Shauna the Tax Goddess on Legally Avoiding Taxes
Guest: Shauna the Tax Goddess, is a top-tier tax strategist with over 105 specialists under her wing, focusing on U.S. taxation. Shauna, a CPA with a Master’s in Taxation, and is one of the few Certified Tax Strategists in the country. With her extensive knowledge and experience, Shauna shares invaluable insights on how real estate investors can optimize their tax strategies to keep more of their hard-earned money.
Big Idea: Shauna emphasizes the critical importance of tax efficiency in wealth accumulation, particularly for real estate investors. She explains how a specialized tax strategist, instead of a general CPA, can significantly reduce tax burdens through customized strategies tailored to an individual’s unique circumstances, maximizing long-term financial gains.
Dan: I am also fantastic. I was excited. I was excited when I saw the booking agents get us on the show. I said, look at this tax strategy. It’s one of these topics that I’ve spent a good chunk of time reading over the 15 years I’ve been in business or so. I’ve had to learn so much of it myself. There’s people that I run into who are like, “I don’t really have anyone. I kind of need the right person.” So I was like, all right, great. We’re going to do this episode here and we’re going to talk a few scenarios. Maybe you are that type of person for people who’ve had that issue. So the big problem that I want to highlight before we get into the show is anyone who’s read The Snowball, Warren Buffett’s biography. One of the big lessons for me in that book was tax efficiency. When you’re not knowledgeable and intelligently structuring your business affairs year over year over year aware of the taxes, the taxes are chopping your gains down so that at the end of 15, 20, 25, 30 years, you may end up with a lot less than your efforts probably should have afforded you. So that’s the big problem that we’re really going to talk about a few of the solutions. I think everybody has a custom scenario here who’s probably listening into the show. So we’ll touch on a few of those. But before we get started there, would you mind giving the audience an overview of the tax goddess?
Shauna: I would love to. Thank you. So, Shauna the Tax Goddess, own a firm, tax goddess. At this point, we’ve got a little over 105 people in 17 different countries in the world, all focused, all trained on U.S. taxation. Now, really, I think the biggest thing and where people kind of get a little confused is, “Listen, Shauna, you’re a CPA. I’m a CPA, master’s in tax. I’ve got a bunch of letters after my name. What’s really the difference between a standard CPA and a tax strategist?” If you look at it from the statistics, according to Google, there are 665,000 CPAs in the U.S. CPAs do all sorts of things. They file taxes, but they’re also auditors, controllers, CFOs, bankers. I mean, they do all sorts of things. As you start to go up the chain specializing in tax strategy, there becomes fewer and fewer and fewer of us that really work on tax mitigation, minimizing that tax burden for business owners, for investors, for anybody involved. So when you start to look at these levels, the 665,000 CPAs, there’s only 60,000 that have master’s in tax. There are 607 that are considered certified tax coaches. As you go further up that chain, there’s only 15, one, five, that are what are called certified tax strategists. So we are the top of the top of the top of the food chain. So when somebody says, what do you do that’s different than other CPAs? Generally, a CPA’s job is to keep you out of jail. File the forms, check all the right boxes, keep you out of jail. It is not their job to deep dive, dig into every strategy, create a customized plan for you. Because as you said, you could be married with kids. I’m single. I’ve got dogs. You have cats. Every piece on the chessboard changes the customized view of a custom tax plan for that individual. Because there are no two sets of facts and circumstances that are identical that just doesn’t exist. So when you want to save the big bucks on taxes, you start looking for a tax strategist versus just your day-to-day CPA.
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Shauna & I Discuss Legally Avoiding Taxes:
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Understanding the Role of a Tax Strategist vs. a CPA (02:13): Shauna explains the difference between a standard CPA and a tax strategist, emphasizing the importance of specialized knowledge in minimizing tax burdens for real estate investors.
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Building a Comprehensive Financial Team for Real Estate Success (05:29) The discussion focuses on the need for a well-rounded financial team, including a tax strategist, CPA, bookkeeper, and other key professionals to optimize tax strategies in real estate.
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Advanced Real Estate Tax Planning (2.0 Strategies) (11:36): Exploration of more sophisticated tax strategies beyond basic deductions, such as the integration of cost segregation and other advanced techniques for real estate investors.
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The Security Dog Deduction(12:32): Exploring how real estate investors can write off dogs as a security expense for visiting properties.
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Maximizing the Masters Exemption (14:13): Utilizing the Masters Exemption to deduct personal vacations as part of real estate operations.
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Risk Management and IRS Scrutiny (25:08): The importance of maintaining documentation and understanding the risk of IRS audits when implementing advanced tax strategies.
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Entity Structuring for Tax Savings (37:10): Shauna discusses the pros and cons of different entity structures like S Corps, C Corps, and sole proprietorships for real estate investors.
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The Power of the Augusta Rule (00:42:03): A look at how the Augusta Rule can be used to write off significant amounts through home office deductions.
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Importance of Documentation and Compliance (00:47:05): Shauna emphasizes the need for thorough documentation and following the correct procedures to avoid issues with the IRS.
Relevant Episodes: (200+ Content Packed Interviews in Total)
- Deferring Taxes with Vanguard 1031 Exchange President Brandon Burns
- How to Avoid Capital Gains Tax Using a Deferred Sales Trust or Like Kind Exchange with Carl Worden
- Maximizing Asset Protection and Tax Savings with Scott Royal Smith
- Dave Foster on Avoiding Taxes Using 1031 Exchange Real Estate Investing
- Tax Lien Investing with Angela Duncan
The transcript of this episode can be found here.
Transcripts of all episodes can be found here.
