Ep. 49 | How Taxes Are Made
Download MP3Welcome to the Teaching Tax Flow podcast, where the goal is to empower and educate you to legally and ethically minimize taxes paid over your lifetime.
Speaker 2:Good day, everybody, and welcome to episode 49 here on the Teaching Tax Flow podcast. Today's topic, we are gonna dive directly into. Head first, we're gonna talk about how taxes are made. Yes. You heard that right.
Speaker 2:Actually, how taxes are made. How do we make these things we know as taxes? But before we jump into it and meet our guest, let's take a moment as always and thank our sponsor.
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Speaker 2:Hey, everybody. Welcome back to Teaching Tax Flow, the podcast. We know you're we're your favorite podcast. So if you haven't subscribed to us yet, do it, and we'll find out. If you haven't, you're in big trouble.
Speaker 2:So that's why I hang out with a bunch of CPAs, bunch of these smart tax pros. They are smarter than I am, and we make things happen. So I am John Chapalski. Without further ado, Chris Pacuro is back on with us again, the founder of TTF. I won't read off all his credentials because we'll be here all day as always.
Speaker 2:But, Chris, how's it going, bud?
Speaker 4:It is going great. I'm very, very excited about our guest today. One of the three laws of teaching tax flow is that tax agencies are your involuntary business partner. So we talk a lot about tax laws, tax rules, how we can legally and ethically reduce the tax you pay in your lifetime, but what we don't talk about is how taxes are made. How do things get from an idea or a concept or a feeling that we wanna change your behavior to an actual law?
Speaker 4:And we are gonna dive into that today. Awesome. And let's start
Speaker 2:let's peel back the onion.
Speaker 4:Both the Eastern CPAs is here.
Speaker 2:And you know what's funny, Chris, is that I've been hearing you for so long saying M I C P A M I C P A. I'm like, what in the world is M I C P A? Until I got familiar with it, obviously. But we went to an event that they put on couple months ago now, on the West Side of the state, and I'm really excited about this. So we met this fantastic person who is joining us today at the event.
Speaker 2:We were just chatting it up. I don't even remember how the conversation started, but all of a sudden, I think we asked each other, well, what do you do? Like, who are you with? And lo and behold, her title is director of government relations for MICPA. So, Michelle Michelle Thomas, how are you doing today?
Speaker 2:Thank you for joining us.
Speaker 5:I am doing great. Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 2:I was I was gonna say, you know, you made us all feel dumb, but that doesn't take a whole lot sometimes. I mean, me and me and Chris back and forth. You know?
Speaker 4:She didn't make us feel dumb. I think that if we knew that she was, the director of government relations, we may not have had the the gall to actually talk to her. So it was just probably good we didn't know her position. Right?
Speaker 5:It did.
Speaker 2:Well, again, thanks thanks for joining us. Again, this is a great topic. One that, you know, we really didn't even expect to do because we didn't know who to really reach out to touch on this topic. So maybe the best place to start with this is maybe first how you even got into this. Like, does somebody go to the, you know, director of of government relations program, in college, or or how does this work?
Speaker 2:And also, I did point out the fact that we have two Michiganders on this episode and one guy who left us and moved to 10 or Tennessee. So you're outnumbered here, Chris. I'm sorry, buddy.
Speaker 4:That's alright, John.
Speaker 5:Oh, Well, again, thanks for having me. I I really appreciate the opportunity. Yeah. I enjoyed, you know, greatly talking to you in in, West Michigan. And, so just a little bit about my background.
Speaker 5:I actually am a mountaineer. I went to school at West Virginia University and my degree is in broadcast journalism. So actually it's I when I started off, I really had every intention of being a television reporter. And, you know, life happened. And then, I worked for, I worked as an executive assistant for many years.
Speaker 5:And then, at, a previous company, I, got into advocacy. I had been there for several years and, this opportunity came up to work in the, advocacy department. It was in, at a health care organization. And, I fell in love with it then, you know. So I had, you know, a lot of people may start off, like, in political science or, you know, those type of fields.
Speaker 5:But actually, I just kinda fell into it. And, you know, through that experience, at this particular health organization, we, were very much this was very much at the time when, the affordable health, Affordable Healthcare Act was being, discussed and, so it was an interesting time. So I learned a great deal. We had, advocacy directors at, all over. We the the hospital had or the the organization had hospitals across the country.
Speaker 5:And so I worked at the corporate office, and so I got a taste of how things worked at, you know, there in various states. But my role there was not director. My role there was actually an analyst. And, soon after that, I was, tapped by, mayor Maureen Miller Brosnan with the city of Livonia. And, I was asked to lead the government relations department there.
Speaker 5:So I was with, city government for a couple years and then, now I am with the MICPA. So I'm kind of been in different industries. Started off in, really automotive right off the bat. You know, I was basically just, you know, an assistant there. And then automotive and then health care and then government and now accounting.
Speaker 5:So
Speaker 4:That's what I have. The great perspective because the like, a lot of times people say, government is all local. And you started at that local level. Mhmm. And now working with the Michigan Association of CPAs, and and they outreached up to the American Institute of CPAs and, network with other state CPA societies.
Speaker 4:Before we jump into the how it how taxes are made, I think it's important for listeners to understand the tax preparation and accounting business. And Okay. When they're working with the with the tax professional, we talk about in our practice consulting the, monthly recurring revenue institute. A lot of times with that division that, you don't just because you get paid doesn't make you a pro. So when we use that term tax pro, you know, I want the general public to understand who they're working with, to feel protected because there are certified public accountants, there are enrolled agents, there are other designations that have to live under something called in our health care fair standard.
Speaker 4:But, unfortunately, in any state I mean, I know you're in the state of Michigan.
Speaker 5:And
Speaker 4:I'd say this, John usually brings the fact up that I am bald. I know
Speaker 2:that. Oh, it was coming. Don't worry. I had it written down right here. It's part of this.
Speaker 5:It's our get your office it. I didn't even notice it. Hey. You know what?
Speaker 2:Give him a hat.
Speaker 4:It's It's harder if you get a cosmetology license than open up a tax preparation business. Mhmm. So, LaShell, can you kinda touch on and I know, specifically with the CPA and their role and and kinda what differentiates a CPA from a tax tax other tax professionals, in in what what the MICPA does for those folks?
Speaker 5:Absolutely. Yes. So, there, you know, there is a big difference between an accountant and a CPA. And, you know, obviously, that's not to say that accountants aren't important because we need people who are gonna do a vast majority of all kinds of, services. But one of the main differences between someone who is just in finance or accounting, as opposed to someone who's a CPA, is that CPAs, require specific education and they have to be licensed by the state.
Speaker 5:And, in order to be licensed by the state actually, if you don't mind, I'll just quickly give an overview of, how it what's required to become a CPA here in Michigan. That'd be perfect. So, again, CPAs are licensed at the state level. The the license comes from the Bureau of Professional Licensing, which is housed within the Department of LAURA. It's Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, known as LAURA.
Speaker 5:And LAURA has authority over all occupational licenses in Michigan, including the issuance of penalties well, including the assessment of penalties as well. Also, in that realm is the State Board of Accountancy. That is a nine member appointed board that's appointed by, the governor. And they advise the, department on assessment of penalties for CPAs. And they also, interpret and create the administrative rules that, each CPA has to, adhere to.
Speaker 5:So it's it's it's quite complex. CPAs also have to sit for a four segment. Fortunately, they used to have to do this, you know, all within a very, very short time frame. In fact, I think at one time, it was they had to go through it all the way, like, from from start to finish. Now they can take each segment at various times within a certain overall time period.
Speaker 5:So, like, right now, I think it's eighteen months, but, we are hoping that it will get extended soon to thirty months to to allow a lot more time for, CPA or student upcoming CPAs to take the, all of the components. So, as I said, you know, when you're so when you're working with, an actual certified public accountant, you know that they have had to, again, be licensed by the state. They've had to take, a very specific and rigorous exam. They also, are required to take continuing per, continuing professional education also called CPE. They have to take, forty hours of CPE every year and that includes eight hours of accounting and auditing and two hours of ethics.
Speaker 5:And one of those hours or one of those hours has to be, Michigan specific ethics, which is only offered by the MICPA. MIC the MICPA offers courses that cover all of their, requirements. So as I mentioned, they have to have that the eight and two accounts for ten hours and then they can also do 30 out they also are required to do thirty hours of other. They they can choose to do, you know, thirty hours of what's called A and A and they can choose to do, you know, 10 of ethics. But as a total they need 40 and they have to complete that 40 in each year.
Speaker 5:It's not and they every that's a two year cycle. So they have to complete forty hours in the first year, forty hours in the second year. So a total of 80 when they renew their license every two years.
Speaker 2:And really, LaShawn, from the outside looking in, I was the that event that we met at was actually the first one put on by MSCPA that I've ever been to. Obviously, Chris, you've been going to these for one, sixty, seventy years. Hey.
Speaker 5:You know what? First of all, I was there.
Speaker 2:I'm old enough to I
Speaker 4:for my CPA exam, I took the CPA exam in May of what does it matter? But it was a two day event, handwritten, sixteen hours of testing, two days in a row, and gorgeous, Schwartz Creek, Michigan. Oh, nice. It says, this is Stephanie. He said it was
Speaker 2:probably, like, predating a Scantron even. Like, I remember when Scantron scan a lot of
Speaker 4:your assay. And the tricky part is the exam is many of the questions just pick the best answer when you have multiple correct answers. And it's tricky, but we got it south. Anyway, for the Michigan the event we went to, I believe, is the forty fifth or forty sixth annual. So we you know?
Speaker 4:And it was so good for you. There, buddy. That's our Oh,
Speaker 2:you know, it it is what you know, when you say my my CPA, it's like my CPA. Yeah. Because you found it. I get it. Been around for a while.
Speaker 2:You're not that much older than me. So as much, you know, you know, what does that give you? It's all good. Oh, but all joking aside, that event, I was I was almost blown away. Right?
Speaker 2:You guys did such a great job. And this, by the way, is not I don't wanna, you know, give too much of a plug on this and make it sound like it was sponsored or endorsed
Speaker 5:in
Speaker 2:any ways. But I I was very shocked. The way you guys had really content set up, it just the the sessions and the presenters, it was all super engaging, as engaging as some of the stuff could be. I overheard some that were didn't exactly pique my interest, let's say. Mhmm.
Speaker 2:But the way it was presented was great. And just feeling that vibe from everybody there, I was I I mean this with all due respect to everybody who's listening to this that is a tax pro. I didn't see one pocket protector. There was not ink stains all over people's shirts. There was no coffee stains on shirt.
Speaker 2:It is not what you what my my grandmother would refer to as her accountant. She didn't know what a CPA was. She wouldn't care, which by the way, that's how I met this guy on the show. Nobody's heard that before. But it really was a great group of people.
Speaker 2:And just seeing how the organization interacts with its members and really is there to support them, but not cram information down their throat saying this is how you have to do it. This is it. That like, very direct. It's it's just very well. It's it's if if anybody was interested in getting into that industry, it it would be actually a great thing to go to.
Speaker 2:I mean, I don't know if you guys allow that, but I don't think it would turn anybody off is kinda what I'm getting at for the most part. So good job.
Speaker 5:Well, thank you. Thank you. Yeah. Katie Godolka live, leads our, learning team and she is and actually, she now oversees the government relations team. So she's my direct boss.
Speaker 5:So I'm not saying this because she is, but she is fabulous.
Speaker 2:And Repeat this. We'll put that little on a reel that just goes around and around and we'll knock it a ringtone.
Speaker 5:Thank you. Especially at a performance review time. I'd appreciate it.
Speaker 2:Let us know the day.
Speaker 5:But now, she is fabulous and her she and her team just I mean, I'm amazed. I've worked at, you know, several other organizations and, you know, I've never seen events run as smoothly as they do at the MICPA. That's great. And, you know, one of the things too I wanted to mention is, the MICPA has a lot of experience with working with CPAs. You know, we've been in existence since nineteen o one.
Speaker 5:Can you believe that?
Speaker 2:I like Chris joke. I was gonna say, you know, Kristen, your birthday right around there?
Speaker 4:Hey. You know what? Some people get better with age like one. What? So Amy does an amazing job.
Speaker 4:The thing with with these events, and then I wanna touch on some tax law stuff. Sure. Is that we we go to a lot of events. I know, Uncle Bragg for teaching tax flow and us, and we speak at a lot of events. And there's always gonna be trouble.
Speaker 4:There's always gonna be things that go wrong, but you wouldn't know it, right? They retain composure, they fix problems, they figure out a solution for a problem, and that's how you should work in general. That's how people, should operate. If you have a problem with something or challenge, come with a solution or come with an idea. So Absolutely.
Speaker 4:So out of tax, so we know that, like we said, there's certain tax laws that are created to encourage behavior. It could be social behavior. It could be, it could be economic or fiscal policy. It could be, environmental concerns. But can you take us through how a tax law is made basically from maybe someone proposing it?
Speaker 4:It lets and we could stick to the state level since that's where we're at, up to it actually gets that rubber stamp from the governor.
Speaker 5:Sure. So, essentially, what happens is, you know, a lot like most laws, tax law is no different. You know, it typically comes from citizens. You know, people who are, you know, feel that, you know, certain things should be certain taxes or certain laws should be in place to prevent certain taxes. Excuse me.
Speaker 5:And, you know, so they, you know, meet with legislators and express their concerns. So essentially, the MICPA works very closely with the regulatory reform, finance, and tax policy, committees within the Michigan legislature. And, one of the, ways that we we because actually right now, this is the first time in the Michigan legislature that we have not had a CPA, an actual CPA in the legislature. So they are really, you know, in need of assistance when it comes to what they should, you know, what type of bills they should propose and, whether or not they should vote yes or no on certain tax legislation. So, essentially, you know, a bill is, a a representative or senator presents a bill.
Speaker 5:That bill is typically then, referred to a committee. Generally, one of the especially with in relation to tax taxes. It's, you know, typically referred to regulatory reform or finance. And that committee takes the time to, you know, really pour over all of the details. Sometimes they may wanna add things to it, subtract things to it.
Speaker 5:And then after they, if they agree to on like a final version, let's say this starts off in the house, then that will go then it will be go then it will go over to the senate and then the senate will, you know, also make changes. This as you can imagine, this process can take a great deal of time. Right. Going back and forth. But at any rate, eventually, you know, the the bill comes to the floor and it is voted on.
Speaker 5:And once it's voted on and it passes, then it the, it is sent to the governor to sign. So that's pretty much how it works. You know, it's and this is why, you know, advocacy is so incredibly important. And, you know, with being with the MICPA, you know, we have very solid relationships with the Michigan Treasury and with Laura, you know, just to make sure that, you know, we that again, our our members and what they need is, you know, that the legislators are aware of this. We have, task forces, like the SALT task force, for example, that, you know, we that meets regularly.
Speaker 5:And the purpose of that is so that we can hear from the subject matter experts, you know, the actual CPAs as to, you know, what their issues and concerns are. And then we then go to the legislature or to our lawmakers, I should say, and, you know, express these concerns or ideas with them. And typically, they're pretty open to them.
Speaker 4:Does does that process include talking to anyone at the Department of Treasury about
Speaker 5:Yes. Oh, yes. Yes.
Speaker 4:Because here's sometimes tax laws have unintended consequences, and the probably the biggest problem on the federal level right now are the new ten ninety nine k laws that they that if you go sell your t sizzle tickets, John, that's Taylor Swift. I know. I'm not I know Swiftie. Hello.
Speaker 2:I
Speaker 5:didn't know that. I didn't know.
Speaker 4:You're not the closet, Swiftie, but that's right. I'm outing him right now on a live podcast. Maybe he'll
Speaker 5:have an hour. But,
Speaker 4:but, you know, what's serious is if I collect Taylor Swift tickets and then and then my friends reimburse me for those tickets, I could I could get a ten ninety nine. And I'm not in the business of selling tickets.
Speaker 5:Right.
Speaker 4:The issue is is I get it. The US Congress said, wait. We have a lot of unreported income. That's the problem. So let's enforce this ten ninety nine, new ten ninety nine rules.
Speaker 4:And then the IRS is sitting there like, you are creating a huge headache for us on enforcement. So a lot of the the AICPA and other organizations are advocating for the ten ninety nine threshold to go from $600 up to $20,000
Speaker 2:Mhmm.
Speaker 4:Probably more fair because that $600 started, you know, in the fifties or sixties. I don't even remember when it came out. Mhmm. My point is it's great on the state level that that you are working with the Department of Treasury because I bet if Congress brought in the IRS and said, hey, what's enforcement of this look like? They'd realize what they've created and in fact, with that new the new ten ninety nine ks rules, they were supposed to go in place in 2022 and they got bumped an entire year into '23 here.
Speaker 5:Mhmm.
Speaker 4:So that's why I asked on that. I do have a question, kind of a one more big question is on Uh-oh. No. No. This is
Speaker 5:Well, you're at the state.
Speaker 4:State level. You've also worked in local government.
Speaker 5:Uh-huh. Well,
Speaker 4:I don't think Livonia has a city income tax. Do they have us?
Speaker 5:No. They don't. We don't. Okay.
Speaker 4:Some cities do. But Yes. When you have a federal law change, what the process looked like for a state complying with that federal law, without getting any details, obviously, with the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, there are tons of changes and many states don't have limitations on bonus depreciation, section 179, qualified business income deductions, but what do states think about maybe from a 30,000 foot view of, okay, a federal law just changed, a certain deduction is now allowable. Should One major issue is in the, in the, business of, that why am I blanking right now? But federally illegal activities, we'll say, that from a state perspective, you can get a tax deduction.
Speaker 4:We don't wanna go down that rabbit hole. On distilleries and marijuana and growth. But the point is, the question I'm asking is, the state states complying with federal tax law, what does that process look like from a 30,000 foot deal?
Speaker 5:So so, that's a great question. So, typically, when a law is passed down from the federal level, some laws are it's set up where states are have to automatically adopt them. For example, with flow through entity tax, or also known as FTE, you know, that was adopted. And, you know, Michigan is also following along with that. And it's a good thing in the sense that it allows businesses to save on their taxes, you know, partnerships and s corporations.
Speaker 5:But to your, previous statement, when Michigan started to roll this out, we realized that there were, you know, that there was this law made but then the implementation was very complicated. And, you know, fortunately, you know, in conversations that we've had with treasury, we're able to you you were working to, support legislation that should be coming out soon that will make some changes to those laws. So it just kinda depends on how the federal law is worded. In most cases, the state will try to just adopt the federal law. But again, you know, there are many there are so many different components to it.
Speaker 5:You know, there it's probably way above my level of expertise to explain. Right. There's But but there is often flexibility.
Speaker 4:There's unintended consequences because you also have to factor in the economic impact of rule through entity. So for, you know, we've got a $10,000 state and local income tax, SALT tax limitation on personal returns. So many of the states have allowed businesses to, from a third grade level pay the personal tax for someone and take it as a business deduction. Yeah. And some states have complied, some have not.
Speaker 4:But that but obviously a state that complies that's gonna that's gonna change the amount of tax revenue they might they might receive. Yet Well it's gonna be a lot easier to collect that money from these entities than all these individual taxpayers, especially if those taxpayers don't live in the state of Michigan. So
Speaker 5:Yes. It's it's and and that's always that that's almost like with with any law you know that comes down from the federal government you know it's you know obviously we have you know senate state or I'm sorry you know US senator and you know US reps that you know advocate for us in, you know, in, on Capitol Hill, but, you know, it is still it's hard from the federal and not everything that is passed at the federal level is, like you said, feasible or is gonna work best for the residents of a particular state. Right. So,
Speaker 2:the shoe doesn't always fit. Exactly. I think it's what I keep hearing in all these kids movies that might go on their lunches.
Speaker 4:So all those lights. You know, I mean, one example of of and then then we're we're gonna put the Sean on the hot seat, but they're fun. We're gonna hit you with our five five questions five questions that are current tax related. But you look at the state of Michigan, obviously, they they don't wanna lose residents that'd be become snowbirds, go down, you know, to to Florida or wherever, Tennessee Mhmm. For six months and lose that state residency.
Speaker 4:So they've passed some rules to lessen the tax on retirement income. They've they have a they have a homestead property tax credit available for those people. So there's there's certain rules that are encouraging them to maybe stay in Michigan as a Michigan resident. It still can go down go down to these other states and visit, but stay a Michigan resident. So those are just
Speaker 5:just thoughts. Mhmm.
Speaker 4:Alright. Well, we've got we've got a fun little segment at the end here.
Speaker 2:Okay. I'm
Speaker 4:gonna rattle you off five questions. It could give us a one word answer, or you can give us more than one word answer.
Speaker 5:Okay.
Speaker 4:And, they're all fun.
Speaker 2:So there's no nobody's responded back with go jump off a bridge yet for asking them.
Speaker 4:So we're we're
Speaker 2:very nice.
Speaker 5:Well, I'm good. Here we go. What is your favorite cereal? Oh, I would say Corn Pops.
Speaker 4:Oh, we haven't had that one before. That's a first.
Speaker 2:That's a first. Okay?
Speaker 4:We had a couple people at the Audacity that not have a favorite cereal because they're too healthy. I wish that was the case for me. I love cereal.
Speaker 5:Oh, yeah. I actually, so my family loves cereal. I'm not a big cereal person. However, when I do eat cereal, it's corn pops. And, I one of my hobbies is, jigsaw, putting together jigsaw puzzles and going.
Speaker 5:Our kitchen, I have framed a thousand piece jigsaw puzzle that is all different types of cereal.
Speaker 4:Well, I'll just add that. We make it I mean, we I I was in, like, a craft show. How I ended up at a craft show, who the heck knows? Well, my wife was with me, and there was this little sign that said, like, it's too late to cook. You're having cereal for dinner.
Speaker 4:And I just put it up in the kitchen one day. She actually her guy, the only cat bought that actually stayed up, in the house, with the decor.
Speaker 5:I like that.
Speaker 4:Alright. Next question. Your favorite TV show to binge watch?
Speaker 5:Oh my goodness. This is like the easiest question ever. In fact, I mean, I've pretty much binge watched it every day. Sure. The Office, hands down.
Speaker 5:I absolutely love The Office. I could probably repeat pretty much verbatim from every episode, all the script. It is just and, you know, it's interesting because I did not watch it while it was on the air. Mhmm. I, didn't start watching it until about three years ago.
Speaker 5:And now I'm, like, addicted to it. It's like it never gets old.
Speaker 4:Well, the two ladies there's a podcast about The Office. I don't know if you've heard of it.
Speaker 5:Oh, yes. The Office Ladies.
Speaker 3:Yes. Yeah. My wife found it and,
Speaker 4:well, I listened to a couple episodes when we were driving, so it was it was good. I love The Office. Yeah. Alright. Oh, Oh, Remora.
Speaker 4:If you could have dinner with one person, alive or past, who would it be?
Speaker 5:I would have to say my father. My father passed in 2020 and unexpectedly. And, he was just a really he was a great person, but he was always, very encouraging. Mhmm. And he always, thought that I could do more than what I was doing in my career.
Speaker 5:And, it it saddens me that, you know, he was not able to, you know, see me take on these leadership roles. However, it makes me happy to know that he would have expected me to do this. So, so, yeah, I would say I would say my dad unless I have to choose a famous person. But
Speaker 4:No. I would not be I I that's an amazing answer. I'm dear to you. You'd be proud of you, and and that's that's cool. Next is part of our our more fun questions.
Speaker 5:Okay.
Speaker 4:This is gonna be an interesting one because I know you're a mountaineer, and I know from our conversations, I know some of the your teams that you roll with, but favorite sports team?
Speaker 5:Oh, no. So for your audience's information information, I hate sports. I know nothing about sports. My husband is a Spartan and he tries to tease me, you know, our my school is doing a lot better than your school and I'm like, I don't even know what my school is doing. I don't care.
Speaker 5:But I guess if I had to choose, I would choose okay. So is it I'm sorry. Is it NFL? It's it's just one period.
Speaker 4:College pro, whatever team you'd like.
Speaker 5:Okay. So I would have to say it would be the Trojans at USC because that's where my son goes to school. And because of that, I have a lot of Trojan gear. Mhmm. Well, an interesting little fact too.
Speaker 5:So since my husband is a Spartan and my son started off his first year as a Spartan, I have, you know, like Spartan t shirts and things like that. And, again, since I'm not into sports, it it always takes me off guard when I'm in a store or something and then I'd and someone says, go green. And, you know, I'm thinking, why are they saying this to me? And then I'll realize it's because I have on a a Michigan State chart.
Speaker 2:No. It's not that it's because you work for a tax pro organization. There's some go green, like, dollars green. That's what that's really drive. Right?
Speaker 5:Well, don't John, don't let me start to think about that instead of the go the the the appropriate response. Because, like, also, when I think of saying go white, they've already, like, kinda passed me.
Speaker 4:Well, you know, the good thing is you got the Trojans. You've got the Spartans. You've got some really strong teams. You're not the, no no offense to the youth University of California at Irvine anteaters. We got some strong strong gear, strong swag that you're rolling with.
Speaker 4:Last one, ideal weekend.
Speaker 5:Oh, let's see. I gotta come up with something besides binging on the office because
Speaker 2:Hey.
Speaker 4:That sounds good, though.
Speaker 5:I pretty much do that every day. Let's see. My ideal weekend, probably to be on a boat. I I love the water. Mhmm.
Speaker 5:And, I would say my ideal weekend would just be spending time
Speaker 4:on a boat Mhmm.
Speaker 5:On a lake, with a glass of wine.
Speaker 2:There you go.
Speaker 5:Like, we're at And he's at top.
Speaker 4:Putting you in the harp.
Speaker 2:No. Heck no. We'll put it in the we'll put that we'll put that on repeat too. We're
Speaker 4:you know, you're you're in the right state at least for a half of the year to enjoy that.
Speaker 5:Oh, for sure. Yes. Yes.
Speaker 4:Of course.
Speaker 2:The only Little joking is
Speaker 4:the Brit all joking
Speaker 2:is that when I lived in South Carolina, they used to say that or in Charleston that we were a drinking town with a history problem Oh, wait. Is what their line was. So it's don't worry. Anything goes on the show. We keep it authentic.
Speaker 5:That was nothing.
Speaker 2:Well, alrighty. Well well, Chris, how about do you have any more questions for this individual that took the time out of her day to join?
Speaker 4:No. I'm I it has to all my questions, And I just wanna say again, thank you, LaShawn, for coming on to the show and letting the listeners kinda dive into the to the back end of the kitchen of tax laws and how tax professionals are advocated for and and what some of the responsibilities are.
Speaker 5:Of course. Thank you so much for having me, and I would love to come back. So Absolutely. We'll have we're gonna
Speaker 4:we're gonna have to dive in to, some tax tax taxes are made two point o.
Speaker 5:Yeah. Absolutely. Well,
Speaker 2:you will have an open invite anytime you just wanna show up. Just show up on more recorded. Hey. And Chris let you off easy. He didn't ask any crazy questions at the end, so he must like you.
Speaker 2:He he must like your organization. But, honestly, I just thought thank you. Again, kind of echoing what Chris said too Okay. Just for joining us and kinda giving us that rundown. I really like, I think, Chris, you mentioned it perfect.
Speaker 2:What goes on in the kitchen behind all of this. And, I mean, we have listeners to this podcast. I think we've hit every single state in The US. I don't know if we've had anybody from Hawaii yet. I'll have to check our alright.
Speaker 2:I know we've had Alaska, if I do remember. And I I think we're up to top thirteen, fourteen countries, which is kinda cool. So it it's nice seeing where everybody comes from. So, obviously, we're talking about Michigan a lot on here. That's where your organization is, MICPA.
Speaker 2:But a lot of it, you know, conveys to other states. I'm sure a lot of it treated the same or the process is very similar. So thank you for the insight.
Speaker 5:If someone is watching from Hawaii, you know, I am available at any time to, come and talk more techs and, CPA stuff. So, just putting it out there.
Speaker 2:It's it's on the it I'm sure it could be on the weekend on a boat. So it'll it could be the ideal weekend. Right?
Speaker 5:Yeah. Absolutely. Well, thank you both so much for, having me. I enjoyed this, and I hope you have a great day.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. Thank you so much. And for everybody that's listening to this too, we'll put some links in the show notes. Be sure to follow those. We actually have a couple good questions too.
Speaker 2:We'll pop on our private Facebook group. You already know what that is. You'll hear it again here at the end of the show on the wrap up as well. But hop on there. Great topics as always.
Speaker 2:And, really, maybe if you have any questions for LaShawn, post them on there. We'll pass them along. I know, LaShawn, I believe you're on that Facebook group as well too, so feel free to obviously respond to him directly. But everybody be nice. She's not she's not in the government.
Speaker 2:Let's be don't don't shred into her. She she's here for your support.
Speaker 5:So Absolutely. 100%. Excellent.
Speaker 2:Well, thank you guys for joining. Thank you everybody for listening in to Teaching Tax Flow, the podcast. This has been a great one. We almost doubled the time that we usually do. We were having so much fun.
Speaker 2:So as I always like to say as we close it up, we'll see you next week. Thank you everybody for hanging out with us today on this episode. Obviously, this is something you probably didn't know a whole lot about, but maybe you've made some assumptions there on how these things we refer to as taxes go from really an idea or a thought or suggestion, putting in the tax code. So looking at this again, thank you so much, LaShawn Thomas, for joining us from the Michigan Association of CPAs. M I CPA is what they go by.
Speaker 2:We look forward to having you back again so we can dive into this in a little bit more detail, maybe get down to the nitty gritty on a couple of these topics. I know for a fact this is gonna trigger all kinds of questions in our email inbox from people wanting to know a little bit more about some specifics. So we look forward to those questions. We welcome those. Please anybody send those over to us on any of our social media channels or just shoot us an email at hello@teachingtaxflow.com.
Speaker 2:Until next time.
Speaker 3:The content of this podcast does not constitute an offer of securities. Offerings can only be made through an offering memorandum, and you should carefully examine the risk factors and other information contained in the memorandum. The content provided is for educational purposes only. We encourage you to seek personalized investment advice from your financial professional. For all tax and legal advice, please consult your CPA or attorney.
Speaker 3:Investment advisory services are offered through Cabin Advisors, a registered investment adviser. Securities are offered through Cabin Securities, a registered broker dealer.
