The Silicon Review
“We work to uncover potential tax savings and increase cash flow through reclassification and depreciation of property.”
According to the second law of thermodynamics, a natural process always progresses to entropy or chaos. For the sake of argument, let’s look at the increasingly complex U.S. tax code.
Even with laws aimed to simplify the system, such as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), simplification in one area — such as the standard deduction — often causes complications in other areas. Since passage of the TCJA, the IRS (Internal Revenue Service) has issued multiple regulations and clarifications on everything from opportunity zones to bonus depreciation to new restrictions on business interest deductibility.
In light of the foregoing, we’re thrilled to present Engineered Tax Services, Inc. (ETS). ETS provides professional services. The company offers specialty tax, cost segregation, credit certification, repair and maintenance tax studies, energy star certification, and construction tax planning services. ETS has 26 offices nationally and is headquartered in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Engineered Tax Services, Inc. : Synopsis
Q. Why was the company set up? And how did you expand your company and its offerings over the years?
Engineered Tax Services, Inc. (ETS) was founded by Julio Gonzalez to bring specialty tax engineering services to mainstream America. There are several federal tax incentives in which the IRS requires professional engineers and scientists to determine the tax benefits in the areas of real estate and manufacturing. Specific to real estate is the ability to depreciate real estate investments by components vs. the traditional expensing of real estate over a 39 or 27.5-year period. A forensic engineering study of a real estate property, in which the building is depreciated component by component, allows investors to expense up to 50 percent (and in some cases, more because of 100 percent bonus depreciation) of the purchase of their building up front. Decades ago, cost segregation was only available to real estate investors who worked with the Big four accounting firms which had dedicated engineering staff. Mr. Gonzalez’s goal was to be a resource to the CPA community so that these services could be available to all real estate investors, big or small. Cost segregation continues to be one of the largest tax incentives for wealth preservation. There are very few investments that the United States Federal government allows investors to expense dollar for dollar. Real estate is the one investment from which you can deduct 100 percent of the purchase price against taxable income. Inherently, this allows for a 50 percent return on investment at a 50 percent federal and state tax bracket. Cost segregation allows the investor the ability to mitigate tax liabilities and preserve wealth by accelerating these deductions much quicker.
Mr. Gonzalez’s vision was to first bring awareness to mainstream America through education of the accounting firms across the country. Over the decades, Engineered Tax Services has become the country leader in these services that increase cash flow to allow for United States job growth and expansion.
The company’s tax attorneys, engineers, and scientists are the leading experts that have performed millions of these tax services over the past decades. ETS, through these services, has generated billions of dollars in the United States stimulus that has impacted millions of jobs in the country.
Q. What are the factors that make Engineered Tax Services outshine its competitors?
Engineered Tax Services uses its engineering, scientific and tax team to provide one of the most important federal and state tax credits available to United States businesses in the form of research and development tax credits (R&D). R&D Tax Credits are meant to incentivize manufacturing, innovation and technical design in the United States. These credits are essential to keep labor and promote job creation in the United States. Qualifying activities include developing new or improved products or manufacturing processes, tool and die development, technical design in the construction industry, software development, fracking and drilling technique development, and developing new or improved drugs or formulas, just to name a few. The R&D Tax Credit is a very important federal incentive meant to ensure that US companies remain competitive globally.
Mr. Gonzalez worked in Washington D.C. with the country’s Senate, Congress, Administration, and Treasury to play an instrumental role in passing tax reform with a focus on small business growth.
Mr. Gonzalez, tell us about your company culture.
We are one team – That is encouraging and supportive. We are committed to the health, happiness, and success of each other. We are a family.
We are fanatics when it comes to customer service – We understand the customer is the lifeblood and of our company and we give our customers the ultimate respect.
We are humble – We check our egos at the door and realize that every team member brings value. We are selfless. No one person is better than the other. We are all equals.
We assume positive intent – We work from the assumption that people are good, fair, and honest and that the intent behind their actions is positive.
We communicate honestly and professionally – We create an open, transparent, and trust-based environment by showing respect in our communications to each other.
Julio P. Gonzalez: A Formidable Leader
Julio P. Gonzalez, Founder, serves as the Chief Executive Officer of Engineered Tax Services, Inc. Mr. Gonzalez started ETS to bring specialized engineering tax studies to mainstream America, which have historically only available to the Fortune 500 and public companies through then the Big 8 National Accounting Firms.
In addition to ETS, Mr. Gonzalez started several other family operational companies including his family office, Gonzalez Family Office (GFO), Calle Gato Ocho (CGO), Engineered Tax Exchange (ETE) and Engineered Family Office (EFO). Gonzalez Family Office manages the Gonzalez family capital by investing primarily in real estate, private equity, and venture capital. CGO owns and operates direct real estate investments in multi-family housing and office/mixed-use real estate for the Gonzalez family.
Mr. Gonzalez works weekly in Washington D.C. to work with the administration, Congress and Senate to advise on tax reform and is the go-to tax expert representing many national organizations and associations. He is a regular public speaker on a national level regarding tax reform and tax sophistication for wealth preservation.