Your CPA files your taxes. Who reduces them?
Send us the last two returns you filed. We'll tell you — in writing — what they missed, what it was worth, and which years are still open to fix.
Free · No obligation · 25-minute call · You keep the written analysis
“Ninety seconds on what a Second Look actually is — and what it isn't.”
A tax return is a record.
It is not a plan.
By the time your return is being prepared, every decision that could have changed the number was made months ago. The entity you operate under. What you paid yourself. Whether there was a retirement plan and how it was designed. When you bought equipment. How the building is held. Who's on payroll.
All of that is decided during the year. Your return simply reports it.
So when a competent accountant finishes an accurate return in March, he has done his job perfectly — and none of it was tax strategy. It couldn't have been. He arrived after the game.
Five places the money usually is
When we read a return for a practice owner over $1M, we're looking at the same five structural areas every time.
Entity Structure & Elections
What We Check
Is the practice taxed the right way for its current size — and was the election ever revisited after revenue doubled?
Why It Matters
The most common and most expensive unforced error we see. A structure chosen at $400K is rarely still right at $2M.
Owner Compensation
What We Check
Is the split between salary and distributions defensible and deliberate — or is it a number from years ago that nobody has revisited?
Why It Matters
It drives payroll taxes, retirement plan capacity, and QBI. Getting it wrong is expensive in both directions.
Retirement Plan Design
What We Check
Is there a plan? Is it the right type of plan for your age, income, and staff census?
Why It Matters
The gap between a basic plan and a properly designed one is, for many practice owners, the single largest legitimate deduction available to them.
Depreciation & Fixed Assets
What We Check
Equipment, build-outs, vehicles, and real estate — deducted on the right schedule, at the right time, with a study where one is warranted?
Why It Matters
Timing is money. Many returns take the slow road by default because nobody asked the question.
Family, Real Estate & Timing
What We Check
The building, employed family members, income and expense timing, state sourcing, and multi-entity structure.
Why It Matters
Individually small. Together, frequently the difference between a good year and a good decade.
We are not looking for anything exotic.
No offshore anything, no schemes, no positions that need a lawyer to defend. Everything on this list is ordinary, well-established tax planning that simply requires someone to be paying attention before December 31.
Why we start with returns you already filed
Anyone can tell you what they might save you next year. It costs them nothing to say and you have no way to check it.
Your filed returns are different. They're a document you already have, that you already paid for, and that you can verify line by line. If we tell you something was missed on page four, you can go look at page four.
There's a second reason, and it's the one that runs on a clock: a filed return can generally still be amended for a limited period. If something was genuinely missed in a year that's still open, there may be something to do about it. Once that window closes, it closes for good.
Who this is for — and who it isn't
This is for you if:
- ✓You own a practice or business doing $1M or more in annual revenue, or household income is over $400,000.
- ✓Your accountant is competent and accurate — and you cannot remember the last time he called you in a month that wasn't March.
- ✓You've had the feeling, usually in April, that you're paying more than you should and you have no way to check.
- ✓You'd rather find out now, while there's still time to change this year, than wonder about it again next spring.
- ✓You want a real number in writing, not a “someday we should look at that.”
This is NOT for you if:
- ✗You're looking for the cheapest possible tax return filing.
- ✗You want someone to take an aggressive position you already know is questionable. We won't, and we'll tell you why.
- ✗You are looking for a one-time form filing without ongoing strategic review.
Three steps. About two weeks.
Answer 7 Questions
tells us whether we can actually help you, and tells you something about your own situation before we ever speak.
Send Last 2 Returns
Securely, through an encrypted upload. We read them. Actually read them — this is not software running a checklist.
Written Analysis & Call
We walk you through what we found, what it's worth, and what's still open. You keep the document. If there's nothing worth acting on, we'll say that plainly.
You leave with a written summary of what we found — the specific items and the specific years. If we look and find nothing worth acting on, we'll tell you that in writing. Either way you leave with a straight answer, not a sales pitch.
Katherine M. Johnson
CPA • CTRS • Founder
Most people who sell tax strategies to practice owners have never had to defend one.
I've spent thirty years on the other side of the table — audits, examinations, revenue officers, appeals — representing taxpayers in front of the IRS in all fifty states.
I've watched clever positions fall apart under examination and I've watched sound, durable planning hold up without a scratch.
That's exactly why I'm useful on the planning side. I'm not going to hand you something clever that costs more to defend than it ever saved. I'm going to show you what's durable, and I'm going to be honest with you about what isn't worth doing.
What clients say
Real feedback from practice owners and businesses represented by Katherine.
“I needed a CPA and based on her great reviews and being female owned I chose Katherine. Which was the best decision ever. Her staff and herself were absolutely Godsends. She advocated for me with the IRS and turned my horrible situation around and prevented me from financial devastation. There are not enough praises for her. She is proven, ethical, professional and will be your best advocate.”
Cheryl Barbour
Business Owner • Georgetown, KY
“I hadn't filed in 6 years and lived with terrible anxiety every time the mail came. Katherine took over the whole file, pulled my transcripts, and got my wage garnishment stopped within days. I can breathe again.”
David M.
Client • Verified Review
“A national tax firm took $4,000 from me and did zero work. Katherine gave me a straight answer right away, settled my IRS debt for a fraction of what was claimed, and answered all my calls personally.”
Marcus T.
Practice Owner • Verified Review
“Katherine's depth of knowledge as both a CPA and CTRS is unmatched. She found errors in past filings that saved our practice thousands of dollars. Highly recommend her services to any business owner.”
Michael R.
Business Owner • Kentucky
* Individual results vary. Testimonials reflect the experience of specific clients and are not a guarantee or prediction of any outcome.
Frequently asked questions
We read every return personally
Katherine reviews every Second Look herself. That's the point of it, and it's also the limit — there are only so many she can do in a month. It's free, it takes twenty-five minutes, and you'll know your real number either way.
Free · No obligation · 25-minute call · You keep the written analysis