“I love numbers. Call me crazy, but they’re fun,” says Marie Soto, owner of At Your Hands & Feet inside Antwon’s Salon in Glendale, Ariz. Good thing she’s fond of figures because she’s also the owner of Soto Tax and Accounting, a business she inherited from her grandparents and runs with her husband Danny. “I do monthly sales tax reports, payroll, W-2s, and year-end taxes for businesses and personal clients,” she says.

Her grandparents started the tax business in 1955. “I used to help my grandma by totaling receipts and photocopying forms. She passed away in 1991 and Grandpa took over. Three years ago, he decided to retire and asked if I would continue the family business. So I took some online classes — and still do — and here I am. I even see some of the clients that my Grandma did years ago.”

Soto spends days doing nails, while evenings and weekends are devoted to tax clients. With just a few small businesses on her roster, most of her clients are individuals, including a few of her nail clients.

“There are always deductions that nail techs and salon owners overlook, like newspaper subscriptions, music purchases (iTunes, CDs, etc.), paper cups, some clothing expenses, and donations,” she says. “The more organized you can be for your accountant the better. I do have tax clients who bring me a box of receipts I have to sort through. It’s like a jigsaw puzzle for me.”

For reprint and licensing requests for this article, Click here.

Read more about