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A Shreveport, Louisiana accountant argues that the decisions that shape a tax bill happen long before the filing deadline.
Shreveport, Louisiana, Jun 17, 2026, ZEX PR WIRE — Most taxpayers think about taxes once a year, in the weeks before a deadline. By the time they sit down to review the numbers, the year is already closed and the decisions that shaped the outcome are behind them. Todd Muslow, CPA and CGMA, a partner of Muslow+Agnew Group, LLC in Shreveport, Louisiana, considers that timing the single largest missed opportunity in personal and business finance.
“By the time filing season arrives, most of the choices that matter have already happened,” Todd Muslow says. “At that point the work is recording, not planning.” He offers a different rhythm in its place: a year-round approach that treats tax strategy as a continuing process rather than a spring event. The shift, he says, is less about working harder during filing season and more about spreading the thinking across the calendar so that no single deadline carries all the weight.
The Problem With Filing-Season Thinking
The trouble with concentrating tax attention into a single season is that it arrives too late to change anything. Income has been earned. Contracts have been signed. Equipment has been bought or postponed. Todd Muslow points out that filing accurately is necessary, but it does not create new options. “Compliance ensures accuracy. Strategy influences outcome,” he says. “Those are two different jobs, and only one of them can still move the needle in April.”
For business owners whose income shifts during the year, that gap is wider still. A strong quarter or a slow one changes the picture, and a once-a-year review cannot respond to either in time. Todd Muslow describes clients who discover in March that a profitable year created a liability they could have softened months earlier with a few timed decisions. The information existed. The moment to use it had passed.
A Forward-Looking Mindset in a Deadline-Driven Field
Todd Muslow advocates for replacing the annual scramble with steady, scheduled review. “Tax strategy works best before the year closes,” he says. “It is about reviewing projected income, weighing the timing of major expenses, and deciding while there is still a decision to make.” Small timing changes, he notes, can carry real weight when they are considered in advance rather than discovered after the fact.
He frames quarterly review as the natural cadence for this work. Revenue can be compared against projections. Expense patterns can be examined. When performance moves, estimates and strategy can be adjusted before any imbalance grows. It is the same distinction he draws between two functions: compliance ensures accuracy, strategy influences outcome. Treated as a quarterly habit rather than an annual event, that review rarely takes long, because the numbers are already current and the questions are already familiar.
Where the Conviction Comes From
Todd Muslow’s case for planning is grounded in his own path through the profession. He began in 1997 with KPMG LLP in the Assurance division, specializing in oil and gas audits for public and private companies across the United States. Five years inside other companies’ records taught him how quickly small timing decisions ripple through a full year of results.
He later co-founded Temple Oil Company LLC, serving as Chief Financial Officer, and became Chief Accounting Officer of O’Brien Resources, LLC, overseeing financial reporting and tax compliance across affiliated entities. Those executive roles moved him from checking numbers to living with their consequences. In 2009 he partnered with his father to build the firm that became Muslow+Agnew Group, LLC in Shreveport, Louisiana. “Once an accountant has sat in the owner’s chair, the value of planning ahead stops being theoretical,” Todd Muslow says.
Why Planning Ahead Matters
The payoff of forward planning, in Todd Muslow’s view, is fewer surprises and steadier cash flow. Estimated taxes are his clearest example. Owners often have no taxes withheld automatically and must pay based on projected income. When those projections fall behind reality, penalties can follow. When they run too high, working capital tightens without need. “Estimated taxes should not rest on guesswork,” he says. “They should track what the business is actually doing.”
Safe harbor provisions can offer some protection, he adds, but leaning only on prior-year figures without checking current trends can create its own gap. Responsible planning, in his telling, weighs both the benchmark and the present rather than choosing one and ignoring the other. The aim is not to remove every surprise, which no plan can promise, but to shrink the ones that are avoidable and to see the rest coming.
The Role of Documentation and Trust
Year-round planning depends on records an owner can trust. Todd Muslow ties strategy back to documentation, because a plan built on unreliable numbers is no plan at all. “Good decisions need good information,” he says. “If the books are inconsistent, every projection inherits that weakness.” Monthly reconciliation and a standardized chart of accounts, in his approach, are what make forward planning possible in the first place.
That reliability also shapes the relationship between an accountant and a client. When numbers are current and clear, conversations can focus on choices rather than corrections, and the work shifts from cleanup to strategy. Todd Muslow notes that owners are often surprised how much planning becomes possible once the underlying records are dependable. A clean ledger does not only satisfy a deadline. It opens the door to the kind of forward conversation that changes outcomes.
Small Steps That Add Up
Todd Muslow is quick to say that planning does not require dramatic change. It requires attention and timing. Setting aside tax reserves monthly. Treating quarterly payment dates as checkpoints rather than disruptions. Reviewing projections when income trends shift. These modest habits, repeated, do more than any single year-end maneuver.
He describes the goal as turning tax season into a confirmation rather than a reckoning. When the planning has already happened, filing becomes the last step in a process instead of the only step. Todd Muslow adds that consistency tends to compound in the owner’s favor. Each quarter of disciplined review makes the next one easier, until forward planning feels less like added effort and more like the ordinary way the business runs.
A Call for Change in How Owners Approach Taxes
Todd Muslow would like to see business owners and individuals retire the idea that taxes are a once-a-year errand. The alternative he proposes is not more complicated, only more consistent. As Muslow+Agnew Group, LLC continues advising closely held businesses from Shreveport, Louisiana, that argument anchors his work.
“Planning does not require a dramatic move. It requires looking forward while looking forward still counts,” Todd Muslow says. “Compliance ensures accuracy. Strategy influences outcome. The owners who remember that all year are the ones who rest easier in April.”
