Are you mitigating your taxes to the fullest?
A practice for business owners, real estate holders, and exit-bound founders who suspect they're paying more than the tax code actually requires - and the CPAs who refer them.
Your 401(k) ceiling is not a law of physics. It's a default.
Most business owners earning between $400,000 and $5 million are systematically under-sheltered - often by a factor of ten. The instrument that fixes this has existed since 1974. Here is why you have never heard your current advisor propose it.
A standard 401(k) caps contributions at $23,500. A properly designed Defined Benefit plan can shelter $200,000 to $350,000 or more per year - tax-deductible, creditor-protected, entirely legal under ERISA. For most business owners in their fifties that math produces $94,000 to $165,000 in annual federal tax savings. This gap is not a secret. It is a pricing failure - and the people best positioned to exploit it are the ones least likely to be shown the door.
Your CPA filed a return. Nobody designed a plan.
One figure is a statute.
The other is a choice.
contribution · 2025
contribution · Plan Design Actuals
A ratio of nearly fifteen to one. Both are legal. Only one is designed around you.
What the math looks like for a founder-operator earning $600,000 in W-2 compensation.
Illustrative ranges based on actual plan designs. Actual contributions depend on plan design, ownership structure, employee census, and retirement target. Exact figures for your profile are produced during the 15-minute consultation.
Taxable Income Mitigation, organized three ways.
The work is organized around when a business owner needs it: while the business is profitable, when the business (or its assets) are being sold, and for the CPAs and advisors who spot the opening first.
Taxable Income Reduction
Defined Benefit plans lead - $200K–$350K+ tax-deductible annual contributions. Supported by 401(k) & Safe Harbor, Profit Sharing, Executive Bonus Arrangements, Qualified Life Insurance, and SEP/SIMPLE IRAs. One strategy per client, or several coordinated.
Business, Real Estate & Stock Exits
For founder-operators selling a business, real estate owners disposing assets, or executives with concentrated stock. Structured Installment Sales, Charitable Remainder Trust strategies, and coordinated pre-exit tax design.
CPA Alliance Program For professional partners
For CPAs, Enrolled Agents, bookkeepers, and business brokers: additional tax-saving strategies to offer your clients, compensation for the introduction, and increased client retention. Explore the program →
Four steps. No jargon, no pressure. Clarity at each one.
A complimentary conversation
Fifteen minutes to understand your business, income, and retirement goals. Either the strategy fits, or it doesn't - you will know by the end of the call.
Custom analysis
We run the numbers against your actual income, entity, and employee census. You see the precise contribution ceiling, the federal tax impact, and the ten-year sheltered projection.
Plan design
Our actuaries design the plan document, vesting schedule, and investment policy. Every plan is unique to the business owner it serves.
Implementation and stewardship
IRS filings, custodial setup, annual compliance, and ongoing design review. You focus on the business. We keep the plan current to the law and your circumstances.
Anonymized. Exactly as designed.
Defined Benefit plan + 401(h) layered on top of existing 401(k). $674K annual DB contribution. Projected retirement benefit: $23K/month as a guaranteed pension.
$6.7M moved into a Charitable Remainder Trust. Sold inside the trust with zero capital-gains tax. Diversified, distributing 7% annually, growing.
Standard DB plan was blocked by ERISA controlled-group rules. Solved with a Management Company structure under a non-attributed owner. Plus §162 bonus for the kids.
Read all five case studies in full
Anonymized. Names, professions, and non-material figures altered. Results vary case-by-case and are not guarantees of future performance.
Wealth strategy for owners writing the largest tax checks.
Solomon Katsman designs Defined Benefit, exit-stage, and concentrated-stock strategies for founder-operators earning $400K to $5M. Quiet, precise work, built around one outcome: keeping more of what you earn.
We take a handful of engagements each quarter.
The calendar fills by referral. If your CPA or attorney has suggested you speak with us, that introduction is already in place. If not, a short note below begins the conversation.
Request an introduction →