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Small business taxes, books and payroll from one Indianapolis CPA office
When the same office keeps your books, runs your payroll and prepares your return, the numbers already agree in March. We work with sole proprietors, S-corps, partnerships and C-corps, from a one-person consultancy to a shop with employees.
Schedule C to C-corp returns
The return your business files depends on how it's organized, not how big it is. Here's how the forms line up:
| Business type | Federal return | Due |
|---|---|---|
| Sole proprietor or single-member LLC | Schedule C on your 1040 | April 15 |
| Partnership or multi-member LLC | Form 1065, with a K-1 for each owner | March 15 |
| S corporation | Form 1120-S, with K-1s | March 15 |
| C corporation | Form 1120 | April 15 for calendar-year companies |
The March 15 deadline for S-corps and partnerships is the one owners miss. The late-filing penalty on those returns is charged per owner, per month, so a two-owner partnership that files in May pays for both. We also prepare the matching Indiana business returns.
Books that are ready at tax time
Most tax-season delays for business clients come from the books, not the return. A bank feed nobody categorized, owner draws booked as expenses, a loan payment recorded as a single expense line. We'd rather keep the books monthly or quarterly than untangle a year of them in March.
What monthly bookkeeping covers
- Categorizing every bank and credit card transaction
- Reconciling accounts to the statements so the balances are real
- A profit and loss statement and balance sheet you can read
- Flagging personal spending that ended up on the business card
A clean set of books is the cheapest tax planning there is. You can't plan around numbers you don't have.
Payroll and 1099s
If you have employees, or you're an S-corp owner paying yourself a salary, payroll has to run on schedule with the federal and Indiana withholding deposits, quarterly Form 941s, the annual W-2s and the state filings. We handle it so the salary you set in the planning meeting actually shows up on the return.
For contractors, the reporting line moved. Starting with payments made in 2026, you issue a 1099-NEC to a contractor you paid $2,000 or more in the year, up from $600. Collect a W-9 before the first payment anyway; chasing it in January is much harder.
What to bring
For a first meeting or your first return with us. Check items off as you go.
Business owner questions
Yes, even as a sole proprietor. It's the single biggest thing that makes bookkeeping accurate and an audit survivable, and for an LLC or corporation it helps keep the liability protection you formed the entity for.
Yes. We start by reconciling what's there to the bank statements, fix what doesn't tie out, and keep it going from that point. If the books are a year behind, we catch them up first.
File as soon as possible, because the penalty grows each month. If it's the first time, or there was a good reason, we can often ask the IRS to remove the penalty through first-time abatement or reasonable cause.
Yes. Bookkeeping, payroll and returns all work remotely, and we file in other states when your business has employees or sales there.