About us
Tax Smart Life is an education based community geared towards helping individuals and small business owners understand the power of tax literacy in their everyday lives. Tax Smart Life was founded by Chelsey J. CPA, who saw the financial burden that many individuals experienced through lack of exposure to tax laws. The goal of Tax Smart Life is to make tax education fun and help individuals create more tax efficiencies in their daily lives to enjoy a life of financial freedom.
Our Mission
To increase tax and financial literacy among individuals and provide tangible solutions for individuals and business owners to create a tax efficient life.
Why do we need to know about taxes?
Taxes equate for anywhere between 30% - 50% of our expenses, considering federal income tax, state income tax, payroll tax, property tax, sales & use tax, and many more. Taxes can be divided in 3 types of taxes:
TAXES ON WHAT YOU EARN
Income tax is one of the largest buckets of tax we pay. There is federal and state income tax in most states; however, we also have payroll tax (social security and medicare) and capital gains tax on investments. With proper planning, you can defer or completely avoid tax on some of these dollars.
TAXES ON WHAT YOU BUY
We earn the money and paid taxes. Now we have to pay taxes again when we buy items! Sales tax on almost every purchase in most states, transfer taxes on purchases of real estate, excise taxes, VAT on foreign purchases. This is tax on top of money that has already been taxed.
TAXES ON WHAT YOU OWN
After we pay taxes on what we purchase, there are often taxes we have to pay to maintain the things we own. There are real property taxes, personal property tax, estate & inheritance tax, and other wealth taxes. There are ways we can save on some of these taxes with proper planning.
CHELSEY J. CPA
The Money Lady
Hi! I'm Chelsey and I'm the Money Lady. I am a licensed CPA and a Realtor® in the state of Maryland with a Master’s in Business Administration focused on Executive Leadership.
I have nearly 20 years’ experience working in various fields of finance, tax, and accounting. I began my career in public accounting working for one of the top firms in world and worked internationally training accountants in a multi-billion dollar company. I spent three years as an adjunct professor teaching accounting and my passion for educating grew!
As a business owner with a heart for my community, I have developed a passion for helping individuals as well as small to medium sized business owners with financial, tax, & business strategies and accounting best practices. Currently, I run Charmed Financial Solutions, an accounting firm where we help individuals and business owners with their tax, accounting, and other financial needs.
I started Tax Smart Life as a resource to provide everyone with resources to understand their rights as a taxpayer and ways that they can create tax efficiencies in their daily lives.
