Safe Harbor

Your tax year, in order.

Safe Harbor prepares your companies' tax returns and your own, from the papers you already have. It asks only what the papers cannot show, finds the savings, and hands you a pack for your accountant to check and sign.

Get started See how it works

Sign in with your Google account. Each estate is yours alone.

A year, in five steps.

Each step leads to the next. You can stop at any point and pick up where you left off.

  1. Household

    Say who is in your household and add the companies you own. Or upload last year's returns, and who owns what is read from them.

  2. Papers

    Upload the year's bank and card statements, W-2s, 1099s and any notices from the tax office. Safe Harbor reads them, so you type almost nothing.

  3. Questions

    It asks only what the papers cannot show, and each question once. Where you have a choice, you see the tax on each option. If you are not sure of an answer, it talks you through it.

  4. Check

    Each return is built and checked: your companies' returns and your own, with Schedule C for a business you own alone. You see what the year comes to, and every change that would save tax.

  5. Send

    Download a pack for each return and send it to your accountant, who checks and signs. Nothing is filed or sent for you.

It recommends. You decide.

Some things only you can say. Was that money a loan, a salary or spending? Safe Harbor sets out the choices the law allows, with the tax on each, cheapest first.

You pick. Your answer is kept with your own words and the date. Only you can change it.

An example, with made-up figures

$5,000 went from your company's account to your own in March. What was it?

Cheapest first. The tax shown is for this payment.

  • The company paying back money you lent it $0 tax Recommended: it costs the least. Only if you did lend it the money.
  • A dividend $750 tax
  • Salary $1,180 tax

You choose. The return is built on your answer.

It finds the savings.

Safe Harbor looks for lawful moves that cut your tax: a SEP-IRA or a solo 401(k), an S corporation, a home office, health insurance, and writing off equipment.

Each one comes with the dollars it saves, what it costs, the deadline and the rule it rests on. Moves that affect each other are priced together. You choose which to make.

An example, with made-up figures

Your plan

A design business with one owner. Profit for the year: $120,000.

  1. S corporationPay yourself a salary. The rest of the profit is free of self-employment tax. $6,900 a year, from next year Costs payroll and a company return, about $2,500 a yearDeadline 15 March, to start that year
  2. SEP-IRAPut part of the profit away for retirement. $5,300 this year Costs $24,000 set aside, and it stays yoursDeadline when the return is due, with extensions
  3. Health insurancePremiums you pay for yourself, taken off your income. $1,700 this year Costs nothing moreDeadline on the return
  4. EquipmentThis year's laptop and camera, written off now. $880 this year Costs less to deduct in later yearsDeadline in use by 31 December
  5. Home officeA room used only for the business. $660 this year Costs nothing moreDeadline on the return

What it never does.

  • File or send for you

    Nothing leaves without you. You download each pack and send it to your accountant yourself.

  • Change your answers

    Once you answer, it stays answered. If a new answer clashes with an old one, it asks you. It never settles it for you.

  • Guess without saying

    When a figure is uncertain, it says so. It takes the reading that costs you less, and tells you what would settle it.

It is not advice. Safe Harbor shows the law and the tax on each choice. A person checks and signs every return.

Yours alone.

Your estate is everything Safe Harbor holds for you: your household, your companies, your papers and your answers. Only you see your estate. Each person sees only their own.

You sign in with your Google account.

Questions people ask.

Who is it for?

People in the US who own a business, or a few companies, and have an accountant sign their returns. Safe Harbor prepares the companies' returns and your household's own together, because the figures run between them.

What papers do I need?

Last year's returns if you have them, and the year's bank and card statements, W-2s, 1099s and any notices from the tax office. You upload them as they are. Safe Harbor reads them.

Does my accountant still sign?

Yes. For each return you get a pack: the forms, the checks, the recommendations and the reasons behind them. You send it to your accountant. They check it and sign.

Does it file my return?

No. Nothing is filed or sent for you. You stay in charge of what goes out and when.

Is it tax advice?

No. It sets out the choices the law allows and the tax on each, and recommends the cheapest. You decide, and a person checks and signs every return.

How do I get in?

Sign in with your Google account. A new account starts empty: add your household and your companies, then your papers.

Start with your household.

Sign in, say who is in your household, and add the companies you own. Safe Harbor leads you through the rest.

Get started Sign in

Sign in with your Google account. Each estate is yours alone.