At its most basic, when you qualify for a tax incentive, you are exempt from a certain tax liability for a specified amount of time if you participate in the appropriate activities. To qualify, your business must be located in the targeted geographical area. Some tax incentive programs are federal, while others are available only in certain states – or even certain areas within a state.
The process of qualifying for a tax incentive could go something like this:
• Having awareness of the incentive
• Verifying the tax incentive is currently being offered/hasn’t expired
• Verifying your business is in the appropriate geographical area
• Verifying your business participates or can and will participate in appropriate activities
• Following the predetermined application process
• Participating in the relevant activities
• Managing your taxes appropriately based on the incentives
Incentives exist, as just one example, for companies involved in job creation or research and development. You can also apply for tax incentive credits under specified circumstances if you own commercial property, deal with high turnover or otherwise experience seasonal variations, as several more examples.
There is a clear and useful article on the subject, titled How to Choose the Right Business Consultant, Trainer or Business Coach, that lists seven questions to ask a potential business consultant, including for tax incentive services. You’ll want to read the entire article, but here are highlights. First, ask about credentials. Anybody can throw up a website and claim to provide quality business consulting – which leads to the second question to ask: Have you “been there, done that?” What experience does a consultant have?
Don’t hesitate to ask for testimonials and references. A legitimate company won’t hesitate to provide them. Ask yourself if the consultant seems professional and organized, able to answer questions in a clear and reasonable way. Finally, is the consultant willing to put everything in writing? If the answer is no, this is a big red flag.
You have a business to run and are probably juggling meetings, reports and other tasks all day long. This means you won’t typically have time to investigate possibilities for tax incentives that can save your company money – so let us do it for you. We can handle the process for you for the:
• Research and Development Tax Credit
• Commercial Property Cost Segregation
• Property Tax Credit
• Hiring Tax Credit
Fast track your savings by contacting us online to discuss our tax incentive services or call 888-692-5111.