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An S-Corp Return Your Shareholders Can Plan Around.

We prepare Form 1120-S from books we have already reviewed, track every shareholder's basis year to year and get the return filed by March 15 or properly extended, with the Michigan side handled too.

S-Corp Tax Return Preparation For Michigan Businesses

The S election is supposed to save you money. It only does that if the return behind it is right: wages that hold up as reasonable compensation, distributions that stay inside each shareholder's basis, and K-1s that arrive early enough for everyone's personal return to follow. Get one of those wrong and the savings quietly turn into a problem a few years later.

We handle S corporation tax filing for companies and owners across Michigan as part of our tax services. When we also close your books every month, the return is built from numbers we already trust, and a question like 'should I take a bonus in December?' gets answered in October.

Form 1120-S prepared and e-filed by an IRS-authorized e-file provider
A K-1 for every shareholder, issued with the return
Shareholder basis carried forward every year, not rebuilt from scratch
Reasonable compensation reviewed against what the owners actually do
The Michigan side of the flow-through income handled with it

Four Places S-Corp Returns Usually Go Wrong

We check every 1120-S for these, because they cost owners money when they are missed.

Basis Nobody Has Been Tracking

Distributions and losses only work if the shareholder has basis to cover them. We carry basis forward every year and prepare the Form 7203 detail your personal return needs, so a distribution does not turn into an unexpected capital gain.

Owner Wages That Look Too Low

The IRS expects shareholder-employees to take reasonable wages before distributions. We compare what you do in the business with what you pay yourself, and raise it early if the gap looks like one the IRS would question.

K-1s That Hold Everyone Up

Every shareholder is waiting on a K-1 before their own return can be finished, and a late or corrected K-1 means late or amended personal returns. We plan the year-end close so K-1s go out with the return, not weeks after it.

Books That Never Tied Out

An 1120-S prepared from unreconciled books is a guess with a signature on it. When we keep or review your books through the year, the balance sheet on the return matches the bank, the loans and the equipment you actually own.

The March 15 Deadline And The Six-Month Extension

For a calendar-year S corporation, Form 1120-S is due March 15. When the books are not ready, we file Form 7004 for an automatic six-month extension to September 15 rather than rush a return your shareholders rely on. A late 1120-S with no extension is penalized per shareholder, for every month it is late.

The Michigan Side Of An S-Corp

Michigan's Corporate Income Tax is aimed at C corporations, and an S corporation's income generally flows through to its shareholders, who report their share on their Michigan individual returns. Shareholders who live outside Michigan can have a Michigan filing of their own to think about, and we flag that early.

Michigan also offers an elective flow-through entity tax, which lets the business pay tax at the entity level on its owners' behalf. It makes sense in some years and not in others, which is why it belongs in our tax planning and strategy meetings rather than at filing time.

Reasonable compensation only works if the wages run through payroll, which our payroll processing team can set up in Gusto, ADP or QuickBooks Payroll. We also prepare each shareholder's personal return alongside the 1120-S, so the K-1 and the 1040 agree.

S-Corp Return Questions We Hear Every Spring

Is my shareholder 1040 included if you prepare the S-Corp return?

On any of our monthly packages, yes: the business return and one shareholder 1040 are both part of the work. Annual clients get the 1040 as a separate return, still prepared alongside the 1120-S so the K-1 and your personal return agree.

How do you decide what counts as reasonable compensation?

There is no single formula. We look at your role, your hours, what the business earns and what it would take to hire someone else to do your job. The goal is a salary you can explain comfortably, with distributions on top of it rather than instead of it.

What if our basis records were never kept?

That is common, especially when a return has changed hands between preparers. We rebuild basis from prior returns, K-1s and the company's equity accounts as far back as the records allow, then carry it forward properly every year from there.

Can you prepare our 1120-S if someone else keeps the books?

Yes. We review the books before preparing anything, make any adjusting entries first and tell you what changed and why. It takes a little longer than working from books we closed ourselves, and we tell you up front what the file needs.

Other Returns And Planning For S-Corp Owners

Personal Returns (Form 1040)

Your personal return prepared alongside the 1120-S, so the K-1 and the 1040 tell the same story.

Personal returns in detail Tax Planning & Strategy

Salary, distributions, retirement and equipment decisions worked through during the year, while there is still time to act on them.

Tax planning and strategy in detail Quarterly Estimated Tax Payments

Estimates on your pass-through income calculated from real year-to-date numbers, with a reminder before each due date.

Quarterly estimated Tax payments in detail Tax Services Overview

Every return we prepare, from Schedule C to Form 1120, plus planning, estimates, amended returns and sales tax.

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Put Your 1120-S In Hands That Already Know Your Books

Tell us about your S corporation and your shareholders. The first consultation is free, and the scope is agreed in writing before any work starts.

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