The Blog

The other day, the New York Times ran a story that spoke to one of my favorite topics: keeping our minds clear. The subject was the seemingly-endless barrage of news stories about the current administration, and the challenges of navigating your mind to be free of it all. Whomever you voted for, whatever your political persuasion (and I’m making a … Read More

You’d probably be surprised if you sat in on some of the meetings I have with some of my tax planning and preparation clients. This is by no means the majority of my clients, but there is certainly a good subset of people who have piled away a ton of financial resources … but who are bored, tired and a … Read More

Not a huge amount of “tax news” these days … we’re watching Congressional movement on tax reform, Obamacare, etc. but right now, it’s all mostly just talk. But that’s politics, I suppose. Which is a good argument for not diving too deeply into it. Now … moving to things far more immediately relevant: I’ve written before about the surprising disconnect … Read More

First off, now that May is upon us, we’re moving into a different mode. We have a few clients on extension (and with whom we will continue to correspond), but our attention is now more turned to other matters: tax planning (more about that soon), working with Chatsworth, CA businesses and other individuals with year-round concerns, and other such things. … Read More

When I say, “3.5 months of labor,” I’m not actually referring to the work we do here in our Chatsworth, CA tax office on behalf of our clients. (Frankly, we work the entire year so that these past few months would NOT be as crazy as they might otherwise be.) Nope, I’m referring to one of the big dates we mark every … Read More

Lifting my heavily-lidded eyes to peer up through the haze of government forms and procedures, I peek at the calendar, which today said: April 17. (If any of the above sounded slightly poetic, that’s the coffee talking; I’m a Chatsworth, CA tax accountant, after all.) Yes, today is an extremely busy day for us here at Team Paredes — it’s … Read More

Last week, I wrote all about those deadlines. <shiver> I know for a fact that the very word can strike pain and anxiety into the hearts of certain of my clients (who shall remain nameless). So, this week … well, I’m going to give you the chance to exhale a little. It’ll be like a warm bath of security, peace … Read More

It’s “go time” around here. Our phones are buzzing, the email inboxes are overflowing, but we are focused like a laser beam on giving our clients the BEST service for their time (and wallet), and ensuring that nobody is paying Uncle Sam more than they should. We’ve invested a lot into this time of year — in education, client management … Read More

Apparently, the Republican Congressional leadership understands the impulse of procrastination. Bringing the health care reform bill to an actual vote last week (after months of touting their intentions to repeal the ACA) proved, in fact, to be a difficult task. And so until we hear otherwise, we remain with the status quo. Your opinion of this (and mine) matters little … Read More

There are so many different messages coming out of DC, per the media, that if you try to make sense of it all through the mass media lens, then you’re bound to work at cross purposes with yourself. There’s the Republican health care bill, and the current version of the bill is dominating political headlines. Or, of course, there’s the … Read More