Accountants, CPA's & Enrolled Agents: Learn how to THRIVE During Tax Season

Hey, everyone. Welcome to another week of Main street tax advice, tax and legal advice, helping us live our American dream. My name is Mark Kohler. I love the American dream and Main street business. Now, today's video and our live is specifically for you, the enrolled agent or cpa. Now, if you're not in the middle of tax season, stressed, frustrated and freaking out, please send this to a friend or family member or your own accountant and say, hey, check out this Kohler guy. He's here to help you. And I want to answer questions for maybe some of you that are looking for a tax strategist, a tax advisor, or if you're a CPA or enrolled agent, please hear this message. It is extremely important that I give you these 10, 10 ways to survive tax season and actually to thrive during tax season. Now, let's get to it. Number one, I want you to write down. Yes, I'll explain why. Write down your ideal scene. If you're in the middle of tax season right now and you're stressed and frustrated and I've been there, been there, done that, been in the accounting practice for over 20 years, it can be very, very stressful. I want you to write down what you'd like it to look like. And if you don't even know what you want it to look like, how do you want it to feel? Less stress, more cash flow, better team members, whatever it is. Guys, if you want to climb a mountain, isn't it amazing when you look off into the distance and you see the peak? This last weekend I was in Phoenix climbing one of the seven peaks in the Phoenix surrounding area. Patty and I have now hit four of them and we did North Mountain. If any of you have done North Mountain, but the whole time we're hiking this mountain, we can see the peak. So we're like, it gives you some motivation, it gives you energy, gives you something to look forward to. If you're in the middle of tax season and you don't even know what the hell you want it to look like on the back end next tax season, where's the energy? Where's the, can I say excitement or just the forward looking emotion of I can have it in a better situation. So I want you to write this down. It's very easy to go, oh, it'll be better next year. Oh, I've done this 15 plus years with an actual tax firm in compliance, buried. It's easy to say, it'll get better next year. This is what I want it to look like. And then in the fall, you Forget about it. Write it down. Now. A paragraph or half a page. Take tomorrow morning. This is my challenge. Write it down. What do you want that ideal scene to look like? The feels, the team members, the cash flow, the type of clients, the type of work you're doing. That's number one. And we're going to put it in a journal in the drawer. We'll come back to that. Now, number two, if you're watching this video, you're already in the throes of a season. You're stressed out, which means you're in compliance. So number two is I want you to start thinking and about tax advisory, learning about tax advisory. What does the pricing look like? What does the service model look like? What would my client mix look like? We've got to have something we look forward to, you know, that's why we're working all these years in our lives. Oh, when I'm retired, I'm going to drive that car I've always wanted. I'm going to be in the garage tinkering with that car and rebuilding that classic car and going to car shows. I'm going to be golfing, I'm going to be traveling with my girlfriends, and we're going to be going all over the world, and we're going to be doing this. We're going to be doing. We want to be thinking about what our life's going to be like when we're there. Well, if we know the holy grail of being a tax accountant is being a tax advisor, we got to start learning about it now. And that's what I'm all about. I mean, this is the Main Street Tax Pro Network, one of the only ones in the country, certainly the only one that provides all of the support and training and community that we do affordably as well. I want to create that feeling that you're wanting so that you can start testing it and getting to know people in that community, understanding how the advisory process works. If you're following me, you're going to learn about it. Number three, I want you to be starting to identify three types of clients in your business. It's kind of ironic that my number three tip is three types of clients. The client that's your ideal tax advisor client that wants to meet with you quarterly, that wants to pay you monthly, that wants to meet with you and get good tax advice. On the other extreme, you've got those clients that you just want to get rid of. They're a pain in the butt. They hardly ever pay their bill on time. They bitch and moan and complain. They take 80% of your time for 20% of your revenue. But because we got to pay the bills and we're stressed out and worried about paying our bills, we don't get rid of them. Been there, done that. Then in the middle, we've got this 60% of clients, let's say maybe it's 20, 20 and 60 in the middle, 15, 15, 70 in the middle, whatever. But I've got these clients in the middle. I don't know, are they going to want to be a advisory client? Are they going to stay in kind of a modified compliance model? Because you're going to change. You're going to have advisory services is your pinnacle client and service you provide. This is way you're going to be able to combat AI. I love AI. I think AI is great because it's going to help you with the compliance piece of your practice. Now, when you do advisory, AI enhances what you do. It doesn't take away. All right, number four. Now, by the way, we're going through 10 tips. Any of you that have a question about any of these tips, if you're an advisor, an accountant, a CPA or an enrolled agent, I want to hear from you. And by the way, I'm going to give you $1,000 at the end of this. If you are a CPA or an enrolled agent, I'm going to give you a benefit of $1,000 if you're willing to hear me out. Seriously. And it's not for any other industry, lawyers, insurance agents, CFPs. You've got to have a license number as an enrolled agent or a cpa. And I'm going to help fast track you to a six figures, six figures of more income this year. Seriously. All right, number four, I want you to start making appointments with those ideal clients you identified. So you're going to have these three types of clients. You're going to make earmarks and have a spreadsheet that you're going to say, ooh, this client would be a perfect ideal client. This one would be a perfect one. This one I want to get rid of. Okay, so you're going to keep that spreadsheet and track them on a regular basis. Tip number four is anytime you meet with an ideal client, you're not going to say in your mind, oh, I'll meet with them in the summer. No, you're going to book that appointment right now. You're going to say, hey, I want to meet with you in June or July. I'm going to Hold a comprehensive consultation with you. It's going to be $999, $1,000. And here's what you're going to say. I already know. You're like, mark, they already paid for their tax return. They're not going to do that. No, they are, because you're going to say this. In that comprehensive console, I'm going to build a master plan moving forward. And if I don't save you $1,000 in taxes in that meeting, I'll give your 999 back. See, they're going to pay in advance for that meeting, and then you're going to give them that meeting and promise them over $1,000 in tax savings. In my certification, I've got 70 strategies, 12 modules. Holy crap. I have never had a tax return. I've reviewed that. I couldn't find $1,000 in tax savings, and I'm still learning strategies. I got you. I mean it. Please have faith in the tax advisory model. And it does take a leap of faith. I'm thinking of Indiana Jones in the Last Crusade where he has to step out into the, you know, into that ravine and just hope there's a little landing there. People, you can do this. Know that there's more tax advisor clients out there than you can handle. They want to pay you for quality advice. You'll have more clients, more. Sorry, fewer clients, more revenue, and less stress. And your clients are going to love you for this. So you're going to find these ideal clients and say, we're going to have an appointment in June or July. You're going to book the appointment now and say, my assistant will be in touch to get payment. And when I see you there, we're going to start having quarterly meetings. And I'm going to rock your world. I'm going to help you on your path. And if you don't want to do advisory, that's okay. I'm going to talk to you about it on that appointment. In the future, I'm just going to prep your taxes and we're done. I'm not going to be giving you free advice ever. You're going to pay for it. And I'm not only going to. I'm only going to give advice to my. To my advisory clients because they want to have a relationship and build something, and I'm going to track their file and our relationship. All right, number five. Right now, forget advisory for a bit. Now. Now I want to give you some practical, again, tips during tax season. Set your expectations with your clients. Right now. Do you know everybody? If you're still here and you're not even a CPA or enrolled agent, did you know your chances of an audit go down when you file an extension? That's right. In April, March 15 or April 15, you're going to send off an extension. Send in any deposit of what you think you owe. You're now not going through the cattle guard. IRS is picking up audits as people come through in the Q1 and Q2. You're not even going to file your tax return until Q3 or the beginning of Q4. You're so far behind the audit assignments, you reduce your chances of audit. This is all in the statistics of CCH and RIA and all the big houses on tax research. So tell your clients if I don't have your info by March 15th, we're filing an extension. And they're going to freak out and you're going to say, too bad, go somewhere else. And they're not going to go anywhere else because it's a jungle out there. So you tell them, I'm transitioning to tax advisory. We're going to have a strategy call in the summer and we're going to extend your tax return and we're going to do it right. And I'm not going to work 15 hour days between now and April 15th because it's your fault. You didn't get me your shiz in time. Draw a line in the sand and stand by it. Earn the respect of your client and respect yourself. Set expectations. So. But you don't wait until March 15th to say this. And I've had my partners in my accounting firm wait till the last minute, oh, we're going to extend you. They're like, what? Yeah, well, I'd be pissed too if I got a phone call on April 13th saying I was extending. Send out your emails and your letters right now in February and say if I don't have your info by March 15th, we're extending. And by the way, it's in your best interest to extend. It's okay. All right, now number six. I love this one and it's hard and I'll own it. Start with a half day. You have got to give yourself a break during tax season. At least half a day. Not in the office. Now with this, I want to give you a few other tips. Not only do I want you to schedule a half a day or a full day where you don't do tax work because you're going to be stronger, smarter and emotionally with more energy when you Take a break for a day or a half day, because you're going to come back to the office rejuvenated and you're going to be on fire. Do not work seven days a week, 12 hours a day and think you're doing the right thing. You're not. And I've been a CPA since 2001, 25 years. I'm coming up on 25 years next year as a CPA, and I've been there. I can tell you it doesn't work. Give yourself a break for a half a day. Now, what this means too, is change it up during the day. Go home at 5, have dinner, work from home, work from Starbucks, work from a different location. When you work in the same spot all day long, your brain starts to eat itself. Break it up a little bit. Build that second office right now in the evenings that you can get work done. You can log in from anywhere. 90% of accountants are now paperless. You can survive. Do whatever work you can from home. After seven, after eight, until midnight. You're going to work till midnight. I get it. Not dumb. But don't do it at the office every day. Give yourself a different location and give yourself a half day or a day off. Now, number seven, tip. Talk with your loved ones. Let them know that it's hard for you, too. And tax season is brutal. Do you know the number one problem with accountants during tax season is the guilt. The guilt. They're not there for their family, their loved ones, the children. It's hard. So schedule it. Schedule that two hours a day, whether it's a lunch, maybe it's with your best friend, your significant other, your mom, your dad, your children, whoever it is, two hours during the day or two hours at night. And say from five to seven, I am not looking at a tax return. I'm not looking at my computer and I'm present. It'll recharge your batteries. It'll keep your relationship intact. You've got to do this because we're doing damage control the other nine months of the year. It's not fair to them and it's not fair to you. Schedule time with your significant other every day, even if it's a half hour. Schedule and do it and communicate with that person and tell them the pressure you're under and how much you love them and talk about them for that half hour to two hours every day. Not you. Don't talk about work. Holy crap. Now, number eight, you want to survive tax season? Think about your health. Heart attacks, the health analysis on accountants and the industry is terrible and I'm sure you know that. Here's the trick. I want you to download the DoorDash app and I want you to schedule your lunches with generally healthy lunches. I'm okay, eat what you want generally, but I want you to have number one. And I'm going to give you number two in a moment. Number two, schedule regular lunches where you're not impulse ordering. Because I've been there at one o' clock you're like, oh, I'm hungry. And you could drive down the street, eat crap you shouldn't at a fast food, fast food place. And then you're stuck eating cold pizza in the break room at night. Or you order pizza for the staff and you're eating pizza. The worst thing you could be eating. Schedule your lunches and dinners. Use a company, use your assistant to give them what the type of menu items you like. Now, number two, exercise every day. Oh, yeah, Mark, I don't have time for that. Yeah, I've been there. What you do is go for a walk in the mornings while you return texts. Just pull your phone out and go for a walk. You don't have to sit on the couch or in bed or on a chair and return texts. Take a walk for a good mile on a track around the area, the neighborhood, whatever. Get on a treadmill and return your texts while you're doing a little walk and you're scheduling your lunch and your dinner. Because you actually save money doing this to accountants. Because when you're ordering food at the last minute, you're going to eat crap and you're going to overpay for it. Prep your lunches, prep your plan, prep your menu and have a walk and return your texts. At the very least, you're going to feel better. You're going to be a better tax preparer, a better tax advisor when you take care of your health as well. Number nine, as you're going through tax season, you're going to have a list going in your head of all the things you wish you wouldn't do and you're going to do during next tax season. And guess what? You're going to forget half of that list if you don't write it down. That journal where you write down your ideal scene, pull it back out, and whenever you have an idea of I'm not going to do this or I'm going to do this next time around, write it down, put it right after the ideal scene. It frees up your mind. So that way you're not like, oh, what was that thing? And you're always like, oh, next year, I'll do this next year. Don't even let your mind go there. As soon as you have that thought, write it down and just know it's written down so you can free up your mind to be productive, be efficient, eating healthy, spending a half hour to two hours with your loved one, having a little walk, texting. Guys, you're a machine. During tax season, keep the machine lubricated, oiled up and tuned up so every day you're, you're optimum because you're gonna, we don't want a heart attack or worse health problems. Now number 10, this is where I want to give you $1,000 benefit. Start now getting ready with your tax advisory practice. I have engagement letters, strategies, a community to help you become a certified tax advisor. Number 10 is commit to being a Main Street Tax Pro. I will give you clients, as many as you. We have a certified tax pro network. We're not going YouTube. I tell everybody, go to the network to find an account right now. I'm going to tell any of you if any of you are not an accountant, a CPA or enrolled agent and someone's watching right now because they're freaking awesome. They're just like Mark, I want to know this because I want to connect with my advisor. If you're looking for an Advisor, go to markjcoller.com, go to Services at the top, right there. Pull down Main Street Tax Pro network. I have hundreds of tax pros around the country that will turn off their link because they're getting too busy. Others need to better improve their website and we're working with them. Click on them, do a discovery call, whatever those client you guys agree to on a service and a pay, that's yours. I'm not taking a piece of that. So if you want to build your business, get clients that want a tax advisor, have 70 plus strategies, a certification program that's legit with hours and hours of CE. Don't worry, I'll see. I'll give you 30, 40 hours of CE in my sleep. Our program is CE certified for enrolled agents and CPAs, and lawyers, CFPs, everything. We have two conferences a year, live CE, got it all. What you want are freaking awesome. Clients that want to pay you to strategize and have a conversation and build a relationship. That's where the fun is for them and for you. The compliance is an afterthought. That's okay. As a quarterback, you're going to coordinate the compliance, do it in house or delegate it. But you're the quarterback. That's a certified tax advisor. I will give you 10% off the certification program in March. If you sign up in March when your cash flow is awesome anyway, as a complete 100% tax write off, I'll give you 10% off. That's $1,000. Then as you're certified within six to eight weeks, as fast as you want, you can start classes right away. You'll be certified by April or May. You go on our network. We want to bring you clients. I have 14 lawyers doing appointments around the clock, giving clients out to our network. When you are engaged, you're involved, you will have clients. We need you. We want you. We need you in the community. America needs you. Main Street America needs more tax advisors. So please come check out the program. You can do a demo. Click below. Do a demo. I don't want you to buy right now. I don't want you to just click. I want you to do a demo. A discovery call with one of my new client advisors. They'll meet with you, they'll explain the program, all of the classes, your pain points. We're going to address them and, and I know them. I've been an accountant my whole career. I passed the CPA exam in law school in 1999 and I'm still here. And I love it. And I love the industry and love Main Street America. All right, if there's any questions, I'd like to field some of those. I've got some here that have come through on social media. I need to be addressing those. I want to help you succeed as a, as a tax advisor and as a business owner. You got a question on how to find a tax advisor? Bring it. I'm all yours. What do we got, Danan, Anything good here?

Yes, we have a couple questions here. One of them is, of the 10 tips that you've just shared, what would you say is the one that has most impacted you in your career?

Wow. That's a fair question. The one that's probably. Of these 10 tips of dealing with tax season, the one that's probably helped me the most is to schedule that day off or the half day off. I'm a Christian and as a Christian, you're going to kind of know the Ten Commandments. Have you ever heard about those? One of them is keep the Sabbath day holy. Now, I'm not saying working on Sunday is not keeping the Sabbath day holy, but I've chosen Sunday to Be the day where I try not to work. I give my body a rest, I give my mind a rest so that I can come back hard on Monday morning, rejuvenated, ready to go. So I'm going to say of all these, really tried to not work hard work at all on Sundays. Now, if any of you are followers, you've heard me talk about the Sunday night blues. I've been talking about that for 10 years. Sunday night blues, around 5, 6, 7 o' clock we have dinner. We like to have a family Italian dinner once a month and whatever. And I'll start be like, what's coming Monday morning? And I'll start getting the blues. And even Patty will go, what's going on? I'm like, I'm thinking about all the work Monday morning. And so I try to, I've tried to compartmentalize that and say, hey, that's okay. I need to rest on Sunday so I can be better on Monday. And that's worked for me a lot and I know a lot of people and if it's not Sunday, that's fine. Choose a day, two half days where you can worry about yourself and think straight. Because it's not all about taxes. It's not about your business. We got to have a life and it's going to help you be better in your business that way. So up to 10, that's probably mine. Dana, another one?

Yeah, another one here is. I've never felt confident enough to offer these lesser known strategies to a client. Not sure what exactly I would have to offer them.

What we have to offer them what,

what they as the, as the tax professional would have to offer. So the same.

What do you got that's so great that I'm going to help someone with. Okay, now this is something I thought a lot about over the years. So let me rephrase the question mark. I'm in tax compliance. I'm burning through tax season. What the hell have you got that's going to actually help a small business owner that I'm not already doing? Like, what is it that you've got, the secret sauce that's out there? I've got several. The first one is when I go out when I started this program two and a half years ago. I've written four books, I've been doing workshops all over the country. I love my tax tips. Pay your kids, have a family board meeting, travel, dining, real estate, short term rentals, long term rentals, cost segregation, opportunity zones. Then I've got asset protection strategies. Which entity do I Use crypto tax strategies, Charitable Mariner Trust. Do I have my estate plan ready to go? I mean all of these things, right? I thought I would create a program. I came up with about 60 to 70 strategies, 12 modules and I started in January of 2023. In the second week we were doing a training and someone said, mark, have you ever thought about this strategy in the real estate realm? And I was like, no, I haven't. And I was like what? And I go, tell me about that. And it was a nuance in the real estate professional status, material participation, the seven tests. And then you know, la la la. And I was like, oh my gosh. All of a sudden it was like drinking from a fire hose from my community. It was the most humbling experience for me in 25 years when I started to learn more from the community that I thought I was bringing these 70 strategies to. I am not kidding you. Every week we do an open forum and a training class, Business building mindset. I have learned more in the last two years in tax strategies. Wow. I'm going to say this than the 10 years before just because we're in a community collaborating. So if you think you know it all, I have got to tell you it there is so much and I could rattle off some stuff. I mean I'll try to. Okay, let's do it. Are you, do you have the simplified and the advanced method for home office down with the Augusta rule? How are you writing off RV'? Are using RVs as a rental property, also as personal property and able to deduct 100% of it. What is your strategies with bonus depreciation and cost segregation? Do you have down all the rules for the average seven day rental on the short term rentals and the material participation rules? Do you have the Dash 4 rental on self rentals figured out? Then we've got the long term rentals with the real estate professional status. Then we get into opportunity zones. 1031 exchanges. Reverse 1031 exchanges construction, 1031 exchanges. Oh, let's start talking about charitable remainder trusts. Are we doing a crut? A crat? Which one works better when you're selling your business? Oh, a business continuation plan. What does that look like in your estate plan? Do you have your will and trust done? Are you using an irrevocable life insurance trust? Are you doing an ABC trust because you're a first second marriage with children, his, hers and ours? What are you doing for asset protection? Are you doing COPE entities? Are you doing Wyoming or Ohio? Are you trying to create Privacy or just a second layer of protection? Where do I set up my llc? Should I do a two member LLC or a single member llc? Oh, charging, paying my kids. What should I do with my kids under age 18 versus my kids over age 18? Can they have a Roth IRA? When do they can or cannot have that Roth IRA? What am I doing for college savings? Am I doing an ESA, a Coverdell or a 529? Which one is best? What am I doing for health care? Should I do an HSA and HRA? Should I do a 105 plan with employees or without employees? What am I doing for my health insurance? What should be on my W2S? Corporations and reasonable comp? Is my reasonable comp really where it should be? Am I doing a solo 401k? Do I understand the backdoor Roth? The mega backdoor Roth? Guys, this is what just comes to mind. Out of 30 to 40 strategies, there is not a client. I'm going to say this right now. There's not a client in America that I can't meet with and save them taxes. I'll take that challenge right now. Any client that thinks you've got it all dialed in. Just the fact that you can take your Roth IRA and self direct it and invest in what you know, are you doing that? Can you form an LLC and avoid UDFI or ubit? Are you chunking at your Roth ira? When do you chunk? This is powerful, powerful information. So I want to conclude on this, people, if you think you know it all, that's a dangerous place to be. And if you think you can do it on your own, you're kidding yourself. Please, my enrolled agents and CPAs for the month of March, I'll give you $1,000 off our normal. We haven't done this in two years. I called my director of operations before this live and said can I do it? He's like, go for it. Whatever the hell you want to do. Mark, let's help more accountants during this time. If you want to get the deal, do a demo, do a discovery call. Check it out. Go to MarkJ. Kohler.com it's easier to just book a demo call. We will take care of you. We have a community of incredible people. We did a call today and talked about how to put $77,000 in your Roth IRA. We did the mega backdoor Roth training. I had people on there that have been CPAs for 20 years ask questions or like I never knew that. And I'm learning from them too. It's a community we're all in here together. Keep living the dream, everyone. It's alive and well. And the tax advisor is a key member on our team. We're going to have major tax legislation this year. We're not getting rid of the tax code. If you know Donald Trump, that's his M.O. he's going to go hard reach far out there, freak everybody out. And we meet some back here where we want to be. He's the master of negotiation. We're going to have a tax code. We're going to have a tax bill this year and it's going to affect you. And I'm not going anywhere. This Thursday, I'll go live and tell you what's going on with Doge at the IRS building. I'll bring you up to speed on the joint House. That's the House and Senate are in a joint committee right now working on a tax legislation for you. If I can get any information at all, I'll share it with you. Thanks so much for listening. Don't give up. I'll be right there with you.