Federal Taxes

In addition to managing the challenge of making day to day decisions, U.S. businesses must also face concerns of performance, liquidity, and growth potential. Esquire Group professionals will provide tax compliance and advisory services to help you with the added burden of tax planning, compliance, and maintaining open communication with the tax authorities, when necessary. We offer numerous business tax services that include:

• Business Tax Advisory
• Business Tax Compliance
• Tax Accounting
• Employment Taxes

Employers are responsible for paying both their share of payroll taxes and depositing their employees’ shares withheld from paychecks to the IRS. Social Security and Medicare taxes that are imposed on employers and employees as well as unemployment taxes must be reported in addition to Federal taxes collected. Various reconciliation reports must accompany the deposits which are generally filed quarterly. Employment taxes need to be accurately and timely reported in order to avoid steep penalties. The Esquire Group team will ensure that your company’s employee withholding and the employer-portion of taxes are being accurately calculated and paid when due.

Tax Planning

Tax planning involves exploring various tax options to determine the best approach for conducting personal transactions and business in order to reduce, defer or defray taxes. Your goal will be to choose an option that will result in the lowest legal tax liability. This process is very important to preserving your wealth for future generations and the Esquire Group's qualified professionals are available to guide you in this process.

To start your tax plan you will need to estimate your potential personal and business income for the next two or three years. These projections will allow our team to devise a strategy that will save you taxes across several levels; the more accurate the projection, the more successful the tax plan will be. Careful tax planning should result in the following:

• Reduced tax rates
• Reduced taxable income
• Improved tracking of available tax credits
• Improved timing of tax payments
• Avoidance of common tax planning errors

Income Reclassification

Under certain circumstances it may be possible to structure your affairs in such a manner as to reclassify how your income is taxed. For example, self-employment income might be reclassified as passive income thereby avoiding self-employment tax on that portion of your income. The Esquire Group's tax professionals can help you explore the various options available to you.

Transaction Tax Treatment

When operating a business or investing in property, stocks, bonds, or other investments it is critical that you understand how the transactions will be taxed. Our professionals will explain the tax regulations and guide you in formulating a plan to reduce your tax liability and take advantage of tax credits or deductions that may be available to you.

By carefully planning your transactions in advance, you will be taking a proactive approach to taxation which will most often bring about more favorable results than determining the tax consequences subsequent to completing the transaction. Once the transaction is completed, it generally cannot be undone and you will be burdened with the tax treatment of your unplanned decision.

1031 Consulting

The sale of appreciated property held for investment purposes can result in substantial tax liability. Gain from the sale of investment property held for a period of less than one year will be taxed as ordinary income and is therefore subject to federal income tax as high as the highest ordinary income tax rate. However, if the investment property is held for a period of more than one year, the gain is subject to the more favorable long-term capital gains tax rate. Internal Revenue Code (IRC) Section 1031 allows for deferral of the recognition of capital gains as long as replacement property is purchased with the proceeds from the relinquished property. An investor can dispose of investment property, use all of the equity gained to purchase replacement property, and defer the recognition of capital gain and payment of the associated capital gains tax.

The “like-kind” requirement is a complex and often confusing area of taxation. The Esquire Group team will be able to determine how, and if, this requirement applies in your particular situation and explain the intricacies of these types of transactions.