Tax Planning & Preparation — Year-Round, Not Just Tax Season
- Proactive tax strategy
- RMD planning
- Nationwide tax advisor
New Client Welcome — 15% Off Tax Preparation
If you’re new to Hilltop, enjoy 15% off your first-year tax preparation fee. Simply call us to get started!
Tax Clients: Refer a Friend to Our Tax Preparation Services — & You Both Earn $25
Love working with Hilltop Tax? When you refer a friend and both of your returns are completed and paid, we’ll send a $25 Amazon eGift card to you and to them—a small thank-you for sharing our services.
Who We Help
- Individuals & families
- Business owners
- High earners & equity comp
What’s Included
Planning Moments That Matter
- Retirement income & RMDs | Roth conversions | Social Security timing
- Business owner pay & entity choice | Sale of a business | Retirement plan design
- Charitable giving (including QCDs) | Real estate transactions | Equity comp (ISOs/NSOs/RSUs)
Integrated with Wealth & Accounting
How It Works
Review
Plan
File & Follow-Through
Tax & Accounting Relief in Action
The following reviews are based on experiences from current clients. No compensation was provided to clients. The ratings and comments reflect each client’s own views and opinions, and there are no known conflicts of interest. All ratings are included in the overall rating and all comments are published unless they meet one or more exclusion criteria.
Tax Planning & Preparation: Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between tax planning and tax preparation?
Tax preparation is compliance work on a year that has already closed: gathering documents, filing an accurate return, meeting the deadline. Tax planning happens before the year ends, while the outcome can still be changed — timing a Roth conversion, harvesting a loss, choosing when to realize a gain, adjusting retirement contributions or entity distributions. Preparation records what happened. Planning changes what happens. Hilltop does both in one office, which is why decisions made in June show up on the return filed the following April.
Do you work with clients nationwide?
Yes. We prepare federal and multi-state returns for individuals and businesses across the country, including part-year and non-resident filings for clients who moved, own property in another state, or run a business across state lines. Everything runs through a secure client portal with electronic signature, so no in-person visit is required. Clients who prefer to meet face to face can do so at our Indiana, Michigan, or Florida offices. See our locations.
Can you take over from my current tax preparer?
Yes, and the transition is routine. We request your last two or three years of returns, review them for missed deductions or elections worth amending, carry forward items like capital loss carryovers and depreciation schedules, and take over from the next filing season. You do not need to notify your previous preparer before talking to us. If you would rather keep your current CPA and add planning only, that works too — see how our integrated tax and wealth team operates.
Do you handle amended returns and IRS notices?
Yes. We file amended returns on Form 1040-X when a prior year was filed incorrectly or missed a deduction, and we respond to IRS correspondence including CP2000 underreporting notices, balance-due letters, and examination requests. Our Enrolled Agents hold federal authority to represent taxpayers before the IRS, so you are not handling that correspondence alone. Bring us the notice before you respond to it — the deadline on the letter matters. Contact our tax team.
How do you price tax planning versus tax preparation?
Tax preparation is quoted as a fixed fee based on return complexity — the number of schedules, states, K-1s, rental properties, and business entities involved. Tax planning is scoped separately, and for clients who also use Hilltop for wealth management, planning is generally folded into the advisory relationship rather than billed as an add-on. You get the fee in writing before any work starts.
What is a taxable event, and which ones can I plan around?
A taxable event is any transaction that creates a tax liability: selling an appreciated stock, converting a traditional IRA to a Roth, exercising stock options, taking a retirement distribution, selling a property or a business. Some are unavoidable. Many are entirely a question of timing — and moving one across a December 31 boundary, or spreading it over two years, can change what you owe. That timing decision is what tax planning is for.
When during the year should I start tax planning?
Earlier than most people do. By the time you hand over documents in February, nearly every lever for the prior year has closed — the only remaining options are IRA contributions and a handful of elections. Real planning happens between spring and December, when income, deductions, distributions, and charitable giving can still be adjusted. Hilltop works with tax clients year-round rather than only during filing season, which is the point of keeping tax under the same roof as planning.
Do I need a CPA, an Enrolled Agent, or a tax advisor?
It depends on the work. A CPA is a state-licensed accountant who can handle audits, attestation, and complex business accounting. An Enrolled Agent is federally licensed specifically in taxation and can represent you before the IRS in any state. A tax advisor may hold either credential and focuses on forward-looking strategy rather than filing. Hilltop has all three functions in house, so you are not choosing — you get the right person for the work. Meet the team.
How does tax planning change as I approach and enter retirement?
Substantially. While you are working, planning is mostly about deferral — reducing taxable income now. In retirement it inverts: you control which accounts you draw from and when, so the goal becomes managing your bracket across decades rather than minimizing any single year. The window between retiring and starting Social Security and required minimum distributions is often the most valuable planning period of someone’s life, and it is easy to miss. See our retirement planning approach.
Hilltop Wealth & Tax Solutions provides tax and bookkeeping services. Clients of Hilltop Wealth are advised there is a conflict of interest in that there is an economic incentive to recommend Hilltop Tax. Hilltop Wealth professionals strive to put their clients’ interests first and foremost, and clients may utilize tax and accounting services of their choosing. Endorsements by clients of Hilltop Tax services may not reflect the views expressed by other clients. Endorsements are based on unique experiences and are not representative of all client experiences. Endorsements are solicited for Hilltop Tax services. Should a prospect hire Hilltop Tax services based on the endorsement by a Hilltop Wealth client, the endorser will receive a $25.00 Amazon gift card.