The year you are in, while you can still change it.
An unplanned year has a cost: the election nobody analysed, the underpayment penalty that arrived without warning, the deduction nobody thought to ask about. Filing looks backward at a year that has already happened. Planning changes the year you are in.
What changes with an advisor.
The work looks different from filing season work, because it happens while the numbers are still moving.
Four conversations a year instead of one annual surprise, while there is still time to act on what we find.
An entity and compensation structure matched to how the business actually earns, not to how it was set up on day one.
Quarterly estimates set from this year's activity rather than a safe-harbour copy of last year's return.
A decision in the middle of the year gets a same-week answer, not a note to raise it next filing season.
Run the numbers on an election.
Move the sliders to see how self-employment tax compares with paying yourself a salary inside an S-Corp, including what the structure costs to run. Everything updates as you type — it is a directional model, not a filing position.
Business performance
What the business earns and what it costs to run.
Payroll taxes
What you’d pay yourself, and what the structure costs to run.
Typical starting range: $40,500 – $49,500
Percentages are a starting point only. Reasonable compensation is market-based — what you would pay someone else to do your job — and the IRS has no 60/40 rule. A documented study is the real answer.
Payroll service, the separate business return, state fees.
At these numbers you would benefit from switching to an S-Corp. After payroll, the 1120-S and state fees, you would keep $2,017 more per year than you do now.
| Taxed now | As S-Corp | |
|---|---|---|
| Net profit | $90,000 | $90,000 |
| Paid as salary | $50,000 | |
| Paid as distributions | $40,000 | |
| Social Security tax | $10,306 | $6,200 |
| Medicare tax | $2,410 | $1,450 |
| Payroll, 1120-S, state | $3,050 | |
| Total you pay | $12,717 | $10,700 |
Estimate only, using 2026 figures — 12.4% Social Security up to $184,500 and 2.9% Medicare uncapped. Self-employment tax applies to 92.35% of net profit while payroll tax applies to the full salary, including both halves. Outside W-2 wages consume part of the Social Security base. This excludes the qualified business income deduction, income tax and the additional Medicare tax, and a salary reduces the QBI deduction, so real savings are usually lower. Not tax advice.
What you get.
- 01S-Corp election analysis
- 02Form 2553 preparation and filing
- 03Reasonable compensation study with documented market data
- 04Quarterly estimated tax planning
- 05Cash-flow forecasting
- 06Bookkeeping review and cleanup
- 07Annual tax projection
- 08Entity structure review as the business grows
Formation sets it up. This runs it.
Business formation puts the company on the map — entity, EIN, registrations, the paperwork a new business needs to exist properly. Strategy and advisory is what happens every year afterwards. If the entity does not exist yet, start with business formation.
Bring us this year, not last year.
A strategy call walks through the entity, the compensation question and the quarters still ahead of you.
Advisory and planning. Southeast Tax Services, LLC provides business tax strategy, planning and advisory services under a written engagement agreement.
Illustrative estimates. Any figures produced by the calculator on this page are illustrative modelling only. They are not tax advice and should not be relied on to make an election or a filing decision.
No guaranteed outcome. No result is guaranteed. Every election depends on individual circumstances, and the right answer differs from one business to the next.