#407 - Tax Hacks That Save You Thousands (Part 1)

Carlos opens this one by admitting taxes are his blind spot, so he brought in someone who has built a career on them. Rachel Phillips founded Fully Accountable, an accounting and CFO firm that served e-commerce brands exclusively. After BELAY acquired it, she stayed on and now runs the entire financial solutions division as Senior VP.

Her core point: tax hacks are not something you find in a shoebox of receipts in April. They work because they are a plan you put in place inside your business strategy. This is part one of two, covering the first three hacks, the ones at the top of the stack that make everything downstream work.

In part one:

• Why "just be an S Corp" is bad advice. An S Corp is a tax election, not a business structure, and most people passing the advice around cannot define it. Rachel walks the real options and explains why the C Corp still earns its place when you need to raise money or take on debt.
• How you get paid changes with your structure. Guaranteed payments versus a W-2 salary, and how the wrong entity can quietly put you out of compliance.
• When to actually build a tax plan. The profit and revenue marks Rachel uses, why inventory-heavy sellers should start earlier, and who belongs in the room. Your CPA and your CFO, not your bookkeeper, and not a business lawyer who does not do tax.
• Retirement plans as a retention tool. The SEP IRA most owners have never heard of, how matching turns into money you never paid tax on, and the question every employee asks: what happens to my balance if I leave in five years.
• The Augusta rule. Rent your own home to your own business up to 14 days a year, tax free to you and deductible to the business. Carlos asks the question everyone asks at the bar: can nine businesses each run it against the same house? Rachel shuts that down and explains the one narrow case where it works.
• Setting fair market value on your home without overthinking it, and why your mortgage payment has nothing to do with the number.
• The best months of the year to do this work, plus the retirement funding deadline that is not December 31.

Part two lands next week and goes straight at the e-commerce specific hacks: Section 179 bonus depreciation, prepaid expenses, and Rachel's checklist of old faithfuls that everyone forgets.

Our guest: Rachel Phillips is an entrepreneur, a lawyer by training, founder of Fully Accountable, and Senior VP of Financial Solutions at BELAY. She is most active on LinkedIn.

Connect with BELAY: text WIZARDS to 55123 and they will send resources and connect you with their team. BELAY is a sponsor of the Wizards of Ecom community, and as our listeners know, we say no to far more partnerships than we say yes to.

This is a conversation between two business owners, not tax advice. Limits and rules change year to year. Take anything here to your own CPA before you act on it.