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          An Interview with a Home-based Business CPA
	   by Heidi Perry of HomeBusinessOnline.com


A few years ago, two professors named Thomas Stanley and Richard 
Danko wrote a book called The Millionaire Next Door.  These 
millionaires, many unassuming, all had several things in common. 
They all had their own business and lived below their means.  
There is one other thing that set them apart from the 
rest...They knew how to stop the IRS dead in its tracks.  They 
knew how to keep their hard-earned money.

That's what this interview with Jeff Parrack, a CPA from Texas, 
is all about - helping you take one step closer to these 
"Millionaires Next Door."

With over 20 years in federal income taxes, Jeff has been coined 
the "National Internet CPA."  His areas of tax focus are in  
online home-based business and tax negotiations.  Jeff saves 
people literally millions of dollars in taxes every year.

Jeff is no stranger to online business.  Asked whether he likes 
his job he emphatically states, "I LOVE my job, especially now 
that the Internet has allowed me to have a national presence.  
The Internet has revolutionized my business."

Owning your own home-based business is the best kept tax shelter 
secret in America.  Nevertheless, most home-based business 
owners haven't a clue as to what is available to them.

Jeff will really get your mind spinning in this interview, even 
if you feel you have a pretty good handle on your taxes.  Read 
on...


Heidi:
Jeff, my readers know I'm a real advocate of home business and 
tax deductions.  I know that, as a CPA, you've saved home-based 
business owners hundreds of thousands of dollars, so I 
appreciate your willingness to share some of your hard-earned 
knowledge with our readers.

Jeff:
I honestly appreciate the contact you made with me.  You know, I 
spend so much time on the phone one-on-one.  I would rather give 
free information to thousands than be paid to help one.  To be 
able to share my knowledge this way is a great opportunity.

Heidi:
I've spent a lot of years advocating tax deductions and thought 
I had a pretty good handle on the topic. However, after reading 
some chapters of your book last night, I learned there's plenty 
I'm not taking advantage of as a home-based business owner.  Why 
is it that we home-based business owners don't know all of our 
tax options?

Jeff:
Because nobody tells you.  I think it's the duty of tax business 
professionals, like myself, to educate.  To put it bluntly, I 
know tax options and you don't.  I devote my livelihood to them. 
 You know some of the tax deductions allowed you, but you don't 
know all of them, especially the really good deductions.

Heidi:
Some years ago I learned that most CPA's don't even know all the 
tax deductions available to the home-based business owner.  Our 
CPA gave us some guidelines, but it wasn't until Dave and I 
began educating ourselves that we began to see what we were 
missing out on.  Why do you think most CPA's don't give you this 
information?

Jeff:
Most CPA's don't deal with home-based business operators in 
volume.  As such, they don't take the time to learn all those 
tax advantages.  In fact, would you believe even CPA's don't 
take all their own tax deductions?  You have to take the time to 
read about it and study.  One CPA does not fit all.

Heidi:
I know what you mean.  We home-based business owners owe it to 
ourselves to become educated on the topic, and there are some 
wonderful resources available to us now on the subject.  
Speaking of which, your new book lays out a plan for the 
home-based business owner to save $10,000.  Can your system 
really save that much money?

Jeff:
Yes, with the proper thinking and planning and execution, it 
really is able to help people save that much on their taxes.  
Not everyone can do it.  But, those who can save $10,000 either 
don't know about it, or perhaps they do know, but are too lazy 
to do it.

Heidi:
What do you mean by being too lazy?

Jeff:
Well, actually most people with home businesses aren't lazy.  If 
they were lazy they wouldn't have home businesses. They would 
eat bon-bons all day and watch Rosie instead of working.

Heidi:
Then, what do you mean?

Jeff:
We all want to save money on our tax returns, but this system 
makes you plan it out in advance and then execute your plan 
throughout the year.  You can't just sit down at the table to do 
your tax return and then save $5,000 to $10,000.  If it were 
that easy, then everyone would be doing it.

Heidi:
So, now is the best time of year to begin your tax-savings plan?

Jeff:
Absolutely...January 1st!  Actually, the very best time of the 
year to begin is when you're ready to expend the energy to do 
something.  While you're thinking about tax returns is certainly 
a good time to get motivated!

Heidi:
If you could tell our readers one thing to begin saving on their 
taxes, what would it be?

Jeff:
You have to be educated and have some good fundamental business 
and tax knowledge before you get into the number side of the 
system. So when I have clients come in for one of my all-day 
consultations, we first spend some time on what I call "What You 
Think And What You Know." We lay the foundation of Business 
Theory and Mindset and discuss thinking like a savvy business 
owner. Then we talk about how the IRS views small, home-based 
business owners. We discuss those important but 
not-very-well-known subjects of IRS's definitions of profit vs. 
profit motive; IRS's view of business vs. hobby; the actual IRS 
test of business vs. hobby; and the four basic rules of 
deductibility.

Heidi:
I've taken some notes from your new book and see that it takes 
you five chapters to discuss all those topics.  Are they really 
that important?

Jeff:
It's pretty boring stuff, but if you don't understand it, then 
IRS can kill you in the future.

Heidi:
In other words, the IRS is counting on our ignorance?

Jeff:
You'd better believe it.  The IRS's job can be shaken down into 
a very short statement - they're bill collectors with power.  
When an IRS agent shows up at your door, his job is to either 
keep your money or to take more. The less you know, the more 
they take.  The more you know, the more you keep.

Heidi:
Okay, we've all been fed the idea since we were young that if we 
want to decrease our taxes, we have to make less money.  
Likewise, increasing our income increases our taxes.  But, you 
blow this theory out of the water.  Not only this, but you claim 
we don't have to spend more money to get more expenses for tax 
deductions.  How does this work?

Jeff:
What a great question! I get that all the time. That is often 
one of the first questions I am asked in one of my all-day 
consultations. So here we go... In a business there are really 
only two main sections on its income statement: income and 
expense. Well, let's always keep in mind that our goal is to 
save money on our tax return. That's the goal - saving money on 
our tax return. So on the income portion of our business, how 
can we save money on our tax return?

Heidi:
Well, I guess we could decrease our income, but who actually 
wants to decrease sales and make less money?

Jeff:  Probably not any of your readers. Certainly not I. The 
only other way you can save money on your tax return on the 
income portion of your income statement is to defer income from 
one year into the next year. You can put off sending out some of 
your invoices or statements to your customers until after 
December 31 so that your income moves out of this year and into 
next year.

Heidi:
But that doesn't really save you taxes because it just postpones 
the taxes from this year to next year. You still have to pay the 
taxes; you just pay them maybe a year later.

Jeff:  That's right. So do we agree that you really can't save 
money on your tax return through the income side of your 
business?

Heidi:
Yes, I see.  So, let's look at the expense side of our business. 
Increasing our expenses to decrease our taxes doesn't make much 
sense...

Jeff:
No, because you would be spending a dollar to save thirty cents.

Heidi:
And if we pay our bills early at the end of the year...

Jeff:
That's simply accelerating expenses.  You're getting the benefit 
of the expense in one year, but the next year suffers.

Heidi:
Well, good heavens, Jeff!  We've eliminated the income and the 
expense portion of your income statement to save taxes.  So, 
what do we do to save up to $10,000?

Jeff:
The key that opens the lock that guards your income taxes is 
called "Maximizing Your Tax Deductions."  This is so important 
that this is the subtitle of my book.  Without maximizing your 
tax deductions you will never lower your income taxes to where 
you can.

Heidi:
What do you mean by "Maximizing Your Tax Deductions?"

Jeff:
It's simple. Imagine you have two stacks of dollar bills on the 
table in front of you. One stack totals $7,500. That stack is 
your business expenses and, therefore, it is all deductible on 
your income tax return.  Now look at the other stack of money.  
This stack is all of your personal expenses that you paid during 
the year. It includes your house payment or your rent, your 
utilities, your telephone, your travel, all your medical costs, 
your education, your food, and on and on. Let's say that this 
stack totals $22,500.  So if you add up both stacks of money, 
you find that you spent $30,000 on your business and your 
personal expenses during the year.

Heidi:
Sure, but you can't use personal expenses as business expenses 
on your tax return, can you?

Jeff:
Sure, you can use some of them.  But, in our example you already 
have done that.  In my book, I show you how to take money you 
have already spent in your personal stack and transfer it to 
your stack of tax deductions.  If you can do this, you will be 
lowering your income taxes without decreasing your income and 
without increasing your spending.

Heidi:
And, since I've already spent the money, it doesn't cost me a 
single penny.

Jeff:
That's right.  I can show you how to turn your personal expenses 
into Tax Deductions IRS AGENTS HATE BUT MOST ALLOW. The reason 
they hate them is because they lower your income taxes; the 
reason they must allow them is that they are totally legal and, 
therefore, fully deductible as business expenses.

Heidi:
And, you explain this in your book?

Jeff:
Yes, I even show you how you can hire your children to work for 
you and write off the cost of it...AND...they don't even have to 
file a tax return if you know what you're doing.  I show you how 
to deduct your spouse as a deduction also.

Heidi:
That's wonderful.  Anything else we should know?

Jeff:
I can also show you how to deduct medical expenses.  Most people 
think medical expenses have to be an itemized deduction - and we 
can never really deduct them because of the limitation 
percentage.  But, IRS will let you deduct all of your medical 
expenses against your business if you do it right.

Heidi:
What about my house.  I'm currently claiming 20% of it as a 
business expense.  Is this okay?

Jeff:
Well, yes, but I can show you how to increase your little 20% of 
your house that you are claiming as a business deduction into 
probably 30% to 35%. And the IRS has the rules in place to let 
you do it, too. You just don't know about it.

Heidi:
Wow!  I thought I had this home-based business tax deduction all 
figured out.  Now, I'm realizing how much I don't know.

Jeff:
Most self-employed people don't know it. This is what I teach to 
my clients in my all-day consultations. I show them how to 
maximize their tax deductions and lower their income taxes 
without decreasing their income and without increasing their 
spending.  Isn't it beautiful?

Heidi:
Sure it is, but is it legal?

Jeff:
100%. I could lose my CPA license if I mislead my clients, and 
there is no way I will risk losing my license. I've been at this 
tax game long enough to develop this little system and save my 
clients thousands of dollars. My wife and I have been using this 
system for years and now we save over $11,000 in taxes every 
year. In the last ten years we've saved about $97,000 on all of 
our tax returns.

Heidi:
$97,000!  And, its all just from transferring personal expenses 
into business expenses?

Jeff:
Totally.  But you have to know how to do it.

Heidi:
You've really given us something to think about.  I wish we had 
more time to delve into some of these topics.  I'm motivated to 
finish your book and take notes this weekend.  My mind is 
spinning with ideas.

Jeff:
That's the idea.  There's so much more you can do than you are 
doing now.  The home-based business owner has so many more tax 
advantages over other businesses.  As a home-based business 
owner, you work so hard to make a living.  You owe it to 
yourself to keep your hard-earned money.

Heidi:
Jeff, I hope you'll consider sharing more information with us in 
the future.  Meanwhile, I suggest our readers get a copy of your 
new book, "A CPA's $10,000 Tax Refund."  It spells out in plain 
English (no "CPA speak) a plan for the home-based business owner 
to get $10,000 in tax deductions without spending one additional 
dime.

I negotiated a deal with Jeff to offer our readers a VERY 
generous 20% discount.  The only way to get this special offer 
is through a link Jeff will make available exclusively for us.  
I can't give it to you yet so I'll have to send it out in a 
separate email tonight.  As soon as I receive the "okay" I'll 
send it right out.

If you absolutely need Jeff's system now and can't wait for the 
discount, go ahead and use this link:
http://www.HomeBusinessOnline.com/preview/cpajeff.html

------
Note: You have permission to reprint this article in its 
entirety with the author's credits below.

About the Authors: 
Heidi and Dave Perry are successful entrepreneurs and founders 
of HomeBusinessOnline.com and PrettyGreat.com.  Get free 
issues of their popular HomeBizBytes newsletter at
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