Episode 462: Get Tax Savvy

Derick Van Ness, founder and wealth strategist of Big Life Financial, is here to make tax-talk interesting! He joins Kiera to educate listeners about tax efficiency, and specifically research and development credits. 

Learn about the history of R&D credits, the steps to be successful, and why this tax approach absolutely applies to dentists who are 1) paying taxes and 2) making a profit. Most of the practices Big Life Financial works with get $30,000 to $75,000 back by experimenting with these credits! Derick even shares whether or not this approach will get you audited or not.

Episode resources:

Learn more about Big Life Financial

Book your FREE tax strategy session  (make sure to tell them we sent you)

Get in touch with Derick directly: [email protected] 

Reach out to Kiera

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Transcript:

0:00:05.6 Speaker 1: Hey, everyone. Welcome to the Dental A Team podcast. I'm your host, Kiera Dent. And I had this crazy idea that maybe I could combine a doctor and a team member's perspective because let's face it, dentistry can be a challenging profession with those two perspectives. I've been a dental assistant, treatment coordinator, scheduler, filler, office manager, regional manager, practice owner and I have a team of traveling consultants where we have travelled to over 165 different offices coaching teams. Yep. We don't just understand you, we are you. Our mission is to positively impact the world of dental and I believe that this podcast is the greatest way I can help elevate teams, grow VIP experiences, reduce stress and create A Teams. Welcome to the Dental A Team podcast.

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0:00:52.4 S1: Hello, Dental A Team listeners. This is Kiera and you guys always know that I'm up for finding really cool people in my life, number one; and number two, really cool people who actually know what they're talking about. And I found somebody. Somebody who's really brilliant and they have a really cool tactic that's a strategy for dentist that I feel a ton of doctors are not utilizing. So I'm super, super, super jazzed to bring on somebody that I've talked to extensively, vetted him extensively, talking with his team extensively. His name is Derick Van Ness and he works with Big Life Financial and he's gonna be talking about R and D credits, taxes, all the shenanigans, but honestly, in the coolest way possible and he's super rad and he knows somebody... I won't say who he knows, but this is a big time... Like I'm fangirling over who he's connected to. So Derick, I'm so jazzed to have you with us today. How are you doing?

0:01:42.7 Speaker 2: I'm awesome, Kiera. Thank you for having me on the show. Just excited to be here.

0:01:46.2 S1: Yeah. Absolutely. So Derick, I gave a quick intro about you, but there's so much more to your depth. Why should we even listen to you? Who are you? Who is this Derick Van Ness guy who works with Big Life Financial? So kinda walk us through how you even got to being with Big Life Financial and being able to help so many doctors, 'cause you're currently helping a ton of dentists get credits on their taxes, which we're all in favor of doing in an ethical way. My big thing is I just don't wanna go to jail. So beyond that, I'm pretty good with most things, but kinda walk us through your background and how you got here.

0:02:19.5 S2: Yeah. Well, the really short version of it is, I went to school for business. I'm a creative person, I love the arts, I love all this other stuff, but I realized, well, I should probably know how business runs, 'cause no matter what you do, it's a business, right? And got really into that, ended up as a house flipper for a while. Did about 160, 170 of those and then...

0:02:40.6 S1: No big deal. 170. It's kind of a big deal.

0:02:44.3 S2: It was a lot of properties and a lot of work, it was really fun, but I can tell you that 2008, '09, '10 was a bit of a brick wall. So we crashed into that and at that time I realized I was really good at making money, but not so good at taxes, not so good at keeping it, not so good at all these other things with money. And then a friend of mine came along and said, "Well, you've got all this experience, you've got all this business training, you've learned a ton about all these different topics and I really need a coach to work with all of our business owners." So he recruited me to come work for his company and I got a master class in business finance, taxes, investing, all of that stuff as I worked with about about 1500 business owners over the next seven or eight years.

0:03:30.0 S1: Awesome.

0:03:30.5 S2: And so that kind of got me into the space. He and I ended up parting ways 'cause I wanted to do a little bit more of my own thing and I thought, well, I really do like real estate investing, 'cause quite honestly, it's pretty fun and creative and you can make a lot of money. And I started doing it and I just realized I love people a lot more than I love real estate. While I was doing real estate, I was still coaching business owners for fun, literally for no charge, but I would never do real estate without the money involved. So I realized people are my passion. I love helping people.

0:04:03.2 S2: I love teaching and I've blown up enough things and made enough mistakes in my life that I don't want everyone else to have to do that, 'cause honestly, it can be a little bit gut-wrenching when you do some things wrong or you make a huge mistake. So that kind of got me to starting Big Life Financial. We started off helping clients to use some unique strategies that we teach about how to build your own banking system within your business and a lot of other savings and investment strategy type things, but what we discovered is, a ton of our clients... Really, the big thing was they're like, "We're paying so much in taxes."

0:04:42.9 S1: Yes.

0:04:43.4 S2: Once you start making good money, especially those of you who are in California or New York, you know that you're paying over... Well, you can pay 49% to 52% in taxes. Like literally, the government gets more than half. So we started looking at tax strategy, we were like, if you go and do an investment strategy and you make 10%, but then you have to give half of it to the government, you took all the risk, like that's a huge cut. And so we wanted to figure out, how can we help people get as tax efficient as we can? And I never thought I would be passionate about taxes, I'm still not passionate, but I really am passionate about helping people not pay them. I never thought that would be something that I'm into, but it's such a big win when people can save $20,000, $50,000, $100,000 or what we're gonna talk about today, Research and Development credits. With an hour or two of time investment, you can get $20,000, $50,000, $100,000, $150,000, $200,000 back from the IRS. That's a big win. That's pretty exciting to celebrate with clients, so it just gets me pumped up for sure.

0:05:49.3 S1: Well, and I love it because I feel like I've become this nerdy business owner over here. I feel like taxes have become kind of a game for me. At first, it was just something I needed to do. Then it was something that I got really annoyed to do. Then it was something that I said, "Hey, I'm grateful that I live in the country that allows me to do what I can do and operate the way I want to." And now I'm like, "Hang on... " I feel like I need to get smarter with this because just sending a check in for taxes, I keep thinking there's no way that other companies are constantly writing in these checks and sending it in. So now it's become my next tier of excitement of, how can I get good at this? How can I become more tax-savvy? Because I just feel like if we can educate ourselves and be smart and surround ourselves with people like you, Derick, we become smarter. We become better, we become... Why work so hard? I get depressing.

0:06:41.8 S1: I'm sure you had this where I'm like, "So the government takes home more than I take home." There's something backwards on this scenario, I don't enjoy this, it doesn't motivate me as an entrepreneur to do this. So I'm really, really glad that you're here. I'm glad that we get to share this with our listeners. I'm glad that we get to share this with our clients, because at the end of the day, what you're talking about, I heard it in a small snippet, but you guys have become experts with it. Plus you're helping a ton of dentists. So I like people that work with my people, our doctors, and are successful at it. So let's kind of dive into this R and D credit because I heard about it, but you're obviously gonna do way better and you know what it is, I've just heard about it. So I'm excited to hear about it.

0:07:25.0 S2: Yeah. I'm happy to tell you, 'cause this is something that absolutely applies to dentists, like every dentist that we have had apply for this... As long as you're profitable and you're paying some taxes, 'cause you can only get back what you're paying in, every single person that we've had applied qualifies, the dentistry is right down the middle of this, so it's a total home run...

0:07:45.0 S1: Okay. I'm just gonna stop... Did everybody hear that? Every person who's profitable, who paid taxes, they have qualified in dentistry. So... And that's what I love is, this is something for doctors that I think so many people don't even know is an opportunity for you. So I just want to re-highlight that in case you missed that.

0:08:04.2 S2: Yeah. Yeah. Well, and the reason a lot of people don't know, especially doctors, dentists, medical professionals, is this was originally created in the '80s for manufacturing companies, specifically the automotive industry, like the American cars were dominating the world, the Chryslers and the Fords and the Jeeps and all of that and then along came the Japanese cars. The Hondas and the Toyotas and they started taking all this market share away. So Congress got together and they said, "We need to figure out a way to help America compete, help people innovate, how people try new stuff." And so they came up with these R and D credits, which are essentially, "If you're trying new stuff, if you're trying to figure things out, if you're trying to get better, streamline, automate, we're going to give you a small refund on the dollars you spend that way." And so that's where it started.

0:08:52.0 S2: And a bit like the COVID stuff that's going on right now, it was meant to be a temporary thing, and it worked so well they just kept re-ratifying it every single year for Congress. So over the years, they started to realize, "Hey, this works really well, but it's kind of targeted at big businesses." And I bring this up because, if you haven't heard of it, this is why, it really used to be just for big businesses because it was made for GM or Chrysler or whoever. And so when that changed back in 2006, that kind of started to open the door. They created basically a simplified version of this. It doesn't take all the documentation, so it doesn't matter if you have a team of people documenting it. Your general documents will likely suffice, the things that you're... The notes that you're already taking, the things you already keeping track of, and they have really quite liberal guidelines on what qualifies.

0:09:43.2 S2: So that really opened the door to small businesses, but the other thing that was happening is it still needed to be re-ratified every year. So it was changing all the time and so it's like trying to hit a moving target. So a lot of CPAs just didn't specialize in it, but then a big thing happened in 2015 and this kind of has opened up the golden era in my mind of Research and Development credits. Congress finally said, "We've been re-ratifying this thing for almost 40 years. Let's make it permanent." So they created Section 41 of the tax code, which is the R and D credit area, and they said, "We're gonna make this permanent." At that point, the game really changed because up to that point, CPA firms didn't necessarily wanna build their business on something that changes every year. Who wants to build a business on something that might be gone next year? So nobody really specialized in it unless it was really big businesses that got millions of dollars back.

0:10:36.0 S2: So at that point, 2015, these CPAs started to become specialists and so these firms have popped up and we work with a number of them, but we have two in particular that work really well with dentistry that we represent and essentially they're really dialed in on what works for dentistry and helping dentists file for these credits. They don't do regular CPA stuff, they don't file your taxes, they don't give cash flow advice, they just do R and D. So you don't have to worry, you don't have to leave your CPA to find someone who does this. But essentially, they've gotten really, really good at it. They brought the price way down, they figured it out and so now the door is actually open for small business owners, like you guys listening, to actually capitalize on this. It got simple enough, it got cheap enough and people became good enough at it that now it's a real possibility and we've done it for probably approaching 100 dentists this year.

0:11:31.1 S1: That's awesome. That's really, really cool. What are the types of things that you are... How do they know? You're saying every dentist qualifies, but what are some of things that you guys are pushing forward of this research and development? I'm just curious for my own geeky side over here. I'm sure it's like composite would be my guess. What are the types of things that you're saying are dental specific research and development approved things?

0:11:57.3 S2: Yeah. So it varies a little bit, but let me just tell you the category. So what we're really looking for is what's called, qualified research activities or qualified research expenses. So what makes those qualified? Qualified research activities are the types of activities where you're... There's really... The IRS defines it... There's four boxes that you check. One is, are you seeking to improve a product or process? Well, most dentists, they're looking to make their process better and most businesses are doing that, so that's not a hard box to check, but it is one of the boxes. The second one is, are you looking to reduce technological uncertainty? In other words, are you looking to get more consistent outcomes, less failures, more successes? Well, dentists are obviously doing that and that's not a hard box to check either, most businesses are doing that, but the two boxes that a lot of businesses don't check that dentistry does.

0:12:53.1 S2: The third one is, is there a process of experimentation? Now, this doesn't mean like lab coats and beakers, but it does mean, are you trying things that might not work? Like if you buy a widget and sell a widget, there's no experimentation or if you're like what I do, there's no experimentation with tax code or insurance or those kinds of things. So what we do doesn't qualify that way, but what a dentist does, new composites, new technology, trying new procedures. Should we do a bridge or a crown... I'm sorry. Bridge or an implant or whatever? All of those types of things, you have to figure it out and it may or may not work depending on the human being and the mouth and the budget and the situation. So dentistry definitely checks that third box. And the fourth one is super easy for dentistry, it needs to be based in hard science and they define the sciences as software, engineering, physical science or biology. Now, you guys do use a lot of computer science, but everything's based in biology.

0:13:56.6 S1: Sure.

0:13:56.7 S2: Obviously, you're working on the human body. So those four boxes get checked. So if we just take all that and jam it together, essentially anything you're doing that's customizable, part of the customization process for a patient, is likely to qualify. So that could be intake forms, scans, exams, x-rays, looking and reviewing all of that data to figure out, what are the alternatives? What's the best approach? What materials should we use? What's their budget? What are they afraid of? Do they wanna do sedation dentistry or not? Do they need devices like TMJ or sleep apnea devices? There's a million different things, and obviously everyone's got their specialties. And then when you add layers like technology on top of that with cone beams or 3D printers or Serak Mills or any of those kinds of things, then you start to add a lot of different things where everything's being custom-designed for the individual, people are doing simulated surgeries and surgical guides and all this cool stuff.

0:15:00.7 S2: So a lot of that activity is also going to qualify because it could go wrong and you have so many choices of how to approach it and do it. So a lot of the dollars you're spending within your business fall into that qualified research activity kind of guideline. And so the big thing with dentistry is your payroll, we're looking at, what's your total payroll? Let's say it's half a million dollars. And after we talk through and I ask you some questions, we'll determine what percentage of your payroll is this qualified research activity. And let's say it's... This is really low for a dentist, but let's say it's 40% 'cause it's easy math. 40% of 500,000 is 200,000 qualifying dollars. And then what we've found, this isn't like a hard fast guideline, but it seems like this is a range that I can sort of say works, is 5% to 8% of that. So you would get back $10,000 to $16,000 for that year.

0:15:57.7 S2: Now, what's really cool is we can look back up to three years, 'cause the IRS will let you amend back three years on your taxes for anything, that's not an R and D thing that's just in general. So we can get three years done kind of all at the same time. So a lot of our dentists and everybody varies, but most of our dentists end up between $30,000 and maybe $75,000 they're getting back. We've had some as low as $15,000, we've had a couple that were pushing $200,000 and I've heard about a million plus for people who own a lot of clinics, but most of our clients, one, two, three, four clinics, a handful that have a dozen or so. But yeah. That's a general idea of what it seems like we're finding for people who are doing this stuff.

0:16:42.0 S1: That's so cool. And what I really love is you're right, who would have thought that a dental practice is a nice little mini-experiment lab without us realizing that we are, but you're right. All day long, doctors are trying different techniques, different approaches, different materials, to see if we can get better results and at the end of the day, it could work or it could not work. [chuckle] I vetted a testament. I remember we did a zirconia bridge across the front when they first came out. I just remember when it didn't quite seat right, that was a really exciting moment. We went through bur after bur after bur, there were sparks flying trying to cut that dang zirconia bridge off.

0:17:18.4 S1: It didn't even look that good, but that was something... I mean, zirconia was a new thing to try out and so it's really fun to hear that they can do this. So of course, I'm sure... Hearing this, I am jazzed. I'm so excited because like you said, it checks every single box and if doctors can go back, I'm all about, if there's a way, and this is something that we haven't heard of, try it, let's see. So Derick, how do they go about getting this research and development credit, R and D credits? What are the steps to be able to actually be successful, like you're saying 100 other doctors have been able to be?

0:17:56.1 S2: Yeah. So before I do that, I wanna answer one question, and the reason I bring this up, Kiera, is every single person asks it.

0:18:01.6 S1: Okay. Great. Ask.

0:18:03.5 S2: Is this going to get me audited?

0:18:05.0 S1: Oh, yeah. That's a really great question.

0:18:07.1 S2: It's everybody's fear. So the first off, you can be audited any time for anything. So there's no guarantee that you won't be audited, but in our experience, this will not get you audited. It's not on any listed transactions, if you're doing advanced stuff, you know what a listed transaction is. It's not on a red flag list, it's not on any kind of tier. They have tiers of things they're looking for. R and D credits are actually looking to expand to them right now within the Biden administration, so this is something the government is pro and as long as you're doing the legitimate things, which dentists are doing, this is not gonna flag an audit.

0:18:47.8 S2: One of the firms who we work with has been doing this 16 years since the simplification came about, they haven't had a single client get flagged because of this for an audit. Now they've had clients get audited and they do... Our people do offer audit protection, so they've done that, but people got audited for some other reason and when they're in there, they look at everything. So they looked at it and everything passed the sniff test and it was fine, but this hasn't gotten anybody flagged for an audit. So highly, highly unlikely. So I just wanna put your mind to rest that it's not gonna get you flagged, and if you do ever get audited, you're totally covered at no cost to you. So you're good.

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0:20:02.0 S1: So if you're looking to enhance your practice, take it to the next level, you and yourself wanna grow? Now is the time. Dental A Team Platinum. We fly to your practice. Most of our offices see a 10% to 30% increase in revenue, reduction of stress, happier teams, better patient experiences. So if you know you wanna rocket launch yourself into 2022, don't wait, guys. We are only taking on so many Platinum practices because we physically fly to you. So email us today, [email protected]. And you better believe we have something special for you end of year offices. So be sure to reach out, [email protected]. Remember, you're only one decision away from a completely different life.

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0:20:40.5 S1: We can go into a dicey topic, which we won't, 'cause I don't wanna derail, but it's not like conservation easement. That one is exciting for me, I'm like, "What is this?" And so, you guys, there are tons of them out there that might get you flagged for audits. Again, I'm talking out of a zone I have no idea, I've just heard about that one. So again, Derek, maybe that's podcast two that we'll do. But it's great to know that this is something very legitimate, it's not going to get people flagged, 'cause you're right. We're going back three years. And so what does that work? Did you see a lot of doctors through COVID since they had those few months where they were closed, that they weren't getting as much back on those R and D credits because their payroll expenses should be less due to furloughing? Did you notice anything with the 2020 year on these R and D credits?

0:21:23.5 S2: A couple of things that were interesting because we didn't really touch too much on it, but there were a lot of people who implemented a lot of new technology, right? New practice management, new client communications, new software to do touchless payment and text... Pay by text and virtual waiting rooms and a lot of that. A lot of people took time to redesign their websites or do other kinds of things, do research on new topics. So actually the numbers came down just a little bit for some practices, but overall, we didn't see a big dip there and we did see that a lot of people innovated during that time. Dentists are... Most of their minds, they're going, right? So they're at home like, "What do I do?" So they just work on their business a different way and so I actually saw almost the opposite where a lot of innovation, a lot of change, a lot of new stuff came into offices in the 2020 year.

0:22:21.9 S1: Gotcha. So is it solely off of payroll? 'Cause I know you'd mentioned that, or are there other factors that can come in that also can be added in for that amount that then you get the percentage off of?

0:22:33.0 S2: Yeah. So there are... Some of these other qualified research expenses are like supplies, so all your composites and your molds and your adhesives and bonding agents and all that kind of stuff, those can count. If you have supplies for any of your 3D printing materials or any of that kind of stuff, all those kinds of supplies can also come in. Equipment costs can be in there too.

0:22:57.1 S1: Yep. That was what I was gonna say, like CBCTs, CEREC machines, all those?

0:23:01.7 S2: Yeah. And sometimes you'll get a big expense like that $100,000, $150,000, but in most dental offices, payroll is just way bigger than the cost of equipment year to year. So payroll is the driver. But then we stack this other stuff on top of it.

0:23:14.0 S1: Cool.

0:23:15.6 S2: Yeah. So let me just tell you about the process, I know I kinda skipped that out.

0:23:18.0 S1: That's okay. No. This is great. I love it.

0:23:21.6 S2: So it's really simple. I mean, truly, as a dentist, you'll probably be... You'll spend a total of maybe an hour and a half on this and 30 minutes of it will be when you and I just fill out the questionnaire. But essentially, we would do a phone call, like make sure that your business seems like it's a fit. If you're a dentist and you're profitable, you're probably gonna be fine. Even if you're not doing all the high tech stuff, there's probably some credits, but if you are doing all the high tech stuff, then there's probably more. And then if we determine it's a good fit, we'll get together. We do a 45-minute questionnaire where I'll just ask you about all the stuff that you do in your business.

0:23:57.1 S2: And we'll document, "We do this and we do that, and we tried this and we bought this equipment and added this technology and tried these new things." So we'll do that. We send that along with the last three years of business and personal returns. The credits happen at a business level that most dentists have S corps or partnerships, so it flows through you personally. You pay the taxes personally. So we need both returns for three years. And then our CPA team will do a quick... Like an estimate for you for free to give us a ballpark. Usually those are about 90% accurate, so you get a pretty good idea what's on the table and up to this point, it's totally free.

0:24:37.4 S1: Cool.

0:24:39.4 S2: Now, if you decide you wanna move forward, at that point you sign an agreement that says, hey, if you do the work and spend all the time, then we'll pay you the fee. The fee associated with this is they take one-third of what they find for you. So if they found you, let's say, $45,000, the total fee would end up being $15,000, but you don't have to pay that up front. The CPA team actually does all the work, they get it to where we know to the penny what you're gonna get back and your filing is ready. At that point, you only pay half of the fee. And then everything goes into the IRS, they do their thing. As of the recording that we're doing right now, just so you know, [chuckle] the IRS got behind with COVID, so they're really slow. It's taking six to nine months, so don't...

0:25:25.6 S1: Perfect.

0:25:25.9 S2: Don't sit at home and hold your breath...

[chuckle]

0:25:28.0 S2: But the money... Checks in the mail, it's just very snail mail. When you get your checks back in six to nine months, then you pay the back half of the fee out of the checks you get. So you're only...

0:25:39.2 S1: I see.

0:25:40.2 S2: Out a small percentage of the money, and then you pay on the back end. And then we can do this every year moving forward. So you file your taxes, you send them over, a week or two later you get your estimate, you pay your fee, filing goes in and you're done for the year. So it's a very simple, year-to-year. And this is something that you can continue to do as long as you're continuing to innovate and trying new stuff in your practice.

0:26:00.7 S1: That's really awesome. And I am sure a lot of people will ask this question of, do they have to work with you? 'Cause a lot of people love their CPAs, they wanna stay with them, they might go ask their CPA... I like that you guys have 16 years of success rates working with dentists, I'm all about who knows how to actually do this, so can they work with you and their CPA? Do they need to switch over to you in order for you guys to do this for them? How does that work?

0:26:27.4 S2: Yeah. So just like in dentistry, you know how you have specialists, right? You've got orthodontists, you've got endodontics. It's the same kind of thing. The firms that we work with, they only do R and D. They don't do regular taxes. And most CPAs, there's a few out there that do R and D, but almost none of them do Research and Development credits, so this would be a specialty. And basically, your CPA doesn't need to know anything about it or be involved, you just send over your returns, we make... Basically, our people go in and do the notation of how much of a credit you should be getting back on this. It doesn't change all the numbers in your... The rest of your forms, so it's a very simple amendment and your CPA doesn't... You can stick with them, you don't need to switch. We just become the specialist that does that, just like when you refer out to a specialist and that doesn't interfere with the general dentist. So they work together.

0:27:16.0 S1: Cool. No. That's awesome, that's really good. Because I know people get really scared to switch CPAs, they love their CPAs, which that's fine. I just wanna know, do you guys worked in tandem with that. So, fantastic. So if I wanna do this, I reach out to you guys, you're gonna look through all of my past, I know you're gonna ask me a bunch of questions, take me about an hour and a half, which, hey that's... I mean, if you're getting 45 grand back...

0:27:38.3 S2: It's a good hourly rate.

0:27:40.4 S1: I don't know how many doctors actually can produce that much. I have yet to meet somebody. So if you are that doctor, email me, [email protected]. I wanna talk to you. That's actually not true, I have one doctor, one case, he was 250 for one case, so he might...

0:27:54.8 S2: Wow.

0:27:55.6 S1: I mean, his time might be worth more but beyond that, most people I don't think are at that 45 an hour rate minimum. And then they can just go back, you guys shouldn't audit. And I love what you said, all that... All the prelim is going to be free. And then at that point, you'll get to see how much should your return be, and that's when you'll then pay for that, which I think is really fantastic because you... It's actually free just to chat with you guys to find out what it would even... What your refund would even be. And at first... And I'm just gonna say this with love, at first I was like, "Gosh, a third. That's a pretty high rate." And then my mind thought, yeah. But this is money I would never have gotten back anyway, and I'd much rather have that amount and pay you guys the third of it, because I'm getting money back from three years ago that I've already paid through for taxes. So I think if I can spin it that way, I'm like, oh, actually, that makes a lot of sense, 'cause this is money I would never received anyway.

0:28:49.2 S2: Well, and if you actually look at it... You can actually take the fees that you pay the third, that's a tax write-off, right? So you're actually saving a little bit there on future taxes. But the other big thing is, like you said, it's found money, but I've just... I've looked around and there are a lot of firms out there, and there are onesie, twosies out there that are slightly less money, but that 33% covers no cost if you ever get audited. It's following through, it's checking with the IRS. If you ever get any letters from the IRS about anything, the team handles those. So it really is a full service, top to bottom.

0:29:25.0 S1: Cool.

0:29:26.3 S2: Some of the people who I've seen, who do like a cheaper version, they do part of it and then they hand it to your CPA and your CPA doesn't know what to do with the credit study or anything, so then they've gotta charge you to figure it out or bring in a specialist. So we've just found that... We've looked around, we try to do the best thing we can for clients, and we just... That seems to be the industry standard. So that's how we found it and kinda ended up where we were.

0:29:48.6 S1: Well, and I love that and I love that you're very upfront with it so people know and I also like... I like you. Like I said, you're working with clients that I know. I know people that you've been able to get the credits and the refunds back for, so I'm always pro recommending somebody that I know knows somebody that I know. So that's why I wanted to bring you on the podcast, it's why I wanted to share you with our clients, because I've seen you guys be able to get a lot of doctors this money back and, hey, that's great. That's an awesome win for you guys and I'm all about connecting you guys with the best of the best of the best people, helping you in ways that maybe you didn't even know.

0:30:25.3 S1: That's one of the benefits of this podcast that I really try hard to promote, to push forward, to give you guys the best people that I vet personally. So Derek, if people are interested in this, they want to just find out if they qualify for it... First you gotta be profitable and you have to have paid taxes. If you've done either of those two things... Well, you gotta do both, then contact you guys. But how do they get in touch with you, Derek? If they wanna reach out to you, if they've got more questions, how do they connect?

0:30:48.9 S2: Yeah. The easiest way, I'll just keep it super simple, is just biglifefinancial.com. In the top right corner, there's a button that says Work With Us, and you can just find a time on my calendar right through that. So either that or you can always directly email me, [email protected]. If you're somewhere and you can't get to the Internet or whatever, I don't know, if you prefer direct email and all of that scheduling stuff. But that's... Yeah. We're really transparent, really easy to work with and we'll just schedule a 15-minute call, make sure it's a fit and if it is, we'll take it from there.

0:31:26.2 S1: Cool. That's awesome. And guys, if you need help, you can always email us, [email protected], we'll be sure to send you over to Derick, get you connected to him. So there should... In my opinion, anyone who's listening, also team members if you're listening, send this to your doctor. Look like a rock star who's getting some CE, getting some... Like you're advancing yourself and you're able to help your doctor as well. So definitely take this to them. Something that I'm super excited about, you guys are doing this, how fun for teams to hear of a way that you're able to help your practice be more profitable. Which then always in turn goes back. I mean, I just can't imagine a doctor having a team and be like, "You need to listen to this. I heard this, here is somebody that I trust. Derick sounds like a great person and I scheduled you the appointment, talk to them." That would be a really cool way for a doctor to find out some information. So team members don't hesitate to reach out as well, get your doctors connected.

0:32:17.2 S1: And also we purposely are releasing this in segment, so going to our Platinum Team first. Reason being is because Derick, a lot of people want to use them in their firm and so I wanted to make sure our Platinum clients got first access and then our other consulting clients and then we'll release this podcast to everyone else. So just so you know, when you're hearing this on the podcast, we've already released this to plats and golds because we purposely tiered it and Derick, the last time he did this, was inundated with people and we wanted to make sure that we segmented this as well. So guys, check out, reach out, ask questions. I really wanted to make sure we got this out to you, it's a great time, end of year is coming up, so a good time to be looking at this, especially seeing those tax bills come up. So Derick, I just appreciate you giving back to our dental community, helping so many doctors and on something very innovative that I don't think a lot of people even know is an option for them.

0:33:08.9 S2: Yeah. I appreciate you having me on. I wish I could say I made this up, but I am really glad we stumbled across it in all of our research for clients, because it's just been a massive win. I think we've done... Helped clients recover over $4 million in the last 18 months...

0:33:20.7 S1: Wow.

0:33:21.6 S2: So it's a lot of money for them.

0:33:23.9 S1: That's awesome. That feels really good. I'm very much about helping our doctors win and succeed and you're the ones who are giving so many people jobs, giving back to your community. So if we can help you guys win as well, I'm always on the hunt for that. So Derick... Again guys, biglifefinancial.com, or Derek, D-E-R-I-C-K @biglifefinancial.com, or email us, [email protected]. We'll be sure to get you guys connected. And Derick, thanks again. It was really fun to podcast with you, it was fun to have you here. So thank you. I appreciate it.

0:33:50.7 S2: Loved it. Thank you, Kiera.

0:33:52.7 S1: Of course. Alright guys, thank you so much for listening and we'll catch you next time on the Dental A Team podcast.

[music]

0:33:58.5 S1: And that wraps it up for another episode of The Dental A Team podcast. Thank you so much for listening and we'll talk to you next time.

[music]

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