How is your summer rolling along for you? I’d love it if you sent us an update on what you have been doing … even if it’s just a personal update. (You can send us an email through the link at the top of the page.) We take great joy in knowing that our work is being done on behalf of some pretty incredible individuals and families, and getting a closer look into the personal lives of our clients and friends gives us fuel! This is especially helpful if you have had any changes on the financial front! We’d love to get ahead of what’s happening in your financial life, so that we’re not scrambling ..read more

For sports fans, that was quite a run last week. The NHL crowned its champion (and the nation’s capital seemed like it was one massive street party for the weekend), the rest of the NBA conceded to the Golden State Warriors, and we witnessed another Triple Crown in horse racing. Now, well … there’s baseball. But this is a good thing, as far as I’m concerned, and for anyone who is a sports fan, because it allows you even greater incentive to free your mind from these smaller (albeit enjoyable) things, and to move your life forward in a fruitful direction. Last week, I wrote about FOCUS, and the ..read more

Now that we’re into June, it really does feel like summer is here. The air conditioning kicks in, the days are hotter … and, if you’re like me, “focus” becomes something I have to set myself towards. It doesn’t just “happen” — especially when the days are hot. It might be simply because tax season is now fully behind us, and we’ve already turned the page into year-round work. No matter the fact that we work with our Southwest Louisiana clients all year, there really is something very focusing about that April 15th deadline every year (or the 18th, in this year’s case). But as I said: focus is ..read more

Memorial Day weekend can often feel a little disjointed. There we are with our burgers, our pools, our picnics — all while we are supposedly remembering the sacrifice of so many thousands who laid down their lives in the line of duty for this country, and for the sake of our constitutional freedoms. However, when you talk to veterans from Southwest Louisiana (as I get the chance to do in the course of our tax preparation work), they do often tell you that these very freedoms (the ones much bigger than backyard barbecues, of course) are exactly why those sacrifices are worthwhile. So I suppose ..read more

I’ll tell you what… The month of May is beginning to look a lot like December. Definitely not because it’s cold out there, but with so much “end of school year” stuff happening these days, from graduation parties (ranging from pre-k “graduations” all the way up through college and beyond), to weddings (both royal and otherwise), to sports seasons wrapping up, to Memorial Day plans … well, I know some Southwest Louisiana parents who are longing for those “quieter” days during the winter holiday clamor. I guess we all find ways to look ahead, and OUT of our current circumstances. Which is why I ..read more

Did you see Google’s demonstration of their new virtual assistant technology, Duplex, last week? If you did, like me, probably you were both amazed … and a little bit terrified of the implications. Essentially, Google is close to figuring out how to make it so that machines and robots can engage in regular human interaction — with the human being oblivious of the fact that they are engaging with a machine.  (And apparently, I wasn’t the only one troubled by that concept, as Google quickly appended their policy by stating that their robots would indeed self-identify as such.)  The fact is that ..read more

We are now fully engaged in our tax “off season” here in Southwest Louisiana. But interestingly, this is where the real difference that we can make on behalf of our tax preparation clients is actually made. We’re diving into the new tax legislation, and attending classes (online and in person) to get clarity, even as the IRS releases various new guidances for how to implement the new legislation for our Southwest Louisiana tax and accounting clients. As for our actual tax work, we’re focusing on extended returns, amendments, and working with Southwest Louisiana business owners and families wit ..read more

It seems like crooks these days keep finding new ways to trick people here in Southwest Louisiana into giving them more money. And no, I’m not talking about Congress. Last week, for those of us in the tax professional world in Southwest Louisiana who are paying attention (because let’s be honest — many of our colleagues are still on vacation), we got bombarded by the official IRS channels and other such voices that there is a new scam afoot. Essentially, the thieves are now “spoofing” the numbers they are calling from so that the incoming call seems as if it is originating from an actual IRS T ..read more

Well, we did it. You did it. We made it through the tax busy season. Every year, when I shut our Southwest Louisiana office door on April 15th (the 17th this year — er, the 18th, because of the IRS “issues”), I feel a huge weight lift off of my shoulders. Going home that day is very nice. We work hard around here to help you keep more of your money in YOUR pocket. But it’s nice to be able to finally have more family time. But then the next day comes — and I realize that “breaks” in business (and in LIFE) are, frankly, short-lived. And so the “offseason” in our business begins. But this is wher ..read more

Well, our primary work for this tax season in Southwest Louisiana has just about wrapped up. But notice I said “primary”, there … you see, unlike some professional tax services in Southwest Louisiana, we make it a point to do a bit more than simply “fill out forms” on your behalf. I’ll tell you more about that in a moment. Yes, today is an extremely busy day for us here at Capital Planning Associates, LLC — it’s the day before the big deadline, as I type this up (Tax Day = Tuesday, April 17th, 2018). But I’m still taking the time to write to you, simply because I want to make sure you heard th ..read more