when to call your cpa

There are certain occasions that have tax consequences that may not be apparent to the average person, or which present unique opportunities for reducing the tax bite. In most cases, though, timely action is required to either reduce the taxes or take advantage of the planning opportunity.

For this reason, we present below a partial list of situations in which you should seek professional advice. This list has been assembled based upon our experiences in recent years, both in cases where we've been able to save taxes for clients that sought our advice in a timely fashion and also from occasions where failure to seek timely advice has resulted in significantly more tax being paid than would have been necessary.

You should seek advice:

• Before you buy or sell a residence.
• Before you buy or sell any significant real estate other than your residence.
• Before you sell your business.
• Before you marry.
• Before you divorce.
• Before you make a gift over $10,000.
• Before you make a charitable contribution of property worth more than $5,000.
• Before you make an IRA withdrawal.
• Before you take a distribution from a pension plan.
• Before you retire.
• Immediately upon receipt of a notice of audit by the IRS or state.
• Immediately upon receipt of correspondence from any taxing authority indicating that more tax is due.
• Immediately upon the death of a spouse or a family member.