Small Business Spotlight: Paul Herman, CPA Helps Clients Navigate Tax Code Changes

NEW YORK (WCBS 880) – With the recent changes to the tax code, Paul Herman, CPA has been keeping busy.

He tells Joe Connolly everyone wants to know how the changes will affect them.

"It's actually still to be determined, because there's a lot to be digested," he said. "But I think for small and medium-sized business, the issue that everybody's talking about is the 20 percent deduction that small business owners may be able to take against their business income, so that only 80 percent of their income will be taxed."

What about his clients in Westchester County who make above half a million dollars?

"The lower tax bracket could very likely offset the loss of deduction for state and local income taxes and property taxes," he said. "But if the tax payers were in the Alternative Minimum Tax situation where they didn't get those deductions anyway, then people are definitely going to come out ahead with the lower tax brackets."

Herman also tells Connolly he likes to have a personal touch on his firm's website.

"Our relationships with our clients are pretty close, and I would say informal. And people could know if we use those canned products that it wasn't me speaking. You know, you like to think that one of the reasons people work with you is that they're comfortable with you, they relate to you, they have a certain level of trust, which is very important in our business. And I like to let them know that what they're reading is coming from us," he said. "We know what the issues are for our clients so we can write about those specific issues, whereas canned content is just kind of generic and may not relate to what our clients are interested it."

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