Small Business Tax Planning That Keeps More of Your Profit

Most of a small business's tax bill is settled during the year, by choices the owner never knew were open.

By the time a return is filed, the year is closed and the only job left is to report it. How the business is set up, how the owner is paid, which costs are claimed and with what proof, and whether tax is paid in advance on a plan: all of it was decided months earlier, usually by default.

This course works through those choices in the order they matter. You set up the account and the tax share that keep money apart, the records that let every claim hold, the structure and salary that fit your profit, and the four check-ins that replace the year-end scramble. The principles hold in most countries, and US and UK rules appear as labelled examples with this year's figures.

You walk away with a tax account and a share sized from your own numbers, a record habit that takes minutes a week, four dates in your calendar, and the questions that show whether your adviser plans the year with you.

Who it's for

Founders and owner-operators: want to know whether their business structure and their own pay are costing them tax.

Freelancers and solo consultants: need a simple system for setting money aside, keeping records and paying tax on time.

Anyone working with an accountant: wants to bring better questions and judge the advice they get.