• Big refund? Answering yes to this means that you have the opportunity to better manage your withholding or estimated tax payments. Now is the time to adjust and decrease your withholding so you can utilize your money as needed throughout the year instead of giving the government an interest-free loan.


• Balance due? If so, instead of facing the same fate next year, you can increase your withholding or estimated quarterly tax payments. Taking care of this a little bit at a time is a lot easier to bear than paying the full bill at the end of the year.


• Multiple incomes? Not reporting every source of income could raise a big red audit flag. To avoid this, make sure you keep track of all your income throughout the year and keep your forms in one place so that they are easier to retrieve during the next tax season.


• Large Donations? Giving back to the community here and abroad is certainly commendable, but be sure you are keeping meticulous records of each organization you give to, as well as copies of each receipt. Large charitable donations can also sometimes raise your chances of a tax audit.


• Work from home? The Home Office deduction has a pretty high adjustment rate. Because of that, the IRS has indicated that many people who claim this deduction do not actually meet the stringent requirements for doing so.


• Business vehicle? Claiming 100% use of a vehicle for business (especially when there is no other vehicle available for the person to utilize) is a sticky deduction. The IRS knows that it is extremely rare for a person to never use their vehicle for personal matters, and so audit selection is high for those who make this claim.


• Business meals, travel and entertainment deductions? Sole proprietorships have been a target for the IRS when investigating this particular deduction. From their experience, most of the overstating of deductions in this category is done by the self-employed business owner. The strict substantiation rules for this deduction need to be ardently followed.


• Cash-intensive business? To narrow the tax gap, cash-based businesses have become a target for the IRS (restaurants, car-washes, hair salons, etc.). New guides for IRS agents have been recently created that include interview techniques so they can better identify owners who may be suspect for unreported income.


• Foreign bank account? This issue has been made a top priority for the IRS. With recent cooperation by foreign banks to divulge information to U.S. tax authorities, the IRS has been very successful in identifying those with unreported ‘tax-haven’ type accounts.

1. You can build up tax-favored funds for retirement by deducting contributions made to a qualified retirement plan on your spouse’s behalf.


2. If you are a C Corporation, you can shift taxable income away from the company by paying your spouse a salary out of company funds, but it’s only a benefit if your company falls in a higher tax bracket than you do.


3. Taking business trips with your employed spouse allows you to deduct those travel expenses on bona fide business excursions.


4. If paying for your spouse’s health insurance is breaking the personal bank, making your spouse an employee allows you to shift those expenses to the company. Then the company can deduct your spouse’s full health insurance cost.


5. Employer-paid group life insurance is tax-free to an employee for the first $50,000 of coverage. S Corporation owners, however, cannot generally deduct fringe benefits for an employee who owns 2% or more of the company.

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• If you are doing something worthy, with vision and passion that fuels your ambition and drive towards success, people will follow.



• If you treat others with kindness, respect, truth and dignity, and own up to mis-steps and mistakes – even when you falter as a leader, your team will still be there and rally to help you get things back on track.



• When difficult times come, a leader will be the first to go into the storm, and they will lead their team through to the other side, out of the storm.



• There is no staying power in a leader without genuine gratitude. People will stay if you treat them the way you want to be treated. Say “Please” and “Thank You” with true appreciation and you will develop a loyal following.

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• Depending on retirement age, you could accumulate in excess of $2,000,000.


• Contributions to the plan are made with tax deductible dollars.


• Pension assets are generally protected from bankruptcy and creditors.


• If there are changes within the company, there is flexibility to amend the plan.

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1. An FLP allows parents to have some indirect control over cash flow that goes to their children. When a parent “gifts” a limited partnership interest to a child, the child does not receive something that may be “spent,” as would be the case when a cash gift is given. Therefore, the parents maintain some leverage over their children’s spending.


2. By holding family assets in an FLP, such as non-homestead real property, a family is able to transfer that “undivided” interest while also maintaining consolidation of the property as a unit. This eliminates the fear of the asset itself being subject to “fragmentation” or “partition” in the future. This also allows the assets to be managed in a more comprehensive and prudent manner.

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3. The FLP allows simplified annual gift giving by allowing “percentages” of partnership interests in the FLP to be transferred, thus, maintaining the family assets as a whole.


4. The FLP helps keep the assets in the family because it provides Buy-Sell restrictions on transfers through the partnership. Typically, these Buy-Sell restrictions provide that if a child wishes to relinquish his/her FLP interest, the remaining family members may buy that interest themselves at a discounted fair market value. This applies to both voluntary and involuntary transfers.
   
   In addition, if a child (who is a limited partner) is going through a divorce, the FLP could function as protection in keeping any interest from being awarded to the non-partner spouse. Even if the non-family member spouse obtained interest previous to the divorce, they may be compelled to “sell” their interest back to other family members at a discount, if adequate restrictions on transferability are put in place.


5. Limited partnerships are considered to be one of the best asset protection entities in which to do business. The FLP can provide limited liability to the limited partners from the FLP’s creditors and some protection from the limited partner’s judgment creditors.


6. The “Business-Judgment Rule” applies to the FLP partners, as opposed to a higher fiduciary standard to the Trustees of a Trust, when investment decisions are made on behalf of family members and their assets.


7. The FLP can be used to reduce or eliminate probate and guardianship proceedings in foreign jurisdictions, and if used with a revocable trust, can eliminate those same proceedings in Texas.

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