“Taxes are my life!” Pascal Moise tells Inside Brooklyn. “I sleep and eat taxes. … I never spend a day of my life without thinking about taxes. To me it’s fun.”
Pascal, who’s better known by his clients as “The Tax Doctor,” notes that most tax professionals work hard for about seven weeks of the year.
“I work year-round. My office is always open for my clients,” Pascal says. He’s always available for anyone who’s under the IRS’s microscope or for entrepreneurs who have tax questions about their business.
Pascal is the CEO and founder of Lakay Multi-Services, with 16 years of tax experience. He got his start at age 19 when he took H&R Block’s tax course. Pascal went on to earn an accounting degree in college.
Lakay is Creole for home, and that’s how Pascal wants people to feel when they visit his office at BKLYN Commons. He offers full-service taxation and accounting services to individuals and small businesses.
At his core, Pascal is a businessman.
“When you take your street smarts and mix it with your book smarts, you’re unstoppable,” he advises people thinking about starting a business.
Pascal develop his business hustle at an early age. His entrepreneurial journey began at age 10 selling t-shirts in Haiti.
People dreaming of being their own boss talk to him all the time about starting their own business. He warns them that “entrepreneurship is not for everybody.” It takes long hours and sacrifice to succeed.
One of the first steps is figuring out what type of business to create. The key, Pascal says, is to use your strength to make money.
“If you’re a gold digger, and that’s what you can do to make money, who am I to judge you?” Pascal says, making the point in his uniquely humorous style. “Whatever you’re good at, master it. Some people want to do five different things at once.”
Financial success also involves using the tax code to one’s advantage, he points out, adding that much of it is written to benefit business owners.
“A lot of self-employed people who get 1099s don’t conduct themselves like a business owner,” he tells Inside Brooklyn. Here’s what the Tax Doctor recommends:
