Can Taxes Empower Energy Healers? How to Reduce Fear and Gain Control

✏️ Editor’s Note:
If the word “taxes” makes you want to close this article and pretend it doesn’t exist, you’re in good company. For most energy healers (in fact, for most people!), tax season feels more like a stress test than a business tool.

Luckily, Ian Foster isn’t just an attorney, he’s also a former government tax lawyer who knows how the system works and how to make it a little less intimidating.

In this article, he’ll walk you through three simple steps that turn taxes from something you avoid into something that might actually help your practice grow.

It’s time to address a topic that’s critical to anyone running an energy healing business…taxes. So take a moment to think hard about doing your taxes and then give me a shout or raise your hand if you are thinking:

“I love dealing with taxes!”

Hmmm…lots of silence…and I don’t see any hands raised.

That’s probably because our society does a horrible job of educating regular folks and small business owners about how to deal with taxes properly.

Actually it’s worse than that. Our society is filled with marketing campaigns that actively promote tax anxiety, generate fear of tax audits, and make you think the system is way more complicated than it actually is. Why would they do that? Why, to sell you something, of course.

So between the lack of empowering education and the active promotion of fear and tax anxiety, it’s no wonder the average energy healer running a business wants to think about taxes as little as possible, or can’t wait to pass along the responsibility to someone else, or even wants to avoid it altogether while problems fester.

Anxiety Around Taxes for Small Businesses and Entrepreneurs

Now, what if I told you it doesn’t have to be that way? What if I told you that taxes can be an empowering tool to grow your business, be more visible, and help more people?

You’re skeptical. I get it and that’s okay. Nothing wrong with healthy skepticism.

So a little about me. You already know I'm an attorney who specializes in helping the broader healing community. But you may not know that my first love was tax law and I spent eighteen years of my career as a government tax lawyer. That’s right; I’ve seen the system from the inside. So allow me to bring some of that inside knowledge to you so we can alleviate that natural tax anxiety and start seeing taxes in an empowering light!

First, however, there are a couple things we need to understand and accept.

One of them is obvious but still needs emphasis: if you run a business then you have to deal with taxes. It’s not a choice; it’s a legal requirement.

The next thing is this: fear and anxiety around taxes is holding you back. When you’re afraid of The Big Scary Tax Man then you play small in order to avoid attention. When you don’t want to think about taxes you just throw a box of documents at a tax preparer and let them handle it without making empowering and money-saving decisions for yourself.

So let's be honest about the fear and anxiety we feel around this issue rather than avoiding it. And then let’s all take a collective deep breath and calm down. Making tax decisions out of fear and anxiety is not helping. Indeed making those fear-based decisions (or even trying to avoid making decisions altogether) is putting you at more risk and costing you more money.

Go ahead: take that deep breath! You are safe and I’m here to help! You can learn the basics and make empowered decisions that reduce risk and save money! Now let’s talk about how.

Three Steps to Empower Yourself Around Taxes

There are three steps to feeling more empowered when it comes to taxes and making better decisions that help you grow your business, serve more people, and make more money.

Step One: Every Business Decision Has a Tax Consequence

That’s right: every business decision. Each item that goes in or out of your business bank account must be properly categorized and counted for tax purposes. For each item that comes in you must know whether it’s reportable as income. For each item that goes out you must know whether it’s deductible as an expense. And knowing these things will help you decide when, whether, and how you want these items going into and out of the bank.

Step Two: Tax Season Is All Year Round

Yup: it’s all year round. Once the clock strikes midnight on December 31st, your tax liability is pretty much decided. You may not know what it is yet and there may be a little wiggle room, but the amount you owe is mostly set in stone. Why? Because the amount you owe is based upon the actions you’ve been taking all year long, and you can’t go back in time and undo those actions. Decisions you made in June to raise or lower your prices affect the income you must report. Decisions you made in August to purchase or not purchase office supplies affect the expenses you can deduct.

Whether income is reportable or expenses are deductible is determined at the moment you receive the income or make the expense – NOT when you later file the return the following spring. After December 31st it’s just arithmetic. So start thinking about taxes daily, all year round, and how your decisions are going to affect your liability when it comes time to file.

Step Three: A Big Tax Bill Can Be Good News

Okay, I bet you’re thinking I’m just being silly. A big tax bill is good news, really?? Yes, really … at least it’s good news with an important caveat.

IF you are learning how your business decisions affect your tax liability and IF you are making empowered decisions all year long that put you in a good tax position, then a big tax bill does not mean you’re overpaying. Instead the big tax bill means you made a lot of money! And in my book, that’s great news!

So instead of playing small and staying hidden to avoid the big tax bill, I say we should make empowered tax decisions all year long and be big, bold, and visible so we can help lots of people and make lots of money! Then the big tax bill just becomes confirmation that we’re on the right track!

What’s Next: From Fear to Empowerment

As with all the legal issues we discuss in this column, it’s all about switching our mindset. Get away from the fear and anxiety, learn some of the legal basics, and start taking empowered action as you realize the law is just one more tool to help you grow your business and make a difference in the world!

✏️ Editor’s Note:
You now know that avoiding taxes doesn’t make them go away…even if we sometimes wish they would!

Frustration might have been running the show before, but now you have tools to make smarter decisions and keep more of what you earn.

If you want to keep building your business with confidence (and fewer surprises), your next step is to visit the EMPA Learning Center. Start with our article “The ROI of Liability Insurance for Energy Healers”—because protecting your practice is just as important as growing it!

This article was originally published in the January/February 2024 issue of Energy Magazine. As part of the ongoing Laws & Regulations column by Ian Foster, these articles aim to help energy healers navigate legal, ethical, and business challenges with clarity and confidence.

Disclaimer: This article is for educational purposes only and does not provide legal, financial, or medical advice. The examples are general, and coverage may vary by policy. Always refer to your insurance provider or policy language for specific details, as the policy terms take precedence. For legal concerns related to your practice, consult an attorney.