Income Tax Services

Communication is the key to our 5 Star Service

At Encompass Financial Services we strive for 5 star service. First, we will review your previous tax returns. Then, we organize and scan your data and prepare your taxes. We will communicate with you when we receive your documents and if any documents appear to be missing. You will be notified when the tax returns are ready for review. Additionally, you will be contacted when the returns have been accepted electronically. We even reach out to you when we receive your payment for our services. You will be in communication during the entire process.

Strategic Planning

The fact that the tax code was written by attorneys leaves a large “grey area” for taxpayers. Our philosophy is to push a little towards the edges of the grey area to find you every possible deduction in an effort to save you tax. There are often opportunities to use entities such as Partnerships or S Corporations to minimize employment taxes that we can recommend. Additionally, we may discuss strategic ways to maximize your itemized deductions by doubling up on charitable gifts, mortgage payments & property taxes every other year or making Qualified Charitable Donations through your retirement account. We will also help you setup Charitable Remainder Trusts or Donor Advised Funds when appropriate.

Year End Tax Planning

After your returns are filed, we remain available for questions or for tax planning. Every year in October we contact our clients to offer year-end tax planning services. We will review your income/expense summaries, investment account statements and retirement or paystubs to make sure you won’t have any unexpected surprises. Lastly, we also look for opportunities to reduce taxes through tax loss harvesting in your investment accounts.

Specialized Tax Strategies to Build Wealth

We specialize in helping real estate professionals & investors save taxes by minimizing the Self Employment Tax, increasing Depreciation and maximizing Deductions. This can also help protect assets from litigation.

Let’s start by operating your primary business as an S Corp to minimize the Self Employment Tax, which is 15.3% on top of your Income Tax! If you made $300k last year that change could easily save you $15,000! Subsequently, we will look at your previous 3 returns for potential savings.

Cost Segregation

Next, we depreciate using Cost Segregation rather than a straight 27.5 year lifespan. Most CPA’s depreciate your rental properties using a standard split where 75% of the purchase price is depreciated over a 27.5 or 39 year life. However, the IRS is very clear that a building is composed of numerous different “types” of property some of which are depreciated over 5 years and qualify for bonus depreciation! Let’s look at the example below to see how this works:

But we don’t stop there because the IRS has income thresholds and limits on how much passive losses you can deduct on your rental. For those that are real estate professionals or meet the material participation guidelines, we recommend buying or transitioning to rentals with an average of 7 days or less. These short-term rentals don’t qualify as a “passive rental” but rather an actual business. Those losses can then be used to offset all of your other income without limit. Using our example and assuming a 35% Fed and 11% State tax rate-that is a savings of 25,000!

Corporations, Partnerships and Trusts, oh my!

As part of your liability protection program, we will also help you set up a revocable living trust, a Limited Partnership, and a C corporation which looks like this:

This structure does more than just protect you. It also gives you the advantage of enjoying the generous deductions available for medical expenses, automobiles and tuition programs allowed by a C Corporation which could easily save you another $5,000-$10,000.

Total Saved as much as $50,000!

International Clients

Preparing tax returns for foreign residents involves navigating a complex landscape of regulations and requirements. Unlike U.S. citizens, foreign residents may be subject to different tax treaties and obligations, which can impact their income reporting and potential deductions. It’s essential to determine their residency status—whether they qualify as non-resident aliens or resident aliens for tax purposes—since this classification affects their tax liabilities. Accurate documentation, including income sources, tax identification numbers, and any applicable forms such as the 1040NR or 1040, must be meticulously gathered. Additionally, filing the appropriate Form 114 to report foreign bank or investment accounts & understanding any available foreign tax credits or exemptions under bilateral tax treaties can help optimize their tax position. Given the intricacies involved, many foreign residents benefit from professional assistance to ensure compliance and maximize their potential refunds.

Todd Wiersum is a licensed Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and Sole-Owner of Solstice Tax Solutions Inc. He spends 80% of his time as an accountant with Solstice Tax Solutions Inc, an affiliated CPA firm of Encompass Financial Services. Solstice Tax Solutions Inc. may recommend Encompass Financial Services to accounting clients in need of advisory services. Todd Wiersum may recommend Solstice Tax Solutions Inc. to advisory clients in need of tax services, all of which creates a conflict of interest. Tax services provided by Solstice Tax Solutions Inc. are separate and distinct from the advisory services of Encompass Financial Services and are provided for separate and typical compensation. There are no referral fee arrangements between Encompass Financial Services and Solstice Tax Solutions Inc. for these recommendations.  Encompass Financial Services clients are never obligated to use Solstice Tax Solutions Inc. for any tax services.