Steven Palmieri, a Tax CFO and the Entrepreneur's CFO, closes the books to the bank, sets payday up on a provider you keep, and prepares the return once that month is real.
We tie the month to the bank before a return is prepared. The payday login stays yours, on the provider we stood up with you. Nothing is filed until that bank match is in hand.
The month behind the letter
Someone who only answers the letter moves on. The Tax CFO looks for the month behind it, and we close that month with you.
Open a card. Each one is a notice owners mix together, and we name it before we answer.
1Acceptance is missing
We look for the Service's reply before the return is prepared.
A copy of Form 2553 that you kept is the form you sent. The letter we need is the one the Service sent back. If that letter never came, tell us that. It changes the first step.
2A notice names Form 1120-S
We read the number on the notice before anyone calls it an examination.
Many notices ask about a figure, a mismatch, or a balance. The public description of that number tells us which kind of mail it is.
3A payroll notice landed in the same pile
The payday login stays in the owner's hands.
Employment tax and the income-tax return are different filings. We set payday up. We do not run payday. The notice still gets a name.
4The mail asks who you are
We point you to the official notice search, not to a link in a message.
Identity mail is separate from the election. Amending a return to answer an identity question mixes two problems. First contact from the Service is normally by mail.
5The notice mentions tax at the company
We keep that question narrow.
An S corporation can owe tax on certain built-in gains and on excess net passive income. The instructions for that year name the period. We do not guess it.
6A lender wants a signed report
That request leaves this practice.
A signed report on the statements is named on the disclosures page, and it is not the work we take on here. A notice from the Service is the request we can read with you. If the contract wants that signed report, the first call says so.
Tell us whether the books, payday, or the return should come first, and what month the bank already matches.
Open a reading for the longer version.
The reply and the copy you kept
Owners often still have the election form they signed and mailed. That copy shows what was sent. The letter that matters is the one the Service sent back, and a file of the form you kept does not become that letter because time passed. Write in the note that the reply never arrived. We look for it before the return is prepared, and we say what we found. The last month the bank already matches is the month we read with you, and we say in plain words which kind of letter it is and what we do next.
A quiet cabinet feels like a yes, and that hope makes sense when the form went out years ago. Silence after mailing is not the letter you need. If it never arrived, the next step is the ordinary channel at the Service, and we start there with you. Bring whatever you do have. We will tell you, in plain words, whether that page is the acceptance.
A notice that names the return
A notice that names Form 1120-S is mail about that return. Many of those notices propose a change to a figure, ask about a mismatch, or show a balance. The public description of the notice number is how we sort them. Calling every one an examination makes the pile harder, and it sends people looking for a fight the page did not start.
The worry is that every notice is an examination. Most of them are not. If the number on your notice proposes a change, we say that in ordinary words and we read it against the closed month. If the number is something else, we say that too, and the next step is the one that matches the number.
Payday mail is a different filing
Employment tax and the income-tax return are different filings. A notice about payday can land in the same stack as the Form 1120-S notice and still belong to a different return, a different quarter, and a different agency account. We name which one it is before anyone answers it.
The owner keeps the login for payday. Runs and filings stay on that login, not inside this practice. A deposit notice, a 94x form, or a worker total has to be read beside the closed month and the provider's own reports. The note should say which of those three you are holding.
A payroll question points at a month that was never closed. We answer that letter, then we close the month so the next one does not arrive on the same unanswered question.
Mail that asks who you are
Some mail asks the owner to prove identity before a return is finished. That mail is not the election, and it is not a substitute for acceptance. Amending a return to answer an identity question mixes two problems. We keep them apart.
First contact from the Service is normally by mail. A message that asks you to click a link is not the way to start. Use the official notice search on the agency's own site, or call the number printed on the paper notice. We will not send you into a link inside a message.
Tax at the company, kept narrow
An S corporation can owe tax at the company on certain built-in gains and on excess net passive income. Those are narrow facts. The instructions for the year you are filing name the period that applies. We do not guess the period from memory, and we do not stretch the rule to every company that once owned a building.
If your notice mentions tax at the company, bring the notice and the year. We will say whether the question is one of those two, or whether the notice is about something ordinary on the return. Ordinary does not mean small. It means we should not treat it as a built-in gain.
State mail, basis, and October
An S corporation can have a state business report sitting beside Form 1120-S. That date belongs to the state, and a federal extension does not move it. A state computation of receipts is that state's form, and it is separate from an IRS form. A state envelope is separate from Service mail, even when both arrive in the same week and the owner wants one answer for the whole pile.
A shareholder loss often waits on basis records. Contributions and distributions stay apart, because combining them changes the return even when total equity looks unchanged. The long course on those records is a separate reading, and we will point you to it when the loss is the question. October is when a closed month and a plan should make the next return less of a surprise. The notice still goes to the address on the return. We read it with you on a video call, and we stay on that call with you rather than standing in at the Service.
A basis question and a balance that surprised you both point at a plan that was never written. Closing the month with you is how the next letter gets shorter.
