Business Innovators Radio - Interview with Terry Register- CEO of Capsur Tax and Estate Planning- Tax Mitigation Strategies for Business Owners

Episode Date: June 11, 2025

As President of Capsur Tax and Estate Planning, Terry Register leads with a clear and focused mission: to help business owners, high-income professionals, high-net-worth individuals, and closely held corporations navigate the complexities of tax planning, retirement strategy, estate structuring, and legacy preservation. Through personalized service and strategic insight, Terry delivers solutions designed to build long-term financial confidence and multigenerational impact.Terry began his distinguished career at Fidelity Union, earning “Rookie of the Year” honors and qualifying for the Million Dollar Round Table (MDRT) in his first year. He later joined American Defender Life, where he consistently ranked among the top ten producers nationwide and earned annual recognition in the President’s Cabinet.He founded Capsur with a vision to offer programs and planning strategies that empower individuals and businesses to reach their financial, retirement, and legacy goals. Today, he continues to work collaboratively with professionals and clients across the country on high-value joint cases that demand tailored and sophisticated solutions.Terry’s leadership and production achievements have earned him national recognition, but his commitment to service goes beyond the business world. He has served as a trustee on the Endowment Committee at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, a Corporate Board Member for G.R.A.C.E. Christian School in Raleigh, and an active supporter of charitable missions, including the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, the Zachary Taylor Orphanage in Kenya, and Uttermost Ministries.A devoted husband, father, and grandfather, Terry resides in Raleigh, NC, with his wife. He is a longtime member of Bayleaf Baptist Church, where he has served on the Personnel Committee and continues to invest in his faith and community.Learn more: https://www.capsurtaxandestateplanning.com/Influential Entrepreneurs with Mike Saundershttps://businessinnovatorsradio.com/influential-entrepreneurs-with-mike-saunders/Source: https://businessinnovatorsradio.com/interview-with-terry-register-ceo-of-capsur-tax-and-estate-planning-tax-mitigation-strategies-for-business-owners

Welcome to influential entrepreneurs, bringing you interviews with elite business leaders and experts, sharing tips and strategies for elevating your business to the next level. Here's your host, Mike Saunders. Hello and welcome to this episode of Influential Entrepreneurs. This is Mike Saunders, the authority positioning coach. Today we have back with us, Terry Register, who's the CEO of Capture Tax and Estate Planning, and we'll be talking about tax mitigation strategies for, business owners. Terry, welcome back to the program.

Man, thanks for having me back. Hey, you are welcome. You are a wealth of knowledge. And I know that talking about businesses and tax mitigation strategies, again, could just be, you know, a six-month coaching session one-on-one, you know, one time a week. I mean, it's just never ending because you just don't know what you don't know. So I want to get some great overview, foundational ideas on how you're working with your business owners to bring some of these strategies to their mind. And, you know, let's just start with this.

What have you seen are some of the biggest tax planning mistakes that successful business owners make? Well, first of all, you know, I'm not an accountant. I'm not a lawyer. So I'm going to give you a 50,000 foot view. And when I talk about these ideas, hopefully nobody that's listening feels like I'm talking down to their CPA or their attorney or anything. like that. So the thing that I do is when I go to my regular doctor, you know, my regular doctor

tells me what something's wrong, but if I see there's a problem, I go to somebody that maybe have a little bit more education on it. And so thank you for that question. One of the things that I see a biggest problem is maximizing your retirement contributions because, you know, there's strategies out there where you can actually go out and do that. And you know, you might not know what the limits are. And so when I talk to most business owners, you know, some of them don't even contribute to their own retirement plan.

And some of them don't do it just to keep people to come to work there. And so so many businesses didn't look at it, how is it going to help them? Because see, the thing is that, you know, when I pay somebody and if I'm a business owner, I want to make sure that they're making me enough money to pay those things.

So benefits are important things for them to see and no one what benefits that we can give somebody, it'll help you not only with yourself, but it'll help you with retention, which actually drives business for yourself and for your company. Yeah, that's a really good point. And I think that a lot of times, again, I love examples, analogies, case studies, but you know, you just don't know what you don't know. And there's so many things in the tax code. And I've heard the tax code is 50,000 pages or some, just crazy high number. Nobody will be able to get through that and understand it and then know how to

apply it to their business. So let's talk a little bit about just again from a conceptual standpoint. There's a difference between tax preparation and true tax strategy. Why is that a critical distinction for business owners to understand? Well, the thing is, and thank you for asking the question that way. And I will say, again, I'm not giving. accounting advice and I'm not speaking down on accountants. But see, think about it. When I go do my taxes, and I've been doing the same CPA every year, they come up on January the 1st and they're doing tax stuff just as fast as they can do it to April 15th and they take a couple week vacation and then rest and they go back. So the thing is that some people just prepare your taxes and do those

things. Now, the thing is is that I find that a lot of CPAs don't give you. you a whole lot of ideas. I had over 30 appointments this week on tax mitigation this month with tax mitigation and almost every one of people, they say, you know, I don't get a whole lot of advice from the person that's doing my accounting work. And the first question I say, well, do you ask them? They say, well, they don't specialize in that. They specialize in filling out my tax return. And you know, the thing is, is that I can change the oil in my car, but I'm not a mechanic. So the thing is that I know there's some things and so a lot of people think that way and you know the scary thing about a lot of businesses they're spending so much time on the business I call it busy being

busy and so they spend so much time being busy on it and see a lot of the guys that are if they're making you know over three or four hundred thousand dollars year in income a lot of them don't even know what a mega roth is or the back door roth so you put one piece in and so I always like to talk about that on the retirement piece when you look at it a lot of these business owners they'll put that in there and you look at the investment person giving them the advice well see they just don't give them that advice and one of my personal feelings is is that they're scared well I don't really know if he can really want to do that I don't even want to tell that because you know they don't want to

get their customer mad at them so I don't mean that negatively but a lot of times they don't give them any kind of strategy when they look at that and see just in this little bit of time that we're going to talk today. You know, one of the strategies are, you know, based on your age, you can put upwards to $70,000. Mike, are you married? Yes. Did you know that you could do a mega-roth? If you made a certain amount of income, you could put up to $170,000 a year into it. And that goes back to that tax-free idea where you can put the money in. And if as long as you've had that Roth at least five years and you're over the age of 59 and a half, you can pull all that money out.

See, that's a strategy. That's not, you know, just doing tax preparation or telling somebody something. And see, everybody's different. So what we have to look at is we have to look at what you've done. It's a sad thing in this world today because I don't like it, but there are some people to end up getting divorced. And so when they start doing their planning, they do the planning of what they say because they get all this information

and they're told, okay, this is what you're going to. to do, this is what you've got to do, this is how this is going to do. Well, see, think about it. What about the strategy of how you're going to move forward? See, a lot of people have never thought that they were going to have a divorce. They never thought that half of their IRA was going to be moved over to a spouse that they're not going to have anything else to do with. And so half of their income is now gone.

Somebody needs to help them to build that strategy. Yes. You know, and I think that when you started getting into the, you know, business, aspects of things and strategies, there are so many extra layers that people just do not know about and you can't do it on your own. You just can't. You need to be an expert at whatever business you're in. So that's why you need that team of people. And I know that even there's so many choices that business owners have when they even set up their business in the first place. Should I be a sole prop? Should I be an LLC, S-Corp, C-Corp? And I know that there's some specific

strategies surrounding how you should set up. And if you set it up one way, maybe a tax strategist would come in and say, to get maximum benefit, we need to make some changes here. So don't get into the weeds or specifics, but have you seen some of your professional partners working with your clients on giving some guidance on their structuring of their entity? Yes, that's a great point. And you know, the thing that I will say again is that as you start looking at this, I had a client the other day that he had a piece of real estate property. And so the thing is, is that he was getting 1099 income. And so he had rental property of X, it don't matter what the amount is. And so his rental income was coming into his self.

And so everybody may not know this, but rental income is passive income. So that passive income, other than your depreciation of things, you don't get a whole lot of rights. off. And so a lot of the structuring that we see is a lot of people that had an LLC, they didn't structure it where they could qualify as an S corporation, because that's just an election. And even if you haven't done it, you know, you can actually do it yourself. You can talk to your CPA. They'll tell you that. I won't get deep into woods there. But the thing that happened is that this one person that had this rental income come in, he set up a management company, and that management company was an S corporation.

we took the rental income, put it into that management company. And so he took that management company and took the income. And then so he started a what we call a cash balance plan, not to get real deep into it, a cash balance plan, which is a defined benefit plan, that if somebody is making in excess of $400,000 a year, they have a formula.

And the formula is two things. It's just what age you are. And for example, going to age 62. that dictates what AGR, how much you could put into that plan. So this person actually could put monies into that plan. So now we took a position that was not tax deductible, put it into his management company, set up an S corporation, and I will say that was done with his CPA, not us. We're not tax planners and we don't tell you what to do.

His CPA told him that was a viable thing. But then we took that income, put that income in his pocket. And so we saved him 30 to 40% of what he would have to get Uncle Sam. So we actually created wealth. Yeah. You know, the thing that I want to just reiterate here, like what you said at the beginning, you're not a tax professional. You're not a legal professional.

Get with the people that are. But some of these things that you're talking about that are strategies are not the things you see on TV. Let's go do an offshore account and do something weird and strange. hiding money. These are things that are just in the tax code that are available to business owners and that business owners just do not know that are available but when set up the right way and approved and all legal and everything, but work with that professional. So I think that's a big, big thing to keep in mind. And that example you gave there was just spectacular. That makes total sense.

Beyond some of those obvious deductions, what are some other overlooked write-offs that could really make a meaningful impact for business owners? One of the things is if you have a need, you know, you got to have, you got to want what you need. You know, I always say people buy what they want, not what they need. So when you look at it, one simple thing is, is that buying a vehicle for yourself and your company, there's a little program where you can actually go buy a $50,000, $60,000 or expedition, let your company buy it.

pay the premiums, and guess what? You can deduct the whole thing that first year. Now, a lot of people will say, oh, I don't want to do that because when I sell it, I got to add the money back. So what? You're looking at the tax deduction today, and you can get that.

That's just something that nobody looks at. The Augusta rule, it sounds sort of crazy, but if I have a company that entertains people, a lot of people don't know it, but the IRS will let you rent your house and your personal resident for 14 days a year for up to $2,000 for 10 days, you know, so you could get a $20,000 deduction and you wouldn't have to report zero to that. Now, the thing is that I hear a lot of people say this, Mike, oh, yeah, that's a pain.

I don't want to do that. Okay, that's okay. We're back to the buffet. You know, if you don't want to do it, everybody should do this. If you have children, and I don't know what to age, you would say, but most of them don't even know that they qualify, Mike, for today, the standard deduction is $13,850. You can pay each one of your kids, you know, that they could do something around your company,

$13,850 a year, and they would pay zero federal tax. And all of those things that, again, people just don't know. There's limits. So if you paid that child 19,800, then there's going to be some tax. If you did the rental of your house for, you know, 17 days. You went over the 14. So there's limits. There's things that you need to stay in compliance on.

So let's talk about something else that I know is really popular and powerful with business owners. And when you start thinking about, you know, key person insurance and buy-sell agreements and premium finance life insurance, all of these kind of advanced strategies, from a 30,000 foot view, what are some of the things that a business. owner can be aware of so that they can get with their professional to get some extra guidance on in that realm. See, think about it. One of the worst things in the world is a lose-a-business partner. And I'm not speaking about your wife, but it could be your wife. But if me and you were in business, and so the value of the business was X, that was a million

dollars. Okay, if something was happening to one of us, if we don't have any kind of structured buy-seller agreement or some way of doing that, I just talked to a guy that owns a fortlift company. And so he wants to sell it to his business owner. And so when I talked to him and the business owner, they said, well, look, here's what we'll do. We think the company's worth X. And so what we'll do is we'll buy an insurance policy. It's called cross-purchase.

We'll buy an insurance policy on us, and we'll put the policy on them. And so we have vendors on people that, you know, and you know, you touched on premium finance, that's one that's sort of a, that is at a 50,000 feet. You've got to have some person worth $2 million, making over $150,000 a year before they can contribute. But what they do is that they can buy a long-term product and they can leverage it. Because based on their good credit and based on their company's credit, they can do that. A lot of the construction workers out there in the world today, I have one in Florida that he had money and setting in an account.

Well, based on the money you have in the account, Mike, if you're one of those owners where you have to put up bonds and stuff, you have to have a cash thing. And so they have a cash multiple. So this guy had $2 million making new money. And so that allowed him to do 10 times $2 million or $20 million jobs. We showed him how he could take that money, put it in a key man policy. So he had four people in his office that were key people.

We put the half a million dollars in. We go back to the left pocket. We put it in the right pocket. So now he actually put that up for collateral against that so he could still do his bonding. But see, now he helped his key people. Because if that person died, that generated more than 500,000. It generated over a million dollars.

Now, not only did he get the 500 and he gave the guy's wife 500, the company kept 500. everybody was a win-win situation and guess what we didn't spend one extra dime all we did was look at the bucket of money we had and see how we wanted to position it and and like you like you mentioned there didn't spend any extra money you're just repositioning what's already happening and yet the net increase so you didn't say go out and make 200,000 more dollars or 50,000 more dollars you just said using what you already have, let's reposition, and the net, net, net was a benefit. So it acted like you went out and made a bunch more money, and then with expenses, you had a little bit more profit.

But you just showed them how to reposition because you and your team were on the outside looking in and were able to show some specific guidance that way. I think that's really powerful. And I would venture to say that you would agree with this. just some of these basic ideas that you were just giving out for business owners are just scratching the surface. There's just myriad ways that business owners can benefit and you just don't know till you sit down with someone. And there's not one plan that fits everyone that you never check on again. So once you set a plan into motion, you better check on it every six to 12 months to make sure that everything is working the right way. You know, you're exactly right.

And you just hit a nerve. Can I give you another example real quick? I'll make it fast. I had a guy that was a mechanic in a little town, and it don't matter where it was at, but he was making about $70,000 a year. John Deere tractor company, on a example like that, it wasn't John Deere, but it was just a tractor company that he was going to go to work for. I came over and tried to recruit him from this small town guy. The small town guy called me, he goes, Terry, man, I cannot have.

afford to lose this guy. He said because not only will I lose him, but all my clients that get their tractors and their lawnmores and everything service, they'll end up going over to him. I'll go out of business. He said, what should I do? You know, when you said that about Key Man, while ago, I wanted to tell you this one thing. I said, well, look, we've got to think outside the box. I said, here's what I want you to tell him. I want you to tell him this. Hey, look, what if I, I can't afford to give you 75,000 a year. You're making 60. But here's what I'll do.

I'll guarantee your wife when you die. I'll pay her $60,000 a year for five years after you die. So that'll be a little perk. Would you do that? Would you, would that help? And so he went back to the people who are trying to hire him. He said, hey, look, they want to give me, they're not going to give me more money, but they said if I died over the next five years,

they would give my wife $60,000, my paycheck for five years. And the other companies said, well, we can't afford to do that. Let me tell you a little secret. All we did was by a 20-year term policy that cost a guy $750 a year to insure that. The employee didn't see that. The only thing he heard was what was the benefit for him. Take care of my wife. That's exactly right, buddy.

And you know, that right there goes way beyond dollars and cents. It goes to taking care of family. It's that emotional bond. It's that family relationship that we're creating within that small business. And when that can be done, you just preserved a wonderful employee. And you could probably use that exact same approach to attract top employees. So I just think that these kind of strategies are so powerful for business owners to know that They exist.

You're not going to know how to do it on your own. So sit down with a professional like you, Terry, where you can look at the big picture and make some recommendations. If a business owner is interested in learning some of these for their business, what's the best way they can reach out and connect with you? I'll say this, you know, go to our website. You'll put the address under a capture tax and estate planning. But then have a general idea of what you're trying to do for your company standpoint.

because are you trying to keep employees? Are you looking at salary continuation? Are you looking at a buy-sell agreement because you've got other partners inside there? Are you looking at putting in a pension and profit sharing plan? A lot of people that have less than 50 employees, they give a group health benefit. And so, you know, what am I trying to accomplish? And so what we do is that I tell them, you know, schedule a little 30-minute conversation. You know, I can come see you or you can do it on Z.

Zoom. Ever since COVID now, everybody's doing Zoom calls. You know it. That's awesome, Terry. Well, thank you so much for coming back on. It was a real pleasure chatting with you. Thank you, my friend. You've been listening to Influential Entrepreneurs with Mike Saunders. To learn more about the resources mentioned on today's show or listen to past episodes, visit www.com.com.