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Tips to Maximize Tax Savings

  Sanjiv Gupta CPA  Published 
Tips to Maximize Tax Savings

You may be working hard and earning big money but what is the use when you have not planned your taxes properly? Not planning for tax payments is as good as being unemployed because a lot of hard-earned dollars are wasted in paying taxes due to the lack of planning. So it is imperative to plan for tax payments, well in advance.

Here are a few tips, from well-accomplished financial consultants, that may help you to maximize your tax savings and have more money in hand to spend for yourself.

  1. Working for a company

Sometimes it is good to work for someone than have your own business. Wondering why? Let me explain. By working for a company or by being on someone else’s payrolls, you may have to take a cut in your pay package. Nevertheless, you may still be left with more take-home money than what you had when you owned a business because you end up paying less in tax. For example, if you were working for a University as a professor, fringe benefits such as health insurance and worker’s compensation would take a big chunk of your salary thereby leading to lower tax payments.

  1. Combining vacations with Business Trips

Going on expensive vacations may burn a big hole in your pocket in terms of tax payments. But if these vacations are combined with business, there could be a lot of savings in terms of tax payments because hotel bills, meals, and car rentals are partly deductible from tax payments. But this is not a good practice to follow always as there could be a lot of questions from the IRS when this becomes a regular pattern. So, sometimes it is better to pay taxes fully for expensive vacations than claiming for deductions.

  1. Keeping a tab on Business related expenses

Normally when on business trips we are lax and do not keep a tab on the expenses incurred during the trip. It is critical to keep track of all these expenses because, in the case of an IRS audit, it is this information that will come in handy to substantiate expenses incurred during a business trip. Also, it is a good practice to tag all business transactions to a single credit card. By using the same credit card for all business-related expenses, the expense statement from the credit card company can be used to back up claims made towards expenses incurred during a business trip.

  1. Employing your Spouse

Though a little tricky, this option provides a lot of tax savings. Being your spouse’s employer you can claim for health reimbursements that cover out-of-pocket medical expenses such as spectacles, co-payments and dental costs with pretax dollars. But under these circumstances payroll tax payments are unavoidable. In order to claim for tax payments under this option, it is imperative to have an employment contract, signed by your wife and a perfect timesheet recording your wife’s working hours. It is very important to keep track of payroll tax payments because payroll mistakes can completely wipe away the tax savings.

While these are just some of the many tax saving options available, it is always advisable to seek the guidance of a qualified CPA in order to maximize tax savings.