Tax Resolution Expert Peter Stephan Shows Pasadena Business Owners How to Avoid Tax Pitfalls of Success

On July 25, Peter Stephan of the Tax Resolution Institute led the most recent Business Growth Workshop at the University Club in Pasadena. In an insightful and highly specific presentation entitled Managing Business Success Through Tax Planning And Minimalization, CPA Peter Stephan showed how a business owner experiencing the success and growth could avoid the pitfalls of tax problems.

After being introduced by James Harwood of Total HR Management, Peter Stephan explained in detail the tax rate intricacies of the federal government. The purpose was to show the business owners how the IRS gets you in the beginning, in the end, and in the middle as well. Basically, if a percentage of your income can be taken to cover a government cost, the IRS is going to do their best to take it. Even if tax rates are lower than they have almost ever been, American taxpayers are still being hit hard from a variety of angles. This is why tax planning is so very important.

What proved truly intriguing about Peter Stephan’s presentation was the powerful point that most tax controversy and tax resolution problems for business owners can be avoided through effective tax planning. Such tax planning should begin at the outset as a sole proprietorship evolves into an actual business entity. By correctly choosing the right business entity, Peter Stephan explained how future financial difficulties and tax challenges could be avoided.

For example, Peter Stephan mentioned how lawyers always seem to recommend that their clients set up an LLC or a Limited Liability Corporation. When a new LLC client with tax problems approaches Peter Stephan and the Tax Resolution Institute for help, a first question that Peter asks is the name and number of the lawyer who recommended their choice of entity. Peter Stephan asks for the name and number not because he wants to contact the lawyer, but because he wants to make sure that he never uses or recommends him in the future. As opposed to a corporation or S corporation, a limited liability corporation comes with too much negative financial baggage and tax difficulties.

When it comes to questions of individual income tax issues and finding the best way to achieve tax minimalization, Peter Stephan explained that direct action and planning need to be taken. As Peter Stephan told his audience with a knowing smile, “When it comes to spending, my motto is pretty basic and straightforward: ‘If I can’t deduct it, I don’t do it.’” After all, with an income tax burden hitting your pocket hard from all angles and at the beginning, in the middle and at the end, it makes sense to do everything you can to reduce that burden.

After his presentation, Peter Stephan of the Tax Resolution Institute answered questions from the audience of Pasadena business owners. Showing a true willingness to help, Peter Stephan spent an extra thirty minutes speaking individually with attendees in order to discuss specific challenges. Once again, the Business Growth Workshop at the University Club has proven to be one of the best additions to the Pasadena professional arena in 2014.

About the Author

Growing up in New York City as a stutterer, John Lavitt embraced writing as a way to express himself when the words would not come. After graduating from Brown University, he lived on the Greek island of Patmos, studying with his mentor the late American poet Robert Lax. As a writer, John Lavitt’s published work includes several articles in Chicken Soup For The Soul volumes and poems in multiple poetry journals and compilations. Today, John Lavitt works at Open Interactive as the Director of Content Development. As a journalist, he is a Regular Contributor to The Fix where he writes investigative reports about the latest issues in the world of addiction and recovery.