E5: Spotlight On Host Manasa Nadig, Enrolled Agent (EA)
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In this episode of the International Money Café Podcast, we get to answer the question “Who Is Manasa Nadig EA?”
Tune in to find out more about her, how she launched her practice MN Tax and Business Services PLLC, and who her ICP (Ideal client profile) is!
You’ll learn what it takes to start a tax preparation and tax planning business as an immigrant. Once you hear her passion and understand her knowledge, you’ll understand why a lot of people with cross-border tax needs reach out to her.
The views and opinions are those of the speakers, and should not be considered financial, tax, or legal advice. Consult your advisor for any legal, cross-border tax, and financial advice.
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
Welcome to the International Money Cafe Podcast, the show where we filter out the noise on cross-border taxes, finances, and life in the us. I'm your host, Jen Metham, CFP.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
I'm your host, ADE. Yay. Join us on this journey as we explore these unique challenges facing us, inbound outbound families and businesses onto the show.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
A couple of episodes ago we talked about our story of coming to America, and today episode we are actually going to talk a little bit more about what we do professionally, our businesses, who it is that we do it for, and really what it is that's brought us to this point as far as our work. And today we have the honor of Mana doing her thing. So I'm going to be literally interviewing her on this. How does that sound, man?
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Yeah, sounds a little scary, but I think we'll get it done.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Alright. You know your staff. I'm sure we can do it. So how about we start with you talking to us about your company, your business, what it is that it does, and we'll go from there. And then I got a whole bunch of other questions that I'm thinking of.
MN Tax and Business Services
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Of course. I'm man Nade, as you already know. I'm an enrolled agent and I'm owner founder of MN Tax and Business Services based in southeast Michigan.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
And how long have you owned the business?
Speaker 2 (01:34):
So I started my business back in 2012, and there's a story to that, which we'll come to later. I have been working as a tax professional since 2000 actually, so it's been a long journey, but between the time I started and then I started my own business, there was all of this time when I was working for other people.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
So many directions. We can go on this. So do you want to talk about how you started the company or do you want to talk about the professional qualifications? I'll let you pick one.
How it all Started
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Yeah, so let's go back to how it all started. I'm from India. I was born and raised there, and I went to university in India. I got a bachelor's in commerce, and so for sure, it's called B. And basically what that is is a combination degree in accounting, business, law, economics, and all of the other subjects that go with making you a professional in accounting. Or you could branch off into studying business law if you wanted to. So that's my initial degree. After my uni degree in India, I was training to be a chartered accountant, which is an equivalent of the CPA license in the us so that's what I was training for. So my background has always been in accounting and law and taxes and economics. So that's where I did start. So I've continued to work in that profession even after I came to the us how I started my firm.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
We can go into that a little bit more. If you go back and you listen to our episode about coming to America, you already know that my husband and I were here on a J visa. We eventually moved on to an H one B and then we got a green card. Of course, this took a few years and in the meantime, we had added two kids to our family. The good thing was that with a green card, now I was able to go out and work without worrying about work permits and work authorizations and all that. And I started working at one of the big box tax firms we all know about. That was actually an amazing experience for me. It really meant that I was meeting all of these people during tax season. They were literally walking off the road and it honed my skills in making conversations and talking to people, getting them to open up to me, give me all their information and get that rhythm going.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
And I found that I really truly enjoyed that. I worked there for a few years, branched off into corporate jobs for a little bit, but then realized my first true love, however nerdy that must sound, was tax advising and tax planning. So I came back to that and I started working with many different CPA firms in metro Detroit. So what that entailed was during tax season, I was wearing different hats. I was working for maybe at some point I was working for two or three firms at the same time. So you can just even imagine what it was to walk into one firm one day and have a certain set of systems and processes and then going to a different place the next day. But underneath it all, it was really tax planning and tax preparation and all of the tax laws the same. So I started to do that. Eventually I met the CPA who became my business partner, Kay Harris, who took me under her wing and she said, you should stop doing this. It's time you have enough experience. You worked with a lot of different CPA firms, you should think about going into business on your own. And really, I have to mention her name, she is such a great mentor and she really supported me in those years thanks to her. I set up my own practice in 2012 and started off on my own.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
So I'm curious, and I got all these questions, which probably has nothing to do with what we had planned for. So you really were not thinking of starting your business until you met this person, right?
Possibility of the American Dream
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Yeah. You know how, I mean, and and I, we talk about this quite a lot, right? It's this mindset of all of the possibility of the American dream, but at the same time there is this hesitation and the kind of, for the lack of a better word, fear of the unknown of what to expect and how to go about doing things and whether things will work out in your favor. So it was definitely a step out of my comfort zone to go into practice on my own. My mindset was, yes, I can work for someone else, I can do my best. I can put my nose to the grindstone and I can be successful. No doubt about that. And also the very fact that the way my family is, there has never been anybody who had launched their own business. There was nobody who had ever gone into business on their own.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
So that is also something that sort of becomes a part of your personality as you grow up and you've never thought about yourself as someone who can go out and have their own business or have their own practice. And so that was something that was a bit of, I had to step out of that box. But knowing by then, by the time that I did launch my own practice, I had a lot of things that I had learned from working with all the different CPAs about what I wanted to do and also most importantly, what I didn't want to do and how my practice should look like, how it should be unique to what I was doing and build upon that. And it should somehow also reflect my personality because of course an accountant, no one calls an accountant a fun person, unfortunately. But somehow I wanted to kind of mix that into bringing myself into the practice and meet people who would be willing to work with me.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
That's awesome. Ian, it raises another question, maybe we'll come back to that later. Tying a business as an immigrant, as a woman and as a woman of color, what challenges did you face? Did you feel like anybody ever looked at you differently? And especially being in such an industry?
Challenges of Business as an Immigrant and Woman of Color
Speaker 2 (08:57):
Yes. You know what I mean? I think that this is kind of universal, this aspect of this where we are women of color, we go into business and there are a lot of challenges to overcome, and especially in industries like the accounting industry or the financial industry, which is definitely changing for the better. Don't get me wrong, it's much better than what it used to be, but it's still a male dominated industry. It's still a white male dominated industry. And a lot of times you go out there and you do not see someone else who looks like you and who's doing what you want to do. So not only now you have this pressure to say, well, you are a foreign born national. You've come to this country, you want to start your own practice, but then there is no path in front of you that you could easily follow, right?
Speaker 2 (10:00):
You have to basically write the book as you go, which is something that you have to learn and fall down, find out what doesn't work. And sometimes it's two steps back for one, every step you move forward. But it's also the freedom of going back to your point about not having, knowing whether I wanted to work for myself or if I would continue working for someone else, the freedom of being able to work for yourself, having your own practice, that is something I don't think now that I have it, that I could ever go back to working for somebody else. And I think I would make a great employer also knowing that I know what it is like to work with someone else and feel that restriction. And then now to have the freedom of not have my own practice,
Speaker 1 (11:00):
I have to say you are actually one of the people I truly, truly admire when I look at what you've done, where you've come from and truly understanding some of the challenges. So keep at it, keep going. But let's go back to the fact that you had done the B comm in India. What certifications did you have to do to actually be able to start this in the us?
Certifications to Get Started in the U.S.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
First of all, thank you so much, Jane. That really means a lot to me and it really touches my heart. Thank you. Thank you. So yeah, I needed to get some additional certifications in the US and like I said, we had to wait to get all our ducks in a row, the green card and everything. And I had very young children when I started working at that time. So we explored, okay, how easy would it be to switch from a chartered accounted license from India to a CPA license in the us? And I can always talk more about this, maybe we could do a future episode on that. That's actually something that I learned. But by the time when I started to look into that, the CPA, the AI CPA was no longer giving equivalency certificates to the CA license from India. So you basically just had to go back to the drawing board and redo everything.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
And in Michigan, you had to get up to get more credits and come up to speed on the total number of credits you have to even be able to go and sit for the CPA exam. So considering that, considering the time and the expense that I would have had to put into getting a CPA license, although even to this day, I wish that I was able to do it. I wish that I had the time to do it, and I would do it in a heartbeat if I had a do over. But at that time, I really reflected on what that I was doing, how I was working in my practice, and I realized that I was doing a lot of tax law and I really needed to hone my knowledge in tax law and also what I could get out of that was important to me. So I decided that I would get the internal Revenue Services enrolled agent license. And don't get me wrong, there's a lot of pros and cons out there. People are always talking about CPA versus EA and things like that, but the enrolled agent license is also very comprehensive to really test your MET loan tax law and you really have to know your stuff to pass those three part exam. I did that. In fact, I think I did that in the middle of taxis, summer
Speaker 1 (13:55):
Achiever,
Speaker 2 (13:57):
Right? But it was more than that. I was just the fact that once I had decided that I wanted to do this, I wanted to launch my own practice, I was like, the sooner I get all of this behind me and I'm able to do it, the quicker I can get to that. You know what I mean? So I passed the EA exam and I got my license in 2012, and that meant that I was now what is called a Circular two 30 practitioner. So basically circular two 30 is for the lack of a better term, a covenant even you can say that that governs how someone can practice and represent their clients with Internal Revenue Service.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
That makes sense.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
Yeah. So enrolled agents, CPAs, and certain tax attorneys are all governed by Circular two 30.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
Okay. Okay.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
Yeah. So they have representation rights with the IRS if you are a circular two 30 practitioner. So that kind of puts you on par with these other licenses,
Speaker 1 (15:04):
Which is every time I've actually looked at CPAs and es, I always think I'm going to probably go to an EA for somebody that can help me with taxes. And actually, it kind of goes back to really the issue of how we ended up meeting, because we met in a cross border thing and you and I started getting together, I think it was weekly or biweekly, and would dig into tax treaties. I realized you love that kind of thing. I love that kind of thing. And I end up actually sending a lot of my cross border clients to you. So going from being able to represent them, having your own business and the fact that I still send my cross border clients to you, are you able to talk about some of who you work with and what it is that you do for them?
Ideal Client Profile
Speaker 2 (15:49):
Yes. So my preferred client persona or my ideal client avatar, all of these beautiful acronyms. So my ideal client is someone who is a foreign born national. They could be in the US on a work visa or they could be a naturalized citizen, not a green holder, or they could be a US citizen or a green card holder who's now living abroad or a foreign born national who wants to establish a business in the us have all these crossbo operations. There are people who are on various different visas that we work with because each visa has its own twist and thing, but then it comes to taxes. And yeah, we have all of these people, and a lot of them have straddled two countries with their financial assets. So these are somebody who I love working with actually.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
So really if I think of, let's say John, he just moved from country X, Y, Z, he's now in the us. He's got assets overseas. He's probably thinking of starting a business in the us, but even before he starts, he probably is the kind of person you want to be talking to or should be talking to you to make sure not only do you take care of the US taxes, you also considering the X, Y, Z taxes, that kind of complexity, right?
Speaker 2 (17:21):
Exactly, exactly. So that would be that person, or it could be somebody who is a US citizen, but has now let's say Mike is a US citizen, and he decided that he wanted to live in let's say Germany for a few years because his parents are getting older and he wants to spend time with them there, and he's lucky enough to find a job. So he moves to Germany. But because he's a US citizen, he still has to file US taxes. And now that he has a footprint in Germany, he also has to declare all of that information taking into consideration what taxes he's also paying Germany. So those are some of clients we also work with. And we also work with people who just want to explore. They have no ties with the US at this time, but because we talk about all the time, US is still land of people are always looking to the US to come in, start something. So they might be looking to invest here and real estate or just start a business and things like that. So we help people like that set up their operations in the US and launch from there and keep up with their tax filing as well.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
So if you are outside the US and you're thinking about moving to the US and you're worried about some tax questions, that sounds like somebody that you should be reaching out to, man, if you are listening to this episode, you are already in the us, you're not sure about whether you've been doing the right thing with your overseas asset. Sounds like that person should be reaching out to you. So the next question is, where can people find you? Obviously outside the International Money Cafe podcast, what's your website? How can people get in touch with you?
Speaker 2 (19:19):
Yes. So yeah, we work with everybody virtually at this stage because our clients are based all over the world and all over the us. So we have systems and processes in place to keep all of the information secure. And there's a whole lot of things that goes on in the background for that. Yeah, you can reach me via my website, which is mn tax biz com, and we link that in the show notes as well. You can also reach me with a contact form on my website. I'm also on LinkedIn as mar, you can reach me on LinkedIn. And of course, I also have a lot of fun on Instagram and Facebook, but I'm also available if you want to contact me via Instagram and Facebook.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
So really multiple ways of finding you. There's no excuse for not finding if somebody wants to find you. What else should I have asked you that I did not ask you?
Speaker 2 (20:20):
Well, a little more about the type of people that I work with. We do do, like you said, a lot of immigration and the pre expatriation planning, and also if you are planning to move to the US or out of the us, I just want to go into that a little more, is it's really important that you plan your things because how your taxes get affected, how your finances get affected by this, not just your income tax. If you are a high net worth individual by increasing your exposure to the United States, you also bring in all of the estate considerations into the tax purview of the us. So it's important to work with professionals in this regard. So that is something that I would like to reiterate.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
No, that's great. Anything else I should have asked you? I love this.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
Oh yeah. No, I think we covered a lot, Jane. I think that this is great, and I loved being interviewed, and I look forward to doing this with you on the other side. And we always say, if this is something that you found useful or you found that talking to someone like Jane or I is useful to you, please reach out to us and also please share our podcast and give us a high rating. And we look forward to hearing back from you all. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (21:54):
No, that sounds great. So until next time, when Manasa gets to interview me, this is Jane. And
Speaker 2 (22:02):
This is Monica. Bye
Speaker 3 (22:05):
Bye. Thank you for listening to the International Money Cafe podcast. The content is for informational and educational purposes only, and should not be used as a substitute for professional advice. Seek the advice of your qualified service provider with any questions you may have regarding your cross border finances and tax needs.