Portrait · pending shoot Ramon Liriano Jr.
Co-founder and Partner at Elevated Tax Strategies. The front-of-house at the firm — Discovery calls, client engagement, operations, the bookkeeping team, sales, marketing, brand, partnerships. If you've talked to ETS, you've probably talked to me.
The front-of-house. Six lanes.
- Client engagement. Every Discovery call. Every engagement intake. The relationship with every client from day one through every quarterly check-in.
- Operations + SOPs. How the firm actually runs — Basecamp workflow, monthly close discipline, intake mapping, Round N preparer review handoff, tech-stack integration.
- The bookkeeping team. Hiring, training, quality control, and the working relationship with Kick. Our bookkeeping practice is the foundation everything else runs on.
- Sales + marketing. The Tax Discovery → Tax Analysis → engagement pipeline. The website voice. The content engine. The Hormozi-direct mechanics behind every page.
- Brand + content. Articles, scripts, deliverables, design system. If it has the ETS name on it, it goes through my hands.
- Partnerships. Kick, Relay, Bluevine, Gusto, Ramp — the tech stack relationships. The partners on /partners. The criteria for new ones.
Two-partner role split. I run the front. My partner runs the back.
ETS has two partners. I run the front-of-house — everything client-facing, operational, marketing-driven. Our managing partner runs the tax practice itself — every tax position, every Round N preparer review on every return, every IRS representation matter, every advisory tax decision.
The split is what makes the firm work. When you book Discovery, I'm the one on the call. When you engage, our managing partner is the one signing your return + standing behind the tax positions. Neither of us delegates our half to associates. That's the entire pitch of the firm — you get the partners, not the associates.
The short version.
Husband. Dad. San Antonio resident. Lift heavy four days a week. Read more about operations and how good teams actually work than about tax law (I leave that to our managing partner). Built ETS to be the firm I would have wanted to call when I was on the other side of the table.
Long version is in the articles below — and in the From the Operator Seat category specifically. I write that lane in first person about how the firm actually operates.
6 articles from me
Most-recent published first. I write across all seven Resources categories — though I'm most active in From the Operator Seat (operations, brand, firm philosophy) and the operational lanes (Tax Planning, Bookkeeping, Operating a Business).
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Late S-Corp Election Relief: Rev. Proc. 2013-30 Step-by-Step
Rev. Proc. 2013-30 is the silent workhorse of small-business tax planning. It lets owners go back 3 years and 75 days to claim S-corp treatment they should have had all along. Here's the exact playbook we use.
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How to Elect S-Corp Status: A Step-by-Step Form 2553 Walkthrough
Form 2553 is one page that controls tens of thousands of dollars in annual tax savings. Here's every line, every signature, every common mistake, and what happens after the IRS receives it.
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Trump Accounts Are Here: Should Your Family Open One?
A new account for kids. Born 2025-2028? A free $1,000 seed, $5K/yr limit, S&P 500 only, locked to age 18, then it becomes an IRA. Tax-deferred, not tax-free. Here is the plain-English guide.
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LLC vs. S-Corp: The Tax Math by Income Level (with Worked Examples)
Most break-even articles handwave the math. This one runs it line by line across six income levels, with the actual self-employment tax, federal income tax, payroll cost, and net annual savings for each.
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S-Corp + Solo 401(k): How to Stack Retirement Contributions When You're the Only Employee
The S-corp + Solo 401(k) combination is the most powerful retirement vehicle available to solo business owners — when you set it up right. Here's how to stack $72K+ in tax-deferred contributions, and how to layer a cash balance plan on top for $200K+ totals.
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C-Corp to S-Corp Conversion: The 5-Year Built-In Gains Tax Window You Must Plan Around
C-corp to S-corp conversions look simple on paper. Then you sell an appreciated asset two years in, the BIG tax shows up at 21%, and the whole strategy unravels. Here's how the recognition window actually works and how to plan around it.
The Discovery call is where I do my best work. 15 minutes. Real conversation.
If you're considering engaging ETS — or just want to know if we're the right fit for your situation — book a 15-min Discovery. I run every one personally.
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