# Red Door Taxes: Tax Preparation & Bookkeeping in New Braunfels

URL: https://www.reddoortaxes.com

You deserve a guide on your tax journey.
DON'T go it alone.
Ryan Voight
Owner, Enrolled Agent
New Braunfels, TX830-402-4152
Your trusted partner for stress-free tax and financial management.
At Red Door Taxes, we understand that tax preparation and bookkeeping can be stressful. That's why we handle everything for you, so you can focus on your business. And with audit protection included at no extra cost, you can have complete peace of mind.
01.
Expertise
We help over 400 businesses every year maximize their tax savings through our in-depth knowledge of tax laws and regulations. We specialize in partnerships, S corporations, LLCs, and sole proprietorships, and we stay current with the latest tax code changes. Our team of Enrolled Agents and experienced tax professionals has a deep understanding of the tax code.
02.
Personalized service
We take the time to understand your unique business needs and financial goals to develop customized tax solutions that minimize your tax liability and maximize your return. We offer one-on-one consultations and ongoing support throughout the year. We'll work closely with you to understand your specific needs and tailor our services accordingly, whether you need help with tax planning, quarterly filings, or year-end reporting.
03.
Year-round support
We're here for you beyond tax season. Get answers to your questions, guidance on financial decisions, and proactive support throughout the year. Contact us via phone, email, or schedule an in-person meeting right here in New Braunfels, Texas. From tax planning and compliance to financial forecasting and business consulting, we're your trusted advisors throughout the year.
Our services
Taxes
Tax prep & filing with confidence
Federal and state tax preparation
Tax planning and strategy
IRS audit representation included
Read more →
Bookkeeping
Your financial partner, not just your bookkeeper
Expert monthly bookkeeping with proactive insights
Strategic advisory to reduce taxes and increase profits
Peace of mind with a consistent, trusted partnership
Read more →
Advisory
Strategic business & tax guidance
Business consulting
Tax planning and advisory
Tax trouble management
Read more →
About Red Door
Red Door Taxes was founded after I was taken advantage of by a lazy and unscrupulous tax preparer when I was a new business owner. The preparer explained nothing about business ownership, write-offs, business structure, or how to avoid a big tax bill at the end of the year. I was so frustrated with the experience that I enrolled in accounting classes so that I could prepare my own taxes. I have been preparing taxes professionally since 2011 and have been an enrolled agent since 2017.
Meet the team
Our commitment
At Red Door Taxes, we are dedicated to providing our clients with the expertise, support, and peace of mind they need to navigate the complexities of tax preparation and bookkeeping. We believe that by empowering our clients with knowledge and confidence, we can help them achieve their business and financial goals.
Dozens of five-star reviews
See for yourself!
Ryan of Red Door Taxes is the best tax preparer I have ever used. He provides professional, knowledgeable service that inspires confidence. I have relied on him for years and highly recommend him for both business and personal tax needs.
Joseph K.
Ryan has faithfully helped us with our taxes each year. Just this year, he stepped in and helped me start up my business. His professionalism and kindness have turned paperwork and taxes from stressful to simple for me.
Nevin S.
Jungle Tamers Kauai
Ryan has been doing our taxes for a few years now. He takes the time to understand our family goals and uses his expertise to ensure our returns are tailored to our needs. You simply can't go wrong with Ryan; he has earned our highest recommendation!
T. Tracy
As an Enrolled Agent, Ryan is extremely knowledgeable about the specific deductions our family was eligible for and helped us navigate tax implications from home sales and investments. He answered all our questions, referencing the applicable rules, and provided future planning advice.
Austin K.

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# Tax Preparation Services in New Braunfels

URL: https://www.reddoortaxes.com/services/tax-prep

Expert tax prep and filings
WELCOME TOTAX RELIEF
Ryan Voight
Owner, Enrolled Agent
New Braunfels, TX830-402-4152
Tax services tailored to you
Individual and joint returns
Don't leave money on the table. We meticulously prepare your personal tax return, ensuring you take advantage of all applicable credits and deductions for a maximum refund.
Self-employed and rental properties
Gain peace of mind knowing your Schedule C or Schedule E is handled accurately. We identify every eligible deduction to minimize your self-employment or other tax burden.
Partnerships, S Corps, and LLCs
Navigate complex business taxes with confidence. We offer guidance on your business structure and deductions to maximize your after-tax income and ensure compliance.
Personalized tax prep
01.
Strategic tax planning
Personalized consultation to understand your finances and create a clear path to filing your return. Securely upload documents through our client portal.
02.
Effortless review and filing
We prepare accurate and compliant federal and state returns. Review and approve them easily online; we handle the filing for you.
03.
Complete peace of mind
Audit protection included with every service. We provide support in case of an IRS audit.
Flexible service levels
As local tax experts, we help hundreds of businesses and individuals maximize their tax savings every year. We provide personalized service and stay up-to-date on the latest tax laws, ensuring accurate and optimized returns.
The Red Door Service
Every return we prepare comes with the same care, whether you work with us online or in person. Relax knowing your taxes are in good hands.
Here is what you can expect with Red Door Taxes:
Renowned Red Door customer service: Top-notch support from the first document to the filed return
Online or in person: Choose the experience that fits you, with the same preparer either way
Federal and state returns: Both prepared with care, accuracy, and every deduction you are entitled to
Secure client portal: Send us your documents and receive your completed return through your secure client portal, never by email
Review and e-sign: Review your completed return with us, ask your final questions, and sign electronically
IRS audit protection: Included with every return, so you are not on your own if the IRS has questions
Book your Red Door appointment
Bronze, Silver, and Gold
Every engagement starts with the Red Door Service. When you sign for the year, you choose the level of contact that fits your situation, and that choice sets how often you hear from us and how much planning we do together.
What changes from level to level:
Regular check-ins: Scheduled at the level you choose when you sign, from a single review of your return to recurring meetings through the year
Year-round support: Access to the team between meetings, at the level that matches your engagement
Gold: Our highest level: tax planning and advisory led by Ryan throughout the year, with your return prepared as part of the plan rather than after the fact
Book a meeting
Year-round Tax Advisory
A tax return is an autopsy; the year is already over. Tax planning is preventive medicine. Silver and Gold clients get it during the year, while there is still time to change the outcome.
Here is what you can expect:
Regular check-ins: We review where the year stands at the cadence you chose when you signed, and adjust the plan as it unfolds
Estimated payments: Help setting and adjusting your quarterly estimates, so April holds no surprises
Big decisions, before you make them: An equipment purchase, an entity change, a hire, or a year that is running hot: check in with us first and we will run the numbers
Ongoing support: By-appointment access to the team by phone or email, at the level that matches your engagement
Book a consultation
What each plan includes
Every plan starts with the Red Door Service. This table shows what changes from Bronze to Silver to Gold, so you can pick the level of contact that fits your situation.
What you get | Bronze | Silver | Gold
Federal and state returns, prepared and e-filed | Included | Included | Included
IRS audit protection | Included | Included | Included
Who prepares your return | A credentialed professional | A credentialed professional with at least three years of experience | A credentialed professional with at least six years of experience
Review of your return | Optional, 30 minutes | 45 minutes, with recommendations | 60 minutes, with recommendations
Mid-year planning meeting | Not included | One hour | One hour
Year-end planning meeting | Not included | Not included | One hour, with a projected return
Questions during the year | Not included | Email access for quick questions | Direct access to Ryan by email or scheduled call
Booking your meetings | After your return is complete | Booking links arrive shortly after you sign | First choice of dates, with links shortly after you sign
Your place in line | First come, first served, after Silver and Gold | Ahead of Bronze | Front of the line
Filing deadline | Expect your return to be filed under an extension | On-time filing guaranteed when we have everything 30 days before the deadline | Done by your review meeting, guaranteed, when we have everything by your cutoff
Renewal | Standard | Standard | Early access each year
We quote your fee before you sign. Half is due as a deposit when you sign, and the balance is due when your return is complete. To keep your place in line, we need your documents 30 days before your filing deadline.
About Red Door
Red Door Taxes was founded after I was taken advantage of by a lazy and unscrupulous tax preparer when I was a new business owner. The preparer explained nothing about business ownership, write-offs, business structure, or how to avoid a big tax bill at the end of the year. I was so frustrated with the experience that I enrolled in accounting classes so that I could prepare my own taxes. I have been preparing taxes professionally since 2011 and have been an enrolled agent since 2017.
Meet the team
Dozens of five-star reviews
See for yourself!
Ryan of Red Door Taxes is the best tax preparer I have ever used. He provides professional, knowledgeable service that inspires confidence. I have relied on him for years and highly recommend him for both business and personal tax needs.
Joseph K.
Ryan has faithfully helped us with our taxes each year. Just this year, he stepped in and helped me start up my business. His professionalism and kindness have turned paperwork and taxes from stressful to simple for me.
Nevin S.
Jungle Tamers Kauai
Ryan has been doing our taxes for a few years now. He takes the time to understand our family goals and uses his expertise to ensure our returns are tailored to our needs. You simply can't go wrong with Ryan; he has earned our highest recommendation!
T. Tracy
As an Enrolled Agent, Ryan is extremely knowledgeable about the specific deductions our family was eligible for and helped us navigate tax implications from home sales and investments. He answered all our questions, referencing the applicable rules, and provided future planning advice.
Austin K.

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# Bookkeeping Services in New Braunfels

URL: https://www.reddoortaxes.com/services/bookkeeping

Your trusted financial partner for smart business decisions
booksall year
Ryan Voight
Owner, Enrolled Agent
New Braunfels, TX830-402-4152
Stop wondering if you're overpaying in taxes. Relax knowing you have an expert in your corner.
A real partnership, not a transaction
You'll work with the same expert team every time—no call centers, no strangers, no explaining your business over and over. We know your history, your goals, and what keeps you up at night. This means we spot opportunities and problems before they impact your bottom line.
Proactive tax strategies that save you money
We don't just record what happened, we help you plan what happens next. Throughout the year, we're actively working to lower your tax bill through smart timing, strategic deductions, and entity optimization. Our clients often save thousands in taxes they didn't know they were overpaying.
The confidence of having a true expert
With 20 years of experience serving businesses, we've seen it all. You get enterprise-level expertise without enterprise prices or bureaucracy. We handle the complex compliance details (like franchise tax reports) so you never worry about missed deadlines or costly errors.
The Red Door difference
01.
We handle your books with care
Monthly reconciliation, financial reporting, payroll support—get all the essential bookkeeping delivered accurately and on time. But unlike commodity services, we don't stop there.
02.
We meet regularly to review and strategize
Depending on your partnership level, we'll meet quarterly, semi-annually, or monthly to review your financials, identify trends, and adjust strategies. These aren't just number reviews. They're strategic planning sessions for your business growth.
03.
We prepare your taxes as part of the relationship
Because we know your books inside and out, tax preparation becomes seamless and optimized. No scrambling for documents, no surprises, just maximum deductions and minimum stress.
Book a consultation
About Red Door
Red Door Taxes was founded after I was taken advantage of by a lazy and unscrupulous tax preparer when I was a new business owner. The preparer explained nothing about business ownership, write-offs, business structure, or how to avoid a big tax bill at the end of the year. I was so frustrated with the experience that I enrolled in accounting classes so that I could prepare my own taxes. I have been preparing taxes professionally since 2011 and have been an enrolled agent since 2017.
Meet the team
Dozens of five-star reviews
See for yourself!
Ryan of Red Door Taxes is the best tax preparer I have ever used. He provides professional, knowledgeable service that inspires confidence. I have relied on him for years and highly recommend him for both business and personal tax needs.
Joseph K.
Ryan has faithfully helped us with our taxes each year. Just this year, he stepped in and helped me start up my business. His professionalism and kindness have turned paperwork and taxes from stressful to simple for me.
Nevin S.
Jungle Tamers Kauai
Ryan has been doing our taxes for a few years now. He takes the time to understand our family goals and uses his expertise to ensure our returns are tailored to our needs. You simply can't go wrong with Ryan; he has earned our highest recommendation!
T. Tracy
As an Enrolled Agent, Ryan is extremely knowledgeable about the specific deductions our family was eligible for and helped us navigate tax implications from home sales and investments. He answered all our questions, referencing the applicable rules, and provided future planning advice.
Austin K.

---

# Tax & Business Advisory Services

URL: https://www.reddoortaxes.com/services/advisory

Trusted partner for business and tax advisory
UNLOCKPOTENTIAL
Ryan Voight
Owner, Enrolled Agent
New Braunfels, TX830-402-4152
Red Door Taxes offers comprehensive advisory services to help you achieve your financial goals.
Business consulting
We offer expert advice on a wide range of business matters, including:
Entity selection and structuring (e.g., LLC, S-Corp, Partnership)
Developing and implementing business plans to achieve your goals
Financial forecasting and budgeting
Improving operational efficiency and profitability
Cash flow management and working capital optimization
Tax planning and advisory
We provide proactive tax planning strategies to minimize your tax liability and maximize your after-tax income. We can help with:
Developing personalized tax planning strategies based on your specific situation
Estate planning and wealth transfer strategies
Investment planning and portfolio optimization
Education planning and funding strategies
Tax trouble management
We assist with resolving tax controversies and disputes with the IRS. We can help with:
Support during IRS audit
Preparing and filing amended tax returns
Filing back taxes
Resolving tax liens and levies
Book a consultation
About Red Door
Red Door Taxes was founded after I was taken advantage of by a lazy and unscrupulous tax preparer when I was a new business owner. The preparer explained nothing about business ownership, write-offs, business structure, or how to avoid a big tax bill at the end of the year. I was so frustrated with the experience that I enrolled in accounting classes so that I could prepare my own taxes. I have been preparing taxes professionally since 2011 and have been an enrolled agent since 2017.
Meet the team
Dozens of five-star reviews
See for yourself!
Ryan of Red Door Taxes is the best tax preparer I have ever used. He provides professional, knowledgeable service that inspires confidence. I have relied on him for years and highly recommend him for both business and personal tax needs.
Joseph K.
Ryan has faithfully helped us with our taxes each year. Just this year, he stepped in and helped me start up my business. His professionalism and kindness have turned paperwork and taxes from stressful to simple for me.
Nevin S.
Jungle Tamers Kauai
Ryan has been doing our taxes for a few years now. He takes the time to understand our family goals and uses his expertise to ensure our returns are tailored to our needs. You simply can't go wrong with Ryan; he has earned our highest recommendation!
T. Tracy
As an Enrolled Agent, Ryan is extremely knowledgeable about the specific deductions our family was eligible for and helped us navigate tax implications from home sales and investments. He answered all our questions, referencing the applicable rules, and provided future planning advice.
Austin K.

---

# Proactive Small Business Tax Strategy

URL: https://www.reddoortaxes.com/strategies/small-business

Don't just file your taxes.
MASTERTHEM
Ryan Voight
Owner, Enrolled Agent
New Braunfels, TX830-402-4152
Get your guide to the new rules of business tax
Whether you attended one of my presentations or are just looking for an edge, get your complete copy of Small Business Tax Strategies: Navigating the OBBBA and Beyond. This guide is your roadmap to understanding the critical changes affecting your bottom line.
Download guide
The proactive tax mindset
Learn why a year-round conversation about your finances is the key to improving cash flow and funding growth.
Permanent tax savings
Understand how the OBBBA makes the 20% QBI Deduction permanent, providing long-term certainty for your business.
Capital investment power
See how 100% bonus depreciation can be a powerful incentive for investing in your business (and why so many business owners have nice trucks!).
Year-round confidence
As a business owner, you're busy building a dream. You don't have time to navigate the maze of tax law alone. Red Door is your partner, providing the proactive guidance you need to turn tax-season stress into year-round confidence and unlock your business's true potential.
Book a consultation
About Red Door
Red Door Taxes was founded after I was taken advantage of by a lazy and unscrupulous tax preparer when I was a new business owner. The preparer explained nothing about business ownership, write-offs, business structure, or how to avoid a big tax bill at the end of the year. I was so frustrated with the experience that I enrolled in accounting classes so that I could prepare my own taxes. I have been preparing taxes professionally since 2011 and have been an enrolled agent since 2017.
Meet the team
Dozens of five-star reviews
See for yourself!
Ryan of Red Door Taxes is the best tax preparer I have ever used. He provides professional, knowledgeable service that inspires confidence. I have relied on him for years and highly recommend him for both business and personal tax needs.
Joseph K.
Ryan has faithfully helped us with our taxes each year. Just this year, he stepped in and helped me start up my business. His professionalism and kindness have turned paperwork and taxes from stressful to simple for me.
Nevin S.
Jungle Tamers Kauai
Ryan has been doing our taxes for a few years now. He takes the time to understand our family goals and uses his expertise to ensure our returns are tailored to our needs. You simply can't go wrong with Ryan; he has earned our highest recommendation!
T. Tracy
As an Enrolled Agent, Ryan is extremely knowledgeable about the specific deductions our family was eligible for and helped us navigate tax implications from home sales and investments. He answered all our questions, referencing the applicable rules, and provided future planning advice.
Austin K.

---

# Locksmiths Tax Strategy

URL: https://www.reddoortaxes.com/strategies/locksmiths

Get tax advice from a fellow locksmith.
UNLOCK YOURTAX SAVINGS
Ryan Voight
Owner, Enrolled Agent
New Braunfels, TX830-402-4152
The essential tax playbook for Texas locksmiths
Get your complete copy of Tax Strategies & Best Practices for Texas Locksmiths. This guide is your roadmap to navigating the unique financial challenges of your trade.
Download guide
The right business structure
Learn the pros and cons of being a Sole Proprietor vs. an S-Corp, including the $60k profit threshold where an S-Corp can lead to significant savings.
Navigating compliance & audits
Understand your obligations to the IRS, DPS, and TWC and how to keep excellent records that give you confidence in an audit.
Locksmith-specific deductions
Discover best practices for deducting key expenses like vehicles, tools, programmers, and inventory to ensure you're not leaving money on the table.
An advisor who understands your business, inside and out
As both an Enrolled Agent and a Licensed Texas Locksmith, I know firsthand the challenges you face. I've been in the van, managed the inventory, and navigated the specific compliance rules from the DPS. My advice isn't just theory—it's strategy built from real-world experience in your trade.
Book a consultation
About Red Door
Red Door Taxes was founded after I was taken advantage of by a lazy and unscrupulous tax preparer when I was a new business owner. The preparer explained nothing about business ownership, write-offs, business structure, or how to avoid a big tax bill at the end of the year. I was so frustrated with the experience that I enrolled in accounting classes so that I could prepare my own taxes. I have been preparing taxes professionally since 2011 and have been an enrolled agent since 2017.
Meet the team
Dozens of five-star reviews
See for yourself!
Ryan of Red Door Taxes is the best tax preparer I have ever used. He provides professional, knowledgeable service that inspires confidence. I have relied on him for years and highly recommend him for both business and personal tax needs.
Joseph K.
Ryan has faithfully helped us with our taxes each year. Just this year, he stepped in and helped me start up my business. His professionalism and kindness have turned paperwork and taxes from stressful to simple for me.
Nevin S.
Jungle Tamers Kauai
Ryan has been doing our taxes for a few years now. He takes the time to understand our family goals and uses his expertise to ensure our returns are tailored to our needs. You simply can't go wrong with Ryan; he has earned our highest recommendation!
T. Tracy
As an Enrolled Agent, Ryan is extremely knowledgeable about the specific deductions our family was eligible for and helped us navigate tax implications from home sales and investments. He answered all our questions, referencing the applicable rules, and provided future planning advice.
Austin K.

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# Hire Your Kids the Right Way

URL: https://www.reddoortaxes.com/strategies/hiring-your-kids

Pay your kids. Keep the money home.
HIREYOUR KIDS
Ryan Voight
Owner, Enrolled Agent
New Braunfels, TX830-402-4152
One of the best strategies, and one of the most botched
Bottom line: paying your children through your business can save you 22 to 52 cents of every dollar you pay them, and it works at almost any size. It is also one of the most commonly botched strategies. The version circulating on social media skips the parts that make it hold up, and those are the parts an auditor asks about first.
Typical saving
22% to 52%
Of every dollar paid, under the two recommended structures
Cost to set up
Low
An EIN, two short agreements, and payroll filings
Child’s tax
$0
Federal, when wages stay under the standard deduction
What would this save you?
How much you save depends almost entirely on which entity signs the paycheck. Change that one field and watch everything else move. Nothing you enter here is saved or sent anywhere. Treat the result as an educational estimate, and bring us your facts before you act on it.
Your situation
Which entity will pay the children?This drives most of the answer.Sole proprietorship (Schedule C)Partnership (parents only)S corporation (via family service company)S corporation (pays children directly)C corporation (via family service company)C corporation (pays children directly)
Your marginal federal tax bracketNot sure which? See the IRS tax bracket guide.10% (the lowest bracket)12%22%24%32%35%37% (the top bracket)
Your own wages already taxed for Social SecurityYours, not your spouse’s.
Do you claim the 20% QBI deduction?If yes, the deduction shrinks by a fifth.YesNo
Your children
+ Add a child
This year’s figures
Standard deduction, single filer
Social Security wage base
Annual IRA contribution limit
C corporation tax rate
These change every year with inflation. Nothing here is hard-coded, so this page does not go stale. Put in the current figures and it stays correct.
What it saves
Net annual saving
$0
Total wages to your children$0
Income tax saved$0
Self-employment tax saved$0
Payroll tax cost$0
Headline estimate$0
The refined figure, and why it is lower
The headline is the model we use in planning meetings. These three adjustments make it precise. They always reduce the number, and never enough to change the decision.
SE tax runs on 92.35% of net earnings$0
Smaller deduction for half of SE tax$0
Smaller QBI deduction$0
Refined estimate$0
The same wages, six ways
Structure | Net annual saving
The rule underneath all of it
Wages paid to your child under age 18 are exempt from Social Security and Medicare tax, but only when the employer is a sole proprietorship or a partnership owned solely by the child’s parents. Wages are also exempt from federal unemployment tax until the child turns 21. An S corporation or a C corporation gets neither exemption, even when you own all of it.
That is the whole reason for the structures below. If your business is already a Schedule C or a parent-only partnership, you are done reading the structural part. If it is a corporation, you need one more piece.
1
Direct hire
Sole proprietorship or parent-only partnership
Put your child on the payroll of the business you already run. Nothing else is required. This is the simplest route and it produces the largest saving, because the wage reduces income subject to both income tax and self-employment tax.
Your business (Schedule C)→ wages →Your child
2
Use an entity you already own
Corporation, plus an existing Schedule C or family LLC
Many owners already have a second activity, such as a rental LLC, a consulting side business, or a farm. If that entity files a Schedule C or a family partnership return, hire the children there instead of building anything new. We prefer fewer moving parts.
We recommend this over route 3 whenever it fits. Check that the work you are paying for genuinely belongs to that activity.
3
Family service company
S or C corporation, nothing else available
Form a new sole proprietorship that you own. Your corporation hires it to perform a real, specific service. The sole proprietorship hires your children to do that work and pays out what it takes in, so it earns no profit. Because your children’s employer is now your sole proprietorship, the payroll tax exemption applies to their wages.
Your S corporation→ fee →Your sole prop→ wages →Your children
More work - this route asks more of you than a direct hire. The exemption holds because your sole proprietorship is genuinely your children’s employer. So the service company needs a real service, a rate you can support with a comparable quote, an invoice every month, and its own bank account. It holds up when you run it as a real business.
Sales tax - depending on your state and the service, the fee your corporation pays the service company may be a taxable sale, which cuts further into the saving. Check how your state treats the service before you set the fee.
The shortcut - paying a child directly from an S corporation is legal, but it costs more. The corporation still deducts the wage, but Social Security and Medicare tax applies at roughly 7.65 percent from the company and another 7.65 percent from the child. That gives back close to half the benefit in the 32 percent bracket, and more than half at 22 or 24 percent.
Real work, reasonable wages
Every question an examiner asks reduces to two things. Did the child actually do the work? Was the pay reasonable for that work? If both answers are yes, the rest is recordkeeping.
Test one: the work is real
The task has to be something the business genuinely needs and would otherwise pay someone to do. It also has to be age appropriate. A seven-year-old can appear in a photograph and can shred paper. A seven-year-old cannot manage your books.
Age | Work that holds up | Work that does not
6 to 10 | Appearing in photos and video for advertising; shredding; stuffing and stamping mailers; simple sorting; cleaning the shop or office | Anything requiring judgment, driving, tools, or access to customer data
11 to 14 | Filing and scanning; washing vehicles and equipment; jobsite and yard cleanup; inventory counts; light assembly; running the phone camera for content | Payroll, bookkeeping, contracts, anything on a ladder or a machine
15 to 17 | Data entry; social media production and scheduling; customer email and scheduling; deliveries where legal; basic bookkeeping entry; light installs | Hazardous occupations, which are barred under 18 regardless of who owns the business
Labor law - check it before the first shift. Federal rules let a parent employ a child under 16 without the usual age minimums. That applies only in a business the parents own entirely, and only for work outside manufacturing, mining, and any occupation declared hazardous. It is a separate test from the payroll tax exemption above. Owning all of a corporation can satisfy the labor rule and still leave the wages subject to payroll tax. Hazardous occupations stay off limits until 18 for everyone. State rules are separate and sometimes stricter, and a few states require a work permit.
Test two: the wage is reasonable
Reasonable means what you would pay an unrelated person for the same task. Set the rate first, then let the hours produce the total. If you start from the standard deduction and divide, the rate will not hold up.
Task | Common rate basis | What documents it
Vehicle and equipment cleaning | Per vehicle, or hourly at local detail rates | Detailer quote or posted price list
Filing, scanning, data entry | Local clerical hourly rate | Job posting for a file clerk
Jobsite and shop cleanup | Local general labor hourly rate | Your own labor rate for helpers
Social media content production | Per finished post, or hourly | Freelancer quote for the same deliverable
Likeness in advertising | Annual contract, priced off a model or stock license | Stock license price sheet or photographer quote
Setup, and what you keep
If you are a sole proprietorship or family partnership
Write the job description. Name the tasks and the schedule.
Set the rate and save your support. Screenshot the comparable posting or quote.
Sign an employment agreement with each child
Collect a Form W-4 from each child and add them to payroll
Open a bank account in each child’s name
Start the timesheet the first day they work
Pay on a schedule and keep the confirmations
File the W-2s in January
If you are an S corporation or C corporation
Check for an entity you already have. A rental LLC or a second Schedule C beats forming anything new.
Name the family service company and get a free EIN from the IRS website
Open a bank account for the service company, separate from everything else
Sign the service agreement between your corporation and the service company
Write the job description and sign an employment agreement with each child
Collect Forms W-4 and set up payroll under the service company’s EIN
Open a bank account in each child’s name
Invoice monthly from the service company to the corporation, and pay it
Run payroll from the service company to the children
File the W-2s in January
What goes wrong
You can do the version you see on social media and risk having it thrown out on audit. Or you can frame it up so it stays effective. Here is what the first version looks like.
The mistake | The fix
Paying children straight out of the S corporation | Route the wages through a sole proprietorship you own. This is the most expensive error, and it is the easiest to fix.
No work, or work invented after the fact | Pick tasks the business actually needs. Write them down before the first shift.
Working backward from the standard deduction | Set a defensible rate, then let real hours produce the total. If the honest number is $6,000, take $6,000.
Paying by 1099 | Issue a W-2. A 1099 makes your child self-employed and adds 15.3 percent in self-employment tax.
The money never leaves the parent’s account | Open an account in the child’s name and transfer real money on a real schedule.
Wages spent on ordinary parental support | Spend it on the child’s own goals, such as a Roth IRA, college savings, activities, or tuition.
Round numbers with no timesheet | Log hours as they happen. Uneven totals are fine, because real work is uneven.
Set up in year one, abandoned in year two | Calendar the payroll filings, or hand the payroll to us.
A likeness agreement with no advertising | If you are paying for their likeness, run the ads and save the creative.
Roth IRA - your child now has earned income, and earned income is what makes a Roth IRA possible. They may contribute up to the lesser of their wages or the annual IRA limit. Money contributed at age 14 has a very long time to compound, and it comes out tax free. In our opinion, this is worth more over a lifetime than the deduction that created it.
Working through this with an AI assistant?
Paste this into Claude, ChatGPT, or whichever assistant you use. It points your assistant at our full guide to this strategy, which covers the rules and their sources, this year’s figures, the setup steps, the paperwork, and the risks. It also tells the assistant when to send you to a professional. Nothing is held back.
Read https://www.reddoortaxes.com/guides/hiring-your-kids.md from Red Door Taxes. I own a business and I am thinking about paying my children through it. Using that guide, ask me its intake questions one at a time, tell me which structure fits and what could go wrong, then walk me through the setup checklist and help me draft the documents. Tell me plainly when the guide says to stop and get a professional.
Copy prompt
The guide is a plain page that anyone can read: open the guide. It states the same rules and the same figures as this page, with a source for each. All of our guides are listed in one place.
The paperwork is what makes this hold up
A defensible version of this strategy runs on documents. You need a job description you could post, an employment agreement, a services agreement if a corporation is involved, timesheets, and W-2s filed every January. Everything you need to run it yourself is on this page, and nothing is held back. If you would rather hand it off, implementation is a paid service. We draft the agreements, pull the EIN, set up the payroll, and file the W-2s.
We also prepare the business and family returns that go with it. We would love to work with families who care about this kind of tax and legacy planning.
Book a consultation
For educational purposes only. This page and its calculator are general education for business owners. They are not tax, legal, or accounting advice for your specific situation, and reading them does not create a client relationship with Red Door Taxes. The calculator estimates federal tax only. It ignores state income tax and the passive activity rules that may defer a loss from a rental activity. The payroll tax exemption ends when a child turns 18, and the unemployment tax exemption at 21. Your entity, your state, and the current year’s inflation-adjusted amounts all change the result. Nothing you enter in the calculator is saved or transmitted. Bring us your facts before you act on any of it.

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# The Augusta Rule, Done Right

URL: https://www.reddoortaxes.com/strategies/augusta-rule

Rent your home to your business.
AUGUSTARULE
Ryan Voight
Owner, Enrolled Agent
New Braunfels, TX830-402-4152
A real rule that is widely abused
Bottom line: your business can rent your home for up to 14 days a year, and you pay no federal income tax on that rent. The business has to have a real reason to meet there, and it deducts the rent it pays you. At $500 a day for 12 meetings, that is worth about $1,150 a year if you are in the 24 percent bracket. The version you see on social media skips the meeting, the market rate, and the records, and those are the first things an examiner asks for.
The number is small, and in our opinion it is still worth doing because of what it costs you. Most tax savings ask you to part with money. A 401(k) locks it away, and paying your children hands it to them. With this one, money you were already going to spend moves from your business to you, and it comes with a deduction. You are trading attention and paperwork for pure savings.
Days allowed
14
Per year, counting every rental of the home to anyone
Tax on the rent you receive
$0
Federal, when total rental days stay at 14 or fewer
What it costs you
Paperwork
No new spending: the rent moves from your business to you
What you need
Records
An agenda, minutes, and support for the rate
What would this save you?
The saving is the rent your business can honestly deduct, multiplied by your tax rate. Two numbers drive it: how many real meetings you hold, and what a comparable room rents for near you. Nothing you enter here is saved or sent anywhere. Treat the result as an educational estimate, and bring us your facts before you act on it.
Your situation
What kind of business will pay the rent?The renter has to be a different taxpayer from you.S corporationPartnership or multi-member LLCC corporationSole proprietorship or single-member LLC
Your marginal federal tax bracketNot sure which? See the IRS tax bracket guide.10% (the lowest bracket)12%22%24%32%35%37% (the top bracket)
Meeting days this yearA day counts whether the meeting runs one hour or eight.
Fair rental rate per dayWhat a comparable meeting room nearby rents for.
Other days the home is rented to anyoneShort-term rental guests count toward the same 14.
Do you claim the 20% QBI deduction?If yes, the deduction shrinks by a fifth.YesNo
This year’s figures
C corporation tax rate
The 14-day limit is written into the statute and does not change with inflation.
What it saves
Net annual saving
$0
Rent your business pays you$0
Income tax saved by the deduction$0
Smaller QBI deduction$0
Federal tax on the rent you receive$0
Estimate$0
The same rent, four renters
Renter | Net annual saving
The rule underneath all of it
Two separate rules do the work, and they belong to two separate taxpayers. You are the homeowner, and if you live in the home and rent it out for fewer than 15 days in the year, the rent is not income to you. You also cannot deduct anything for the rental. Your business is the renter, and it can deduct rent for property it uses as long as the expense is ordinary, necessary, and reasonable in amount.
That is why the kind of business matters. The renter has to be a different taxpayer from the person who owns the home.
1
S corporation or C corporation
Works
A corporation is its own taxpayer, so it can rent the room from you, hold its meeting, and deduct the rent. You receive the rent personally and leave it out of your income.
Your corporation→ rent →You, the homeowner
2
Partnership or multi-member LLC
Works
A partnership can rent property from one of its partners. Treat it the way you would treat renting from a stranger, with a written agreement, a market rate, and partners who know about it.
3
Sole proprietorship or single-member LLC
Does not work
A Schedule C business is the same taxpayer as its owner, so you cannot pay yourself rent and deduct it. If this is your business, the home office deduction is the tool that fits.
A real meeting, a market rate, and 14 days
Every question an examiner asks comes down to three things. Did a business meeting actually happen? Was the rent what a stranger would have charged? Did the home stay under the limit?
Test one: the meeting is real
The business needs a reason to be in the room and a record that it was there. A meeting holds up when you can describe it in a sentence and you have an agenda from before and minutes from after. A dinner where business came up does not hold up.
Meetings that hold up | Meetings that do not
Annual and quarterly owner meetings, with an agenda and minutes | A holiday party renamed a meeting
Planning and budgeting sessions for the coming year | A family dinner where business came up
Staff training days | A meeting of one
Working sessions with your accountant, attorney, or advisor | Monthly rent with no agenda, no minutes, and no one who remembers attending
Entertainment - the tax code does not allow a deduction for entertainment, or for a facility used for it. A party for clients or staff does not become deductible because business was discussed.
Test two: the rent is reasonable
Reasonable means what you would pay an unrelated owner for a comparable room for the same length of time. Price the room you actually use, for the hours you use it. Do not price the whole house, and do not use the nightly rate of a vacation rental.
Comparable | How to price it | What documents it
Hotel conference room | Day or half-day rate for a room that seats your group | Written quote or published rate sheet
Event space or coworking meeting room | Hourly rate, times the hours you meet | Dated screenshot of the listing
Private home offered for meetings | Hourly rate for similar capacity and amenities | Dated screenshots of two or three listings
Sinopoli v. Commissioner - an S corporation deducted about $291k over less than three years for meetings in its three owners’ homes. It paid about $3,000 a month to each owner. The owners had no minutes, agendas, or calendars, and no appraisal of the space. The Tax Court allowed $500 per meeting, for one meeting a month (T.C. Memo. 2023-105).
Test three: 14 days
The limit is counted for the home, so every day the home is rented to anyone counts. That includes your business, a second business, and a short-term rental guest. On the 15th day you lose the exclusion for the whole year, and every dollar of rent becomes taxable.
Setup, and what you keep
Once, before the first meeting
Confirm the renter. It has to be an S corporation, a C corporation, or a partnership.
Price the room. Save two or three dated comparables.
Write a short rate memo that gets from the comparables to your number
Adopt a resolution authorizing the business to rent the home for meetings at that rate
Sign a rental agreement between you and the business
Calendar the year. Leave two days in reserve.
Every meeting
Send the agenda ahead of time
Hold the meeting, and note who attended
Write the minutes the same day
Invoice the business for that day
Pay it from the business account to your personal account
File the agenda, minutes, invoice, and payment together
Year end - a business that pays you $2,000 or more in rent during the year reports it on Form 1099-MISC. Tell your preparer the form exists, so your return can show the rent and the exclusion and match what the IRS received.
What goes wrong
You can do the version you see on social media and risk having it thrown out on audit. Or you can frame it up so it stays effective. Here is what the first version looks like.
The mistake | The fix
Renting from a sole proprietorship | The renter has to be a separate taxpayer. A Schedule C business cannot rent from its owner.
Monthly rent on autopilot | Pay per meeting, after the meeting happens. If there was no meeting, there is no rent.
A rate taken from a vacation rental listing | Price a meeting room for the hours you use it, from comparables you saved.
No agenda, no minutes, no attendee list | Write them the same day.
A 15th rental day | Count every rental of the home, including short-term guests. Keep two days in reserve.
A party called a meeting | Entertainment is not deductible. Keep the meeting about the business.
The money never moves | Pay by check or transfer from the business account to your personal account, each time.
Counting the same room twice | Do not also claim a home office deduction or reimbursement for the same space on the same days.
Rent in place of a salary | An S corporation owner who works in the business takes a reasonable salary first.
Size - a full 14 days at a rate you can support is a few thousand dollars of deduction. Anyone promising more is pricing your living room like a ballroom. One more thing: state income tax rules may differ from the federal rule, and your homeowner’s policy or association may restrict business gatherings.
Depreciation - because you deduct nothing for the rental, you take no depreciation on the home for those days. That means there is nothing to recapture when you sell.
Working through this with an AI assistant?
Paste this into Claude, ChatGPT, or whichever assistant you use. It points your assistant at our full guide to this strategy, which covers the rules and their sources, this year’s figures, the setup steps, the paperwork, and the risks. It also tells the assistant when to send you to a professional. Nothing is held back.
Read https://www.reddoortaxes.com/guides/augusta-rule.md from Red Door Taxes. I own a business and I am thinking about having it rent my home for business meetings under the Augusta Rule. Using that guide, ask me its intake questions one at a time, tell me whether my business qualifies and what could go wrong, help me set a daily rate I can support, then walk me through the setup and the records for each meeting. Tell me plainly when the guide says to stop and get a professional.
Copy prompt
The guide is a plain page that anyone can read: open the guide. It states the same rules and the same figures as this page, with a source for each. All of our guides are listed in one place.
The records are what make this hold up
A defensible version of this runs on paper. You need a rate memo with comparables, a resolution, and a rental agreement, plus an agenda, minutes, an invoice, and a payment for every meeting. Everything you need to run it yourself is on this page, and nothing is held back. If you would rather hand it off, implementation is a paid service. We price the room, draft the resolution and the agreement, set the calendar, and give you the packet to fill in at each meeting.
We also prepare the business and personal returns that go with it. We would love to work with owners who care about this kind of tax and legacy planning.
Book a consultation
For educational purposes only. This page and its calculator are general education for business owners. They are not tax, legal, or accounting advice for your specific situation, and reading them does not create a client relationship with Red Door Taxes. The calculator estimates federal income tax only. It ignores state income tax. It also does not count any change in self-employment tax for a partnership or in dividend tax for a C corporation. Your entity, your state, your home, and what comparable space rents for near you all change the result. Nothing you enter in the calculator is saved or transmitted. Bring us your facts before you act on any of it.

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# Is an S Corporation Right for You?

URL: https://www.reddoortaxes.com/strategies/s-corporation

Should your business be an S corporation?
S CORPOR NOT
Ryan Voight
Owner, Enrolled Agent
New Braunfels, TX830-402-4152
It saves payroll tax, and it costs more to run
Bottom line: an S corporation saves you payroll tax on the profit above your salary, and it costs more to run. You split your profit into a salary, which is subject to payroll tax, and a distribution, which is not. On $100k of profit with a $50k salary, that saves about $6,400 a year in payroll tax. After the smaller QBI deduction and about $2,500 of added cost, you keep about $900.
The version you see on social media skips the salary and the costs. In our opinion, the election rarely pays for itself below about $60k of profit, and above that the answer depends mostly on what a reasonable salary for your work is.
What it saves
Payroll tax
On the profit above a reasonable salary
What it costs
Payroll and a return
Every year, whether or not it was a good year
What decides it
Your salary
The IRS expects reasonable pay for the work you do
Where it starts to pay
About $60k
Of yearly profit, in our opinion
What would this save you?
Enter your profit and the salary you would have to pay yourself. The calculator compares the self-employment tax you pay today with the payroll tax on that salary, and then takes out what the election costs. Nothing you enter here is saved or sent anywhere. Treat the result as an educational estimate, and bring us your facts before you act on it.
Your situation
Yearly profit before you pay yourselfNet profit from the business, after its other expenses.
Reasonable salary for your workWhat you would pay someone else to do your job.
Your wages from another jobWages already taxed for Social Security this year.
Your marginal federal tax bracketNot sure which? See the IRS tax bracket guide.10% (the lowest bracket)12%22%24%32%35%37% (the top bracket)
Do you claim the 20% QBI deduction?A salary is not QBI, so the deduction shrinks.YesNo
Added yearly costPayroll service, a second tax return, and state unemployment tax.
This year’s figures
Social Security wage base
Federal unemployment wage base
The wage base changes every year with inflation. Put in the current figure and the estimate stays correct.
What it saves
Net annual saving
$0
Self-employment tax you pay today$0
Payroll tax as an S corporation$0
Payroll tax saved$0
Smaller QBI deduction$0
Smaller deduction for payroll taxes$0
Added yearly cost$0
Estimate$0
The same profit, four salaries
Salary | Net annual saving
The rule underneath all of it
A sole proprietor or a partner pays self-employment tax on all of the profit, at 15.3 percent of 92.35 percent of what the business earns. An S corporation owner who works in the business is an employee instead. The corporation pays payroll tax on your salary, and the rest of the profit comes out as a distribution with no payroll tax on it.
The salary comes first. The IRS expects an owner who works in the business to be paid reasonable compensation before taking distributions, and in our opinion a salary set too low is the main reason this strategy fails on audit.
1
Profit well above a reasonable salary
Usually worth it
Your business earns much more than you would have to pay someone to do your job. The saving comes from the profit above your salary, so the wider that gap is, the more the election is worth.
Your S corporation→ salary →You, on payroll+ distribution →You, as owner
2
Profit close to what the job pays
Usually not worth it
If the business earns about what your work is worth, nearly all of the profit has to be salary. That leaves little to take as a distribution, and the added costs end up larger than the saving.
3
A side business next to a full-time job
Often worse
Your job already pays Social Security tax on your wages, and a sole proprietor gets credit for that against the wage base. An S corporation does not, because it owes the employer half on your salary no matter what another employer paid. Run the numbers before you elect.
The test is a reasonable salary
An examiner starts with one question: what would the business have to pay someone else to do the work you do? Set that number before you run the calculator, and write down how you got it.
What the IRS and the courts look at
Factor | What documents it
Your training and experience | Licenses, credentials, and years in the trade
Your duties and responsibilities | A written list of what you actually do in the business
The time you put in | Your usual weekly hours, by role
What comparable businesses pay for similar work | Wage data for your occupation and area, or a job posting for the same role
What you pay employees who are not owners | Your own payroll records
Your history of distributions | The year’s salary and distributions, side by side
Watson v. United States - an accountant paid himself a $24k salary through his S corporation in 2002 and again in 2003. He took profit distributions of about $204k and $175k in those years. The court found that his services were worth about $91k a year and treated that much as wages. The appeals court affirmed (8th Cir. 2012).
Low salaries - a lower salary shows a bigger saving in the calculator, and it is also the number an examiner will test. We set the salary from the work first, and the saving follows from that.
What it costs you
The costs are spread across the year, and some of them are not fees.
The cost | What it is
Payroll | You become an employee. That means paychecks, quarterly and annual payroll returns, a W-2, and federal and state unemployment tax.
A second tax return | The corporation files Form 1120-S, due March 15 for a calendar year. A late return costs $255 per shareholder for each month it is late.
Bookkeeping | The return needs a balance sheet and a record of every distribution. The books have to be kept all year.
A smaller QBI deduction | Your salary is not qualified business income. The calculator counts this.
A smaller Social Security record | Your benefit is figured on wages. A lower salary means lower credited earnings.
Less room for retirement contributions | Employer contributions to a plan are based on your salary, so a lower salary lowers the limit.
State filings | An LLC or corporation in Texas files with the Comptroller every year. No franchise tax is due at or below $2,650,000 of revenue, but the information report is still required. Other states tax S corporations in their own ways.
Setup, and what you keep
Once, to make the election
Run the numbers. Use your real profit and a salary you can support.
Check that you qualify. The owners have to be eligible, and there can be only one class of stock.
Form an LLC or a corporation with the state, if you are a sole proprietor today
Write a salary memo that shows how you set the number
File Form 2553 on time. It is due within two months and 15 days of the start of the tax year.
Set up payroll before you take the first paycheck
Every year
Run payroll on a schedule, all year
File the quarterly and annual payroll returns, and the W-2
Record each distribution, and keep distributions in proportion to ownership
Keep business and personal spending in separate accounts
File Form 1120-S by March 15
Review the salary. Raise it when the work or the profit grows.
What goes wrong
You can do the version you see on social media and risk having it thrown out on audit. Or you can frame it up so it stays effective. Here is what the first version looks like.
The mistake | The fix
No salary, or a token one | Pay yourself what the work is worth before you take a distribution. This is the first thing an examiner checks.
Electing before the profit is there | Run the numbers first. Below about $60k of profit, the costs usually win.
A late Form 2553 | File it within two months and 15 days of the start of the year. Relief for a late election exists, but do not plan on it.
One paycheck in December | Run payroll through the year, with the withholding and deposits made on time.
Paying personal bills from the business account | Take a paycheck or a recorded distribution, and pay personal bills from your own account.
Uneven distributions between owners | Distribute in proportion to ownership. Uneven distributions can look like a second class of stock.
A missed Form 1120-S deadline | Calendar March 15. The late penalty runs per owner, per month.
Electing with a full-time job and no analysis | Enter your other wages in the calculator. The election can cost more than it saves.
Yearly review - a business that does not fit this year may fit in two years. We rerun this for clients every year, because the profit and the work both change.
Working through this with an AI assistant?
Paste this into Claude, ChatGPT, or whichever assistant you use. It points your assistant at our full guide to this strategy, which covers the rules and their sources, this year’s figures, the setup steps, the paperwork, and the risks. It also tells the assistant when to send you to a professional. Nothing is held back.
Read https://www.reddoortaxes.com/guides/s-corporation.md from Red Door Taxes. I own a business and I am deciding whether it should be taxed as an S corporation. Using that guide, ask me its intake questions one at a time, help me set a reasonable salary I can support, estimate what the election would save after its costs, and tell me what could go wrong. Tell me plainly when the guide says to stop and get a professional.
Copy prompt
The guide is a plain page that anyone can read: open the guide. It states the same rules and the same figures as this page, with a source for each. All of our guides are listed in one place.
We run this analysis with our clients
The decision takes your real profit, a salary you can defend, and an honest count of the costs. Everything you need to work it out yourself is on this page, and nothing is held back. If you would rather hand it off, implementation is a paid service. We set the salary with you, file the election, and set up the payroll.
We also prepare the corporate and personal returns that go with it. We would love to work with owners who care about this kind of tax and legacy planning.
Book a consultation
For educational purposes only. This page and its calculator are general education for business owners. They are not tax, legal, or accounting advice for your specific situation, and reading them does not create a client relationship with Red Door Taxes. The calculator estimates federal tax only. It ignores state taxes, the additional Medicare tax on higher earnings, and the limits on the QBI deduction at higher incomes. Your profit, your salary, your state, and the current year’s inflation-adjusted amounts all change the result. Nothing you enter in the calculator is saved or transmitted. Bring us your facts before you act on any of it.

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# The Accountable Plan, Done Right

URL: https://www.reddoortaxes.com/strategies/accountable-plan

Get reimbursed for what you already pay.
ACCOUNTABLEPLAN
Ryan Voight
Owner, Enrolled Agent
New Braunfels, TX830-402-4152
Your corporation can pay you back for costs you already carry
Bottom line: if you work for your own S corporation, it can pay you back for business costs you cover personally, and you pay no tax on what it repays. The corporation deducts the payment, and the arrangement is called an accountable plan. With a 150 square foot home office, a $150 phone and internet bill, and 5,000 business miles, the reimbursements come to about $7k a year. That saves you about $1,300 in tax if you are in the 24 percent bracket.
In our opinion, this is worth doing for the same reason as the Augusta Rule. Most tax savings ask you to part with money. A 401(k) locks it away, and paying your children hands it to them. This one pays you back for money you were already going to spend on the home, the phone, and the miles. You are trading attention and paperwork for pure savings.
What it covers
Home, phone, miles
The business share of costs you pay personally
Tax on the reimbursement
$0
When the plan’s three rules are met
What it costs you
Paperwork
No new spending: the business repays what you already paid
What you need
Real records
Bills and a mileage log behind every number
What would this save you?
Enter what you already pay, and the calculator will figure the business share of each cost and what the deduction is worth. Nothing you enter here is saved or sent anywhere. Treat the result as an educational estimate, and bring us your facts before you act on it.
Your situation
What kind of business do you work for?The plan is for owners who are employees of their own corporation.S corporationC corporationSole proprietorship or single-member LLCPartnership or multi-member LLC
Your marginal federal tax bracketNot sure which? See the IRS tax bracket guide.10% (the lowest bracket)12%22%24%32%35%37% (the top bracket)
Do you claim the 20% QBI deduction?If yes, the deduction shrinks by a fifth.YesNo
Home office
Office size, in square feetThe space used only for the business.
Whole home, in square feet
Yearly cost of the homeRent or mortgage interest, property tax, utilities, insurance, and repairs.
Phone and internet
Monthly bill
Share used for the businessAs a percentage.
Business miles
Business miles a yearCount miles in your own vehicle. The commute does not count. The estimate uses one rate for the whole year.
This year’s figures
Mileage rate, in cents a mile
C corporation tax rate
The 2026 mileage rate is 72.5 cents through June and 76cents from July. This calculator projects a full year at one rate, and it starts with the current one. For an actual reimbursement, use the rate for the month you drove the miles.
What it saves
Net annual saving
$0
Home office reimbursement$0
Phone and internet reimbursement$0
Mileage reimbursement$0
Reimbursed to you, tax free$0
Income tax saved by the deduction$0
Smaller QBI deduction$0
New money you spend$0
Estimate$0
Where the saving comes from
Cost | Net annual saving
The rule underneath all of it
A reimbursement is not wages when it is paid under an accountable plan, and the plan has three rules. The expense has to be a business expense you paid while working for the corporation. You have to document it to the corporation within a reasonable time. And you have to give back anything you were paid above what you documented.
When you meet all three, the corporation deducts the payment and you leave it off your return. When you miss one, the payment is wages, with income tax and payroll tax on it.
The plan matters because an employee cannot deduct job expenses on a personal return, and an owner who works for their own corporation is an employee. Without a plan, you get no deduction for the home office, the phone, or the miles.
1
S corporation or C corporation owner on payroll
Works
You are an employee of your corporation, so the plan applies to you the way it would to any employee. In our opinion, this is where a plan does the most good.
You pay the bill→ expense report →Your corporation→ reimbursement →You, tax free
2
Sole proprietorship or single-member LLC
Not needed
You are not an employee, so there is nothing to reimburse. You deduct the home office and the business miles directly on your own return.
3
Partnership or multi-member LLC
Works differently
Partners are not employees either, so the plan does not apply the same way. You may instead be able to deduct these costs as unreimbursed partnership expenses (UPE). That works when your partnership agreement requires you to pay them. Talk to a professional before you rely on it.
The three costs most owners already pay
Each cost needs two things: a way to figure the business share, and a record that backs it up.
Cost | How to figure it | What documents it
Home office | The office’s share of the home’s square footage, times what the home actually cost | Measurements or a floor plan, and the bills
Phone and internet | The business share of the monthly bill | The bills, and a note on how you set the percentage
Business miles | Miles driven for the business, times the IRS mileage rate | A mileage log with the date, destination, purpose, and miles
Home office
You have to use the office regularly, and only for the business. It also has to be your principal place of business, which includes the place where you do your administrative work if you have no other fixed place for it. Because you are an employee, the use has to be for the convenience of the corporation too.
Actual costs - the simplified method of $5 a square foot is not available for reimbursements, so the plan repays the business share of what the home actually cost.
Depreciation - in our opinion, leave it out of the reimbursement. It is not a cost you paid this year, and claiming it creates tax to pay back when you sell the home.
Phone and internet
Reimburse the share you use for the business. Keep the bills, and write down how you arrived at the percentage.
Business miles
Driving from home to a regular office is commuting, and commuting does not count. If your home office is your principal place of business, the drive from home to a client or a jobsite is a business trip. The 2026 rate is 72.5 cents a mile through June and 76 cents from July.
Timing
The IRS treats two periods as reasonable. You turn in your expenses within 60 days of paying them, and you return any excess within 120 days. In our opinion, a monthly expense report is the easy way to stay inside both. A quarterly report is too slow, because the expenses from the start of the quarter are already more than 60 days old.
Setup, and what you keep
Once, to set it up
Adopt the plan in writing. A short resolution and a one-page policy are enough.
Measure the office and the home, and figure the percentage
Set the business share of the phone and internet, and write down why
Start a mileage log
Put a monthly expense report on your calendar
Every month
Fill in the expense report from the bills and the mileage log
Attach the bills and the log
Have the corporation pay you by check or transfer
Record the payment in the books as a reimbursed expense
File the report and its support together
Year end - turn in the last report of the year and have it paid on time. Tell your preparer which home costs were reimbursed, so they are not deducted a second time.
What goes wrong
You can do the version you see on social media and risk having it thrown out on audit. Or you can frame it up so it stays effective. Here is what the first version looks like.
The mistake | The fix
Reimbursing a round number | Reimburse what the bills and the log show. A flat monthly allowance with no support is wages.
No written plan | Put the plan in writing before the first reimbursement.
One lump sum in December | Turn in a report every month. Expenses reported within 60 days fall inside the timing the IRS treats as reasonable.
No mileage log | Log each trip when it happens. A log rebuilt at year end is weak support.
An office that doubles as a guest room | The space has to be used only for the business. Pick a room or a defined area that is.
Using $5 a square foot | That method is not available for reimbursements. Use what the home actually cost.
Deducting the same cost twice | Do not itemize mortgage interest or property tax the corporation reimbursed.
Counting the commute | Trips from home count only when the home office is your principal place of business.
Reimbursements in place of a salary | The plan covers real costs. An owner who works in the business still takes a reasonable salary.
Size - this is usually a few thousand dollars of deductions a year, and it will not fix a salary that is too low. State income tax rules may also differ from the federal rule.
Employees - the same plan can reimburse your employees for their business costs, such as mileage and phone use, under the same three rules.
Working through this with an AI assistant?
Paste this into Claude, ChatGPT, or whichever assistant you use. It points your assistant at our full guide to this strategy, which covers the rules and their sources, this year’s figures, the setup steps, the paperwork, and the risks. It also tells the assistant when to send you to a professional. Nothing is held back.
Read https://www.reddoortaxes.com/guides/accountable-plan.md from Red Door Taxes. I own a corporation and work in it, and I want an accountable plan to reimburse my home office, phone, and business mileage. Using that guide, ask me its intake questions one at a time, tell me whether I qualify and what could go wrong, help me figure each reimbursement, then walk me through the setup and the expense reports. Tell me plainly when the guide says to stop and get a professional.
Copy prompt
The guide is a plain page that anyone can read: open the guide. It states the same rules and the same figures as this page, with a source for each. All of our guides are listed in one place.
The expense report is what makes this hold up
A defensible version of this runs on paper. You need a written plan, a home office calculation, and a mileage log, plus an expense report with its bills, turned in every month. Everything you need to run it yourself is on this page, and nothing is held back. If you would rather hand it off, implementation is a paid service. We write the plan, figure the home office percentage, and set up the expense report and the bookkeeping for it.
We also prepare the corporate and personal returns that go with it. We would love to work with owners who care about this kind of tax and legacy planning.
Book a consultation
For educational purposes only. This page and its calculator are general education for business owners. They are not tax, legal, or accounting advice for your specific situation, and reading them does not create a client relationship with Red Door Taxes. The calculator estimates federal income tax only. It ignores state income tax. It assumes the home office, the phone use, and the miles all qualify, and it applies one mileage rate to the whole year. Your entity, your home, your records, and the current year’s mileage rate all change the result. Nothing you enter in the calculator is saved or transmitted. Bring us your facts before you act on any of it.

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# Vehicle Deductions, Done Right

URL: https://www.reddoortaxes.com/strategies/vehicles

Mileage rate or actual costs?
VEHICLEDEDUCTIONS
Ryan Voight
Owner, Enrolled Agent
New Braunfels, TX830-402-4152
The first-year write-off is mostly timing
Bottom line: the first-year write-off on a heavy truck is real, but most of it comes back as income when you sell. Take a $60k truck that you drive 12,000 business miles a year. If you deduct actual costs, you write off about $54k in the first year. If you use the mileage rate, you deduct about $9k.
Now say you sell the truck for $25k five years later. Your five-year totals are about $56k with actual costs and about $53k with the mileage rate, so the two methods end up about $3k apart. The version you see on social media only shows you the first year. In our opinion, you should pick the method for the whole time you will own the vehicle, and you should not buy a vehicle because of the deduction.
Mileage rate
76 cents
For each business mile, from July 2026
Weight that matters
6,000 pounds
Over this gross vehicle weight, the yearly limits do not apply
Business use needed
Over 50%
For the first-year write-off
What you need
A mileage log
Both methods depend on your business miles
Which method is better for you?
Enter the vehicle and how you use it, and the calculator will show both methods for the first year and for the whole time you own the vehicle. Nothing you enter here is saved or sent anywhere. Treat the result as an educational estimate, and bring us your facts before you act on it.
Your vehicle
How heavy is it?Use the gross vehicle weight on the sticker inside the driver’s door.Over 6,000 pounds (heavy pickup, van, or SUV)6,000 pounds or less (car, crossover, or light truck)
Price of the vehicle
Business useBusiness miles as a percentage of all miles.
Total miles a yearBusiness and personal together.
Yearly running costsFuel, insurance, repairs, tires, and registration.
Years you will keep it
What you expect to sell it for
Your marginal federal tax bracketNot sure which? See the IRS tax bracket guide.10% (the lowest bracket)12%22%24%32%35%37% (the top bracket)
Do you claim the 20% QBI deduction?If yes, each deduction is worth a fifth less.YesNo
Take the first-year write-off?It needs business use over 50%.YesNo
This year’s figures
Mileage rate, in cents a mile
Depreciation share of the rate, in cents
The 2026 mileage rate is 72.5 cents through June and 76 cents from July. The yearly limits for lighter vehicles are the 2026 amounts.
The two methods
Difference in tax, after the sale
$0
Deduction | Mileage rate | Actual costs
Year one | $0 | $0
While you own it | $0 | $0
Added back or deducted at the sale | $0 | $0
Total after the sale | $0 | $0
Tax saved at your bracket | $0 | $0
Year one, and after the sale
Method | Deductions
The rule underneath all of it
There are two ways to deduct a business vehicle. With the mileage rate, you multiply your business miles by the IRS rate, which is 76 cents a mile right now. That rate already covers fuel, insurance, repairs, and depreciation, so the only things you add are parking and tolls. With actual costs, you add up what the vehicle really cost to run, take the business share, and then add depreciation.
You make the choice in the first year you use the vehicle for business, and it limits what you can do later. If you want the mileage rate on a vehicle you own, you have to start with it in year one. If you take the first-year write-off instead, you cannot switch that vehicle to the mileage rate in a later year.
1
Over 6,000 pounds
No yearly limit
A pickup, van, or SUV with a gross vehicle weight over 6,000 pounds has no yearly limit on depreciation. If you use it more than 50 percent for business, you can deduct the business share of the price in the first year.
2
6,000 pounds or less
Yearly limits
A car, crossover, or light truck has a limit on depreciation each year. For a vehicle you start using in 2026, the first-year limit is $20,300 if you take the first-year write-off and $12,300 if you do not. The limits for the following years are $19,800, $11,900, and then $7,160 a year. You multiply each one by your business-use percentage.
3
Business use of 50 percent or less
No first-year write-off
You cannot take the first-year write-off, and depreciation is spread evenly over the years. The mileage rate is usually simpler at this level of use. One more thing: if your business use drops to 50 percent or less in a later year, you have to add part of an earlier write-off back to income.
Heavy SUVs - you will hear that the write-off on a heavy SUV is limited to $32,000. That limit applies to section 179, which is one of two first-year deductions. Bonus depreciation covers the rest of the price, so in 2026 the first-year result is the same as for a truck.
You give most of the write-off back when you sell
Depreciation lowers your basis in the vehicle, which is the amount the tax law treats you as still having in it. When you sell or trade the vehicle, the business share of anything you get above that basis is income. So if you wrote off the whole truck and then sell it for $25k, the business share of that $25k is taxable in the year you sell.
The mileage rate does the same thing on a smaller scale, because 35 cents of each mile counts as depreciation in 2026.
Here is what that means over the whole time you own the vehicle. Once you count the sale, depreciation ends up about the same under both methods, so the real difference is your running costs. The mileage rate allows 41 cents a mile for them. If you spend more than that for each business mile, actual costs come out ahead, and if you spend less, the mileage rate does.
Timing - getting a deduction this year is worth more than getting the same deduction over five years, and that is a real benefit of the first-year write-off. In our opinion, it is a good reason to time a purchase you already need. It is a poor reason to buy a vehicle you do not need.
If you work for your own S corporation
If the vehicle is in your own name, your corporation reimburses your business miles at the mileage rate under an accountable plan, and you do not choose a method on your own return.
If the corporation owns the vehicle, it can use either method on its return. Your personal use of that vehicle is a taxable benefit, so it has to be valued and added to your W-2.
Setup, and what you keep
When you buy
Check the gross vehicle weight on the door sticker
Keep the purchase documents, and note the date you first used it for business
Choose the method. Decide before you file for the first year.
Start the mileage log on the first day
All year
Log each business trip, with the date, destination, purpose, and miles
Record the odometer at the start and the end of the year
Keep receipts for running costs, if you use actual costs
Keep parking and toll receipts under either method
What goes wrong
You can do the version you see on social media and risk having it thrown out on audit. Or you can frame it up so it stays effective. Here is what the first version looks like.
The mistake | The fix
Buying a vehicle for the deduction | A deduction only saves you your tax rate. If you are in the 24 percent bracket, a $60k truck still costs you about $46k.
No mileage log | Both methods depend on your business miles, so log each trip when it happens.
A write-off at 50 percent business use or less | You cannot take it. If your use drops to 50 percent or less later, part of the write-off is added back to your income.
Switching methods later | The choice you make in the first year limits you later. After a first-year write-off, you cannot move that vehicle to the mileage rate.
Forgetting the sale | Plan for the income in the year you sell or trade, because the write-off lowered your basis.
Using curb weight | The test uses gross vehicle weight, which is on the door sticker.
Counting the commute | Driving between your home and your regular place of work does not count.
Personal use of a company vehicle left off the W-2 | Value your personal use and report it as wages.
Five or more vehicles on the mileage rate | You cannot use the mileage rate when you use five or more vehicles at the same time.
Working through this with an AI assistant?
Paste this into Claude, ChatGPT, or whichever assistant you use. It points your assistant at our full guide to this strategy, which covers the rules and their sources, this year’s figures, the setup steps, the paperwork, and the risks. It also tells the assistant when to send you to a professional. Nothing is held back.
Read https://www.reddoortaxes.com/guides/vehicles.md from Red Door Taxes. I use a vehicle in my business and I want to choose between the mileage rate and actual costs. Using that guide, ask me its intake questions one at a time, compare both methods for the first year and for the whole time I will own the vehicle, and tell me what records I need. Tell me plainly when the guide says to stop and get a professional.
Copy prompt
The guide is a plain page that anyone can read: open the guide. It states the same rules and the same figures as this page, with a source for each. All of our guides are listed in one place.
We run this comparison before our clients buy
The right method depends on the vehicle, how you use it, and how long you plan to keep it. Everything you need to work it out yourself is on this page, and nothing is held back. If you would rather hand it off, implementation is a paid service. We run the comparison before you buy, set up your mileage log, and handle the depreciation and the sale on your return.
We also prepare the business and personal returns that go with it. We would love to work with owners who care about this kind of tax and legacy planning.
Book a consultation
For educational purposes only. This page and its calculator are general education for business owners. They are not tax, legal, or accounting advice for your specific situation, and reading them does not create a client relationship with Red Door Taxes. The calculator estimates federal income tax only. It ignores state income tax, self-employment tax, and interest on a vehicle loan. It treats the mileage rate and your running costs as the same every year, and it does not cover leased vehicles. Your vehicle, your records, and the current year’s figures all change the result. Nothing you enter in the calculator is saved or transmitted. Bring us your facts before you act on any of it.

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# Owner Retirement Plans, Done Right

URL: https://www.reddoortaxes.com/strategies/retirement-plans

Solo 401(k), SEP, or SIMPLE?
RETIREMENTPLANS
Ryan Voight
Owner, Enrolled Agent
New Braunfels, TX830-402-4152
The biggest deduction you choose, and the one that costs real money
Bottom line: a retirement plan is usually the largest deduction you can choose, and it is the only strategy here where you actually have to set money aside. Say you pay yourself a $50k salary from your S corporation. A Solo 401(k) lets you put in up to $37k, a SIMPLE IRA about $18.5k, and a SEP IRA $12.5k. If you set aside $20k, you save about $4,800 in tax in the 24 percent bracket.
With the Augusta Rule or an accountable plan, you get a deduction for money you were already going to spend. A retirement plan is different, because the money really does leave your pocket and you do not get it back until you retire. In our opinion, you should decide how much you can afford to set aside first, and then pick the plan that fits that number.
Most a Solo 401(k) allows
$72,000
Plus catch-up contributions if you are 50 or older
What it costs you
Real money
You cannot spend the contribution until you retire
What decides the plan
Employees
A Solo 401(k) is only for an owner with no staff
What you need
A signed plan
Each plan has its own deadline to set it up
How much could you put in?
Enter what the business pays you and what you can afford to set aside, and the calculator will show the most each plan allows. Nothing you enter here is saved or sent anywhere. Treat the result as an educational estimate, and bring us your facts before you act on it.
Your situation
How does the business pay you?The limits are figured differently for each.S or C corporation (you are on payroll)Sole proprietorship or partnership
Your pay from the businessYour W-2 salary if you are on payroll, or your net profit if you are not.
Your age at the end of the yearOlder owners can put in more.Under 5050 to 59, or 64 and over60 to 63
Who works in the business?Employees change which plans you can use.Just me, or me and my spouseI have other employees
What you can set aside this yearMoney you will not need before you retire.
Your marginal federal tax bracketNot sure which? See the IRS tax bracket guide.10% (the lowest bracket)12%22%24%32%35%37% (the top bracket)
The limits in this calculator are the 2026 amounts.
What it saves
Tax saved this year
$0
Plan | Most you can put in | Fits your number
Solo 401(k) | $0 |
SIMPLE IRA | $0 |
SEP IRA | $0 |
The most each plan allows
Plan | Yearly limit on your pay
The rule underneath all of it
You deduct the money you put into a retirement plan this year. It grows without tax while it is in the plan, and you pay tax on it when you take it out. If you take it out before age 59½, you usually pay an extra 10 percent on top of the regular tax. So this is a deduction with a real cost, because you give up the use of that money for a long time.
The three plans below differ in how much they let you put in, how much work they are to run, and what they require you to do for your employees. This page covers pre-tax contributions. A Roth contribution gives up the deduction now in exchange for tax-free withdrawals later, and that is a separate decision.
1
Solo 401(k)
The most room
This plan is for an owner with no employees other than a spouse, and you contribute to it twice. As the employee, you can put in up to $24,500 of your pay. As the employer, your business can add up to 25 percent of your pay on top of that. That is why it allows the most at lower incomes. One more thing: once the plan holds more than $250,000, it has to file a short return every year.
2
SEP IRA
The simplest
The business makes all of the contributions, up to 25 percent of your pay. You can set it up and fund it as late as the due date of your return, including extensions, so it is the easiest plan to add after the year is over. If you have employees, you have to contribute the same percentage of pay for them.
3
SIMPLE IRA
For a small staff
This plan is built for a business with employees that wants something light. You can put in up to $17,000 of your pay, and the business matches your contribution up to 3 percent of your pay. If the business has 25 or fewer employees, that limit is usually $18,100. The plan has to be in place by October 1, and it generally has to be your only plan for the year.
How your business type changes the number
If you work for your own S corporation, every limit is based on your W-2 salary. A lower salary saves payroll tax and also lowers what you can put into a plan, so you have to make the two decisions together. We cover the salary on the S corporation page.
If you are a sole proprietor or a partner, the limits are based on your net profit after half of your self-employment tax. The employer share works out to about 20 percent of that number, where a corporation uses 25 percent of your salary.
The limits for 2026
Limit | 2026 amount
Your own contribution to a 401(k) | $24,500
Extra if you are 50 or older | $8,000
Extra if you are 60 to 63 | $11,250
Total to a 401(k) or a SEP, before the extra amounts | $72,000
Your own contribution to a SIMPLE | $17,000
The same, in most businesses with 25 or fewer employees | $18,100
Extra to a SIMPLE if you are 50 or older | $4,000, or $3,850 with the higher limit
Extra to a SIMPLE if you are 60 to 63 | $5,250
Most pay that counts toward a contribution | $360,000
One more thing: starting in 2026, if your wages from the business were over $150,000 last year, the extra amounts for age 50 and older have to go into a 401(k) as Roth contributions. You can still make them, but you do not get a deduction for them.
If you have employees
Employees change this decision more than anything else. You cannot use a Solo 401(k) once you have employees other than your spouse. With a SEP, you have to contribute the same percentage of pay for every eligible employee, so 20 percent for yourself means 20 percent for them too. A SIMPLE costs less, because you only match what they put in, up to 3 percent of their pay.
In our opinion, you should price the cost of covering your employees before you pick a plan, and you should have a plan provider or an administrator set it up.
Setup, and what you keep
To set it up
Pick the number. Decide how much you can afford to set aside.
Choose the plan that allows that amount
Open the plan with a provider before its deadline
Sign the plan document and keep a copy
If you are on payroll, set up your own contribution through payroll
Every year
Make the contributions by the deadline
Keep a record of each contribution and the year it is for
Check the limits, because they change every year
File the plan’s yearly return once a Solo 401(k) holds more than $250,000
Review the plan when you hire your first employee
What goes wrong
These are the mistakes that cost owners the deduction or lead to a penalty, and how to fix each one.
The mistake | The fix
A Solo 401(k) with employees | That plan covers only you and your spouse. When you hire, you have to change the plan.
A missed deadline | A SIMPLE has to be in place by October 1, and a Solo 401(k) should be open before the year ends. A SEP can wait until your return is due.
A salary too low to support the contribution | In an S corporation the limits follow your salary, so set the salary and the plan together.
Contributions that skip payroll | If you are on payroll, your own contributions have to come out of your paychecks.
Putting in more than the limit | Your own contribution limit covers every plan you are in, including one at a day job, so add them up before you contribute.
Forgetting the yearly return | A Solo 401(k) with more than $250,000 files a return every year, and it is an easy one to miss.
Needing the money back | Money you take out before age 59½ usually costs you an extra 10 percent, and a SIMPLE costs 25 percent in its first two years. Keep your emergency savings somewhere else.
Two plans in one year | A SIMPLE generally has to be your only plan for the year.
What we do not do - we do not run retirement plans or file a plan’s yearly return. A plan provider or an administrator does that work, and in our opinion it is worth paying for.
Bigger plans - if you are older and want to put in much more than these limits, a defined benefit or cash balance plan may fit. Those need an actuary, and they are outside this page.
Working through this with an AI assistant?
Paste this into Claude, ChatGPT, or whichever assistant you use. It points your assistant at our full guide to this strategy, which covers the rules and their sources, this year’s figures, the setup steps, the paperwork, and the risks. It also tells the assistant when to send you to a professional. Nothing is held back.
Read https://www.reddoortaxes.com/guides/retirement-plans.md from Red Door Taxes. I own a business and I want to choose between a Solo 401(k), a SEP IRA, and a SIMPLE IRA. Using that guide, ask me its intake questions one at a time, work out the most I can contribute to each plan, and help me pick the one that fits what I can set aside. Tell me plainly when the guide says to stop and get a professional.
Copy prompt
The guide is a plain page that anyone can read: open the guide. It states the same rules and the same figures as this page, with a source for each. All of our guides are listed in one place.
We help you pick the plan and the number
The right plan depends on what the business pays you, whether you have employees, and how much you can afford to set aside. Everything you need to work it out yourself is on this page, and nothing is held back. If you would rather hand it off, implementation is a paid service. We work out your limits, set your salary and your contribution together, and coordinate with your plan provider. We do not run the plan itself.
We also prepare the business and personal returns that go with it. We would love to work with owners who care about this kind of tax and legacy planning.
Book a consultation
For educational purposes only. This page and its calculator are general education for business owners. They are not tax, legal, investment, or accounting advice for your specific situation, and reading them does not create a client relationship with Red Door Taxes. The calculator estimates federal income tax only. It uses the general SIMPLE limit, and it ignores state income tax, the QBI deduction, and Roth contributions you choose to make. It does not cover defined benefit plans or what a plan costs you for employees. Your pay, your age, your employees, and the current year’s limits all change the result. Nothing you enter in the calculator is saved or transmitted. Bring us your facts before you act on any of it.

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# Meet the Team

URL: https://www.reddoortaxes.com/team

The people who answer when you call.
MEET THETEAM
Ryan Voight
Owner, Enrolled Agent
New Braunfels, TX830-402-4152
Who does what
Every return at Red Door Taxes passes through more than one set of hands. Here is who you will hear from during the year, and what each of us does.
Ryan Voight
President · Enrolled Agent
Ryan leads tax advisory and prepares returns. He manages our Gold clients, including their tax planning, and handles new business consultations.
Shikinah Voight
Chief Operating Officer
Shikinah runs the firm. She manages our internal operations, keeps the team on time and on task, and works alongside Renee on the bookkeeping we do for clients. She has managed small businesses continually since she was a teenager, when she began helping administer her family's businesses, and she brings a deep bench of entrepreneurial and management experience to every client we serve.
Emily Davidson
Head of Tax Preparation · Enrolled Agent
Emily prepares the bulk of our returns, aiming for accuracy and the best possible tax outcome for each client. As part of this, she meets with our Silver clients to plan ahead for the coming year. She also specializes in IRS representation, helping clients resolve letters and concerns. Her extensive experience working with the IRS and preparing returns is especially helpful for clients who are looking to get caught up on multiple years of filing.
Renee Dean
Head of Bookkeeping
Renee leads our bookkeeping. She brings about twenty years of accounting experience across many industries, from non-profit to for-profit, with the last ten spent in construction.
Kara Denton-Aisner
Office Manager and Client Services Coordinator
Kara brings more than ten years of experience working with small businesses to her role as office manager and client services coordinator. She is the first point of contact for clients, oversees daily office operations and document requests, and coordinates scheduling and client communications with each member of the team. Kara helps make sure every client feels welcomed, informed, and supported.

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# Contact — Tax Preparation & Bookkeeping in New Braunfels

URL: https://www.reddoortaxes.com/contact

contact
659 S. Castell Ave New Braunfels, TX 78130830-402-4152inquiries@reddoortaxes.com
We have moved!
To find our new office, find us at 659 S. Castell Ave New Braunfels. Parking on site.
Get directions
Connect with us

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# Privacy Policy

URL: https://www.reddoortaxes.com/privacy-policy

PRivacyPOLICY
Red Door Taxes Inc. Effective Date: May 6, 2026
Red Door Taxes Inc. ("we," "our," or "us") is committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy describes how we collect, use, and protect your information when you visit our website, communicate with us, or use our services.
Information We Collect
We may collect:
Name
Email address
Mobile and other phone numbers
Mailing address
Information related to your tax matter (returns, supporting documents, and identifying information you provide)
Website usage data (IP address, browser type, pages visited)
How We Use Your Information
We use your information to:
Provide tax preparation and advisory services
Respond to inquiries
Send appointment reminders, scheduling updates, and document requests
Send billing and account notifications
Communicate information about your tax matter
Comply with legal, regulatory, and ethical obligations
Red Door Taxes Inc. does not sell your personal information to anyone, for any reason. Ever. We do not make money from third-party ads.
SMS / Text Messaging Communications
Red Door Taxes Inc. sends SMS text messages regarding scheduling, appointment reminders, document requests, return status updates, billing notifications, and other communications related to your tax matter.
Message frequency varies.
Message and data rates may apply.
Reply STOP to any message to opt out.
Reply HELP for assistance.
Carriers are not liable for delayed or undelivered messages.
Consent to receive SMS messages is not a condition of purchase or service.
Mobile opt-in information and consent will not be shared with any third parties or affiliates for marketing or promotional purposes. Information may be shared only with subcontractors and service providers (such as our SMS aggregator and messaging service provider), solely to deliver the messages.
Email Communications
Red Door Taxes Inc. uses email for service-related communications (such as appointment confirmations, document requests, billing notices, and updates on your tax matter) and may occasionally send informational or promotional emails to existing and prospective clients.
Email frequency varies.
You can unsubscribe from commercial emails at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link in the email or by emailing ryan@reddoortaxes.com. We honor opt-out requests within 10 business days.
Service emails related to an active engagement may continue regardless of unsubscribe status, as they are necessary to deliver our services.
We do not sell or rent your email address to any third party.
We comply with the CAN-SPAM Act, including providing our business postal address in commercial emails.
Data Sharing
We may share your information with trusted service providers who assist in operating our business (such as secure hosting, case management systems, and SMS delivery providers). These providers are required to maintain confidentiality.
We may also disclose information when required by law or court order.
We do not sell your personal information.
Data Security
We recommend that all users of our site (and any site) be mindful of data security. No transmission of data over the internet is 100% safe from being compromised; please use encrypted services to share any sensitive information.
To that end, we provide clients with access to a third-party encrypted service for sharing secure documents and information. Please reach out to ryan@reddoortaxes.com to gain access to this communication method.
Changes to This Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Changes will be posted on this page with an updated effective date.
Contact
Red Door Taxes Inc.
659 S. Castell Ave, New Braunfels, TX 78130
ryan@reddoortaxes.com
830-402-4152
https://www.reddoortaxes.com

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# Terms of Service

URL: https://www.reddoortaxes.com/terms-of-service

TERMS OFSERVICE
Red Door Taxes Inc. Effective Date: May 6, 2026
By accessing this website or using our services, you agree to the following Terms of Service.
General Terms
Red Door Taxes Inc. provides tax preparation and related advisory services. Information on this website is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, tax, or financial advice tailored to your specific situation.
‍A formal client relationship is established only through a signed engagement agreement. That engagement agreement — not these website Terms — governs the substantive terms of our work for you, including scope of services, fees, payment, client responsibilities, confidentiality, deliverables, and termination. If anything in these Terms conflicts with a signed engagement agreement, the engagement agreement controls.
These Terms govern your use of this website and any communications you receive from us (including SMS and email) prior to or outside of an active engagement.
SMS / Text Messaging Terms
Program Description. Red Door Taxes Inc. sends SMS text messages to existing and prospective clients who have opted in. Messages may include appointment reminders, scheduling confirmations and changes, document requests, return status updates, billing notifications, and other communications related to your tax matter. Red Door Taxes Inc. does not send promotional or bulk marketing messages.
Message Frequency. Message frequency varies.
Message and Data Rates. Message and data rates may apply.
Opt-Out. You can cancel the SMS service at any time by replying STOP to any message we send you. After you reply STOP, we will send a confirmation message and will not send you further SMS messages. If you want to join again, you can sign up as you did the first time.
Help. Reply HELP to any message for assistance, or contact us directly at ryan@reddoortaxes.com or 830-402-4152.
Carrier Liability. Carriers are not liable for delayed or undelivered messages.
Consent. Consent to receive SMS messages is not a condition of purchase or service.
Non-Sharing of Opt-In Data. Mobile opt-in information and consent will not be shared with any third parties or affiliates for marketing or promotional purposes. Information may be shared only with subcontractors that support our messaging service (such as aggregators and SMS service providers), solely to deliver the messages.
Privacy. Your information is handled in accordance with our Privacy Policy: https://www.reddoortaxes.com/privacy-policy
Email Communications
Program Description. Red Door Taxes Inc. sends emails for service-related purposes (appointment reminders, scheduling, document requests, return status updates, and billing notifications) and may send occasional informational or promotional emails to existing and prospective clients.
Frequency. Email frequency varies.
Opt-Out. You can unsubscribe from commercial emails at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link in the email, or by emailing ryan@reddoortaxes.com. We will honor opt-out requests within 10 business days. Service emails related to an active engagement may continue regardless, as they are necessary to deliver our services.
Compliance. We comply with the CAN-SPAM Act, including providing our business postal address in commercial emails and not using deceptive subject lines or sender information.
Intellectual Property
All content on this website is the property of Red Door Taxes Inc. and may not be reproduced without permission.
Limitation of Liability
To the fullest extent permitted by law, Red Door Taxes Inc. is not liable for any damages arising from the use of this website or our SMS communications.
Governing Law
These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Texas, without regard to conflict-of-law principles.
Changes to Terms
We may update these Terms from time to time. Continued use of the website constitutes acceptance of any changes.
Contact
Red Door Taxes Inc.
659 S. Castell Ave, New Braunfels, TX 78130
ryan@reddoortaxes.com
830-402-4152
https://www.reddoortaxes.com