Education- July 20th

As many of you know from chatting with me, or you have read my posts on social media, I have been traveling to various tax professional groups teaching and educating on a variety of subjects. The topics range from the new tax law, or ethics – how to pay less than what you owe, to how much the shareholder of an S-corp should pay themselves (I call this reasonable comp). Depending on the topic, I spend 2-4 hours researching and preparing for each hour I teach, sometimes more. There are even times I travel to learn from other tax pros. I was in Orlando taking some classes when I was not teaching, in Atlanta doing the same for 26 hours of classes. Next, I will travel to Las Vegas in October to take classes when I am not teaching. I do this and continue to spend hard earned money so I can make sure I am up to date on the latest and greatest strategies. This way I can better serve my current and future tax return and representation clients.

This is the reason that experienced professionals (lawyers, EAs, CPAs, medical pros, etc.) charge what they do. Education and experience. It is not the time it takes to enter items into a tax program. It’s the hours of study we put into our education that allows us to excel at our jobs and know what is best for our clients.

Many tax professionals are less expensive than I am, but, have you asked yourself, why is that person so cheap? Look at it from the professional’s point of view, our time is valuable, and we charge accordingly.

Let me give you an analogy, with the permission of my wife, Ali (this analogy was her idea). Now I am not sexist, but most women we know, professional or otherwise, like handbags, shoes, and jewelry). When Ali goes shopping for handbags (even when the point of visiting the store is not for a bag, she figures they are there, and so is she, so why waste a trip!), she does not go in search of the real Coach or the real whatever. She looks at the lesser brands. Then in a relatively short time, the handle starts to shred or worse the bag rips. Sometimes you can see that the quality is not there. It’s an ongoing conversation that we have. And before you ask why don’t I buy her the more expensive, better quality designer bag, its because I would pick the wrong one and she would probably return it anyway.

My point is, this as in many things in life, you get what you pay for. I hope that in using my services, you feel that you are getting a good value. I know that I ask many questions when I do your tax return and when I review your books, but that is because of the vast knowledge that I have amassed over the years, and your answers help me do the very best job I can for you. It also allows me to provide you with answers to your many questions.

So until next time,

C Ya

Jeffrey “I love teaching and learning” Schneider