From Europe to Florida: CFO-Turned-Entrepreneur Karyna Moroz Shares Strategies for Company Compliance and Growth
Taxation poses an enduring challenge for small and medium-sized enterprises in the United States. By 2025, it is projected that Americans will expend over 7 billion hours to align with IRS regulations, an extensive commitment of time that could otherwise foster business expansion or personal respite.
Additionally, businesses are anticipated to incur a staggering $148 billion on software, tax advisors, and ancillary services, culminating in a total tax compliance cost surging past $536 billion—approximately 1.8% of the national GDP.
The impact on small businesses is particularly severe. A 2025 study by the National Small Business Association indicates that most proprietors allocate upwards of 20 hours annually to federal tax compliance, even with professional aid. Furthermore, around 90% of these entrepreneurs assert that taxation heavily influences their daily operations.
While these issues have been persistent, the crux lies in how businesses choose to react. Some opt for a reactive mindset, addressing tax obligations as challenges arise. In contrast, others turn to specialists like Karyna Moroz, who meticulously monitor regulatory shifts and apply them pragmatically.
With more than a decade of accounting expertise across Europe and the U.S., Moroz has acted as CFO and finance director for enterprises in Lithuania, Denmark, and Sweden. Presently, she helms her firm, Tax Advice & Accounting LLC, in Tampa, Florida. In addition to her hands-on practice, she stays abreast of relevant knowledge through certifications in QuickBooks, bookkeeping, and federal taxation.
Courses such as “Taxation for Business in the USA (S Corp, C Corp, Partnership, Trust)” enhance her proficiency in preparing and reviewing returns, minimizing errors, and bolstering client advisory on optimal tax strategies and entity structures, which is vital for fostering value and credibility.
The Principal Bottlenecks and Their Real-World Implications
Although the recent webinar failed to unveil novel issues for Karyna Moroz, it underscored the persistent challenges she routinely confronts. Inspired by this, she delineates the prevalent areas where businesses often stumble and proffers tangible strategies for resolution.
1. Selecting the Appropriate Legal Structure
One of the cardinal decisions for nascent enterprises is determining the suitable legal framework. Among the commonplace options are S Corporations and C Corporations. Smaller firms typically gravitate towards S Corps, as profits flow directly to shareholders’ personal tax returns, effectively avoiding double taxation.
However, this benefit is accompanied by ownership restrictions, confining the number of shareholders and their eligible status. Conversely, C Corps permit unlimited, even foreign, shareholders, rendering them more attractive to investors, albeit with the trade-off of also incurring corporate taxes and additional dividend taxation for owners.
At her Tampa-based practice, Moroz frequently counsels clients grappling with the optimal structure for their growth objectives. For instance, certain entrepreneurs contemplate transitioning from sole proprietorships to S Corporations to mitigate self-employment taxes.
She adeptly navigates them through the intricacies of filing Form 2553, the election form signifying a business’s desire to shift its tax treatment, thus reducing the burden of self-employment taxes. Furthermore, she ensures her clients grasp the IRS’s “reasonable compensation” stipulations inherent to the S Corp designation.
2. Understanding Reporting Obligations and Deadlines
Tax filing obligations in the U.S. exhibit significant variance. Diverse business types, including partnerships, standard corporations, and S Corporations, each possess distinct forms for compliance.
Partnerships are required to file Form 1065, which reports the partnership’s income while passing it through to individual partners’ returns. Meanwhile, C Corporations must submit Form 1120, the standard corporate income tax declaration. S Corporations utilize Form 1120-S, which shifts profits and losses directly onto owners’ personal tax returns.
“Each form is governed by rigorous deadlines specific to the business type, far beyond the general April 15 deadline that the public often knows,” Karyna elucidates. “Late or missed submissions incur more than just extra paperwork; the IRS imposes automatic penalties that escalate monthly. For partnerships, such penalties can reach $210 per partner each month, quickly escalating for multi-owner firms,” she emphasizes.
To avert such pitfalls, Moroz constructs tracking spreadsheets for clients, employing useful tools for Florida-based entities such as VL Cargo Express LLC, Palmcraft Cabinets LLC, and Hidemont LLC.
These compilations encompass income sources, deductions, credits, and estimated payments tailored to each company’s unique deadlines and requirements. This meticulous tracking ensures timely compliance with filing deadlines, effectively minimizing penalties and interest charges.
3. Documentation of Expenses
Inadequate record-keeping frequently precipitates turmoil during IRS audits. Karyna asserts, “The issue seldom lies with the validity of expenses themselves; travel, supplies, or home office expenditures may indeed be deductible, but owners often fail to maintain the requisite proof demanded by the IRS.
A receipt devoid of a legitimate business purpose, personal transactions intermingled with company expenditures, or mileage tracked long after the fact can all provoke inquiries.”
Auditors scrutinize not just numerical balances but also the consistency and verifiability of the documents submitted. Should expenses lack substantiation as business-related, deductions may face rejection, leading to unforeseen tax liabilities augmented by penalties.
For small enterprises, such disorganization can cost thousands of dollars due to poor paperwork management.
When she commenced her tenure at Jan Madsen AB in Sweden, preparing for an audit could stretch over three weeks. Following the application of standardized documentation processes, that timeline shrank to a mere three days.
She now implements this strategy for her American clientele, digitizing records to ensure compliance with IRS substantiation standards and preserving significant sums in potential penalties.
4. Navigating Multi-State and Cross-Border Regulations
Businesses operating in multiple states or employing workers from various jurisdictions encounter additional complexities due to “nexus” laws.
Nexus establishes a taxable relationship between a business and a state, triggered by factors such as maintaining a physical office, housing a warehouse, staffing remote employees, or reaching specific sales thresholds.
Many entrepreneurs underestimate these regulations until faced with unexpected filing requirements.
As a part-time CFO at Enuda AB, a Scandinavian engineering and consulting firm engaged with projects globally (in Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, Australia), she adeptly managed financial planning under diverse taxation regulations.
This experience equips her U.S. clients to discern when nexus laws impose unexpected multi-state obligations.
Although tax regulations may appear as hindrances, Karyna repositions them as catalysts for operational efficiency. Selecting the right structure, rigorously documenting expenses, and preparing for audits in advance collectively liberate time and resources conducive to growth.
Looking to the future, compliance will only intensify as regulations advance and businesses diversify across jurisdictions.
As Karyna Moroz aptly summarizes, “Taxes are an inextricable aspect of business; our preparation determines whether they hinder our progress or propel us forward.” For small enterprises, such preparedness can differentiate between resilience and insolvency.
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