Tax consulting for Atlanta business owners.
S-Corp election strategy, reasonable compensation, quarterly planning, multi-entity coordination, and IRS resolution — built around how you actually pay yourself and where the business is heading next.
A tax consultant works on the year ahead, not the year behind.
Most Atlanta business owners meet their tax person once a year, in March. By the time the conversation happens, the entity election is already locked in for another twelve months. The owner-compensation split is already done. The depreciation choices are already made. The chance to actually shape the tax bill closed months ago.
A tax consultant works the other direction. The return is the confirmation, not the strategy. The strategy work happens in the summer, the fall, and the November-December planning conversation — when changing the entity election, adjusting the owner compensation, or accelerating a depreciation choice can still move the number.
We do the planning, then prepare the return as confirmation of what was already decided. By the time April arrives, the number you owe is the number you've been planning for since the prior summer. No surprises, no scrambling.
Six pieces of a real tax plan.
Entity choice & election strategy
S-Corp, C-Corp, LLC partnership, or sole proprietor — chosen for how you pay yourself, how profits or losses flow to your personal return, and where you eventually plan to sell or bring on partners. Revisited every year as the business grows.
Quarterly planning & projections
Four times a year we project what your tax bill is actually going to be, so the quarterly payments to the IRS land at the right amount and cash flow keeps up. No surprise bill in April. No late-payment penalty for under-paying along the way.
Return preparation & filing
Business returns (1120S, 1065, 1120), personal returns (1040), state filings, and multi-state income splits for businesses operating across more than one state. Filed on time, with documentation clean enough to hand to an auditor without hesitation.
IRS resolution
IRS notices, audits, back taxes, payment plans, settlement offers, and penalty removal. We file a power of attorney so the IRS contacts us instead of you — no more dreaded calls at 7 a.m. on a Tuesday morning.
Owner compensation strategy
How you pay yourself matters more than most owners realize. We help find the right split between salary and profit distributions — weighing self-employment tax, IRS rules on reasonable pay, retirement contribution limits, and the 20% qualified business income deduction. Revisited every year as profits change.
Multi-entity coordination
When you run three LLCs and a holding company, we keep all the returns coordinated. Money moving between businesses is properly documented, expenses land where they belong, and cash flow can be traced back to whichever business actually generated it.
Five signals it's time for a real tax consultant.
You're approaching $80K in net profit and still operating as a sole proprietor. The S-Corp election conversation is overdue. The math is meaningful starting around here.
You owe more in April than you have in cash. Quarterly tax planning would have made that liability predictable. It's never too late to start, even mid-year.
You run more than one entity. Multi-entity coordination — inter-company expenses, holding-company structure, consolidated cash flow — usually exceeds what general-purpose tax software handles cleanly.
You received an IRS notice and don't know what it means. CP2000, CP14, LT11, Letter 566 — they all have specific responses and deadlines. Getting a power of attorney in place inside the first 48 hours is what keeps a routine notice from escalating.
You're planning a major capital event — a sale, an acquisition, a real-estate purchase. The tax structure decisions made before the transaction shape what's left after the wire clears.
What this work produces.
$42,000 in annual tax savings for an Atlanta consulting firm (Q2 2025). Sole proprietor paying unnecessary self-employment tax on $240K of profit. S-Corp election filed, defensible owner salary set, quarterly tax-planning rhythm built — annual savings locked in without changing the work itself.
Three-year IRS examination closed with zero additional tax assessed (Q2 2023). A medical practice facing examination across three consecutive tax years. We filed a power of attorney, reorganized supporting documentation, negotiated with the examiner directly, and closed the case with no additional tax, penalty, or interest.
Questions Atlanta business owners ask us most.
- What does an Atlanta tax consultant actually do?
- A tax consultant works on the tax position before the return is filed — entity election strategy, quarterly planning, owner compensation, and the structural decisions that shape what the tax bill ends up being. A preparer files what already happened. A consultant shapes what's going to happen. We do both, but the planning work is where the savings live.
- How is this different from a CPA or tax preparer?
- Most CPAs and preparers focus on filing returns accurately. A tax consultant focuses on what the return is going to say six months from now — the entity structure, the owner-compensation split, the quarterly payments, the depreciation timing. Both matter. We operate as the consultant first, then prepare the return as confirmation of what was already planned.
- When should an Atlanta business owner consider an S-Corp election?
- The S-Corp election starts saving real money around $60,000 to $80,000 in net profit (not revenue). Below that, the cost of payroll, a separate return, and reasonable-compensation tracking eats most of the savings. Above $100,000, savings get serious. Above $250,000, it's almost always the right call. We re-check the math every year.
- What does reasonable compensation mean for an S-Corp owner?
- It's the salary the IRS expects you to pay yourself for the work you do — usually 40% to 70% of net profit, depending on industry and time commitment. The IRS doesn't publish a formula; they expect you to pick a defensible number and document why. We use salary benchmarking services, industry surveys, and a written rationale to set and defend the W-2 number each year.
- Can you help with an IRS notice or audit?
- Yes. CP2000, CP14, LT11, Letter 566 — every notice type has a different response and a different deadline. We file a power of attorney so the IRS contacts us instead of you, identify the actual issue, and resolve the case before it escalates.
- Do you handle multi-entity tax planning?
- Yes. When a client runs multiple LLCs and a holding company, we coordinate the returns, document money moving between entities, and make sure cash flow is traceable to whichever business generated it. Multi-entity coordination is one of the six pieces of our Tax Architecture engagement.
- How much does an Atlanta tax consultant cost?
- Fees depend on scope — entity election analysis, quarterly planning, return preparation, and IRS resolution each carry different costs. Most clients move into an annual retainer after the initial engagement: quarterly planning conversations, annual returns, and capital events as they arise. The fastest way to get a written scope is to book a thirty-minute call.