Advantage Finance and Tax

02/04/2025

Being Grateful. I know I haven’t posted much since first starting Advantage Finance & Tax, but we’ve been too busy working with clients – the best problem ever. While I had often thought about going off on my own, or even buying a public accounting practice, building a business from the ground up has truly turned out to be the best path.

As the firm heads into its third year, I am incredibly grateful for the acceptance and support myself & Advantage Finance and Tax has received over the past 2+ years. When I started the firm in late ‘22, my expectations were positive; however, I would not have anticipated the rapid pace of growth we’ve experienced. While it’s certainly taken a lot of work to grow the business, I absolutely owe thanks to the individuals that were amongst the first clients, the enthusiastic referrers of clients, or, in some cases, both. I won’t name those individuals here, but they know who they are & my appreciation is deep. While most of our clients were unknown to us prior to the firm coming to be, their path to us is often rooted in people I’ve developed relationships with along my career and life path, even going back to my early days in public accounting at Arthur Andersen & Co. Importantly, the firm has not only been able to take on an ever-growing list of wonderful clients, but we have been able to help them with both simple and complex needs in the areas of finance, tax, transactions, and related disputes. We’ve helped clients solve old festering issues, helped them avoid new issues, and we’ve helped them positively plan for their future, both individually and for their businesses.

On the topic of growth: As previously noted, Cathy Szmurlo joined the practice in October of ’23 & has built her own focused group of clients. More recently, Denise McLaughlin, whom many of you know, started helping us with some projects that have been tough to get to – her project management prowess and familiarity with financial services are a great help. We’re also looking at plans to bring on a full-time resource after the April 15th deadline. Regardless, any expansion will need to maintain the deep finance, tax, and business knowledge that we bring, coupled with strong client service that is often lacking in this sector.

Thank you to our clients, partners, and referrers for being part of our journey, we will be working hard to maintain the trust and confidence you have placed in us. Here's to many more years of success together! 🚀📈

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02/10/2024

Real Estate, Real Estate, Real Estate (oh yeah, Downsizing Seminar + Dinner). Do you live near or in Howard County Maryland and are you considering downsizing? Do you like to eat :-)? Michelle Boucher is a wonderful real estate agent with Keller Williams and is hosting a Dinner & Downsizing event on February 21st (details below). Michelle has assembled a team of experts to address likely all of your considerations, such as what to do with all your stuff, repairs, legal & estate planning impacts, tax considerations (yours truly here), and much more. It's a no pressure informational opportunity if you're thinking about it + you'll get fed in the offing! If interested, view the event and sign up.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/dinner-downsizing-making-a-move-for-the-better-tickets-779767665077?aff=oddtdtcreator&fbclid=IwAR36yhRvxC32wVioekOW6vgsW2dyfp8NfaR###9A4oP9LXf77aOLBNO3oio

Thinking about downsizing? Want to simplify your life? Want to take advantage of a strong real estate market? This event is for you.

10/16/2023

I'm thrilled to announce that Advantage Finance and Tax is expanding its strategic offerings through the addition of Cathryn Szmurlo, CPA as Principal. Cathy brings an extensive finance and accounting background to the firm having served as a senior level finance executive with defense contractors, construction, and real estate companies in the Washington DC area. Cathy greatly expands our bandwidth and service offerings with her initial focus in the areas of financial reporting, corporate risk analysis, strategic planning and valuations of businesses and assets. See Cathy’s full bio on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cathryn-frere-szmurlo-cpa-09a17064/ with additional information at: www.advantagefinanceandtax.com , ,

Commitment & Vision: At its core, our practice is based upon understanding who you are, expert advice, and superb customer service. Tax law, accounting, and the many areas of finance that impact our lives can be very complicated and we strive to make these topics as understandable and accessible as

05/02/2023

Selling your home and have a big gain? Hopefully that's the case. The article linked below outlines the basics of tax-free gains on the sale of your home, with a focus on organizing your information if you have been there a long time. I wrote the article for a local newsletter that published it back in March of this year at the urging of a friend that's a local realtor, Michelle Boucher with the Bob Lucido Group. [email protected]

Selling your home and have a big gain? Hopefully that's the case. The article linked below outlines the basics of tax-free gains on the sale of your home, with…

04/14/2023

Haven't filed your 2022 tax returns yet? How about those 1st quarter estimated taxes also due April 18th, for those of you it applies to. For the returns, while there's still time if you rush, you may be much better off extending time to file if your taxes are anything more than simple and they aren't already mostly complete. If you don't do your own taxes and haven't found a preparer yet, truly consider extending rather than rushing decisions on both the preparer (who you choose) and ensuring there's adequate time for consideration of all of your tax needs. Finding someone willing to hurriedly file forms for you at the last minute may be a bad decision and cost you in the end. I've seen many improperly prepared returns, some were just sloppy while others actually cost the taxpayer tax dollars they shouldn't have, neither is good and may even raise IRS audit risks. Another good reason to extend is if you don't, or aren't sure, have all the information needed, such as investment K-1s or additional detail for a business. Extending the time to file your returns is simple; however, you will need to make sure you've paid in the tax that you owe since extensions don't extend the time to pay - doing a good estimate of what's net due is advisable. If you're due a refund, then it's a no-brainer to extend, some states such as VA don't even require an extension to be filed. It is much better to take your time, or give a good CPA or accountant time, to properly complete your filings than to rush for a deadline that can easily be moved and have regrets later. Oh, the 1st quarter estimated tax payments, you should try to get those done as well, if it applies to you :-). Happy Filings!

02/17/2023

Thank you to the following author for use of their background pic! Image by our-team on Freepik