Here’s What Most Business Owners Get Wrong About the IRS

If you’re a small business owner, here’s a fun (and slightly infuriating) fact:

You might be cutting a check to the IRS that’s way bigger than it needs to be.

Not because you messed up.
Not because you’re avoiding taxes (calm down, Karen).
But because nobody ever bothered to tell you the rules of the game.

And yes, it’s a game.

A big, bureaucratic, paper-cut-inducing game with a million pages of tax code … and about six people in the entire country who actually understand it.

One of those six? Julio Gonzalez, CEO of Engineered Tax Services (and our guest on a recent episode of The Liquid Lunch Project).

The conversation went from “Wait… that’s legal?” to “Oh damn, I’ve been leaving money on the table for YEARS.”

So let’s break down the biggest wealth-building tax moves that real small business owners can (and should) be using—no Fortune 500 badge required.

1. The R&D Tax Credit Isn’t Just for Silicon Valley Nerds

R&D sounds like something that happens inside a lab coated in whiteboards, robotics, and at least one guy named Chad wearing Allbirds.

Reality check:
If you improve a product or a process… congratulations, you might qualify.

A honey manufacturer tweaking recipes? Yep.
A construction company figuring out new installation methods? Yep.
A brewery adjusting fermentation temps for better consistency? Hell yes.

And here’s the kicker:
You can go back up to three years and retroactively claim credits you missed.
That’s not a refund. That’s a rescue mission for the money you unknowingly donated to Uncle Sam.

2. Cost Segregation: The Tax Move Real Estate Investors Sleep On

If you own commercial or income-producing real estate and haven’t done a cost segregation study, I have bad news:

You’re probably overpaying. Like… a lot.

Cost seg basically lets you break your property into pieces (HVAC, flooring, lighting, non-structural components) and depreciate them way faster.

Translation: massive upfront write-offs.
That’s tax strategy, not “loopholes.” The IRS literally wrote the rules for it.

This is where “engineering-based cost segregation” matters.
An estimate done on the back of a napkin? The IRS will yeet it into the sun.
An engineered study with documentation? That’s the one they respect.

3. Your CPA Might Be Missing Stuff (And You’re Paying for It)

Look, most CPAs are great at what they do: bookkeeping, compliance, and preventing you from writing off your dog as a “security officer.”

But specialty tax credits?
Engineering-backed tax analysis?
Deep strategic planning?

That’s not always their world.

This is why Julio said (very politely) that most accountants “aren’t watching the store.”
Not because they’re lazy.
Because they’re drowning, understaffed, or simply not trained in this stuff.

4. The Government Doesn’t Need to Be a 50% Silent Partner

This is the part that always gets business owners a little angry…
then a little excited…
then ready to call their CPA with some version of “Dude…???”

When done right, tax strategy isn’t about sneaking around the IRS.
It’s about using the tax code the way Congress intended. Incentives exist to encourage investment, innovation, and growth.

If you’re giving half your profit to the IRS, that’s not patriotic.
That’s bad planning.

So… How Much Are You Overpaying?

The short answer: probably more than you think.
The longer answer: it depends on your business, industry, real estate, payroll, and whether anyone on your financial team is actually looking for these opportunities.

If you want a deeper dive into all this (minus the IRS-induced migraines), wei broke it all down in their conversation with Julio.

It will absolutely make you rethink your tax planning. 👉 Watch the episode here (or listen to Episode 235 wherever you get your podcasts).

And if you want to explore whether R&D credits or cost seg could apply to your business?
Click here to book a complimentary discovery call.

We help normal business owners use “big-company tax strategy” without needing a billion-dollar corporate office.