A large saving that fits in one sentence has usually skipped the wage, the payroll cost, and the basis.
Name the pitch
The common pitch says an S election will cut self-employment tax. Sometimes the profit is large enough, and the owner is already doing the work, and the wage that remains is still honest. Often the pitch has not asked those questions. It has multiplied a rate by a profit and called the product a plan.
We do not publish that multiplication. A rate without the wage, the employer taxes, the provider's fee, and the owner's basis is not a result. It is a brochure.
What wage would still be reasonable if the owner does the work the customers pay for? A token wage is not reasonable, and zero is not a wage.
What does it cost to run payroll all year, in money and in attention? The saving has to clear that cost, not just clear a tax rate on a spreadsheet.
Does the owner have enough basis to take the distributions the pitch assumes? Profit on a tax return and cash the owner can remove are not the same number. Basis is the bridge, and it is personal to the owner.
State filings that follow a federal election. A second owner's consent. The fact that an election for this year may already be late. Health insurance and retirement contributions that change shape when wages exist. None of these cancel a good election. All of them belong in the conversation before anyone celebrates a figure.
If the pitch cannot answer in sentences, it is not ready to be signed. Ask for the page that shows wages, not the page that shows only the difference.
On a call, with the year in front of us, we will say whether an election looks worth pricing. On this page we will not. Two companies with the same revenue can deserve opposite answers.
If you already elected, the question changes. Then we ask whether wages were actually paid, whether the acceptance is in the file, and whether the books use the words the S return expects. A pitch for a change you already made is a different problem from a pitch for a change you have not.
A sentence is enough. The attachment can wait.
You will be talking to the Steven Palmieri practice.