Precision today. Confidence tomorrow.
Tax Planning
Taxes touch every part of your financial life — income, investments, business interests, estate, and legacy. At Somerset Advisory, our tax-planning service is designed to help bring clarity, structure, and insight to your tax strategy — so you can make smarter decisions.
Why Tax Planning Matters
Too often, tax decisions are made in hindsight. When planning happens earlier, and your tax strategy is viewed through the lens of your goals, business, and family, it becomes less about compliance and more about stewardship.
A strong tax plan helps you:
- Retain more of what you’ve earned
- Position investments, business decisions, and life events with tax efficiency in mind
- Minimize risk and unintended consequences in transitions like retirement, business sale, or inheritance
Our aim isn’t just to reduce your tax bill; it’s to integrate tax strategy into the full picture of your financial life — so your decisions reflect both what you want to do and what you should do.
Our Tax Planning Process
Discovery & Tax Profile
We begin with a conversation about your goals, your risks, and your family’s structure. What business interests or investments matter? We map out your tax profile: income sources, assets, business interests, estate plans, and the dependencies you might overlook.
Structure & Strategy
With a clear baseline, we develop proactive tax strategies. This may involve entity structuring, tax-efficient investment planning, charitable giving, estate-tax considerations, and business succession planning. We build frameworks that support your goals, not just the next deadline.
Implementation & Coordination
Tax planning doesn’t live in a vacuum. We collaborate with CPAs, attorneys, business advisors, and investment teams to ensure everything links together. Whether it’s setting up trusts, planning a business exit, structuring real estate investments, or optimizing retirement accounts — we help connect the dots.
Ongoing Review & Adaptation
Tax laws change. Your life changes. Your business changes. We meet with you regularly — at milestones, year-end reviews, and when major life or business events occur — to update your strategy and keep things aligned.
Our CLARITIES process helps bring precision and structure to complex tax planning.
Take our CLARITIES Quiz to see if our process can help your finances thrive.
What’s Included in our Tax Planning Services
- Review and optimization of income-tax strategy
- Business-entity structuring and succession planning (if applicable)
- Investment and capital-gains-tax management
- Estate and gift-tax coordination and planning
- Charitable-giving strategy and tax-benefit optimization
- Cross-generational wealth transfer and tax implications
- Coordination with your tax and legal advisors
- Year-round strategic planning rather than once-a-year reaction
Why Clients Choose Somerset for Tax Planning
- Integrated thinking: We view tax planning as part of your broader financial story — investment, legacy, business, lifestyle — not as an isolated task.
- Relational partnership: You’re not just a tax file. We take time to understand your business, your family, your values — and build a tax strategy that helps reflect them.
- Active approach: We don’t file a plan and forget it. We monitor changes — in law, in your life, or in your business — and adjust proactively.
- Clarity in communication: Tax is one of the most confusing parts of finance. We explain the “why” behind each recommendation in clear language, remove complexity, and give you control.
Typical Client Scenarios We Support
- A business owner preparing for a sale or transition and needing to structure tax-efficient outcomes.
- A high-earning professional facing complex income streams, stock options, deferred compensation, or bonus schedules — and seeking tax planning.
- A family with generational wealth, transfers in motion, or charitable goals—needing to align tax strategy with legacy.
- An investor or real-estate owner whose tax-sensitive holdings require proactive management.
Tax Planning Frequently Asked Questions
Why can’t my CPA handle all my tax planning?
Your CPA typically handles compliance (returns, filings, tax calculations). Tax planning, in the sense we offer, goes further: aligning tax strategy with your investments, business, estate, and long-term goals. We serve as the strategic “tax advisor” coordinating across disciplines.
When is the best time to start tax planning?
As early as possible — but ideally well before major life or business events (sale, liquidity event, inheritance, retirement). Early planning opens up more opportunities, higher flexibility, and fewer last-minute compromises.
How do you work with my current tax or legal advisors?
We partner with, rather than replace, your legal advisors. We coordinate with your CPA, attorney, and others to help ensure that tax strategy, legal structure, and financial planning are in sync. We act as the connection point.
Does tax planning guarantee lower taxes?
No responsible advisor promises zero taxes. What we strive for is that your tax strategy will be thoughtful — designed, aligned with your goals, proactive, and revisited.
Is tax planning only for wealthy individuals or business owners?
Not exclusively. While many of our clients are business owners, high earners, or multigenerational families, anyone who wants to integrate tax thinking into their broader financial life benefits from this planning.
If you or someone you know would like to participate in this study, please email
hello@somersetadvisory.com. We will publish our findings in mid-2024!
