Plain Sailing
TAX PLANNING FOR TRADE CONTRACTORS

Tax planning and filing for trade contractors.

Entity structure, owner pay, quarterly payments, and payroll — mapped for your trade and your numbers, then filed. We work with sole proprietors, single-member LLCs, multi-member LLCs, and S-corps across HVAC, plumbing, roofing, concrete, landscaping, and the rest of the trades.

$0 first review · flat fee quoted before any work starts
$0First review
4Entity types, one framework
Flat feeQuoted before we start
Why it matters

Getting the structure wrong runs both directions

Contractors tend to land on one of three spots — and only one of them is right for a given income level and crew size.

Too informal
Staying a sole proprietor or default LLC past the point where the self-employment tax on profit outweighs the
Matched to the business
Entity, owner pay, and payroll set to the current income and crew size, then rechecked as both change.
Too complicated too soon
Electing S-corp status or adding payroll before there's enough profit to justify it, then paying more in

Finding the right spot for your income and trade is the job. We map it before you file, not after.

What the engagement covers

Entity review
Sole proprietor, single-member LLC, multi-member LLC, or S-corp — checked against your current income, not a rule of thumb.
Owner pay
How much comes out as salary versus distribution, and what that split means for self-employment tax.
Quarterly estimates
What to set aside and when to send it, so April isn't the first time you see the number.
Payroll setup
Crew classification, W-2 versus 1099, and running payroll correctly once you have employees.
Deductions that hold up
Vehicle, equipment, insurance, and job-supply write-offs sorted by what your trade actually qualifies for.
Filing
Business and personal returns prepared and filed, not just reviewed after the fact.
WHAT YOU LEAVE WITH

What a consult delivers

Not a lecture on tax law. A written plan you can act on.

01
An entity recommendation
Whether your current structure fits your income now, and what changes if it grows or shrinks.
02
A pay schedule
The salary/distribution split or draw amount that fits your entity and your cash flow.
03
A quarterly number
What to set aside from each job and the dates it's due, in writing.
04
An honest cost-benefit
If switching entities or adding payroll doesn't pay for itself yet, we'll say so plainly.
How it works

How it works

1

Send your numbers

Rough revenue, entity type, and crew size — a sole prop with a truck and an S-corp with five crews start from different places.

2

We map it

Entity fit, owner pay, and quarterly amounts, worked out against your trade and your income, not a generic checklist.

3

You decide, we file

You review the plan and the flat-fee quote. Once you're in, we prepare and file the returns and set up payroll if it applies.

“Most contractors we talk to aren't undertaxed or overtaxed by some huge margin. They're just structured for the business they had two years ago.”

We hear the same story across trades — HVAC, plumbing, roofing, concrete. Revenue grew, the structure didn't move with it. Our job is to tell you plainly whether your setup still fits, and if it doesn't, what changing it actually costs and saves. Not every contractor needs an S-corp. Not every side crew needs payroll. We'll say so either way.

Plain Sailing · Santa Clarita, California

How the fee works

A flat fee, quoted up front.

The flat fee is quoted after the free review, based on what your situation actually requires.

01Lead - your entity type and whether it needs to change
02Lead - whether payroll is involved and how many workers
03Lead - number of states or cities you do work in
04Lead - whether prior-year returns need cleanup first
✓After the free review, we quote you a flat number — before any work starts. No surprises.
IS THIS YOU?

Find your situation

Common questions about the engagement

Do you actually file the returns, or just tell us what to do?
We prepare and file both the business and personal returns. The plan we build is meant to be filed, not just discussed.
We're not sure which entity type we're even filing under right now. Does that matter for the first review?
No. Send what you have, even if it's just a rough sense of the setup. Sorting out the current entity is part of the first conversation.
How much does this cost?
The free review comes first. After that we quote a flat fee based on your entity type, whether payroll is involved, and how many states or cities you work in. You see the number before anything starts.
We work jobs in more than one city. Does that change the engagement?
It's one of the factors in the flat-fee quote, and we account for it in the plan. Multi-city sales tax and filing requirements come up often in the trades.
Can you help if we already have a bookkeeper or accountant?
Yes. We can work alongside existing bookkeeping, or take it over if that's a better fit. That gets sorted in the review.
What do we need to send before the first review?
Rough revenue, your current entity type, and crew size if you have one. Exact figures aren't necessary to start.
Do you work with sole proprietors, or only LLCs and S-corps?
All of them. Sole proprietors, single-member LLCs, multi-member LLCs, and S-corps are all covered under this engagement.
How fast can this happen once we decide to move forward?
Once the flat fee is agreed on, the entity review and quarterly plan typically come together within a couple of weeks, sooner if filing deadlines are close.
Free review

Start with the free review

Send your entity type and rough numbers. We tell you where the structure stands and quote a flat fee for the rest.

☎(661) 554-4495

Free, no obligation · Your details stay private

Free, no obligation · Your details stay private