Tax planning should be a decision. Not a June scramble.
Most accounting firms say they do tax planning. In practice, it’s rushed, inconsistent, and uncomfortable to charge for.
- It gets pushed into April, May, and June.
- It relies on memory and confidence.
- Advice leaks out before anyone agrees to the work.
That’s not a tax problem. It’s a system problem.
The TaxFitness 5-minute tax planning triage system fixes that.
Compliance gets done. Advisory never really starts. The 5-Minute Benchmarking System fixes that.
What this acutally is
This is not a tax plan. It’s not advice. It’s not “doing tax planning in five minutes”. It’s a triage system.
In five minutes, you decide whether tax planning is worth doing properly before any work starts and before any value leaks.
What happens in the 5 Minutes
Every year, for every business client, you do three things:
- Decide whether a real tax planning opportunity exists
- Quantify the size of the tax gap at a high level
- Ask for a clear yes or no to a paid tax plan
No strategies are explained. No work starts without approval. No guessing.
Why tax planning usually fails
Tax planning breaks down because it:
- Happens too late
- Relies on the partner remembering to raise it
- Turns into a discussion instead of a decision
- Gets priced after the work has already started
Over time, firms conclude that clients “won’t pay for tax planning”. The truth is simpler: Clients won’t pay for something that isn’t clearly defined or approved.
How the triage system works
- The system answers three questions only:
- Is there likely to be a genuine opportunity here?
- Is it material enough to justify proper work?
- Is the client willing to approve and pay for a formal tax plan?
If the answer to any one is no, the process stops. That discipline is the system.
Why this works in real practices
Because it:
- Stops tax planning being rushed into June
- Prevents free advice leaking out of compliance meetings
- Gives staff a clear, repeatable process
- Makes it easier to ask for approval and fees
- Turns tax planning into a proper advisory service
You don’t need every client to do tax planning.
You only need the clients who:
- Have a real opportunity
- Are prepared to act
- Are willing to pay for it
The 5 steps (high level)
- Set the frame
Make it clear this is a triage, not advice. - Initial assessment
Structure, tax rates, and pressure points. - Opportunity confirmation
Goals, balance sheet, and a TaxFitness AI sense-check. - Show the tax gap
One-page summary. No modelling. No promises. - Ask for the decision
Scope it. Price it. Get approval or stop.
Built into TaxFitness
TaxFitness supports the triage system with:
- Structured workflows and prompts
- One-page tax summaries
- AI opportunity confirmation scans
- Templates, training, and implementation support
So this becomes how your practice operates not something you try to remember in June.