Never Fear an Audit Again with Joe DiChiara
"I went through all this anxiety, and it turned out and I finally got up the courage to ask one of the CPAs and he said, just call them and find out what the problem is, and they said, you didn't fill out this form telling us that you're not in business anymore."
Joe DiChiara is an entrepreneur with a CPA license. He has worked with thousands of business owners over a 35-year career. Eager to help people succeed, it troubled him that most new businesses fail, and was determined to find out why. In 2010, after reading “The Science of Getting Rich” by Wallace Wattles and “Law of Success” by Napoleon Hill he got his answer.
Success starts with Mindset and Intention, subjects they don’t teach in CPA school. Joe learned that this was the true culprit in business failure on top of an overly complex tax and compliance system making it nearly impossible to start a business and stay in business. His primary purpose has become teaching entrepreneurs the fundamental principles of success combined with the practical knowledge acquired as a CPA.
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Brett:
I'm excited to introduce you to my guest here for the day out of the great state of New York, Long Island area, and he is a CPA business mentor, best selling author, and he's been helping individuals start and build and manage small businesses for over 35 years. In his capacity as a CPA and business advisor. He's been blessed to work with 1000s of small business owners from all walks of life, good, hard-working American people that get caught in a web of government IRS rules and regulations that make starting building and managing a small business successfully nearly impossible. With over 90% of new businesses failing, within 10 years. He has made it his mission to help stem the epidemic of small business failures in the US through high-quality low-cost business education. Please welcome me, Joe DiChiara. Joe, how are you doing?
Joe:
I'm doing great, how are you?
Brett:
'm better than I deserve and excited to have you here and glean some wisdom from you. For our listeners getting to know you for the first time. Would you please give us a little bit more about your story and your current focus?
Joe:
Sure. I'm an entrepreneur that happens to have a CPA license. I was tricked into going for my CPA license by my dad when I was 17. I had no idea that CPAs were accountants and we do bookkeeping and payroll and all kinds of exciting stuff like that. I resented my father for about 25 years until I realized that I could be any kind of accountant I want. I don't have to be the regular public accountant, banging out tax returns and, and financial reports, and I changed my business model about two and a half years ago, basically to serve people that are, the people that you described in there, the people that get caught up in what I call the machine. Now I have a pretty unique type of background working with the IRS in all types of audits, criminal investigations, payment agreements, and I got a pretty good education on the structure and the purpose and the mission of the IRS, and with that, let's say ammunition. I've come up with strategies to help people not fall, but at least have a shot at starting a business on the right track.
Brett:
It makes perfect sense, and it's a, it's a great opportunity to talk about, by the way, never fearing an audit ever again, and that's an IRS audit that is and we're excited to dive into some of those best-kept secrets. But I want to take one other step back, Joe, for our listeners, and for myself, I believe we've all been given a certain gift in this life. Some people call them superpowers, some people call them strengths, which is to go back to your younger days, maybe it's the university days or the pre CPA days, and I want you to think about what's maybe that one or two gifts that you believe you were given? How does that help how you help and bless people today?
Joe:
That's a good question. I was given a lot of gifts, a lot of talents, and I just got done telling my team, as I said, I'm really, really good at a couple of things, and the average is less than average in just about everything else. What am I good at? I'm good, I'll tell you what I'm good at. I'm good at explaining complicated matters. In simple terms. That’s one thing. I have an ability to put people at ease, because of the way that I can speak to them, and I could guarantee them that with me, they will never, ever have to fear an IRS audit again. Now, as I told you before you put me on, that doesn't mean they're not going to get audited. I have no control over that. I mean, nobody does, what we do is we pay attention to compliance. We know what the rules are, we know what forms have to be filled out when, and we just keep people on track. Because what happens is, and, I believe is by design, somebody starts a business, they're automatically a sole proprietor.
They're at a major disadvantage, because that’s the worst way to do business, and it's part of what put me on this mission. I came across this statistic on the SBA website that said, what was it the SBA? I forgot where on one of the websites but it said there were 30 million businesses and 25 million non-employer businesses. Now, I always took that to be just small businesses that had no employees. Well, it turns out those assault proprietors, which made no sense at all, as a CPA, I feel like I've had my head in the sand for a long time. In the CPA world, we just made everybody s corps, you don't want to be a sole proprietor, and if you're an LLC, a single member, LLC, the IRS doesn't care, they say you're still a sole proprietor for tax purposes, and I made it my mission, to let those trying to let those 25 million sole proprietors know that there are better options out there for them.
Brett:
I will absolutely love that. You're good at explaining complicated things and making them simple, and then you're also good and I could tell putting people at ease with your demeanor, with your voice, with your experience, and I love how you connect to that to never having to fear an IRS audit. Again. If you're working with Joe, by the way, you can find more about Joe DiChiara at BedRock Business Builders, comments, BedrockBusinessBuilders.com, and also like how you said in the beginning CPAs, it doesn't mean they can't be entrepreneurs, it doesn't mean they can't be, thinking outside the box, and not just the typical, let's say the thought of a CPA, of just doing tax returns, you can add so much value, and so many other ways. I relate to that because I started out in commercial real estate, and I started out doing 1031 exchanges and I still do 1031 exchanges with the clients.
Still California real estate broker multifamily specialists. But as I grew in the business, my client's needs changed, and as they changed, I had to pivot and adapt, and this was after the 2008 crash because I saw so much pain and anguish. People had overpaid for properties, had too much debt, not enough liquidity, not enough diversification and they knew they were overpaying but they felt like they're in a shotgun wedding. They had to get married to property and 45 days married and 180, and it was a struggle and I saw some hats lose half and some lose all. That was my journey from moving into this, let's say the capital gains tax world. We may say it's more of a CPA world or tax attorney world, and I've moved into the world that's now my passion. But I'm wondering, What's that one story for you, Joe? In regards to that passion for having people never fear the IRS audit again. Tell me that story that has gripped you so much that now you're like, I'm on a mission.no one has to feel that ever again.
Joe:
Part of my story is that my father tricked me into becoming a CPA, I went to college, I never changed my major, every single one of my friends changed their major, it was amazing. Actually, one of my most successful friends went on to be a zoology major, and after that being a very, very successful rock star person, okay, he's not a rock star. But anyway, with me, I graduated college. Well, before I graduated, I said if I want to be an entrepreneur, I need to actually run a small business successfully. I always had these small businesses, starting with the lemonade stand to ending up with leasing an ice cream truck. This was I'll go quick with this. It was the semester before I graduated. I leased an ice cream truck, I did everything legally, I signed papers, I signed a lease. I kept records of everything, I got maps with my route, and I had a blast at some I would go to the beach and sell ice cream to kids, and it was like I was the hero when I showed up, and I made money. I went to school with a good amount of cash last semester, I got out, I got my CPA, job, my first job. Six months into my job, I got a letter from New York State.
It's got a big red stamp on it says tax warrant, and, there was no internet then, and I thought my career was all over literally for three days, I thought I had to get a tax attorney, anyway, went through all this anxiety, and it turned out and I finally got up the courage to ask one of the CPAs and he said, just call them and find out what the problem is, and they said, you didn't fill out this form telling us that you're not in business anymore. From then on, and I don't know if it was subconsciously I said, I gotta help these people because I don't want anyone to go through what I said was a simple thing. Leading all the way up to two years ago, I fought a lot of battles with the IRS. Two and a half years ago, I said all my god, 25 million people don't have the right information. that's, it goes back to that one letter.
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