Tax Services

Tax guidance built for what’s next.

Proactive tax planning, compliance, and advisory services that help businesses and individuals reduce risk, improve tax efficiency, and make informed decisions with confidence. Whether you’re planning for growth, navigating a transaction, preserving family wealth, or responding to changing tax laws, our team helps you stay one step ahead.

The best tax strategies begin long before tax season.

Tax returns capture what has already happened. Tax planning helps shape what happens next. By looking ahead instead of simply looking back, businesses and individuals can make more informed decisions and position themselves for future success. Our professionals work throughout the year to identify planning opportunities, evaluate entity structures, monitor legislative changes, and help clients understand how today’s decisions may affect tomorrow’s tax obligations.

Tax Services

Every client faces different tax challenges depending on their organization, ownership structure, and long-term objectives.
Our integrated tax team provides specialized expertise across a broad range of services. These include:

Tax Consulting

Proactive planning and advisory services that help businesses make informed tax decisions throughout the year.

Business Tax

Compliance and planning solutions that help privately held businesses reduce risk, improve efficiency, and support long-term growth.

Private Client Tax & Legacy Services

Integrated planning for individuals, families, trusts, estates, and private foundations focused on preserving wealth across generations.

R&D Tax Credit

Helping innovative businesses identify, document, and maximize valuable federal and state tax incentives.

M&A Tax

Strategic tax guidance before, during, and after transactions to help buyers and sellers optimize outcomes.

State & Local Tax (SALT)

Guidance on nexus, sales and use tax, property tax, and other state and local tax matters as businesses expand and evolve.

More than tax specialists. Trusted advisors.

Tax planning doesn’t happen in isolation. Business structure, financial reporting, ownership transitions, transactions, estate planning, and operational decisions all influence your tax strategy. Through our Client Manager model, you’ll have one trusted point of contact backed by specialists across tax, audit, advisory, transaction services, and other practice areas, all working together to support your broader goals.

Challenges we help clients navigate:

Reducing tax exposure
To ensure you keep more of your hard-earned capital.
Keeping up with changing tax laws
To eliminate the stress of shifting regulations.
Outgrowing your current tax advisor
To gain access to a full team of proactive specialists.
Business growth and restructuring
To optimize your tax structure to support long-term goals.
Multi-state tax complexity
Know your nexus and sales tax obligations are handled.
Preparing for ownership transitions
Ensure a tax-efficient transfer of wealth or business ownership.

A relationship built around proactive planning.

Maybe you’ve outgrown your current provider, or you’ve become frustrated with reactive communication. You’re looking for a true partner who keeps you informed, identifies opportunities, and reaches out before important decisions are made. That’s the experience we strive to deliver. Our team stays engaged throughout the year, helping clients understand changing tax laws, evaluate planning opportunities, and navigate important business and personal milestones proactively.

Outcomes we deliver:

  • Proactive tax planning throughout the year
  • A strategy that maximizes your efficiency and protects your wealth
  • Peace of mind through proactive risk management
  • Coordinated guidance across your advisory team
  • Planning that supports long-term growth and succession
  • A trusted relationship built on proactive communication

FAQs

Standard tax compliance is a retroactive process that focuses on accurately recording and reporting what has already happened in a given year. In contrast, proactive tax planning is forward-looking; it is a year-round strategy designed to shape what happens next. By evaluating entity structures and anticipating how current business decisions will affect future tax obligations, proactive planning helps you minimize liabilities and eliminate year-end surprises.

You may have outgrown your current provider if you find yourself receiving reactive, unresponsive advice or constantly chasing your advisor for answers. Growing organizations often reach a point of complexity, such as geographic expansion or ownership transitions, that requires “Big Firm” expertise without the associated bureaucracy. If your current advisor acts only as a technician rather than a strategic partner who understands your industry’s cycles and pressures, it is likely time for a firm that offers a full bench of specialists.

Multi-state tax complexity often reaches further than most business owners realize. Hiring remote employees, selling services in new jurisdictions, or acquiring a company can create “nexus” and filing obligations in states you never expected. Proactive planning helps you identify your tax footprint early, allowing you to manage “unseen” risks before they are uncovered during an audit and ensuring your geographic growth is built on a stable financial foundation.

The Client Manager model provides you with a single, dedicated point of contact who understands your business inside and out. Instead of being passed between departments, your Client Manager acts as your strategic guide, coordinating a connected team of specialists across tax, audit, and advisory. This ensures that your tax strategy is never handled in isolation but is instead perfectly aligned with your broader business goals, operational decisions, and personal legacy planning.

Absolutely. In fact, the most effective tax strategy for a transition begins long before the deal is negotiated. Proactive M&A tax planning helps you identify “red flags” and potential liabilities early, allowing you to optimize the deal structure to protect your capital. Whether you are considering an internal transition, a sale to a third party, or an ESOP, early tax coordination is essential to maximize your after-tax proceeds and ensure you move toward closing with total clarity.

Our Tax Leadership

  • Rich O’Connor, CPA

    Managing Director

    Tax Services Leader

    About Rich :

    I help clients with proactive, timely tax planning and compliance, always with an eye toward the bigger picture. Clients count on me for a responsive, relationship-driven approach and trusted, high-quality tax advice, including guidance through mergers and acquisitions.

    Education: B.S., Accounting & Finance, Marquette University; Master of Science in Accountancy (Tax Track), Wake Forest University

    Professional Affiliations & Community: N/A

    Fun Fact: I love golf and hockey, playing both year-round, though these days my calendar mostly belongs to my three daughters’ youth programs.

    Contact Rich :

  • John Kammerer, CPA

    Partner

    Strategic Tax Leader

    About John :

    I spend most of my time helping clients proactively plan for their taxes, weighing current cash flow against long-term consequences, and factoring in eventual exit strategy. Whether that’s a family transition, management buyout, or third-party sale. I’m also one of the tax partners responsible for monitoring current tax law and court cases. I work with our M&A team on entity structuring and sales analysis, helping buyers and sellers understand how deal terms translate into cash and timing.

    Education: B.S., Accounting, Winona State University

    Professional Affiliations & Community: Treasurer, S Corporation Association (Washington, D.C.); Redpath and Company Board of Directors

    Fun Fact: With five kids in the house (lacrosse, football, gymnastics), most of my time outside of work is spent at the sidelines. In addition, I admit I’m “a little boring” and I read tax articles for fun!

    Contact John :

  • Alex Helkamp, CPA, CCIFP

    Partner

    About Alex :

    Contact Alex :

  • Tony Oster, CPA

    Partner

    Fargo Office Leader

    About Tony :

    I started my career at Redpath in 2001, working in business and personal taxation; first in construction and real estate, then leading our manufacturing, distribution, and commercial (MDC) tax team for several years, with a specialty in international taxation and planning. When Redpath opened its Fargo office in May 2026, I moved into the partner-in-charge role there. Over my career I’ve helped clients with tax planning and projections, complex flow-through and C-corporation returns, multistate and international taxation, and company restructures and reorganizations.

    Education: B.S., Accounting, Minnesota State University Moorhead

    Professional Affiliations & Community: AICPA, MNCPA, NDCPA, CFMA, Midwest Manufacturers Association; former board member, CFMA – North Dakota Chapter

    Fun Fact: An avid outdoorsman that includes golfing, hiking, fishing, hunting, wake surfing, skeet league, and even an “air chair” behind the boat. I  enjoy spending as much time as I can at the family’s lake cabin.

    Contact Tony :

Whether you’re looking for more proactive planning, navigating a major business decision, or simply want a tax advisor who stays ahead of change, our Tax Services team is here to help you make informed decisions today while planning for tomorrow.

Ready to move beyond tax compliance?