Excel Empire's Durran Alexander on Strategic Tax Planning

Prepare to unlock the secrets of savvy tax planning as we discuss with Durran Alexander from Excel Empire, a tax strategist with a wealth of knowledge in business ownership. Durran enlightens us on the complexities of tax planning for small businesses, sharing tips on making the most of specialty credits and future tax planning. He highlights why understanding the tax code is crucial, and how strategic planning can ultimately save you money. With a focus on the services Excel Empire provides, we delve into their support for business owners in their tax planning and family office needs.

Shifting the conversation, we reflect on the significant influence of family and community in our lives. As a dad actively invested in my children's sports teams, I open up about my family's experiences, our connections to Boone County, and our association with the local school district. Through sports and academics, I cherish my children's achievements and their participation in the FCA chapter of Cooper High School. We discuss the impact of moving from Orlando to start a family and the crucial role my mother plays in the Boone County community. This episode is a testament to the power of family support and its role in shaping us as individuals. Step into our world where business advice and personal experiences create a unique fusion.

Transcript

Charlie McDermott: 0:01

This is the Good Neighbor podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Mike Murphy.

Mike Murphy: 0:13

Thank you, charlie. Yes, I am Mike Murphy, host of the Good Neighbor podcast. With me today is another local business influencer, my good friend Durran Alexander Durran, how are you today?

Durran Alexander: 0:27

G ood Mornin, Thank you very much for the invite there, Mike.

Mike Murphy: 0:30

It's good to see you this morning. I hope you got your coffee ready, or whatever your drink of choice is this early in the morning. That's right, you are with Excel Empire and I tend to think of you as a tax strategist or business owners. But I would rather you, in your own words, tell people about Excel Empire and what it is you do with Excel Empire. Yeah, I appreciate it, mike.

Durran Alexander: 1:02

Yeah, so you know that I'm fortunate enough to be considered the tax advisor in our group. What we do is provide that family office and support for the business owner in that tax field. You have your accountant who is able to put things in the right box, make sure that you are compliant, and none of us want to have any issues with the IRS and we like to take it a step further. So we offer advice and encouragement in tax planning. So if you just get down to the end of the year and your accountant just says, hey, you need to just buy some equipment and that's the idea of avoiding taxes, we try to take that a step further.

Durran Alexander: 1:52

When you, a lot of people are looking to either grow their business and they want to buy more businesses, or they're looking to sell their business as they have gotten older and maybe you don't have anyone to take over, maybe that succession plan is either avoided you or you know what it is and it's not with your family. We want to help you take a look at that on the tax side, because a lot of times people think that when they go to sell their business, it's going to be worth this much and that's how much they're going to get. But we all know that Uncle Sam always has the handout and wants to get a part of what you are doing. So we help with buying and selling, future tax planning and with specialty credits. There are certain little. There are tax credits out there that just a business owner doesn't know about. We were just working on that ERC. There's also an R&D credit research and development and we help people walk through that.

Mike Murphy: 2:49

Well, there's so much to what you do. I know a lot of small business owners. I mean, as part of this podcast alone, I talk to them weekly. You know, through a lot of the professional associations I'm affiliated with in town, I hear eventually, once we get down to the nitty-gritty of sharing information with each other, people will inevitably have that talk where they'll say hey, man, how are you, who do you talk to? Regarding taxes? Because I get killed every year at tax time. And one of the common themes is they know they need to do something different, but by the time they feel that pain, we're already a few months into the year. So they say, well, I guess I'll just do something different next year. And they have that same conversation with themselves year after year after year. So you need to talk to someone like you. A business owner needs to start planning now, ASAP. That's what you're coming to correct.

Durran Alexander: 4:00

Oh, 100%, mike. Yeah, like if you find yourself. There's really two questions that I would love to be a part of if you've asked yourself, so one would be just that, like man, I feel like there has to be more. I feel like I'm paying way too much taxes and it might be true you may have outgrown your CPA, and nothing against some of the great accountants that I know and have the benefit of talking to, but that can be a reality that you just feel like there's got to be more to it. I feel like that I've got to do something else. I pay way too much and, yeah, I mean taxes, irs, all of that is scary. No one wants to be audited, and especially what we do. We don't want you to be audited either.

Durran Alexander: 4:47

So to be able to take the due diligence and the time to be able to help you through, that is what we do. And then also, we also challenge our potential clients and our customers in just saying when's the last time that your accountant came to you and said, hey, I've got a great idea that's going to save you money. They're very good at once again taking everything that you've done. We put it in the right box and then here we go Well, this, I'm a choo and you just kind of hey, I made a lot of money, I guess I have to pay it. We like to and that's what we get into that tax planning we like to walk with you and encourage you and say, hey, did you know if you set this up, if we did this, if we kind of took advantage of this part of the tax code that it's all legal, moral, it's ethical? Here are ways that you can actually save yourself some money and benefit you and also your future generations.

Mike Murphy: 5:38

I think that's a good point. It's all legal, ethical, above board. It's working within the tax code. You're not selling snake oil to anybody, you're not asking anybody to do anything illegal. But so many of us, we just don't know the ins and outs of the tax code. We don't know the things that we can and should be doing for our businesses to keep our money in our pockets, to reinvest in the business and in, ultimately, the community around us, absolutely so. Do you have a prototypical client? Do you have, maybe, an industry you work with that tends to be a good fit, or what does that look like to you?

Durran Alexander: 6:19

Yeah, very question there. So, when it comes to tax planning, really that is any business and any individual that can benefit from that. If you know that you want to pay in a lot of taxes, we'd love to talk to you. And I guess to say, to be specific, you can get into a lot of chiropractors, dentists. They actually make great candidates for tax planning. If you find yourself in your business that you have to pay your taxes quarterly already and then you still have kind of a tough nugget at the end of the year that you have to deal with, those are great candidates for that.

Durran Alexander: 7:00

When I speak on the research and development tax credit, that just actually just came into place in 2015. So there's not a lot of people that are doing that, but those are more manufacturing companies, technology companies, software companies. If you land in that boat, you know that you're doing a lot of work, trying to prepare, getting your product ready to be put to market. You're doing a lot of testing. There's actually tax credits available to you and, like you're saying, mike, there's sometimes we just don't know and being able to step out there and look at those things. It gets kind of scary, but that's why we're here is to let you know that, hey, this is what you can do.

Mike Murphy: 7:42

Yeah, one thing I've learned is make no assumptions. When you see a professional in town and you know they run a stellar business, they're very good at what they do. What they're not so great at is sometimes marketing, sometimes taxes, running the business itself. They're great at their profession, but they're not experts in taxes or, again what I mentioned before, marketing. Those are two categories that I find all the time people need help in and we don't know what we don't know till we ask.

Durran Alexander: 8:18

A hundred percent. Mike, you make a great point is sometimes that through these kind of conversations, what tends to happen is you'll hear of some nugget you know what I mean, whether it be a podcast or a friend, or you see something on TV and you'll probably take that back to whoever your respected advisor is. And there's a lot of times people they go oh yeah, yeah, yeah, you could do that. They may not do a lot of it, or let me look into it, and then they'll come to find out. Sometimes people will say, oh yeah, you can, and then you walk through whatever that is. Sometimes it's something that they haven't heard. For the average accountant, they already do so much, and there's not many people, especially in the accountant world, that'll say, oh yeah, give me something else to do, I'm ready to do that. So when it comes down to the specialty credits and different things, they just may not be an expert in it, and those are some of the things that we go after.

Mike Murphy: 9:14

Well, you are professional, you're a good person and I'm always happy to refer you to people who need your type of advice and help. So let's depart from business, talk for a moment here and talk about you personally and your deep roots here. You know I like to interview local business owners, local business influencers and Lord knows that people know the Alexander name here in Boone County. So I just say our best conversations are usually around sports. You know the kids are, you know, neck deep in it. You, as a fan, we certainly are. Talk to me about your passion, which I see as being your kids right now, and just sports in general here in Boone County. Yeah, man.

Durran Alexander: 10:11

That was a great question. I love it. You know I can talk about sports and kids all day long. So but to start off, you know I'm very fortunate. My daughter is a senior basketball player and soccer player over here at Cooper High School. My son is a junior football and basketball and we just been very fortunate and blessed on just their skills and abilities. They've both had some some really great teammates and coaches and and, as a parent, to be able to see them want to do it and be able to thrive and excel in what they're doing has been exciting.

Durran Alexander: 10:49

So for those that know, you know I'm heavily involved just in being present. You know I'm at the games they get on me. I'm the old school dad. I've got the video camera out. I'm trying to capture as many memories as possible. Yeah, just just a function of me growing up here, my, my mother, because you know my family. We're obviously we're deep rooted Boone County family. Mom brought us out here in the early 80s. So I've been old school Florence Elementary, ra Jones, boone County High School and mom actually still works with the, with the district now. She's actually on the truancy team.

Durran Alexander: 11:31

So I joke with a lot of people that the kind of kids that me and my brother, that we turned into is a function of my mom, you know, being just her being a heavy handed, heavy set, strong black woman just out here getting us making sure these two knucklehead boys got in school, and then now she gets to do that for the district now. So I'm like, yeah, now you guys see it, now you get to see that's why you can't miss any school. But yeah, but we've been, you know we're, we're, we're around here and and and, like I said, pretty much entrenched in the county, love being here, decided to raise my family here, and my wife is from Orlando and she actually knew my brother when, when he was down at Alabama and that's how we, that's how we met, and she was used to living wherever and you know, when it came time to, obviously we were serious and went to start a family, I said, what about good old Northern K, why? And she was like all right, whatever. So so we brought it back here.

Durran Alexander: 12:30

But yeah, we've been just heavy in into I just always just one of my kids just to be be able to be involved and hopefully be, you know, successful high school athletes, and we've been fortunate that both of them are going to get the opportunity to go on further than that.

Mike Murphy: 12:46

Well Shaun broke my heart heart when he decided to go to Alabama and not go to Michigan.

Durran Alexander: 12:50

I'm a and you do, and you do know that it was down to, it was down to those two. He was, he was very very close to being a Wolverine, absolutely.

Mike Murphy: 13:01

I hadn't seen that long ago that I was, you know, checking online to see what his choice was, and but you know that's what makes college football so great and sports in general. Yeah, so, and you know, again a shout out to your mom, I mean strong mothers Can't beat him.

Durran Alexander: 13:19

No man, you know, great, she's a, she's a wonderful lady and and once again is allowed, she's in a position to be able to use her Influence and in her life. Now, you know, and a lot of young kids here in the in boom County area, so it's always great.

Mike Murphy: 13:35

You're, you're involved with a fellowship of Christian athletes too, I believe. Is that correct?

Durran Alexander: 13:39

Yeah. So you know, we, we, we were fortunate enough to hook up with Nate Salih, who's over the, the area director here, and and then even both Austin Malia, helped start the the FCA chapter at Cooper High School. So a faith, our faith, has been a huge part of our, of our family, you know, and actually you know, encouraged them young. I didn't want to force it on him, you know, mom had us in in church once again to just try to keep us straight.

Durran Alexander: 14:09

You know, as young kids and people may know just how how my brother, just his face, really exploded when he got into college and and how he's been able to make moves, you know, from the pro level and on and then and then, like I said for my kids, I wanted them to just see what it was like and encourage them and they, they were able to take a look from themselves and then and really got involved. We started at a grace fellowship church, which is a great church, and then they got hugely involved in the youth group at seven hills, which is where we are now, and just really enjoy it. So they love, they love doing Wednesday night and a legacy and then, like I said, it just funneled into them and their sports teams and just trying to be positive, just really trying to be a positive light.

Mike Murphy: 14:53

Well, my hats off to you and your wife, Heather too, Because when I see your kids of course I see a lot of the sports stuff that you post online I follow them, and when I hear about their academics I'm even more impressed, because that's that's a lot on anybody to carry the load that they carry and to do it with grace and to be the type of Quality kids that that you've raised. So I'm proud of them and I say good job to you and Heather man.

Durran Alexander: 15:25

I appreciate it, I appreciate my it's been once again, we've been, we've been fortunate, and that they, they're both willing to put in the work. They definitely have two different study styles but they but they make it work. You know, malia, if the test is on on Friday or week out, you know she's, she's, she's chipping away every single day. You know, I mean making sure that she's ready to go. Austin's like what we got tests. But but you know, I mean you know how there's some of those people, man, they and they get in there and knock it out. So so both of them, you know, are taking, you know, very high-level classes and it's been fun that they, they do support each other and have been able to work together in the classes that they're in and support each other even outside. You know, I mean just doing, you know, homecoming and Support each other's games and that kind of thing. So we've been, we've been very blessed there.

Mike Murphy: 16:21

Well, I love watching their, their stories unfold from afar. So let's get back now to to excel Empire, and I want people to know how to reach out to you. If, if they say, hey, you know Old Murph and and Durand, they've convinced me, I need to, yeah, need to take care of business here, how do people reach you?

Durran Alexander: 16:45

Yeah, first off, I mean, please feel free to give me a call. You can, you know, leave me a message, text me 859 866 5552. So that's just my myself. I'm out there, I'm on, I'm on Twitter. You can DM me there. I mean, it's just to ran Alexander. Yeah, facebook, same, you know. I mean you can message me and then, yeah, even shoot me an email, which is, you know, very original, to ran Alexander gmailcom.

Durran Alexander: 17:16

So I'm not, in that sense, I'm not hard to find. Like I said, I've been very fortunate with Just our connection through the church and being in the community. People know, like I said, I've been around here, they know who I am and you know part of my heart is being able to to to give back and help and assist. I've been able to do that a lot through through coaching, and you know I've got a lot of kids that I've coached when, you know, ever since Austin was young and Emily were young, and whether it be through basketball or early soccer and football, and so, yeah, I really just want to help and assist and it's this actually working with Excel. You know it's a newer financial Venture for me going into this world, but but my passion is still the same, you know. I mean like I really enjoy the thought of being able to get with somebody and you know that you've helped make them a difference and obviously it's always cool if it's financial for the longest time my wife and I so just in June we celebrated 20 years of marriage.

Durran Alexander: 18:21

So you know, for us a lot of the benefit has come Just in counseling. You know, I mean like we'd sit down with, with couples and and kind of the go through that and and I found a lot of joy, you know, in doing that. But that was all even, you know, it was just through the church and just as friends, right, so it's just all for free. But walking through, you know, we did both sides. We did pre marriage, which my wife loved because everybody's still happy and you're still in love and they can do no wrong.

Durran Alexander: 18:50

And I actually like more the other side, when you know when you're, when you are either ready to swing on them or have some alone and we don't know where that's gonna go, and then we just, you know, we just try to bring it back from there, but anyway, so with all that, like I said, my heart is just helping people. So so with Excel Empire Tax planning. It's all about, you know, being able to help their business with the tax credits. You know we're putting money in hand, so it really helped Save a lot of businesses. It helps people think about the future. It helps them consider their own retirement and then also, you know I mean for their kids.

Mike Murphy: 19:25

Well, no wonder so many people love you and your family, your helpers in the community. You're connecting people, you're building next generations, and I For one of my huge fan of the Alexander's. So I thank you for sitting with me today and letting the community at large know a little bit more about Duran Alexander, your passions, a little bit more about your family and Excel Empire. So with that we're gonna wrap this up. I just want to thank everybody for listening. Thank you, duran, for for coming in and Talking with me this morning, and To the listeners out there I'll say Be good to your neighbor Until next time. We'll see you soon.

Charlie McDermott: 20:13

Thanks for listening to the good neighbor podcast union to nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to GNP union calm. That's GNP union calm or cause it. 859 651 833 0.