How the business is taxed
- S-corporation
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Files its own Form 1120-S and issues you a K-1.
- Partnership or multi-member LLC
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Files its own Form 1065 and issues a K-1 to each partner.
- C-corporation
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Files its own Form 1120 and pays tax at the entity level.
- Sole proprietor or single-member LLC
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No separate business return — the business is reported on Schedule C inside your own 1040. Use the individual estimator instead and you will not be charged twice.
How much we do each month
- Keep the books for us every month
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We record every transaction, reconcile the accounts each month, and hand you financials you can actually read.
- We keep them, you review our work
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You or your bookkeeper keep the books. We look them over so the financials and the return are right.
- Keep the books, plus CFO Lite
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Everything above, plus a regular working session on the numbers — margins, cash, what to do next.
- Keep the books, plus full CFO
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Forecasting, budgets, and a standing seat at your planning table. For owners who want a finance partner, not a filer.
- Nothing monthly, return only
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You handle the books yourself. We prepare the tax return once a year and nothing more.
Which QuickBooks tier
We can carry the subscription inside your monthly fee so you get one bill instead of two.
- I already have my own
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Keep paying Intuit directly. We will work inside the file you already have.
- Essentials
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Up to three people in the books. Bill tracking and the standard reports.
- Plus
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Up to five people. Adds inventory, budgets, and tracking by project or location. Most small businesses land here.
- Advanced
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Unlimited users, custom reporting, and approval workflows. For larger operations.
Kinds of trust and estate
Nobody expects you to know these terms. Pick the closest fit and we will confirm it from the trust document.
- A grantor trust
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A living or revocable trust while the person who created it is still alive. The income is still reported on their own 1040.
- A simple trust
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The trust document requires all of the income to go out to the beneficiaries every year. Nothing is held back.
- A complex trust
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The trustee may accumulate income instead of distributing it, or the trust makes charitable gifts.
- A decedent's estate
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Someone has passed away and this is the return for the estate itself during administration.
Two terms worth defining
- A transaction
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Any single line on a bank or card statement — a deposit, a card charge, a check, a transfer, a payroll run. Pull up last month’s statements and count the lines.
- Gross receipts
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Everything a nonprofit took in before expenses: contributions, grants, program fees, fundraising and investment income. This is what decides which Form 990 the IRS requires.
