are over-assessed than under-assessed, meaning their owners are paying more in property taxes than they ought to be.
Plus your competition will be low or non-existent in many areas. All of which means unlimited opportunity for you once you set up your own property tax consulting business.
4. You Have Very Low Start-Up Costs
You probably already possess all the tools you’ll need to get started, with the possible exception of a home study course in property tax consulting. All you really need are a computer, a cell phone, somewhere to set up a home office (even if that’s just the kitchen table to get started), and the dedication to operating your business seriously.
5. You’ll Enjoy Professional Respect
There is the immense personal satisfaction that comes from creating and operating your own professional property tax consulting business. As a recognized true professional in this field, you’ll gain the respect of others in your community. And best of all your success will truly be based upon offering a much-needed service to others.
Since this is a somewhat obscure area of consulting, even for many entrepreneurial types, you may be wondering why I would suggest it in the first place. In a word, the answer is “opportunity.” There has never been a better time to become a property tax consultant.
In fact, operating your own home-based consulting business offers so many attractive benefits that you probably haven’t thought about before that it would be silly for you not to at least check it out. This is especially so if you are already on the search for a great home business but haven’t yet found the perfect fit for you.
