Tax Planning & Preparation
You can't build wealth without forward tax planning.
MCF's CPAs keep a working projection of this year's return, updated as your life changes, so tax decisions happen while they can still change the answer.
Illustrative numbers, for the mechanism only.
Forward tax planning
Tax return projections, all year
April’s number is set long before April. So the return starts early here, as a projection our CPAs keep current, and filing becomes the last step of the plan instead of the first look at the year.
Preparation and filing are offered within qualifying MCF client relationships, by the same CPAs who keep the projection.
All year
A working model
A projection of this year's return, updated as life changes: a sale, a bonus, equity vesting, a move. Every decision gets checked against the number it would create.
Before year-end
Decisions before December 31
Roth conversions, gain harvesting, charitable timing, asset placement: the moves that change the number get made in the year, while they can still change it.
Filing season
Prepared and filed by the same team
Annual personal, business and trust returns, including state and local, prepared in-house for qualifying relationships. The CPAs who prepare the return have seen the plan all year.
The closing window
Timing is the whole argument
Move through the year and watch what happens to the decisions that change your tax bill. Almost all of them close on December 31, which is why a return reviewed in April is a report and not a plan.
Where the year stands
Drag to move through the year
January
The year is still open. This is the window where planning changes the answer.
- Still open
Roth conversions
Converting while the rate is favorable
- Still open
Gain and loss harvesting
Realizing losses to offset a gain
- Still open
Charitable timing
Appreciated stock, bunching, donor-advised funds
- Still open
Asset placement
Which account holds which holding
- Still open
IRA and HSA contributions
Prior-year contributions, until the filing deadline
- Still open
Business plan funding
SEP and profit sharing, by the filing deadline
Illustrative and general in nature. Deadlines vary with filing status, entity type and extensions, and this is not tax advice.
Tax & accounting services
What the planning covers
In-house CPAs, working from the same plan as your advisor. Five kinds of work, stated the way we state them to clients.
Strategic analysis of tax savings opportunities
Your returns and your plan, read together for the deductions, credits, timing and structure that could help, and the ones going unused.
Tax return projections to help you plan ahead
A forward view of this year's liability, so you know what April will look like while there's still time to do something about it.
Year-round planning
Tax isn't a season here. The projection is reviewed through the year, and the plan moves whenever your life does.
Annual personal, business and trust returns, including state and local
Prepared in-house by MCF's CPAs for qualifying relationships, by the same team that has seen the plan all year.
Current knowledge of ever-changing tax law
Tax law keeps moving. Our CPAs track what's changing and bring it to your plan before it shows up on a form.
Coordinated with your investments and estate decisions
Asset location, gain and loss harvesting, charitable and family gifting: tax decisions made at the same table as the investment and estate decisions they affect.
Please note
Tax planning, tax preparation, and accounting services may be provided through affiliated entities, independent professionals, or separate engagements. Such services are not included in investment advisory services unless specifically agreed upon in writing.
A fair test
Questions to ask any firm that says “tax planning”
Plenty of firms use the phrase, and it can mean very different things. These four questions tell you which one you’re looking at, wherever you ask them.
The questions
- Who prepares my return, and have they seen my plan?
- How many CPAs are on my team?
- When do my tax decisions get made: during the year, or at filing?
- Do my tax, investment and estate conversations happen at one table?
However you answer them, they’re worth asking. Here, the answers are part of the service.
Who this is for
Offered within qualifying relationships
Tax preparation and filing are offered within qualifying MCF client relationships, alongside the planning they depend on: wealth management with tax preparation built in. Which returns are covered, and how far the work reaches, is mapped plainly in the first conversation.
If the return is in scope, the same team that planned the year signs it.
Prepared in-house
Personal returns
Annual individual filings, prepared by the CPAs who built the projection.
Business returns
Entity filings for the companies inside your balance sheet.
Trust returns
Fiduciary filings that keep the estate plan and the tax plan aligned.
State and local
The filings that follow where you live, work and own.
Scope is confirmed in writing before any filing season begins.
Services are tailored to each client’s circumstances and engagement. Not all services described are provided to every client.
Tax planning, tax preparation, and accounting services may be provided through affiliated entities, independent professionals, or separate engagements. Such services are not included in investment advisory services unless specifically agreed upon in writing.
Questions
What clients ask about tax planning
Do you replace my CPA?
Within qualifying relationships, MCF's CPAs handle planning and preparation together, so the person preparing the return has seen the plan all year. If you have a CPA you want to keep, we're glad to coordinate with them; what matters is that the plan and the return agree.
What's the difference between tax planning and tax preparation?
Preparation reports a year that has already happened. Planning shapes the year while it's still open: projections, timing and structure decisions made before December 31. Filing records the plan; it shouldn't be the first look at it.
When should tax planning start?
Before year-end, and ideally before the liquidity event. Once a sale closes or December 31 passes, most of the levers are gone. The earlier the projection opens, the more room there is for decisions that can still help.
Do you handle business and trust returns?
Yes. Within qualifying relationships, our CPAs prepare annual personal, business and trust returns in-house, including state and local filings.
Bring this year's return into focus.
Thirty minutes with an advisor: where you stand, what this year holds, and whether forward planning would change the answer. No cost, no obligation.