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Tax Preparation |
| Trader Consulting | ||
| Trade Accounting | ||
| Entity Accounting | ||
| Entities | ||
| Retirement Plans | ||
| IRS Exams | ||
| Testimonials | ||
TRADERS
SERVICES: CONSULTING
After you read our leading content about trader tax, entities, retirement
plans, IRS exams, ETF, forex and other tax treatment, investment management
and FBAR (foreign bank accounts and offshore income reporting), you will
probably have some good questions for us. The best way to get quick and
dedicated answers to your specific questions is with a personal consultation
with our Robert A. Green, CPA/CEO and our other GreenTrader
professionals (tax attorneys and CPAs).
For FBAR
issues, it's best to start off with a consultation with our tax attorney
Mark
Feldman, so you have attorney-client-privilege. Mr. Feldman can then
bring in our CPAs for support maintaining attorney-client-privilege including
our related CPA firm services too.
After using our content (tax
center, blog,
Webinar
and guides),
most of our clients start their relationship with us with a consultation;
they get to know us and we get to know them. Trust is built up and we
form a good plan for execution. We find this step-by-step approach to
be the best way to do business on the Internet. For example, if you are
interested in a new trading entity, start with a consultation and later
upgrade to our entity formation service, applying the consulting price.
We often provide consulting on trader tax and our other areas of expertise
to other accounting firms and law firms for the benefit of their clients.
We are very supportive of other professionals and we reinforce (rather
than interfere with) their client relationships. For your consultation
with us, you can invite your other professional to join our conference
call.
After you sign up below, we schedule you immediately for a phone consultation.
We keep good notes during our call as well, which serves as a good foundation
for the next steps.
Consultations:
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How it works: E-mail info@greencompany.com
or call us to arrange your consultation.
Feel free to include your tax questions and back ground information in
the above email too. You don't need to utilize your entire 30-minutes
on the first call and you can save unused time until a later date. Or,
apply any unused time towards purchase of our guides. Most clients find
that 30-minutes are a perfect allotment for dealing with all their questions
and what we feel is needed too.
Popular topics include:
Trader tax benefits including: qualification for trader tax status (business
treatment); mark-to-market (Section 475) elections; forex tax treatment
elections; if you need an entity and which type to set up; retirement
plan strategies including self-administered plans and more; IRS exams
and much more. See more details for trader
tax below. Robert
Green's book and guides are an excellent start, but many traders have
more questions afterwards. Get the expert answers you need directly from
the author Robert
A. Green CPA & CEO.
You may apply these consultation payments towards our Entity
Formation retainer.
Consultations on Other Matters:
Popular topics include:
- Business, tax and accounting matters for incubator funds, hedge funds and proprietary trading firms;
- Complex international, and U.S. tax planning and transactions.
After you purchase a consultation, kindly send a brief email to info@greencompany.com explaining what you want to discuss with us.
For more information on consultations for funds and investment advisors,
click
here.
Work with an expert:
Don't sell yourself short with a local CPA, tax attorney, or retail tax
storefronts, who are probably not experts in trader tax status (business
treatment), related tax rules and strategies, complex tax treatment for
forex, ETFs and more, and investment management. There's a much better
way thanks to the Internet! Save yourself a bundle more in taxes by consulting
directly with the recognized leading CPA for traders, Robert A. Green,
CPA and some of the best known tax attorneys around.
Robert A. Green is a leading authority on trader tax. Mr. Green writes
the “Business of Trading” section for Active Trader magazine.
He is also the author of The Tax Guide for Traders (McGraw-Hill, 2004),
Green’s 2011 Trader Tax Guide and the annual GreenTrader tax return
example guides. Mr. Green is frequently interviewed and has appeared in
the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Fortune and Barron’s. Mr. Green
has also appeared on CNBC, Bloomberg Television and Forbes.com Video Network.
He is the main tax speaker at the MoneyShow University, Traders Expo,
Forex Trading Expo and other trade shows. Mr. Green is also founder and
CEO of the GreenTraderTax Traders Association.
Meet our GreenTraderFunds
professionals.
Special issues
for traders:
Click
here to see special issues for hedge funds and advisors.
If you like what you read and hear about our unique and highly valued ideas for tax savings for traders, then consider a consultation with Robert Green to deploy our strategies in the best manner for you.
Trader Tax Status: First and foremost, you need to qualify for trader tax status. If you are a "close call", Robert Green can help you make this very important determination. After you read our content (on trader tax status), you will see that it's as much an art as a science for this crucial determination. Without trader tax status, you can't use mark to market accounting and you lose all the other trader tax benefits. An entity helps in form, but you still need to qualify for trader tax status in substance. Why not proceed on firm footing with America's leading trader tax authority. You will sleep better at night on your trader tax returns filed and you won't sell yourself short out of trader tax status. The IRS is raising the heat in tax exams for traders, so it's important to get this right.
Section 475 MTM elections: Is Section 475 mark to market accounting
("tax loss insurance") right for you? There are many myths about
the pluses and minuses. Even after you read and watch our content, you
still may have trouble making the right decision on electing Section 475
MTM. For example, if you have a large capital loss carryover, your election
decision is a gamble of sorts. If you elect MTM on securities and have
trading gains, that's ordinary income and you can't offset it with your
capital loss carryovers. That raises your taxes. On the other hand, if
you lose more money trading, you will be thrilled to have ordinary loss
treatment which can generate immediate tax refunds, rather than adding
more fuel to your fire (of unutilized carryover capital losses). Perhaps,
one of GreenTrader's special entity strategies can do away with this MTM
election gamble, as entities give you a "do over" chance, even
mid-year.
New Business Traders: Many of our consultations are with new
traders who have many questions including trader tax status, how to handle
start-up expenses, pre-business education, seminars and new equipment
and software expenses. They are not sure which type of structure is best,
sole proprietor, LLC, general partnership or S-Corp. They don't know which
elections they qualify for and which ones they should make. They want
to utilize their retirement funds, but aren't sure how, without triggering
early income and excise tax penalties.
Green starts most consultations by listening to your questions and concerns. Some clients email a list beforehand. Green then interviews you to fill in the necessary facts and circumstances, all the while making email notes. Green then answers all your questions and he seeks to end each session with clear visibility and strategies on trader tax status, mark to market accounting, entities and other issues raised above too. Plus, any specific issues that you raise as well, including prop trading, investment management, dealing with partners, international matters and complex trader tax matters.
Many traders’ sign up for a consultation with Green before they
sign up for preparation, to get Green's perspective on their entire tax
planning and preparation plan. Other clients sign up to see if they qualify
for trader tax status and what they should do about Section 475 MTM elections,
and/or forex elections.
Other traders sign up to discuss entities. To see if an entity is right
for their needs; which type of entity is best for them; and how they should
use an entity - to avoid professional date feed fees, set up retirement
and health insurance plans, how to fund it, handle accounting and much
more.
Green covers lots of ground in little time, so a consultation is a great
value! The large majority of consultation customers upgrade to our tax
preparation, entity formation and other services. It's a great way to
start our relationship and work with our top strategist Green; who will
always keep an eye out for you and your account within the firm.
We are different from our main competitors. One company tells every trader
to form multiple entities (LLC and C-Corp) promising business deductions
whether or not you qualify for trader tax status. That is very incorrect
and expensive. If you don't qualify for trader tax status, you don't need
an entity. When you do, we keep it simple and low costs, with maximum
possible tax benefits. We care about you and having a relationship, whereas
our competition seems to care about making money off you, whether it's
bad advice or not. See our three-blog article series on multiple entities
and challenges on pre-business education expenses. Click
here for the first of the series.
Green prepares a memo to file during the consultation and forwards it to the client and other GreenTrader pros who become involved during preparation and entity formation work. Or to our tax attorney who continues with more detailed tax research.
Start at the top and stay on top! Robert Green is looking forward to working with you soon.
Other popular topics for consultations:
Tax Planning: Wise taxpayers should do tax planning before year-end and during the tax year. Traders have special circumstances that make year-end tax planning even more paramount. Certain moves can save you a fortune for next April 15th.
Entities: The best reason for a trader entity is to establish a retirement plan and/or other tax deductible and tax deferred employee benefit plans; which are not available for sole proprietor traders (who otherwise receive all trader tax status and MTM accounting benefits). Before you take the entity plunge, you should consult with our Robert A. Green, CPA, directly. He literally wrote the book on trader entities.
Proprietary Trading: Whether you are joining a firm, creating your own, or doing business with a proprietary trading firm, we have all the services you need. From consultations, to review and/or creation of the legal agreements (LLC Operating Agreements with our outside counsel), to preparation of your federal and state tax returns (for your proprietary trading firm and its members or your return if you are just a member).
Many traders are interested in job offers from proprietary trading firms. These offers often allow traders who are low on their own trading capital the opportunity to trade the firm's much more substantial capital (in a sub-account). Traders are offered 80 percent (or other percentage) of their trading gains in the form of a Form 1099-Misc. compensation or an LLC K-1. Often, the only risk for these proprietary traders is any capital they are asked to deposit or contribute to the firm. Caution, the fine-print of most agreements requires traders to reimburse the firm for any and all losses they incur, whether they have sufficient deposits on hand or not. Some of these offers sound great, but there are many complex tax issues and potential tax, regulatory and business problems. The good news is that we have figured out many good tax strategies to deduct your trading business expenses (which are not reimbursed by the firm). If you are a proprietary trader, you should consider this consultation.
Retirement Plans: Trading gains are generally not "earned income," - except for members of futures exchanges, independent contractor prop traders and investment managers - and therefore you cannot set up a retirement plan account in connection with trading. You can form an entity, generate income in that entity (from trading in the entity), pay yourself a salary or a fee from the entity (which is earned income) and then set up a retirement account. The thing to decide is what type of entity you want to create and what type of retirement plan. We consult you on all these tax issues. If you trade for a living, you should have a retirement plan. Recent tax law changes increased deductible contributions significantly, and having a retirement plan is too good a deal to pass up. Traders know the power of compound returns; retirement plans grow tax-free much faster than taxable accounts. Lots of traders also want to know if and how they can trade their retirement plan capital. Some need to borrow money from their retirement plans. There are plenty of pitfalls to watch out for too. We can consult you on all these retirement plan issues as well.
IRS
exams, notices and collections: Unfortunately, many traders
did not use our firm in prior years and they made some errors on their
tax return. Even without glaring errors, they may have red flags and/
or big losses in several years that attract IRS attention. As a result,
they may have caused themselves to be audited. Others are being audited
at no fault of their own, just because the IRS turned up the heat and
exam quotas hunting for more revenues. Form 1099 reporting for everything
other than futures is suspect and the IRS gets suspicious fast.
In our opinion, the IRS had been absent from the audit business for almost
a decade through 2006. We think the IRS reawakened since then, and they
want to force better taxpayer compliance. IRS agents are getting more
versed in trader tax status, and if you get audited they will certainly
question your trader tax status, your Schedule C losses, tax treatment,
NOL carry backs and more. A new troubling trend is for some IRS and state
agents to argue that Section 183 hobby loss rules apply to trading businesses.
We disagree. But, if you lose money trading three years in a row, the
IRS may say you can't deduct these losses due to hobby loss rules. See
our blog for our reply to these attacks.
Don't panic if you get audited – in some cases, we can show you
proven ways to stop the auditors in their tracks and close your case with
no changes. This is just what we have done for many traders. If you are
a trader and the IRS is on your back for late filing, non-filing, penalties,
collections or other things, contact us for help. We may be able to fix
your IRS problems right away and put their collections on immediate 'hold"
while we help resolve your issues.
If you have any questions on any of our consultations, please e-mail info@greencompany.com or call us.
