Services
Tax and accounting services
The return is downstream of every decision the other five services touch, which is the argument for one person handling all six instead of three people passing a file around.
The return is the last step, not the first
Almost nobody hires me for exactly one of the six services on this page, and the reason is mechanical rather than philosophical.
A tax return is the end of a chain. How the entity was set up, what the bookkeeping recorded, and which decisions got made before December 31 all arrive at the return already settled. Split that chain across a bookkeeper, a payroll service, and a preparer who first meets your file in February, and the preparer inherits every choice the other two made without ever having been asked. I do all of it myself, so the return gets built from records I have already been through, and the decisions that drive it surface while there is still time to change them.
That is the practical argument for a one-person practice. Nothing gets handed off, so nothing gets lost in the handoff.
If you file a personal return
Two services carry most of the weight. Tax return preparation reports a year that already happened; once the W-2s and 1099s land, the facts are fixed and the only live question is whether the return is accurate. Tax planning is the part that can still move the number: retirement plan selection, withholding that accounts for a spouse's income, a bonus withheld at the 22 percent supplemental rate while your marginal bracket is 32 or 35, whether a Roth conversion belongs in a low-income year.
The third service arrives uninvited. IRS problem resolution covers a CP2000 notice, an audit letter, back taxes, unfiled years, collections. Not all of it is an emergency. A CP2000 is a proposal, not a bill, and I have written out how to read the code in the corner and count the clock from the date printed on it. As a CPA I can file Form 2848 and deal with the IRS directly on your behalf, which in practice means you stop being the person on the phone.
If you have unfiled returns, this one comes first. Planning around a year you never filed is not planning.
If you own the business, more of it is in play
Small business accounting produces the numbers: bookkeeping, financial statements, and guidance on entity and payroll structure. QuickBooks consulting is what makes those numbers worth relying on. A chart of accounts that matches how you actually operate, bank and card feeds reconciled rather than merely imported, and gross receipts that tie to the gross figure on your 1099-K instead of the net deposits left after merchant fees. The IRS matches against that gross figure, so the gap between the two is what generates the letter.
Business advisory runs ahead of all of it. Entity selection, whether to file Form 2553 and what reasonable compensation has to look like if you do, adding a partner, how an ownership change gets taxed. An LLC is a legal entity and an S-corp is a tax election an LLC can make, which is the distinction that gets lost; how to actually decide between them is written up in full. Those calls set the ceiling on what planning can accomplish later. They also move your calendar: an S-corp or partnership return is due March 15, 2027, a month before your personal return.
The combinations I see most
A few recurring shapes, mostly from medical and engineering clients:
- Employed physician: return preparation, plus one planning conversation about retirement plan selection and withholding accuracy
- Private practice owner: bookkeeping and payroll structure, an S-corp question, and a return that follows from both
- Group partner living on K-1 distributions: quarterly estimates first, since a distribution withholds nothing the way a paycheck does (April 15, June 15, September 15, then January 15, 2027)
- Engineer weighing a 1099-NEC contract against a W-2 offer: advisory before signing, self-employment tax math after
- Anyone two years behind: resolution first, cleanup second, planning only once the filings are current
None of this applies if your return is one W-2 and the standard deduction, which for 2025 is $15,750 single and $31,500 married filing jointly. Consumer software files that return correctly, and I will tell you so on the call rather than sell you something you do not need. Where filing stops being data entry and turns into judgment is its own article, and who this practice is and is not for is spelled out separately.
You do not have to pick the service
Most people arrive with a symptom rather than a service name. A notice on the kitchen counter. A QuickBooks file nobody has reconciled since spring. An April balance due nobody warned them about. Describe the symptom and I will tell you which of the six applies, including when the honest answer is none of them yet.
Whatever the mix turns out to be, the fee works the same way. Complexity gets scored at intake from countable factors, you get a written estimate before I start, and the final price settles against that same scale. The pricing model is written out in full, the deadlines are posted, and the first conversation costs nothing. Start it through the contact form.
The Six
What I actually do.
Tax Return Preparation
Federal and state returns for individuals, partnerships, S-corps, and C-corps, prepared and reviewed by the same person who will still have your file next year.
Learn more →What's Included
- Intake and complexity assessment
- Document review
Tax planning
Preparation reports the year you had; planning is the work done between September and December 31, while the numbers on next April's return can still move.
Learn more →What's Included
- Entity election. Form 2553 generally has to be filed in the first two and a…
- Retirement plan selection. A 401(k) that covers employees has to exist by D…
IRS notices, audits, and back taxes
Most IRS letters are a computer comparing two documents and finding a gap, so the first job is figuring out which letter you are actually holding.
Learn more →What's Included
- CP2000: a proposed change from document matching. It is a proposal, not a b…
- CP14: the first bill. The tax is already assessed and a balance is now due
Small Business Accounting
A close on a set schedule, statements with the prior period beside them, and a chart of accounts built around the decisions you actually make.
Learn more →What's Included
- Margin by service line, job, or location, instead of one blended number in…
- A problem caught in month three, when it costs a conversation, instead of m…
QuickBooks Consulting
Setup that doesn't need rebuilding in two years, cleanup when a file has drifted, and training so whoever is in the file every week can keep it right.
Learn more →What's Included
- New file setup: entity type, fiscal year, and opening balances tied to a fi…
- A chart of accounts built around decisions you actually make, mapped at yea…
Business Advisory
Entity choice, election timing, partner buy-ins, and financing decide most of your tax bill before there is a return to prepare.
Learn more →What's Included
- Whether to elect S-corp treatment, and whether this is the year to do it
- Form 2553 timing, missed effective dates, and whether late-election relief…
The first conversation is free.
Tell me what's going on and I'll tell you plainly whether you need me.
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