How to Real Estate Today
Raw, unfiltered real estate conversations about how to win in real estate today. We're here for real estate agents, investors, flippers, buyers and sellers.
How to Real Estate Today
21: Real Estate Tax Write-offs You Need to Know
If you're a real estate agent who thinks “tax strategy” is just finding that one good write-off from last year’s Starbucks receipts—this episode is for you. Join us and tax wizard Barbara Schrehans (yes, she actually makes taxes interesting) as we unravel the secrets of saving money, scaling smart, and making the IRS cry happy tears. Listen, get ready to laugh, learn, and maybe even start loving taxes—because financial freedom starts with a smart strategy!
Our guest, Barbara Schreihans, is the CEO and Founder of Your Tax Coach, creator of the Write Off Your Real Estate Course, host of the Life-Changing Money Podcast, and the mastermind behind The Council Mastermind. She’s here to spill the secrets on how lenders and agents can make their first $200K tax-free, why now is actually a great time to invest, and how she scaled her business to eight figures. Listen in—you’re about to make more money and owe less to the IRS.
How to connect with us!
Rebecca Green and Company-https://www.rebeccagreen.co
Kim Borcherding- @heykimborcherding
Barbara Schneihans-https://barbaraschreihans.com
Rebecca Green (00:01.525)
there, welcome to How to Real Estate Today. I'm Rebecca Green. I'm here with my co-host Kim Borcharding. And we have a really special guest today, Barbara Schrehans. She is an unbelievable tax strategist. And I'm gonna let Kim kick it off and tell you a little bit more.
Kim Borcherding (00:17.807)
Perfect. Well guys, I'm really excited. I met Barbara at a conference probably two years ago and then she actually came and spoke at Clever Collective last year. And Barbara, you know, I actually had never heard of this term tax strategist, but that is what she, and I'll have her explain a little bit more what that is. She's also the CEO and founder of Your Tax Coach.
as well as the creator of a course called Right Off Your Life. Is that right, Barbara? And then hosts a podcast. So she is a wealth of information specifically in the, I mean, I think she talks to lot of entrepreneurs and business owners, but specifically in the real estate space. I know that a lot of real estate agents and investors are not hearing the kind of guidance and information that Barbara shares. So I'm really excited to kind of pick her brain today.
and have our audience learn a little bit more about Barbara. So welcome Barbara. We'd love to know, first of all, what is a tax strategist? I mean, I think that's your title that you use. Can you explain to us exactly what that means?
Barbara - Your Tax Coach (01:24.182)
Yeah, we save you money and taxes rather than just telling you how much you owe like a typical accountant would. So we're very much proactive meeting you throughout the year, whereas an accountant's like retroactive, they're just like throwing the numbers on a tax return because it's already happened. And so we're just there to like partner with you and figure out ways that you can use your money better, wiser, and pay less in taxes.
Kim Borcherding (01:48.877)
Yeah, mean, nobody ever talks about that. I mean, did you take that class in real estate school, Rebecca? Totally no.
Rebecca Green (01:50.314)
That's
Rebecca Green (01:56.139)
I've been in real estate for 33 years, as you know, and I am so grateful for Barbara and I'm learning so much. So no, never, I remember the first time I heard her speak, there were so many light bulb moments and so much, almost a bit of anxiety about what I quickly realized I didn't know.
Barbara - Your Tax Coach (02:14.988)
Hmm. Yeah, I see that a lot.
Kim Borcherding (02:16.525)
Yeah. So can you, let's back up though. Tell us a little bit why taxes Barbara. Like this is so fascinating to me. Also, I think from a, you know, if you see you speak, you know, you're, you're, you're a female, you're beautiful, you're like, you just don't fit the package of a normal tax person. I mean, you're stunning, you know, so.
Rebecca Green (02:18.239)
Mm-hmm.
Barbara - Your Tax Coach (02:38.187)
I know.
Kim Borcherding (02:38.713)
beautiful, like inwardly beautiful, outwardly beautiful. So this is always like such an interesting when people meet you like, okay, like how taxes how did you end up in this space? What
Barbara - Your Tax Coach (02:48.484)
my gosh, I could tell you so many stories. But I kind of actually like fell into accounting. I was a marketing major, which would like make more sense for me. But I ended up getting pregnant in college. And so I went to my career counselor and I was like, well, shit, I am pregnant and it's my junior year of college. So like, I need to take care of this baby somehow.
what's like a major where on the day I graduate, I'm going to have a job. And they were like, well, you have to switch to accounting. And I was like, are you sure there's not anything else that like
Rebecca Green (03:30.111)
big departure marketing to accounting that's not even in like the same ball field.
Barbara - Your Tax Coach (03:32.587)
Yeah.
Yeah, I mean, I was in business school. So in our business school, there were like five different areas you could do like entrepreneurship, which I didn't even know what that word meant. So like, I didn't pick that. There was marketing, accounting, an MBA program. Like, so it was all still under the business house, but they were like, yeah, switch to accounting, which I was really bummed about at the time. But I just turned it into something that I did like. I did not like working for the big accounting firms that
just told people how much they owed. I was like, this is crappy. Like I always have to deliver bad news. Like why can't I deliver great news? Like how much we saved you. So that's where your tax coach started.
Rebecca Green (04:18.964)
Amazing.
Kim Borcherding (04:19.949)
Yeah, and tell us, what is the demographic of the clients you serve? Who's your alpha client? What does that look like?
Barbara - Your Tax Coach (04:30.144)
Yeah, if I had like an ideal client, it's business owners making 250 or more. But we have something for everyone. So like that was kind of my bread and butter for a really long time. And then I was like, well, I still want to help everyone. And I want to help the business owners that are just starting because if you don't set things up foundationally, like you'll constantly feel like you're cleaning things up or, you know, it's like more work than if you just set it up right the first time. And so.
That's when I really started creating courses because those were just so much more accessible for anyone. And then now we have packages for like the million dollar business owners. So it's just kind of evolved over the years.
Kim Borcherding (05:13.827)
Yeah, I love that. Well, I know in the real estate space, will say speaking, I'm the first one to say like I'm terrible at taxes, finances, fortunately my husband handles a lot, but in my business, I was supposed to be in charge of managing my piece and I never did it well. And I would say in speaking with a majority of my real estate colleagues, they are the same. I find that real estate, what makes real estate agents successful, the personality type,
you know, the skills that we have really tends to make them pretty weak in the backend and the operations and the systems and of real estate agents. So what advice would you give to like say a new real estate agent to do it well? Like what advice would you give? Like, so you don't like end up like five years down the line and your stuff's a mess. Like what advice would you give to them or 33?
Rebecca Green (06:08.213)
or 30 fingers down the line.
Barbara - Your Tax Coach (06:12.236)
Yeah, it's funny that the three calls I had this morning were all from rise people and just like all in a mess, which like, love that. And like, that's what we're here for, like to help you. So first of all, I don't feel any shame or guilt around that. That is why there are experts out there. Like you focus on what you're really good at, which is buying and selling houses. But really like from the very beginning,
And this is legal advice, not tax at all. But I guess I'll say this is not legal tax or financial advice. But an attorney would tell you, please get your LLC from the very beginning. Because although you never want to be sued, like you can, as a real estate agent, be sued for like a transaction gone bad. And so get an LLC to protect your assets from the very beginning. But also an LLC allows you
to later on save a lot of money in taxes. So a lot of times our real estate agent clients should be an S corporation and they're not yet and they don't have their LLC even yet. And so we can't make them an S corp for last year because they didn't have their LLC. So if you have one already, it makes it easier for us to switch you to an S corp when it's time.
Kim Borcherding (07:33.881)
That was one of my takeaways and from when you taught at our class last year that I am still an LLC, I should be an S-Corp and I remember my accountant sitting down with him and he advising us actually makes, you know, makes more sense if you're LLC and S-Corp. And then I remember last year in September, you're like, you should essentially be an S-Corp. And I was like, that's like 10, yeah, yeah, I should have done that like 10 years ago. And can you tell me why the benefits?
Rebecca Green (07:58.819)
huh.
Kim Borcherding (08:02.681)
high level between LLC, S-Corp, that's a very common discussion in the real estate world.
Barbara - Your Tax Coach (08:08.342)
Yeah, so there's something called self-employment taxes that like no one talks about. Everyone knows like if you're W-2, you get taxed federal, state, social security, Medicare, like all that stuff. But as a business owner, you get taxed self-employment tax, which is another 15.3%. It's almost like a penalty for owning a business unless you switch to an S-corp. So let's say you made 100K.
you would pay an extra 15,000 in taxes just because you don't have your S-Corp. So it can be super beneficial. And with an S-Corp, we can go back in time and switch you if you had your LLC at that time. So that's why I say get it early, because that way if we are calculating like, oh man, you should have been one last year or if we're 23 or you're 22, we can go back and change it.
Rebecca Green (08:52.608)
Thanks.
Kim Borcherding (09:02.755)
Yeah, that is a very common. Would you agree, Rebecca? Is that something you commonly see real estate agents do?
Rebecca Green (09:07.729)
Yeah, yeah. And then one question I would have because a lot of agents fear the LLC because then they feel like they have to pay themselves a salary. And because the income fluctuates so much, I know a lot of agents struggle with like, I don't know how to pay myself a salary because the income's not. Right? Do you hear that a lot? I see you smiling. Do you have a lot of agents that come to you with that?
Barbara - Your Tax Coach (09:31.884)
Yeah. And so when you have just an LLC, you're actually not allowed to pay yourself a salary at all. So LLCs cannot pay themselves salary. S-Corps have to pay themselves salary, but you just want to pay the lowest amount that we can, which we run a software for you and it'll tell us the lowest amount that you have to be paid through W-2. And to that point, like it doesn't have to be every two weeks.
Rebecca Green (09:38.1)
Okay.
Barbara - Your Tax Coach (09:58.816)
a normal you know, nine to five job because you don't have a normal nine to five job. And there will be months where maybe you don't have any commissions and then months where you have 500 grand of commission like so it's just as long as you have the payroll by the end of the year. So for a lot of our agent clients, like we will just run a payroll every time they have a commission check, or at the end of every quarter or at the end of the year. It's like so flexible.
Kim Borcherding (10:25.675)
my gosh, I've never heard that. Yes, that's pretty, I mean, I've never, totally thought it was salary consistently the same salary throughout the year. See, mostly you don't know what you don't know. So Barbara, how do you recommend somebody going about hiring accounting tax advisor, tax strategist, they know nothing about taxes. How would you recommend somebody going about who to hire?
Rebecca Green (10:26.132)
I've never heard that.
Barbara - Your Tax Coach (10:36.002)
No.
Barbara - Your Tax Coach (10:54.668)
Yeah, I think the biggest thing is like you have to vibe with that person because they're gonna know so much about your personal life, your family, your finances. Like we're always the first people to know. Actually we're the first, like we know about divorces before they've even told their spouses, you know? And a lot with real estate too, like they call their agents to be like, hey, what can I sell my house for if we get divorced? It's the same for us, like, hey, what's our taxes gonna be?
if we're splitting up or if someone passes away. So you have to be able to have a good relationship with them. I actually was on a call earlier too and she's just like, I hate my account and she's so mean and all this stuff. she's like, every time I bring her an idea, she just tells me no. And it's like, you don't want someone like that. We're supposed to be on your team. We're an extension of your family. We're there to like.
Rebecca Green (11:38.016)
Bye for now.
Barbara - Your Tax Coach (11:51.554)
give you more money as a household, you know?
Kim Borcherding (11:53.945)
Totally. And I mean, and not shame. I mean, I know there's so much shame about money and taxes and this and that. I'm the first one like, yep, yep, I feel shame about it. Yeah.
Barbara - Your Tax Coach (12:03.458)
Well, and doesn't have to be that serious. Yeah.
Rebecca Green (12:04.619)
Yeah, and just like Barbara saying, like, like it's a relationship based, like, I don't think people think unfortunately of their tax, you know, their, their advisor as a relationship business. And it's so crazy because one of the most important relationships is our money because it affects our family. It affects our business. It affects everything. So,
Barbara - Your Tax Coach (12:22.84)
Mm-hmm.
Rebecca Green (12:27.977)
You know, that was such a great reminder to find a person that you can vibe with and that you would want to sit at a table and have a conversation with or have a cup of coffee. I mean, I've never had an account where I'm like, yeah, let's hang out. I think you're going to make me, I think you're going to make me way more profitable and way more financially stable. But that's not a common thing. When I sent out the introduction for your upcoming,
Kim Borcherding (12:39.471)
Totally, yeah. I think some... Totally,
Kim Borcherding (12:49.529)
Yeah.
Rebecca Green (12:56.767)
webinar tomorrow, I was like, who would have thought you could have fun talking about taxes for an hour? It's a thing with you. It's a thing with you.
Kim Borcherding (13:02.797)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I think something that for maybe says, put this together, essentially Barbara's concept is when you work with a tax strategist, are, she and her team are proactive about setting up your business, writing things off again, in line with the tax code, but making sure that you're paying as little taxes as you can. So you are more profitable. I mean, that is the whole concept. So saving you money.
Barbara - Your Tax Coach (13:04.152)
Yeah.
Kim Borcherding (13:31.331)
because I also know people, if you go to think of like you're hiring the cheapest tax person, well, they're likely not giving you any advice. And it's actually, my opinion is likely costing you money because if you're paying for someone's guidance and advice and you're setting up your life and your business well, you'll be paying less more taxes. So essentially you're helping them make money. That's how I see it. Am I right, Barbara? So.
Barbara - Your Tax Coach (13:53.9)
Yes. Yeah, I mean, we should be making you money. Like, that's our goal. Like, I never want to be looked at as an expense for someone. And yes, we're more expensive than your average accounting firm, but we're also there to make you money. You know, I've never met someone where I'm like, if you give me 5000, and I would give you 20 back, would you do that? Of course. Like, no one would say no.
Rebecca Green (13:58.015)
You should.
Rebecca Green (14:17.867)
Also, I want to put it out there, you're actually not that much more expensive. You're not more expensive than the service that you provide and how robust it is, is so much greater than your run-of-the-mill tax preparation or accountant. So I just want to put out there for anyone listening here, please check Barbara out because it is not that much more expensive.
Barbara - Your Tax Coach (14:38.958)
Well, thank you.
Kim Borcherding (14:44.397)
Yep, and Rebecca just started working with her this year and it's on my list as well. So, and well with that, I I say the same thing with real estate. Like when I have a listing and maybe it needs to be fluffed up, you know, I call like a fluff and buff. I tell my sellers, we'll invest 5,000 and I'll make you another 30 on it because I'm gonna paint and we're gonna swap out light fixtures and we're gonna do all this thing that makes it look more attractive.
Same concept. I'm like, I'm not spending five bucks to make you another five bucks, but if we can invest a little bit of money in preparing a property as we go to market, same concept guys with tax strategists. and I don't feel, I feel very few people talk about this philosophy, at least in the real estate space. So I think there's a tremendous market for you and your company, Barbara, because it's so needed for people.
Barbara - Your Tax Coach (15:20.526)
Yeah.
Rebecca Green (15:36.715)
You
Kim Borcherding (15:38.029)
So something I know that you are passionate about is real estate investing. Can you talk about your philosophy for investing in real estate? That was one of the classes that you taught last year at Clever Collective as well.
Barbara - Your Tax Coach (15:49.548)
Yeah, I think real estate is the best way to not only build wealth, but to also save money in taxes. So for our business owner clients, one of the strategies and not always, because not everyone wants to invest in real estate, but once we've kind of employed all the strategies that we can in your business to save you money and you still have profit left over that we need to offset, then I want to...
I'm hearing feedback, are you hearing it too?
Rebecca Green (16:19.573)
Mm-hmm.
Kim Borcherding (16:21.035)
I am not. Okay.
Rebecca Green (16:22.346)
I'm not.
Barbara - Your Tax Coach (16:22.354)
OK. Then the next step is, can you invest in real estate? So it's kind of like, would you rather spend $50,000 to pay the IRS, or do you want to put $50,000 as a down payment on a $200,000 house that is hopefully cash flowing? It's going to appreciate for you. Someone else is paying down the mortgage for you, and you will save a ton of money in depreciation deductions. It's like a no-brainer.
Rebecca Green (16:48.491)
Personally, yeah, personally, how many doors do you own and how long did it take you to acquire?
Barbara - Your Tax Coach (16:55.726)
That's a hard question to answer. Like the sexy answer would be 700 doors, but I don't own all of them 100%. So houses that I own 100 % 32 and then a ton of apartment complexes that I am both the LP and the GP on. So if you know about like syndications, there's typically five general partners in a big apartment.
Complex and there's usually the person that finds the deal the person that writes the deal like does the financial analysis? That's me someone that has the funds to back it up So typically if you're buying like a ten million dollar apartment complex someone in the GP pool has to have ten million dollars even though you're not You're not using that money to buy it. You're using a loan, but someone has to have that much as net worth. I'm also that person
And then there's someone that is the property manager typically on site if it's a big enough complex. And so, yeah, we have big apartment complexes, but then we get investors that can help fund the deals.
Rebecca Green (18:12.011)
How long have you been investing? How long did it take you to build that portfolio? Because where I'm going with this, think real estate agents tend, average age of real estate agents is a little bit higher than in some other careers. And I think that a lot of people feel like they can't start real estate investing at a certain age because they've missed the mark. so I think your story, yeah. So talk to us a little bit about that.
Barbara - Your Tax Coach (18:33.542)
god.
Barbara - Your Tax Coach (18:37.838)
Yeah, my first, I mean, my husband had one rental when we met in like 2016, but our first rental was in 2020 when we moved from North Carolina to Arizona. We just turned our primary residence into a rental. That was our first one. And then we just started buying more and more doors every year because as my business made more money, I just didn't want to pay as much in taxes. So.
Kim Borcherding (19:02.724)
Don't!
Barbara - Your Tax Coach (19:04.874)
It's like I can pay it to the IRS or I can buy doors. So to me that sounded a lot sexier. And then once you get like single family homes, you're like, okay, I can do a duplex now. And then you're like, I can do a quadplex and then a fiveplex. And then, all right, I think I'm ready for 120plex. Would some may or may not be comfortable with that. But I was just like, whatever. I'll try it.
Kim Borcherding (19:31.257)
Brilliant. Well, that's what I was going to ask. Is there a type of real estate investment that you tend to recommend to people? You know, is it commercial? Is a single family residential or any opinions on that?
Barbara - Your Tax Coach (19:43.681)
I can't give investment advice, but it really depended on like their goals and how comfortable they are with investing. Like some of our clients, they're like, I only want an investment property within one mile of my house and it has to be a single family residence. And then I have some people that live in California and they're like, I'm going to buy in Alabama and I'm going to buy a quadplex there and I never want to see it and I don't have to. And it'll be midterm rented. like everyone's just so different. And I
Kim Borcherding (19:45.175)
Okay, okay.
Barbara - Your Tax Coach (20:11.98)
You can make money in any of it or all of it. You just have to know how to run the numbers and find the deals.
Kim Borcherding (20:20.623)
Do you help, your, so if somebody is a client of yours, do you help them look at the numbers when making a decision for an investment property?
Barbara - Your Tax Coach (20:29.932)
when they get our ride off your real estate course, which launches tomorrow. And so when you get the course, you get a mastermind call with me and my lender. And we go through everyone's specific scenario and find ways for them to buy properties faster, because there's always a hidden way that they just don't think about. So it's so fun, because we get 12 of you in a Zoom room, and we do it like 10 different times, because there's so many.
Kim Borcherding (20:32.077)
Okay.
Barbara - Your Tax Coach (20:59.212)
We'll have like 12 of you because it's cool to hear other people's scenarios, right? Because you're like always so in your own world. You're like, wait, I have that opportunity to or yeah, I have a kid in college or will be soon or yes, I have aging parents. This is how we should structure their property. And so the mastermind calls are really fun for that.
Rebecca Green (21:02.368)
Sure.
Kim Borcherding (21:20.803)
that's amazing. Okay, I'm definitely tapping into that. Speaking of that, aging parents, this is something, and tell me if this is, your field assistant attorney, as people are aging and I know if they pass away in different states, there's different implications on inheritance tax or kind of, yeah, inheriting. Yeah, well, yes. So can you, nobody talks about this Barbara, can you tell me?
Barbara - Your Tax Coach (21:40.128)
And Oregon's not great.
Rebecca Green (21:41.706)
Now.
Rebecca Green (21:46.463)
Yeah.
Kim Borcherding (21:48.143)
Pretend I know nothing about this concept because I'm just starting to pay attention as I have two ill parents and I'm starting to like, can you tell me a high level what what what to think about?
Barbara - Your Tax Coach (21:59.626)
Yeah, gosh, every state is so different on estate taxes, but also on capital gains taxes as well. So it'll it'll totally be up to whatever state you're in. But I know for you, for Oregon, they don't have a great estate tax. The limit's very low. For example, federally, you can die with about 14 million dollars worth of assets and not be taxed on it. But in Oregon, the limits like
Rebecca Green (22:06.664)
Thank you.
Barbara - Your Tax Coach (22:29.837)
a 20th of that. that's the whole reason as well and capital gains tax. That's the whole reason Jeff Bezos moved from Washington to Florida was not because of the income tax. It was because of the estate tax. And so he knows when he passes away, it's going to save his estate. Like, I think I read it, it'll save him like $200 billion in tax.
Rebecca Green (22:31.861)
Yeah.
Kim Borcherding (22:53.571)
Gosh, that's my and it's based on where you pass away. Is that right? Because
Barbara - Your Tax Coach (22:56.512)
Yeah, yeah. you just have to move it. That's why there's so many retired people in Florida. It's like, yes, it's sunny and great weather, but it's honestly for the estate tax and nobody talks about it.
Rebecca Green (23:01.087)
in Florida, for sure.
Kim Borcherding (23:08.611)
Yeah.
Rebecca Green (23:08.661)
And so let's clarify, you can still own property in Oregon or Washington. Is that correct?
Barbara - Your Tax Coach (23:15.02)
Yeah, yeah, you can still own it, but you'll hit an estate tax a lot sooner.
Kim Borcherding (23:20.59)
Okay.
Rebecca Green (23:20.753)
If you still own, so let's say you have aging parents and they own something in Oregon that they don't want to get rid of, but they move to Florida and they pass away in Florida, that's not helping you with the estate taxes in Oregon. Is that correct?
Barbara - Your Tax Coach (23:35.02)
Well, you'd probably want to turn that into a rental property, not sell it when they moved to Florida. So you turn it into a rental and then the kids could inherit it. And when they inherit it, they get it for the fair market value on the date that their parents passed. So let's say the parents bought it for a hundred K and when they passed, it's worth a million. Well, if they sold it, when they moved to Florida, they'd probably have capital gains on like 900,000.
But once the kid got set for a million dollars, they could sell it the next day and pay nothing in tax.
Rebecca Green (24:07.755)
Great advice.
Kim Borcherding (24:07.993)
Yeah, yeah, again, this is totally why you need... No.
Rebecca Green (24:11.189)
Bye.
Barbara - Your Tax Coach (24:11.534)
Yeah, even like my neighbor, she's 80 years old. She actually came to one of my parties last year and got a tattoo, her first tattoo. And she's great, but she's like, I'm ready to go to a home. Like, what do I do? And she has like millions of dollars of equity in her house. And so it's like, do I sell? Do I rent it out? And so we're like running the scenarios and it's like, just
If you rent it out, she can rent it for like 12K a month. Her mortgage is like 2000 a month. So she's netting 10 grand and her home that she wants to move into is 10 grand a month. So renting it out not only pays for the home she wants to stay in, but then she's not selling it. So her kids will inherit it and not have to pay those millions of dollars on the game. So.
Kim Borcherding (25:00.163)
Yeah. Brilliant guys. It's great advice. Barbara, tell us about tax deductions. What are, would you say some of the most overlooked tax deductions for real estate agents and what would be the, maybe the best way to track those?
Rebecca Green (25:01.675)
Great advice.
Barbara - Your Tax Coach (25:17.496)
I think too many agents are taking mileage, like stop taking the dang mileage. Take the cost of your car. Cars are so expensive nowadays. Like it makes way more sense to take the cost of your car because then you can also take gas and repairs and insurance. And we all know that stuff is pricey. I think that agents need to be taking the home office deduction more. Like a lot of them still think it's a red flag and I'm like, no, it is not.
You all travel a lot for business, whether it's networking events, like the rise or treat that we were all just at. but really growing your network and growing markets that you might want to move into, like a different state, someone else you can refer to, like travel and make it a business deduction. If you add your kids or your spouse to your business, then you can all travel for business. Have board meetings and fun places.
Like you don't have to have your board meeting at home.
Kim Borcherding (26:17.487)
So that was something that I, that was a big takeaway for me as well. That and the Augusta rule to the board meeting. mean, like, I'm sure, I'm sure very few people actually do that.
Rebecca Green (26:30.123)
So you mentioned having your husband and your kids as a part of your business. Can you expand on that?
Barbara - Your Tax Coach (26:30.402)
Yeah.
Barbara - Your Tax Coach (26:35.544)
Yeah, there's so many ways, like you can add them to your board. Some people just do that. and then the benefit is, you know, you can have a board meeting somewhere fun. And that's why any hotel that you ever go to, if you walk down the halls somewhere, it's going to say board room somewhere. And like that's what it's for is for small businesses to have their board meetings in fun places. So like I've had board meetings in Paris. I've had them in the Bahamas. I've had them in Switzerland, in Croatia.
Like have them don't do it at your house or like in Alabama. Like, I don't know. And add your kids to your board because you want them to learn about business. Like we're in this era of not everyone's going to go to college anymore. And so what are they going to do? So teach them about your business. Have them in on these meetings.
And it's a great way to travel, but you could pay them if you want to be on the board. You could pay for their cell phones for being on the board. You could pay for their laptops for being on the board, like whatever. So besides adding them to your board, you can have them as employees as well. I don't love spouses as employees because then their vehicle use is taxable, but love paying kids. And then you can also add them as part owners.
Rebecca Green (27:44.5)
I think.
Barbara - Your Tax Coach (27:55.766)
I don't recommend adding kids as owners, but you could add a spouse as a part owner so then you can buy another business vehicle and it's not taxable. You can double your retirement savings. Like there's just so many benefits to it.
Rebecca Green (28:09.671)
I mean, the board is, I'm just you saying, adding them to the board and writing off phones and writing off, because I have grown kids, I still pay for their cell phone bill. What the hell? When do we get off of that plan? Apparently never, because I now want to keep it and them to the board.
Barbara - Your Tax Coach (28:21.622)
Yeah.
Kim Borcherding (28:25.55)
Yeah.
Barbara - Your Tax Coach (28:25.678)
You know the most common day of the year to host a board meeting? Guess. No?
Kim Borcherding (28:31.503)
Christmas? No.
Rebecca Green (28:35.168)
What?
Barbara - Your Tax Coach (28:35.744)
is the day after Thanksgiving, Black Friday, so that your travel, everyone travels for Thanksgiving so that mom can pick the turkey. So then your entire Thanksgiving weekend is a business deduction wherever you have to travel for like, know, especially adult kids are traveling to their parents. So yeah, most common day for board meetings held. But I have a whole course.
Rebecca Green (28:43.677)
Yeah. Yeah.
Barbara - Your Tax Coach (29:03.182)
for how to add people to your board, how to take board meeting minutes, how to justify it. So I'll send you the link for that too.
Rebecca Green (29:10.953)
love that. That's amazing. We'll include that in the podcast. Okay, wait, that led me to one question. So obviously we're in real estate. have investment properties. It's been a part of our business. I have adult children that are not in real estate. They're running other businesses. You work with anybody in any kind of business, correct?
Barbara - Your Tax Coach (29:29.952)
Yeah, business owners or real estate investors.
Rebecca Green (29:33.311)
business owners or real estate investors. So they do have to be business owners. Yeah.
Barbara - Your Tax Coach (29:37.984)
or real estate investors. Yeah, I just don't typically work with just W two earners unless they have like a lot of money to invest in tax efficient vehicles because again, I never want to seem like an expense. Like I always want to save you more in taxes and it's really hard to save money in taxes of W two.
Rebecca Green (29:49.364)
Okay.
Rebecca Green (29:55.413)
huh.
Kim Borcherding (29:58.243)
Yeah, that makes sense. you want to add value where you truly can move the needle in people's businesses. I'm pretty, I mean, when I saw Barbara speak last, last September, I was like, I'm pretty sure she can save me probably hundreds of thousands of dollars in, in my, yeah. So yeah.
Barbara - Your Tax Coach (30:03.704)
Yeah.
Barbara - Your Tax Coach (30:12.854)
Yeah, I've never seen a tax return I couldn't save people money on.
Rebecca Green (30:16.199)
I'm dying inside because I'm wondering about all of the money that I didn't save over like the last 10 years. Like that's the part that I, you know, I, it's better to start now. Don't let that stop you from starting. You got to stop start somewhere, but there is that, God.
Kim Borcherding (30:27.491)
But, can't.
Kim Borcherding (30:33.785)
Well, actually, I don't know the answer to this. Can you go back retroactively and make adjustments to previous tax returns?
Barbara - Your Tax Coach (30:40.91)
So we're legally allowed to go back three years for refunds. Now, of course, if you owe the IRS, they'll allow you to go back as long as possible. But if you want money back from them, right now we can only do 22, 23, and 24's taxes.
Kim Borcherding (30:43.257)
Okay.
Kim Borcherding (30:48.65)
yeah.
Kim Borcherding (30:55.151)
24. Okay. Okay. And then Barbara, can you share with us the different ways people can work with you? know people are excited about what you have to offer. What are the different options for them to consider?
Barbara - Your Tax Coach (31:08.246)
Yeah, most people come to us for tax strategy. So that's a monthly retainer. And then of course, we'll prep your taxes. And some people start with us with just tax preparation. And then when their business grows enough, we'll let you know when you're ready for strategy. And we have a full bookkeeping team for those of you that are not keeping good track of your books. And then a full range of courses like on any tax.
or deduction or strategy topic. And of course, our Write Off Your Real Estate course that's relaunching this week.
Kim Borcherding (31:42.103)
Yeah, awesome, amazing. And then also I know last year you had a live event. Are you doing a live event this year too?
Barbara - Your Tax Coach (31:47.946)
Yes, and it's bigger and better than ever. This year we're hosting it at global ambassador, which if you're in the Scottsdale area, you know, it's like the newest, coolest thing. It's a brand newly built hotel so bougie. And we're gonna like double it in size. And it's just like an all around wealth event, but we make it fun. So I never wanted there to be like stuffy.
you know, old white men is usually what the financial conferences are like. Trust me, I had to go to them for 10 years, like for my job. It was so terrible. And then to have them like grossly hit on you. So that's not what this is. It's all things like building wealth through real estate, crypto, AI, short term rentals, estate attorneys, like anything you would need for wealth is at the event.
Rebecca Green (32:43.241)
And what, when is the event? Okay.
Barbara - Your Tax Coach (32:45.228)
November 9th to 11th.
Kim Borcherding (32:47.503)
Okay, I think we definitely need to be there, Rebecca. I definitely had FOMO not going to last year's event. So actually I was in Italy. Yeah. Anyway, it's definitely on my calendar for this year, which is amazing. And I also love for you how you do have different ways that you can connect with people. Like a great places you offer like webinars or your courses, really like dive into that. And then when you had a place like hire you for tax preparation or consulting, like so.
Barbara - Your Tax Coach (32:59.373)
Yes.
Kim Borcherding (33:16.617)
I love that because this really should be accessible to everybody. And as small business owners, a real estate, nobody teaches you this stuff. Like you go to real estate school, you learn a bunch of stuff that you don't ever have to use. Everything is on the job, like learning, but also this is a whole piece that's completely left out. No brokerage is teaching you this. Nobody. And then most people.
I mean, I don't, I'm like, they don't even keep track of their expenses, right? They're coming, going their funds, you know, find like, okay, finally, probably year five, I learned I needed to have a business card like in really separate. So I did that right, you know, but this is such a gap in knowledge for people. So I'm really passionate about like getting you in front of people, helping real estate agents be more financially savvy. Again, in my opinion, and great agents, but I also know they're not financially set up.
They're not investing in real estate. They don't, they're not prepared for retirement. So it's really critical.
Rebecca Green (34:16.105)
Yeah. And you know, being an entrepreneur, can be a lonely business. And when you talk to real estate agents about building their team, they often immediately, which is really in my wheelhouse, right? I help agents build teams. They immediately think that means hiring new agents or hiring an assistant or hiring an admin. Team means anybody or anyone that fills the gap of where you're not good, right? Because we cannot all be good at everything.
Barbara - Your Tax Coach (34:42.446)
Mm-hmm.
Rebecca Green (34:44.873)
Right? And so you do have to have a team of people behind you that fill the gaps. And for me, immediately hearing you, was like, taxes is a gap for me. You you have to come full circle with the team that you bring to the table, you know, to take your business to the next level or even just to make it more profitable and make it scalable. Right.
Barbara - Your Tax Coach (34:54.648)
Mm.
Barbara - Your Tax Coach (35:06.582)
Yeah, love that.
Kim Borcherding (35:08.079)
Totally amazing. All right. Anything else guys?
Rebecca Green (35:13.341)
No, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. This has been great. We could talk to you all day long, which I don't know. I don't know how many people can say that about taxes, right?
Barbara - Your Tax Coach (35:21.134)
Yes.
Kim Borcherding (35:21.775)
No, very few Rebecca. Like I'm like, like so mostly I'm like, okay, yes, I need to have my big thinking cap on to go through this, but.
Rebecca Green (35:30.623)
Yes, all you can think is please stop talking. I don't want to hear what you have to say. That is like every time the account calls, I'm like, do I have to answer this phone? So for anyone listening, what Barbara has to offer is so completely different because you're lovely and engaging and funny and so good to spend time with. And also wicked smart and helping us all keep more money in our pocket. What more is there to ask for there?
Kim Borcherding (35:35.215)
Great. Okay. I know. I know.
Barbara - Your Tax Coach (35:50.072)
Thank you.
Kim Borcherding (35:56.717)
Yeah, totally. Yeah, totally. It's like, yeah, it's a no brainer. So.
Barbara - Your Tax Coach (35:57.934)
Easy stuff, you know?
I don't know.
Rebecca Green (36:02.187)
So at the end of the podcast, you will see all of the links as to where you can find Barbara and how you can reach out to work with her. We definitely are fans and would recommend her highly. Thank you so much for joining us. What a great time we've had and we hope to see you soon.
Barbara - Your Tax Coach (36:16.622)
Thank you.
Rebecca Green (36:23.379)
Oops, did we time out there?
