Tax Planning
The service in full: what a plan covers, who it fits, and how it differs from having a return filed.
Learn moreAll of California · Tax planning
Tax planning built around the California layer.
Franchise tax, the pass-through entity election, residency, and income sourced across state lines. California adds a tier that generic advice misses, and every part of it is decided in advance. We plan it for owners and high earners anywhere in the state, entirely virtually.
Book Your Free ConsultationThe state side is where the plan is won or lost
Most tax advice is written for a federal reader. In California that leaves a gap. The state has its own entity treatment, its own minimum tax, an elective pass-through entity regime that can restore part of what the federal SALT limit takes away, and a capital-gains treatment that stacks on top of the federal rate rather than sitting beside it.
None of that is fixable in the spring. The pass-through entity election has payment and filing requirements that come well before the return. Residency is established by conduct and documentation through the year, not by a box checked afterward. Multi-state allocation depends on records nobody keeps retroactively.
We plan the federal and California picture together from the start, because we are a California firm working with California taxpayers. The projection covers both, the strategies are tested against both, and the written plan carries the state deadlines alongside the federal ones.
This page is about the planning engagement. For the wider view of how we work statewide, including preparation and monthly accounting, see our California CPA page.
The California items every plan has to answer
These are the questions that separate a California plan from a federal one.
- 01The pass-through entity election
Whether electing makes sense for your entity and owners, what it requires in prepayments and timing, and what it is actually worth once the credit and the federal treatment are both counted.
- 02Entity choice under California rules
The state treats entities differently than the federal system does, and it charges for the privilege. The structure that reads best on a federal spreadsheet is not always the one that wins here.
- 03Franchise tax and minimum tax exposure
What each entity you own costs to keep alive, including the ones that no longer do anything, and whether the structure should be simplified.
- 04Residency and part-year planning
Moving in or out of California is decided in advance or not at all. The tests are specific, departures get looked at closely, and the documentation has to be built as you go.
- 05Multi-state and remote income
Income earned outside California, remote employees in other states, and the allocation and credit questions that follow. Planned once, not reconstructed each spring.
- 06Capital gains at the state rate
California taxes gains as ordinary income, so a sale carries a state bill on top of the federal one. Timing, installment options, and structure are only open before the transaction closes.
How a statewide engagement runs
The same four steps wherever you are, delivered over video and a secure portal.
- 011. Discovery call
Thirty minutes on income, entities, where you live, and where the income is earned. We tell you honestly whether a plan will pay for itself.
- 022. Deep analysis
We review returns and books, then project the federal and California outcome together and test your facts against the strategies each allows.
- 033. The written plan
Plain English, quantified, with federal and state deadlines on one calendar so nothing on the California side gets treated as an afterthought.
- 044. Quarterly execution
We meet through the year, track actuals against the projection, and handle each election and payment on time.
4xPlanning checkpoints a year
1 dayReply standard for questions
$10M+Saved through proactive planning
200+Owners & households served
Where this connects
The plan sits at the center. These are the pages around it.
California CPA Services
How we work with clients statewide, and everything the firm handles beyond the planning itself.
Learn moreTax Preparation
California and federal returns, business and individual, prepared to execute the plan and CPA-reviewed.
Learn moreMonthly Accounting
Reconciled monthly books for California businesses wherever they are, so the projection runs on real numbers.
Learn moreCFO Services
Forecasting and financial guidance for a growing California business, without a full-time hire.
Learn morePlan the California layer before it costs you.
Book a discovery call with a California CPA firm. Thirty minutes, statewide, and an honest read on where a plan would help.
Book Your Free Consultation No pressure, no obligation. Just clarity.Questions we hear most.
01Can you plan for me if I am nowhere near Torrance?+
Yes. Every engagement is virtual, over video and a secure portal, and our clients are spread across the state from the Bay Area to San Diego. A client four hundred miles away gets the same quarterly cadence and the same one-business-day reply standard as one down the street.
02Should my business make the pass-through entity election?+
It depends on the entity, the owners, and the numbers, which is exactly why it belongs in a plan. The election carries payment and timing requirements ahead of the return, so the decision has to be made during the year rather than discovered at filing.
03I am planning to leave California. When do I need advice?+
Before the move. Residency is determined by specific tests and by what you actually do, and departures from California get examined closely. The planning is about timing and documentation built through the year, which cannot be reconstructed after the fact.
04My income comes from more than one state. Does that change things?+
It adds a layer. Where income is sourced, how it is allocated, and which credits apply across states all have to be planned, and they depend on records kept as the year runs. Handled at filing time, the answer is usually whatever the documents happen to support.
05My current CPA is out of state. Is that a problem?+
It can be. Out-of-state advice tends to treat California as a formality, and the franchise tax, the pass-through entity election, and residency rules are where that costs money. We work the state layer as part of the plan rather than as a second return.