Sun Tzu on Winning Battles
Sun Tzu wrote that the great strategist wins battles before they begin. The average strategist wins battles as they unfold. The weak strategist loses battles that need never have been fought.
In taxation, the battle is an audit, a proceeding, a dispute with the authorities. Each of these battles costs—time, money, peace of mind. Each could have been avoided had the right question been asked earlier.
Ongoing tax advisory is Sun Tzu’s strategy: winning through avoidance. Resolving problems before they become disputes. Answering doubts before they transform into errors.
Fourteen Thousand Pages and the Art of Attention
In the first three quarters of 2018, nearly fourteen thousand pages of tax legislation came into force in Poland. It was not an exceptional year.
Zen master Shunryu Suzuki spoke of “beginner’s mind”—a state of openness in which possibilities are limitless. In the expert’s mind, possibilities are few.
The entrepreneur needs both: beginner’s mind toward their own business and expert’s mind toward the regulations. The problem is that no one can be an expert in everything. Fourteen thousand pages a year is more than anyone can absorb while simultaneously running a company.
A tax adviser is the expert you rent. Their expert’s mind complements your entrepreneur’s mind.
Musashi on Timing
Miyamoto Musashi, the legendary swordsman and author of “The Book of Five Rings,” understood that timing is everything. Not the force of the strike, not the technique—the moment. Too early, and you strike the void. Too late, and you are struck.
In taxation, timing is equally decisive. A question asked before a transaction allows you to shape it. A question asked after allows, at best, damage control. A question asked after an audit allows nothing.
Ongoing advisory is real-time advisory. Not in a month, not in a quarter—now, while the decision remains open.
Three Battlefields
PIT and CIT. Does this transaction generate income? Is this expense deductible? Must you withhold tax? Questions that seem simple until you see how many interpretations they generate.
VAT. Where does the tax obligation arise? What rate applies? Can you deduct? The tax where the margin for error is smallest and the consequences greatest.
Special taxes. Excise duty, inheritance and gift tax, sector-specific levies. Less frequent, but when they appear, they demand knowledge you don’t use every day.
Lao Tzu on Water
Lao Tzu wrote that water is the softest of all things, yet it overcomes the hard and the strong. Not through force—through persistence, through adaptation, through flowing where resistance is least.
Good tax advisory is like water. It does not fight the regulations—it flows through them. It finds paths that are legal and beneficial. It bypasses obstacles rather than crashing against them.
This is not aggressive optimization—it is intelligent navigation. The difference is fundamental.
The Accountant and the Entrepreneur
The accountant sees a transaction when it lands in the system. It must be recorded—today, not next week. There is no time for academic research. An answer is needed.
The entrepreneur sees a transaction before it happens. They negotiate a contract, plan an investment. They have time for questions—if they know they should ask.
The retainer serves both. The accountant calls with a current doubt—and receives an answer that allows the month to close. The entrepreneur consults on a planned transaction—and learns how to structure it.
Two rhythms, one service.
Confucius on Learning
Confucius said: “Learning without thinking is useless. Thinking without learning is dangerous.”
An entrepreneur who thinks about taxes without learning makes dangerous decisions—based on intuition that often fails in tax law. An entrepreneur who learns regulations without thinking about their business gets lost in abstractions divorced from reality.
Advisory unites the two. We bring knowledge of the regulations. You bring knowledge of your business. Together, we think and learn at once.
How It Works
You purchase a pool of hours. Ten, fifteen, twenty—depending on the intensity of your operations. You draw on them yourself or through your accountant.
You ask when you need. By phone, by email, in person. No formalities, no opening a case, no waiting for an available slot.
You commission analyses. A transaction requires deeper examination—we prepare a written opinion within the retainer.
Hours carry over. Half of unused hours transfer to the following month. You don’t lose what you didn’t use.
You decide flexibly. Approaching your limit—you purchase additional hours or pay for the excess at the hourly rate. No traps, no automatic renewals without consent.
Zhuangzi on Uselessness
Zhuangzi told of a great tree that survived for centuries because its wood was useless—no one cut it down. Uselessness was its protection.
A good tax structure is inversely useful—so useful that it becomes invisible. It generates no disputes, attracts no audits, requires no defense. It simply works.
Ongoing advisory builds this invisibility. Every question asked early is one potential problem fewer. Every doubt clarified is one opportunity for error closed.
The best work of an adviser is invisible—because its result is the absence of events.
What the Retainer Does Not Include
Transparency requires boundaries.
Representation before authorities. Audits, proceedings, verification activities—a separate service, priced according to the work involved.
Court proceedings. Appeals to the administrative courts—requiring different intensity and a different budget.
Ruling requests. Preparing an application for a binding tax interpretation—a comprehensive project with its own scope.
The retainer is ongoing support. For larger matters, we have other tools.
Takuan on the Mirror
Zen master Takuan Sōhō wrote of the mind as a mirror—reflecting what stands before it without attachment, without judgment. The samurai’s sword should work the same way: responding to reality, not to imaginings about it.
A tax adviser must have a mirror mind. Seeing your situation as it is—not as you wish it were. Responding to facts, not to hopes.
This sometimes means saying things you do not want to hear. This transaction is risky. This expense will not be deductible. This structure will attract attention.
Better to hear it from an adviser than from an auditor.
When It’s Worth It
When your operations grow complex. One line of business, local clients, simple transactions—perhaps an accountant suffices. But when new products, new counterparties, new markets arrive, you need support.
When your accountant signals uncertainty. A good accountant knows what they don’t know. When they signal doubt, it’s a sign to ask.
When the law changes. Every year brings amendments, every year new obligations. Each change raises new questions.
When you sleep uneasily. Uncertainty costs more than money. It costs sleep, focus, energy. Certainty has value that doesn’t appear on a balance sheet.
Hagakure on Preparation
“Hagakure,” the book of the samurai, says: “Matters of great concern should be treated lightly. Matters of small concern should be treated seriously.”
In taxation, this wisdom operates in reverse—and the same way. Major transactions require preparation, but not panic. Small decisions require attention, because from small errors grow large problems.
Ongoing advisory means treating small matters seriously—before they grow. And treating large matters calmly—because preparation brings calm.
In Closing: The Path and the Destination
Lao Tzu said that the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
In taxation, every step has consequences. Every transaction leaves a trace. Every decision shapes the future—your relationship with the tax authorities, your position in the event of an audit, your security.
Ongoing advisory is a companion on that journey. It will not replace you—you make the decisions. But it will help you walk with greater confidence, avoid traps, choose paths that lead to the destination rather than into the abyss.
The road is long. It is good to have a guide.
