Save Cash Instead of Saving Taxes this Year

Every business owner knows the drill. "We made a profit this year so we need to spend our cash to save on taxes." I want to challenge you to think differently this year to save cash not save taxes.

The inherent flaw in spending cash is that you have to spend a dollar to save 40 cents in tax. Last time I checked, that just seems like a bad idea. Every year, businesses come up with every excuse imaginable to go ahead and spend money that they think would have been spent anyway. They buy new computers, extra supplies, even a new vehicle because they've heard it can be written off. The problem is that these businesses functioned just fine without those expenses. And most successful entrepreneurs spend a dollar at the last possible moment only if it is needed.

Build Wealth or Save Taxes?

Consider that building wealth comes in after tax income. So every attempt to lower taxes also lowers the ability to create wealth. I would argue that the number one performance indicator of wealth creation is how big a check was written to the IRS. If you did not write a big check, you either cheated or you did not make any money, and both are bad outcomes. Do not pay more taxes than you should, but do focus on building wealth above savings taxes.

What if I am Cash Basis?

For those who are cash basis businesses, don't fall into the trap of draining cash by paying off vendors at yearend. While this seems enticing, it could be taken to an illogical extreme and result in a huge amount being pushed forward and sloppy yearend decisions. Here are a few of the issues that could be encountered:

• Bank financing yearend financials are more important than ever these days. By focusing on taxes instead of good business fundamentals, you distort your balance sheet and spend the next year explaining why your balance sheet looked so bad at December when you can't get your line of credit or bonding renewed.
• Missed Opportunities because you dumped all of your cash in December, it takes longer than you think to build it back in January and February. By not having cash available to start new projects, you delay or miss out on new opportunities. To delay acting on an opportunity wastes a day of potential productivity that can never be recovered.
• Deferring Taxes versus Saving Taxes Did you really save taxes or did you just defer them? Be honest with your language when you spend your yearend cash. It is not saving taxes unless you are saving at a high rate this year and you pay a lower rate in the future. Most entrepreneurs defer taxes at year's end and push their rates down into the lower brackets to end up paying at a much higher rate in the future when they have kicked the can as far down the road as they can.
• Borrowing money to finance an end-of-year equipment purchase this is the ultimate tax trap. You borrow $100,000 to buy that new piece of equipment (that could have been delayed) and you end up taking the expensing election on the equipment. Inevitably, this purchase pushes you down into the 20 percent or lower bracket. The only way to repay debt is to make after-tax profit. To make enough profit to repay the loan, it pushes you into the higher brackets and you end up paying close to 40 percent tax to generate enough cash flow to get out of debt (if you are lucky). The politicians (and most tax advisors) are not doing you a favor to trap you into this bad decision by calling this a tax break.

A Better Way to Think

Approach taxes as the logical outcome of a profitable business that is a primary wealth-building engine. These are the keys to make this happen:

• Owners Wages - Set your wages out of the business at a market rate for the job you have in the business. Then live off of that wage. Do not fall into the trap of consuming the profits of the business.
• Get Profitable with the business you have - Once you properly set your wage as an owner, your net income gives you a true picture of the profitability of your business. If you are not profitable, the key is to make all labor productive and eliminate any labor that does not add value. You have to get your current business model profitable before you grow.
• Grow Your Own Capital - Once you are profitable, retain after tax business profits until the business is fully capitalized. Being fully capitalized means having two months of operating expenses in cash with nothing drawn on a Line of Credit. A business with two months of cash can act on opportunities as they come up and don't need to "permission from the banker. Cash is the greatest opportunity magnet.
• Get Shareholders Healthy - Once the business is fully capitalized, then take distributions to get personal finances healthy. Get out of debt first (yes, that means all debt including your home!). Then build up your emergency fund.
• Strategically Redeploy Profits - Once both business and personal finances are stable, then make strategic decisions about after-tax profits and whether to grow the business or harvest its profitability.
• Beware of consumption cancer - Everything you buy owns a piece of you and creates a financial drag. If you learn to live off your wages and leave the profits of the business for wealth creation, you have mental clarity of what produces wealth, what is investing and what is consumption. If you set a lifestyle target before you have the income to act on it, you will stand a better chance to control consumption.

The dot com bubble taught us that you cannot have a business that does not eventually make a profit (unless you sell it to a fool first). The real estate bubble allowed banks to get sloppy with lending because they thought your property (either your home or business property could be sold for at least loan value). It is time for entrepreneurs to get back to fundamentals and build profitable businesses that do useful things and grow capital. Stable businesses are the ones that create jobs that last and build a strong economy that can weather the storms of the market.

Greg Crabtree has worked in the financial industry for more than 30 years. He founded Crabtree, Rowe & Berger, PC, a CPA firm dedicated to helping entrepreneurs build the economic engine of their business. In addition to serving as the firm's CEO, Crabtree leads the business consulting team-helping clients align their financial goals with their profit model and their core business values. He is the author of Simple Numbers, Straight Talk, Big Profits! For more information, visit www.seeingbeyondnumbers.com.