In Orlando, FL, Shea Business Solutions prepares S corporation tax returns for small businesses: the Form 1120-S, the Schedule K-1 for each shareholder, and the year-round tax planning that decides what those documents say. Returns are built from reconciled books by a QuickBooks Level 2 ProAdvisor and Certified Payroll Specialist, with a flat quote in writing before any work begins.
- Form 1120-S prepared and filed for calendar-year and fiscal-year S corporations.
- A Schedule K-1 for every shareholder, ready when your personal return needs it.
- Reasonable compensation reviewed against your payroll, by someone certified to run that payroll.
- Year-round planning on salary, distributions and purchase timing, so March is a filing, never a surprise.
- One flat price agreed in writing before the work starts.
The S-corp election saves Orlando owners real money on self-employment tax. It also hands them the most paperwork-dense filing a small business faces, on the earliest deadline of the season. Both halves deserve attention.
What S-Corp Tax Preparation Actually Covers
An S corporation does not pay federal income tax itself in the normal case. It files an information return, the Form 1120-S, and the profit or loss flows through to each shareholder on a Schedule K-1, which lands on their personal return. That sounds simpler than it is. The 1120-S wants a balance sheet that reconciles, officer compensation stated separately from distributions, basis that has been tracked, and a K-1 whose numbers your 1040 preparer can use without calling anyone.
So the preparation work here starts in the books, never in the tax software. Every account gets reconciled against its statement, owner draws get separated from expenses, and payroll postings get checked against the actual filings before a single form gets touched. A return is only as defensible as the file underneath it.
If the QuickBooks file behind your S-corp has not been reconciled this year, that is the first conversation, and it is a QuickBooks cleanup quoted on its own. Filing an 1120-S on top of an unreconciled file just files the errors.
Reasonable Compensation: The Question the IRS Actually Asks
The self-employment tax savings that make the S-corp election attractive come with one standing condition: a shareholder who works in the business must take a reasonable salary through payroll, as W-2 wages, before taking profit out as distributions. The IRS says this in plain language, and officer compensation sits right on the face of the 1120-S where it is easy to examine.
This is where the practice's shape helps. Ryan Shea is a Certified Payroll Specialist as well as a ProAdvisor, and payroll processing is one of the standing services here. The salary conversation, the payroll that executes it, the quarterly filings, the W-2 in January and the officer compensation line on the return can all come from one desk, which means they agree with each other. A commercial painting contractor came to the practice facing a state payroll audit with misclassified payroll tax postings in the file; reconstructing the bookkeeping and correcting those classifications got the audit closed with zero penalties. That is the standard the payroll side of an S-corp return gets held to.
S-Corp vs. Default LLC Taxation: What Changes on the Return
Orlando owners usually arrive at the S-corp question from a single-member LLC. The table is the short version of what changes.
| LLC, default taxation | S Corporation | |
|---|---|---|
| Federal filing | Schedule C inside your 1040 | Separate Form 1120-S plus a K-1 per shareholder |
| Deadline | April 15 with your personal return | March 15 for calendar-year filers |
| Owner pay | Draws, no payroll required | Reasonable W-2 salary required before distributions |
| Self-employment tax | On the whole net profit | Payroll taxes on the salary; distributions outside them |
| What the books must support | Income and expense totals | A reconciling balance sheet, basis, payroll that matches filings |
Whether the election pays for itself depends on profit level, salary and the extra cost of payroll and the separate return. That arithmetic is a planning conversation, run with your numbers, before any paperwork moves.
Deadlines That Matter for Orlando S-Corps
The 1120-S for a calendar-year S corporation is due March 15, a full month before the April date most owners carry in their head. A six-month extension moves filing to September 15. The trap inside the extension: your personal return cannot be finished without the K-1, so a stalled 1120-S stalls your 1040 with it. Around those two dates sit the quarterly payroll filings and the W-2s due in January, all of which feed the officer compensation figure on the return. The IRS also charges a late-filing penalty on the 1120-S per shareholder, per month, even in a year with no tax due at the entity.
Florida is the gentler side of the picture. There is no state personal income tax, so K-1 income reaching a Florida resident picks up no state layer, and most Florida S corporations sit outside the state corporate income tax, which is aimed at C corporations. Where Florida does show up for S-corps is payroll: state reemployment tax on wages, which is part of the payroll work here. The mechanics are laid out in our post on Florida payroll taxes for small businesses.
Tax Planning That Runs All Year
March is the wrong month to discover anything. The planning side of this service runs through the year on the questions an S-corp owner can actually act on: whether the salary level still fits the profit the company is producing, how much can move out as distributions without touching basis problems, when a planned equipment purchase does the most good, and what the quarterly estimated payments should be so April carries no surprise. Year-round tax planning is part of the standing tax service here, and it works because the monthly bookkeeping keeps the numbers current enough to plan from.
That is also the honest pitch for combining the books and the return under one roof. When the person filing the 1120-S reconciled the file all year, the return is a summary of known facts. The combined arrangement is described on the bookkeeping and tax package page, and the payroll piece on the payroll services page.
Have an S-corp, or wondering whether the election makes sense at your profit level? Call or text, or use the form at the top of this page. Every message gets a same-business-day answer.
Prepared by a ProAdvisor, Not a CPA Firm
Worth stating plainly. Shea Business Solutions is a bookkeeping, payroll and tax preparation practice run by Ryan Shea, a QuickBooks Level 2 ProAdvisor and Certified Payroll Specialist. It is not a CPA firm. The work here is preparing accurate returns from reconciled books and planning around them. Audits, assurance opinions and representation in front of the IRS are different engagements handled by CPAs and enrolled agents, and if your situation needs one you will hear that directly rather than a workaround.
For the ordinary run of Orlando S-corps, a service business clearing a healthy profit with one or two shareholders, that scope is exactly what the situation calls for: clean books, a defensible salary, an 1120-S filed on time and K-1s that arrive before anyone has to ask. Wider small-business filing, partnerships and LLCs included, is covered on the small business tax preparation page. Shea Business Solutions is a BBB accredited business rated 5.0 on Google.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who prepares S-corp tax returns in Orlando?
Shea Business Solutions prepares S corporation returns for small businesses across the Orlando area: the Form 1120-S, the Schedule K-1 for each shareholder, and the bookkeeping underneath them. Ryan Shea is a QuickBooks Level 2 ProAdvisor and Certified Payroll Specialist, not a CPA, and the practice does not perform audits or IRS representation. The return is quoted flat, in writing, before any work starts.
When is the S-corp tax filing deadline for Orlando businesses?
For a calendar-year S corporation the Form 1120-S is due March 15, a month ahead of the personal deadline most owners have in their head. A six-month extension moves filing to September 15, but the K-1s your personal return needs do not exist until the 1120-S is done, so a late S-corp return holds up your 1040 too.
Do S-corp owners in Florida pay state income tax on their K-1 income?
Florida has no personal income tax, so the profit that flows to a Florida resident on a Schedule K-1 is taxed federally but picks up no state income tax on top. Most Florida S corporations also sit outside the state corporate income tax, which is aimed at C corporations. Payroll taxes on the owner's salary still apply, which is exactly why the salary decision deserves attention.
What does S-corp tax preparation cost in Orlando?
It depends mostly on the condition of the books. A reconciled QuickBooks file makes the 1120-S a contained job; a file that has not been reconciled all year means cleanup first, quoted separately. Either way you get one flat price in writing before any work begins, and it does not move with the hours.
Can one firm handle both my bookkeeping and my S-corp return in Orlando?
Yes, and it is the arrangement that works best for S-corps. When the person filing the 1120-S is the person who reconciled the books all year, the salary, the distributions and the balance sheet on the return already agree with the file. That combination is covered on the bookkeeping and tax package page.
