Tax planning and preparation for Colorado businesses and owners

Tax planning is most effective before the year closes, while decisions can still change the outcome. SBA CPA plans with you throughout the year, evaluates the entity structure that best fits your goals, keeps your estimated payments on schedule, and prepares and files every federal, state and local return on time, so you pay what the law requires and no more.

What’s included

A written tax plan for your business and household, reviewed throughout the year

Entity structure analysis, including LLC, partnership, C corporation and S corporation election

Quarterly estimated tax calculations, with reminders before each due date

Preparation and filing of federal, Colorado and local returns

Estate, gift and charitable giving strategy

Tax planning coordinated with your bookkeeping and your virtual CFO

A magnifying glass resting on printed sales charts beside a laptop, a pen and a calculator

Why plan rather than simply file?

A tax return is a record of decisions made months earlier. By the time it is prepared, the year is closed and most of the choices that determine your tax bill are already fixed. Planning moves the conversation to the months when you can still decide how to pay yourself, when to buy equipment, how much to contribute to a retirement plan and how to structure a new venture.

Our team reviews your financials, identifies the strategies suited to your situation and sets them out in a written plan. Because tax law changes every year, we revisit the plan as your business and the rules evolve. Paired with our virtual CFO service, tax planning becomes part of how the business is managed rather than a rushed annual exercise.

Which entity structure is right for your business?

The structure you operate under affects how much tax you pay, how you compensate yourself and how readily you can bring in partners or sell the business later. We help you weigh a limited liability company, a partnership, a C corporation and an S corporation election against your goals, and we revisit that choice as profit grows.

A scenario: when an S corporation election pays off

Consider a consultant operating as a single-member LLC with $150,000 in net profit. As a sole proprietor, nearly all of that profit is subject to self-employment tax of 15.3%, which comes to roughly $21,000. If the LLC elects S corporation status and pays the owner a reasonable salary of $85,000, Social Security and Medicare tax applies to the salary, about $13,000 shared between the company and the owner. The remaining profit is taken as distributions.

The illustrative difference is around $8,000 a year, before the cost of running payroll and filing a separate corporate return. The IRS requires S corporations to pay reasonable compensation for the owner’s services, so the salary must be one you can defend. For that reason, we model the election with your actual figures before recommending it.

How do estate and gift planning fit in?

Thoughtful estate planning allows more of what you have built to pass to the people and causes that matter to you. We tailor an estate and gift plan to your family and your assets, and we coordinate with your attorney on the legal documents. The work includes reviewing existing wills and powers of attorney; planning real estate transfers, gifts and charitable contributions; and handling tax planning and compliance for estates, fiduciaries and beneficiaries.

Gifting is often the most straightforward place to begin. For 2026, the annual gift tax exclusion is $19,000 per recipient, so a married couple can give $38,000 to each child without using any of their lifetime exemption.

What does tax preparation and filing include?

You may be comfortable preparing a straightforward personal return, but a business return carries more exposure. A missing form or schedule can lead to penalties or difficult questions in a later audit. We prepare and file your federal, Colorado and local returns accurately and on time, and we track the details that are easy to overlook, such as Colorado’s pass-through entity election for partnerships and S corporations.

We also keep your quarterly estimated taxes on schedule. Individuals, including partners and S corporation shareholders, generally must make estimated payments if they expect to owe $1,000 or more at filing, and corporations if they expect to owe $500 or more. We calculate each payment and remind you before it is due.

What does a well-planned tax year look like?

Most owners are better served by four planned conversations than by a single rushed meeting in April:

Early in the year: review last year’s return and set this year’s estimated payments.
Midyear: compare actual profit with the plan and adjust salary, estimates and retirement contributions.
Early fall: decide on equipment purchases, entity changes and charitable giving while there is still time to act.
Year-end: confirm the final steps and gather what we need to file.

Each conversation is brief when the books are current. If yours have fallen behind, our accounting and bookkeeping team can bring them up to date first. If you have already received a letter from the IRS, our tax resolution team can help you respond.

Why does management accounting matter outside tax season?

For a business, tax is one part of the financial picture. Management accounting adds timely financial reports, tracking of key performance indicators and cash flow management, so the figures that drive your tax plan are the same figures you use to run the business. If you would like to discuss what planning could look like in your situation, an introductory call with our client services team is the place to start.

Common questions

What is the difference between tax planning and tax preparation?

Tax preparation reports what has already happened, while tax planning looks ahead and shapes what happens next, such as when to buy equipment, how to pay yourself and which entity to use. Most of the savings come from planning, because by the time a return is prepared the year is closed and the decisions that drive the result are fixed.

When should my business consider an S corporation election?

It is worth modeling once profit is consistent and well above a reasonable salary for the role you perform. The savings come from paying Social Security and Medicare tax on that salary rather than on all of the profit. Payroll costs, an additional return and the IRS's reasonable-compensation rules all reduce the benefit, so we model the outcome with your figures before recommending it.

Do I need to make quarterly estimated tax payments?

Generally yes, if you expect to owe $1,000 or more when you file your individual return, and corporations generally must if they expect to owe $500 or more. Many business owners, partners and S corporation shareholders fall into this group. We calculate the amounts and remind you before each due date.

Can you prepare both my business return and my personal return?

Yes, and preparing them together is usually the better approach. Decisions made inside the business, such as salary, distributions and retirement contributions, flow directly onto your personal return, so handling both lets us coordinate the full effect.

How do we get started?

Schedule an introductory call or request a proposal. Our client services team will learn about your business, your household and your deadlines, then define the scope of the work and match you with the appropriate tax team.