Embark on a thrilling journey with the indomitable Evelyn Ruiz, as she charts her course from the shores of Venezuela to the heart of Tampa's financial scene. In our latest episode, Evelyn, the brain behind Wave Tax and Financial Solutions, unfolds her tale of numbers, entrepreneurship, and the tenacity required to establish a thriving business in a foreign land. With a focus on delivering comprehensive tax and financial advice, her firm stands out for its dedication to serving the Spanish-speaking community and international clients. Get ready to be inspired by Evelyn's dedication to building cultural connections through expert financial guidance.
As the tax season bears down with its looming deadlines and ever-evolving laws, we navigate the complexities of the fiscal landscape to bring you critical insights that could make or break your business's financial future. Evelyn sheds light on the ins and outs of FinCEN's VOI report, the intricacies of choosing between S-Corp and LLC status, and the wisdom behind well-informed business decisions. Whether you're a veteran entrepreneur or at the cusp of your business journey, tune in to glean invaluable knowledge and discover where to find bilingual tax pros who can steer you through the regulatory labyrinth. This episode isn't just an exploration of numbers; it's a guide to keeping your finances sharply aligned with the cutting edge of tax strategy.
Our firm focuses on providing bookkeeping, payroll, tax and financial strategy for individuals and companies. Our core clients are small business owners that need the services that we provide, and usually need a tailored approach designed to their size and industry.
My business offers personalized guidance, ensuring that individuals and businesses navigate their tax and financial matters in a way that aligns with their cultural context while avoiding costly mistakes. My mission is to empower my clients to make informed decisions and achieve financial success.
Embark on a thrilling journey with the indomitable Evelyn Ruiz, as she charts her course from the shores of Venezuela to the heart of Tampa's financial scene. In our latest episode, Evelyn, the brain behind Wave Tax and Financial Solutions, unfolds her tale of numbers, entrepreneurship, and the tenacity required to establish a thriving business in a foreign land. With a focus on delivering comprehensive tax and financial advice, her firm stands out for its dedication to serving the Spanish-speaking community and international clients. Get ready to be inspired by Evelyn's dedication to building cultural connections through expert financial guidance.
As the tax season bears down with its looming deadlines and ever-evolving laws, we navigate the complexities of the fiscal landscape to bring you critical insights that could make or break your business's financial future. Evelyn sheds light on the ins and outs of FinCEN's VOI report, the intricacies of choosing between S-Corp and LLC status, and the wisdom behind well-informed business decisions. Whether you're a veteran entrepreneur or at the cusp of your business journey, tune in to glean invaluable knowledge and discover where to find bilingual tax pros who can steer you through the regulatory labyrinth. This episode isn't just an exploration of numbers; it's a guide to keeping your finances sharply aligned with the cutting edge of tax strategy.
Our firm focuses on providing bookkeeping, payroll, tax and financial strategy for individuals and companies. Our core clients are small business owners that need the services that we provide, and usually need a tailored approach designed to their size and industry.
My business offers personalized guidance, ensuring that individuals and businesses navigate their tax and financial matters in a way that aligns with their cultural context while avoiding costly mistakes. My mission is to empower my clients to make informed decisions and achieve financial success.
(813)510-7783 https://wavetax.us/
Speaker 1:
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Mike Sedita.
Speaker 2:
Hello and welcome to Episode 171 of the Good Neighbor Podcast. I am your host, mike Sedita, and today we're joined by the owner of Wave Tax and Financial Solutions, evelyn Ruiz. Evelyn, how are you doing today?
Speaker 3:
Fine, fine, thank you. Thank you for being on with us.
Speaker 2:
I appreciate it Just to keep you up to date on what we are, what we do, why we do what we do. The Good Neighbor podcast was started during COVID as a way for business owners like you to be able to get your message out to the community while still being socially distant. And over the last four years the Good Neighbor podcast has evolved into a national brand. We have Good Neighbor podcasts in Philadelphia, atlanta, denver and everywhere in between. I talk to business owners here in Tampa. So, with that said, tell us a little bit about Wave Tax and financial solutions.
Speaker 3:
Our firm is a financial accounting and tax solution for our clients, so we offer an accounting services, all the different services for making financial statement to the diligence preparation. We make sure our clients are always aware of what is going to under the hood. Ok, we offer some tax strategy. We not only do taxes, but prepare a holistic strategy to make sure you pay your fair shares of taxes. After considering all the different strategies that may reduce your tax bill, after considering all the different strategies that may reduce your tax bill.
Speaker 2:
So do you mostly work with businesses or do you work with individuals who are doing their taxes and financial planning?
Speaker 3:
Both of them. We are working with some investors. They are made money by the W-2. And when your W-2 is too high we tend to do a muscle strategy for reduce your tax bill.
Speaker 2:
And where are you guys located? Do you have an office or do everybody work remotely?
Speaker 3:
We have our offices in Bruce B Downs. It's on 15301 Amberley Drive, Suite 210. This is in Tampa.
Speaker 2:
Okay, I know right where you're at. You're right in. There's like you're right by Crunch, you're right by Amberley and Bruce B Downs right there.
Speaker 1:
It's on the.
Speaker 2:
Crunch yes, yeah, yeah, I'm very familiar with that area. Okay, so do you work with people generally in the New Tampa, Tampa Palms, Wesley Chapel area, or do you have clients that are all over?
Speaker 3:
We are clients globally because we help people and investors and businesses that they offer and globally services.
Speaker 2:
So let me ask you for you personally this is your business. How long have you guys been in business? How long have you had this company?
Speaker 3:
Around six years.
Speaker 2:
Six years. So what did you do before this? Did you work for a big firm? Did you do something completely different? How did you get from where you were to being the owner of Wave Tax and Financial Solutions?
Speaker 3:
I am an accountant. I was already an accountant in my home country and when I arrived here, I realized that the Spanish speaker did not have a good option when it came down to the tax and financial information and strategies. So I checked and see a big opportunity and I started that way. Tax and financial solutions.
Speaker 2:
And your home country. I can't make out the accent. Is it Australia?
Speaker 3:
No, venezuela, oh Venezuela, I am Latina.
Speaker 2:
So, venezuela, how long have you been in the US?
Speaker 3:
Nine years.
Speaker 2:
Nine years. So would you say you got out of Venezuela in time, like just in time, or were things starting to really turn bad in Venezuela while you were there?
Speaker 3:
That was a different kind of situation that I had with me and my family and we moved to the United States, but we are really grateful for the big opportunity to help a lot of people here.
Speaker 2:
So do you is most of your clientele Spanish speaking folks that really just need your help because you do, you know you're bilingual and you can help them navigate. Is that mostly who you're dealing with?
Speaker 3:
yeah, a lot of my client around the 70 percent of my clients are from latin america, but now the immigrants people is every time is more and more and more. So I can help a lot of them because our system is different than the US system financial and taxes and everything so I can help them to use the big strategies and in the process to adaptation in this system.
Speaker 2:
So let me ask you this you did accounting when you lived in Venezuela. Yes, what would? For you not necessarily your clients in this question, but for you, what is one of the biggest things that when you came here and started doing accounting in the US I mean, the tax code is ridiculously huge. There's a lot of layers to it Was that the hardest thing to get used to, the amount of different code and things you had to follow? Is that a lot different in Venezuela?
Speaker 3:
In Venezuela. Our code doesn't work. Anyone do the good things because we don't have normally regulations or normally rules. No, the code is only writing and that's it. Anyone's do or nothing. Anyone's doing nothing to complete everything as a the law, as the law, as the law so there's no tax, there's no tax law in venezuela yeah, that is existing, but we don't have, uh, the normal departments to check if the people is doing the good things.
Speaker 2:
So you don't have, like the IRS in Venezuela that's checking, so it's kind of the IRS.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, we have it, but they doesn't work normal, they doesn't work good.
Speaker 2:
So when you were a little girl, did you always want to be like? Were you always kind of like a numbers nerd? Yes, Like, were you always kind of like a numbers nerd?
Speaker 3:
Yes, the big history is when I was 13, around my teens, I had my little business. I started my business as a commercial. Yeah, I sell some items to my class and I started my business so I like it and this is my passion, so you've always been an entrepreneur. Yeah.
Speaker 2:
And what was the first product that you sold to your classmates? Did you market up really good? Did you make a good profit margin?
Speaker 3:
Yes, makeup.
Speaker 2:
Oh well, that works Okay. So that's definitely so. Did you so your makeup business, your initial makeup business? Were you actually producing the product and selling it, or were you buying it at a price that was so low that you could mark it up and sell it?
Speaker 3:
I resell the product, but I start to know what is the process between the cost of good sales. What is my income, my net profit and everything that was amazing?
Speaker 2:
So you got a taste of that early and then from there you said, hey, I want to just do this, I like to do the financials, I like to do the economics of things. And you got a bug for it and you were always into it. Do you? You know when you are not, when you're not in the office and you're not. You know managing money and looking at tax code. What do you do for enjoyment? What do you do for fun?
Speaker 3:
I spend most of time working, but I have two boys and my husband. I have my family. I am the queen of my home. So okay, yeah.
Speaker 2:
I don't want to. I don't want to be the bearer of bad news for your husband. But first you said work, then you said my two boys and your husband was the last on there. Do you have any pets? Because you didn't throw the pets in front of your husband no, no, no, no pets, no, no, pets, no, no pets. Okay, so how old are your boys?
Speaker 3:
Eight and ten years.
Speaker 2:
Eight and ten. So are they into stuff like sports and soccer and baseball, or are they more into calculators or art? What do they enjoy doing?
Speaker 3:
It's amazing, ages, because my big boy is in the pre, is in the pre and you know that. Ages, uh, so I try to teach them how the money works, so I do some investment with them. I we made some loans between us. Hey, I can, um, I can provide you a loan. Take the money and you can pay me back with maybe 10% more. But you can use the money now. But you need to know what is the best way to use the money for gain the 10% more and pay me back. So this is a game with them.
Speaker 2:
Okay, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, hold on, hold on. So, if I understand correctly, what I'm hearing you say is you are a loan shark to your kids. You charge them, you send them money and you charge them 10% interest.
Speaker 3:
Yes, for a year, it's not bad. Okay, now all right 10% is not bad.
Speaker 2:
And if they don't pay, do you send somebody out to rough them up a little bit, or do you just charge penalties if they miss a payment?
Speaker 3:
No, they have their allowance.
Speaker 2:
Okay, so they can save their allowance to pay me back or they need to administrate and organize their money to complete everything and the whole responsibilities so if you're out with your boys and say you are at wiregrass mall, just say and you're walking down the street they have their allowance, they have their money. Whatever that allowance is. Let's just say they have $20. And they see something that they want. Are you the parent that says, well, that thing is $40. I can loan you the $20 or you can't afford it? How do you teach them responsibility with their money?
Speaker 3:
So if they want anything like a toy or this is a normal thing that they wanted, hey, you have your allowance. If you need more money, I can uh loan, I can to do a loan for you.
Speaker 2:
So if they need it, I will buy, it's your parent, I get that part of it if it's a want, not a need. If it's a want, you'll front them the money and then they pay back in, either from their allowance or additional chores around the house. Is that how you're teaching them responsibility of work and money?
Speaker 3:
of my toys, my big one, yeah, he did a lemonade store and he saved some money for saving.
Speaker 2:
So he did a lemonade store. He did a lemonade stand. Do you live nearby where your office is? Do you live nearby there where your community? Did he get a lot of traffic? Did you teach him to do traffic studies to see how many people are driving by his lemonade stand?
Speaker 1:
Yeah, I helped what part?
Speaker 2:
of town, do you guys live?
Speaker 3:
Yeah, I helped them too. We sent them the whole information by the Facebook group and stayed with with them. Hey, you can do some advertising and talk to the doors of the close neighbors, nice, because that will help to the personality of them. My little one, he don't like to talk with anyone. Really he doesn't like. And me I'm talking, talking, talking.
Speaker 2:
Okay, so your older son, your older son, your 10 year old. He's more outgoing like you and an extrovert. Your younger son, who's eight, is your husband, more of an introvert like he keeps to himself, or your husband also is talking to him my husband is also talking because he's on a salesman too well, your eight-year-old probably just can't get a word in.
Speaker 2:
Edgewise, between all three of you, you guys are always talking. The poor kid probably can't get a word out, so he's just sitting there watching everything. So you're telling me your fun activity is just really spending time with your husband and your boys, so they're not involved in anything like extracurricular activities that they do around school yeah, something, I also take care of my plants.
Speaker 3:
Maybe it's a sign of the agents.
Speaker 2:
So so your parents live with you? No, oh um. So when you um one of the things I always am fascinated by with people's businesses and you're dealing with a lot of immigrants or people from Latin America that are coming here and trying to do stuff, are some of those people that are coming in, are you helping them to kind of get a business and start a business, or is it really just getting on their feet, that they're working multiple jobs and trying to get the American dream? Or are you helping them to develop a plan to start a business their feet, that they're working multiple jobs and trying to get the American dream, or are you, helping them to develop a plan to start a business?
Speaker 3:
Yeah, my goal is to offer a personal advice and guidance, ensuring that individually, okay, with each client, navigate their tax and financial matters in what way align with their cultural context, while not making costly mistakes. We can start to check their idea. Hey, what do you want to do? Okay, perfect, what is your position? How many capital do you need? So, what is the best way? Retain the capital, because normally and sometimes the people only check the Google. Hey, and Google say you can open the, do the registration by zombies and that's it, hey, but what comes later? What is the legal responsibilities? Normally people doesn't matter, doesn't nothing? Hey, we can work together to complete the whole requirements to do on the way, on the best way, and grow up your idea, grow up your business, stay well by a financial situation and pay your normal tax bill. We want to help our clients.
Speaker 2:
Okay, so here's kind of a. This is maybe an awkward question to ask this, but are all the people that you're dealing with that are coming in, that are immigrants into this country? Do they all have? I mean without saying it any other way are they all legal to the point where they have tax ID numbers and visas? Can anybody start a business without a tax ID number? Is that something that's doable?
Speaker 3:
Yeah, this is possible. Yeah, for sure, this is possible. People can register an LLC without any social security number or IT number.
Speaker 2:
They just go to Sunbiz register and then, once they do that, then they can apply for a federal tax ID for their business.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, they can apply by the federal tax ID for their business. Yeah, they can apply by the IRS with the foreign and everything, the whole paperwork. Then you know their passport and everything. And you're guiding these folks through this entire process, everything to complete the whole good structure for their business, because it's not only the EIN and the zombies everything, the bank account and the accountant.
Speaker 2:
Well, I mean, is there like okay, so checklist, like I'm thinking about? When I started my first business, I went and registered it with the, you know the, the, the secretary of the state. I registered it. Then I went and filed for a tax ID number and then I went and opened a, a tax ID number. Then I went and opened a bank account and started a checking account and then I started to do credit application, you know, as I started to build the business. Is there other steps in there that are vital that maybe somebody might be missing?
Speaker 3:
Yeah, this year you need to complete the VOI, the VOI report that is a new report by the FinCEN. They request the whole information of the whole business in the whole country. So you need to complete the VOI report, voi B-O-I you have. You have only 90 days. The content starts when your business is active. You need to complete this.
Speaker 2:
Okay. So that's if you start a new business in 2024. You need to file this B-O-I boy report If you're an existing business when you do your annual report. Is it something on top of your annual report that you need to do?
Speaker 3:
No, the BOI you need to complete before December 31st 2024.
Speaker 2:
Every business Every business LLC corp.
Speaker 3:
You have some exception, but this really really reduces the population that doesn't need to file the BOI. Yeah, the law normally is changing okay Each year. It's monthly. They change some rules and it's really, really important if you are with good advice about your business.
Speaker 2:
So let me ask you this what is your feeling on having an LLC versus filing documents? To be an LLC that files your taxes as an S-Corp? You don't your taxes as an S-Corp. You don't have to be an S-Corp, you can just file your taxes as an S-Corp, right?
Speaker 3:
Yes, depends. So S-Corp is the most fantastic structure to pay less taxes. But when you change your structure or your situation to file as an escort, you get some responsibilities and different things, like you need to have an apparel in your escort.
Speaker 2:
You need to have some payroll.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, you need to do apparel. Yeah, or you, as an owner, you need to have some payroll. Yeah, you need to do a payroll yeah, or you, as an owner, you need to have the K-1 and your W-2. A lot of people don't know that this rule and you need to do your W-2 for a good compensation.
Speaker 2:
Well, that's the key is you need to look at your overall revenue that you're generating and then have a W-2 that is commensurate to that overall income that your revenue that you're generating.
Speaker 3:
But the income. You don't only need to say, hey, I want to pay for $50,000. No, you need to complete your financial statement. You need to complete the whole report to know what is the financial situation about your business. To get a different responsibility and because you need to pay more, spend more money and complete the whole rules. To be an expert so you will pay less money in taxes, but maybe you will pay more money to complete the whole rules. This is the difference. But the expert is a good way. I like it.
Speaker 2:
So that's the stuff you help navigate people through. So if someone is listening to this and they don't have to be Latin American, I mean, you'll work with anybody. But if someone's listening to this and they are interested in finding you, why don't you give your contact information and you can give it in English and in Spanish, if that's better.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, no, whatever. And my team members everyone are bilingual, so my English is? I improvement my English every single day.
Speaker 2:
I'm working to improve my English, but your English is fine, but anybody who's listening to this maybe they don't speak English, maybe this whole thing sounds difficult. So if you want them to find, you give us your phone number and website in English, and then you can give it to us in Spanish, if you want to.
Speaker 3:
No, no, no, it's fine In English. We can have English people, English-speaking people.
Speaker 2:
How many folks do you have working with you right now?
Speaker 3:
Nine, nine, and they work remotely, or are they?
Speaker 2:
all in Tampa Palms.
Speaker 3:
Both, wow Both. But we can meet you in our office or by video cam.
Speaker 2:
Can you meet me at the Fat Rabbit over in Tampa Palms, right down the street from your office. That's the place I like, so tell us how do we get a hold of you.
Speaker 3:
Give me a second. I will provide you our email address. It's info. At weight taxus. You can schedule a discovery call with us through our website. Our website is wwwtheweighttaxus and you can meet us by our phone. It's 813-510-7783. This is the customer service primary line and you can follow us by our social media. We have a lot of educational content about the situation and some tax strategy.
Speaker 2:
So we're going to include all of that information. So when we post this and people get to see it and listen to it, we'll have all the information included there your website, your phone number, your social tags, all of that stuff. But in the meantime, folks, if you're listening to this, you can go to wavetaxus and that can guide you to get started. If you want to send an email, I'm sure you can get it through the website, but it's info at wavetaxus. And if you just said you know what, I just need to call Evelyn. She said everything I needed to hear. She's the person I need to contact.
Speaker 2:
You can call 813-510-7783. She's centrally located, right in Tampa Palms, not far from downtown, not far from Wesley Chapel, straight up. If you go right down Bears Avenue, you get right to Dale Mabry in 41, and you can get to everywhere from where she's located in Tampa Palms. Folks definitely reach out and if you're Spanish-speaking and you're not understanding a single word, I'm saying please find this online and contact her at wavetaxus. Evelyn, thank you for being a good neighbor. Thank you for being on the Good Neighbor Podcast.
Speaker 3:
Thanks. Thank, mike, for the invitation Nice to meet you. If you need to talk with me later, please let me know.
Speaker 2:
My pleasure. We will definitely be in touch, Evelyn. You have a great day.
Speaker 3:
You too Bye-bye, thank you.
Speaker 1:
Thanks for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast PASCO. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnppascocom. That's gnppascocom, or call 813-922-3610.