Getting To Know You Tuesday: Dorothy K. Butler
Most of us have a hidden talent that we trot out from time to time. Maybe you bake amazing cupcakes or you play the piano—but chances are, those are things you do on the weekends or at family parties. Most of us don't have the opportunity to share those talents with the world on a regular basis—but Dorothy K. Butler does. A lawyer by trade, Dorothy is also a professional musician who performs in the greater Austin, Texas area. She has shared the stage with Andrea Bocelli, Bernadette Peters, The Who, Marvin Hamlisch, Il Divo and Celtic Women.
When she's not performing, Dorothy is an attorney with over 13 years of experience in the fields of tax, bankruptcy and debtor defense. She assists individuals and business owners with tax preparation, defense from tax audits, offers in compromise, installment agreements, and formation of nonprofit entities.
Here's what else Dorothy had to say:
Where are you now? Working for myself, through Dorothy Butler Law Firm.
What's your job title, and what does it mean? I am the principal attorney and owner of Dorothy Butler Law Firm. I work for myself, by myself. What it means to me is I can balance running a busy tax practice with being a mom.
Tax, law, and accounting are such broad topics. What's your area of special interest? My area of special interest is working with musicians on their taxes. As a professional musician, I know the ins and outs of being a self employed musician. With an LL.M. in taxation, I also understand the Internal Revenue Code. Marry the two together, and you have my favorite clients to work with.
What's the first thing you typically do while at work? Open up the emails. I tend to work late nights so I shoot off lots of emails between midnight and 2am. When I get going next day, I have all the email responses from the night before.
If you had an extra couple of hours open up in your day—outside of work—what would you do? Spend more time with my boys. I am a mother to two and they are the lights of my life.
What's one tool or resource that you couldn't live without at work? My tax prep queue system. I had this built out so that as clients turn in tax documents to me, they get assigned a number. It's digitized and each night, as I work, sends out an update to let them know how many more returns before theirs is prepared.
If you weren't working in the tax profession, what would your dream job be? My dream job would be to be a full time professional musician. As a college student who started in music, I always said that my dream was to be a lawyer by and symphony musician by night. I guess I basically made it happen.
What's the best tax or financial advice that anyone ever gave you? Hang on to every receipt–you never know what expense might be deductible with a good tax professional.
What books or magazines are on your nightstand? Jodi Picoult's 'By Any Other Name.' She's my favorite author and I haven't had the window to finish this one yet!
Who has been the biggest influence on your career? Honestly, my children have been the greatest influence. When I finished my LL.M. program, I thought I would go to work for a firm but shortly after, I became pregnant with my first son. I didn't want to put him in daycare and I couldn't afford a nanny – so the only way I knew to make my career work while being a mother, was to open up my own firm at the kitchen table. At the time, I thought I could do that for a few years, get enough experience to find a job at a firm that would allow me to work around his hours. By the time he was old enough for preschool, I was busy enough that I couldn't imagine going work for someone else. It was absolutely the right decision.
What would I be surprised to know about you? That I am slated to play a Vegas residency with a VERY well known rock band in 2026. It'll make for a much more interesting tax season!!
If you had the opportunity to make one change in the tax code tomorrow—an extra credit, a disallowed deduction, whatever—what would it be and why? I would bring back unreimbursed employee expenses as an item for itemized deductions. This was a huge hit to many of my clients.
What was the best tax conference, continuing education (CE), or continuing legal education (CLE) event that you ever attended? I have most enjoyed conferences that combine another area of law (like tax and family law or tax and bankruptcy).
What has been the biggest change that you've seen in the tax profession in the last five years? The biggest change to hit my clients has been the loss of entertainment expenses for my self employed individuals. This was a huge change.
What are you most concerned about or excited about with respect to the profession moving forward? I know many are worried about artificial intelligence (AI) taking over, but in my opinion, a good tax professional can't be replaced by AI. AI cannot take a list of client potential expenses and always know what exactly to do with everything.
If Uncle Sam handed you a huge refund check right now, what would you do with it? I'd take a week long trip with my kids – and the rest would go into my Schwab.
Dorothy's law firm, Dorothy Butler Law Firm, is located in Austin, Texas. You can find Dorothy—and her nearly half-million followers—on Instagram.
This article is part of our Getting To Know You Tuesday series—a chance to get to know all kinds of tax professionals and understand that the field of tax is bigger than April 15. If you'd like to nominate tax professional to be featured, send your suggestion to kerb@forbes.com with the subject: Getting To Know You Tuesday. Forbes Getting To Know You Tuesday: Arielle Tucker By Kelly Phillips Erb Forbes Getting To Know You Tuesday: Nicole Davis, CPA By Kelly Phillips Erb
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