Denver business tax planning attorney
Make tax decisions on purpose, before the year closes
Most tax results for a closely held company are decided months earlier by legal choices: how the company is taxed, how owners are paid, and how a sale is structured. We review those choices with your accountant while they can still change.
- Planning with your CPA, not instead of them
- Memos your accountant can file from
- Deal tax terms reviewed before signing
Planning is our part, filing is theirs
We work beside your CPA. Each side handles its own part, and nothing falls between.
What we do
Shape the decisions
Legal choices that set the tax result, made and documented before they lock in.
- Entity classification and S corporation elections
- Reasonable owner pay and distributions
- Partnership allocation language
- Tax sections of purchase agreements
What your CPA does
Report the results
Preparation, filing and the numbers behind them, with our memo in hand.
- Returns and estimated payments
- Payroll and sales tax filings
- Bookkeeping and year-end close
- Responses to routine notices
A planning year for owners
The useful moments come before the deadlines, not on them.
- Early year
- Confirm the entity and elections still fit
- Set owner pay for the year
- Mid year
- Check profits against the plan
- Review sales across state lines
- Before a deal
- Model asset versus stock structure
- Review the tax terms in the letter of intent
- Late year
- Distributions and bonuses timed
- Planning memo sent to your CPA
An illustrative rhythm. Your own calendar depends on your fiscal year and plans.
When is a tax review worth it?
When the company is growing fast, changing owners, or getting ready to sell. Those are the moments where a choice made in a week can shape the bill for years.
The first meeting is short and practical. Theo reads last year’s return and your ownership chart, then names the two or three planning questions worth answering first. You leave with a written list, whether or not you hire the firm. If the planning questions are simple, we will say so and suggest your CPA handle them directly.
Where the money moves
The legal choices that shape the tax bill
Three decisions drive most of the tax result for an owner-led company. The first is how the company is classified: as a partnership, an S corporation or a C corporation. The second is how owners are paid: salary, distributions, partner payments or a mix. The third is how a major transaction is structured, especially a sale of the business.
Each is a legal decision recorded in documents, elections and agreements long before a return is filed. When those documents are vague or out of date, the accountant is left to report a result that nobody actually planned.
Theo’s work is to review those choices while they can still change, explain the trade-offs in plain language, and write a short memo your CPA can rely on at filing time. The result is fewer surprises and a clear record of why each decision was made.
How each structure is taxed
The same profit can be taxed very differently depending on the entity and how owners take money out. A short comparison, built on your own numbers, is often the most useful page we write.
| Question | Owner pay | Profit taxed at | Watch for |
|---|---|---|---|
| LLC (default) | Draws | Owner level, with self-employment tax | Rising self-employment tax |
| S corporation | Salary plus distributions | Owner level | Reasonable salary rules |
| C corporation | Salary and dividends | Company, then owner | Two layers of tax |
What does tax planning cost?
Most engagements are scoped in advance as a flat fee: an election review, an owner pay analysis, or the tax terms of a deal. Ongoing planning for a growing company can be set as a yearly fee. Return preparation stays with your CPA.
See flat-fee packagesIllustrative demo prices, not a quote for any real matter.
Common questions
Short answers to what owners ask before a first meeting.
Often, once profits are steady or a sale is on the horizon. A short review usually shows whether the potential savings justify further work.
No. We focus on planning and documentation and work with your CPA, who prepares and files.
Often, once owner profits are steady. The answer turns on reasonable salary and payroll costs, which we model with your numbers.
Some choices close at year-end and some earlier. The sooner the review, the more options remain.
Yes. Deal structure and the tax terms of the purchase agreement are where planning saves the most.
We refer audit and controversy work to trusted counsel and stay involved on the business side.
Often part of the same matter
Business questions rarely stay inside one area of law. These are the practice areas that most often come up alongside this one.
Buying & selling companies
Letters of intent, due diligence, purchase agreements and closing checklists for owners buying or selling a business.
ExploreFormation & governance
Choosing the right entity, drafting operating agreements and bylaws, and keeping annual records clean so the company holds up later.
ExploreEmployment & contractors
Offer letters, handbooks, contractor agreements and restrictive covenants drafted to fit Colorado law and the way your team works.
Explore