Who We Work With
CPA for Small Business Owners in San Antonio
Most small businesses in San Antonio are run by the person who does the work. The books, the estimates, and the filing get done in the evening, after the actual job is finished — which is exactly why they are the first things to slip.
We work with owner-operators every season: sole proprietors, single-member LLCs, tradespeople and consultants paid on 1099s, and people whose side work quietly turned into their income.
Who this is for
- Sole proprietors and single-member LLCs filing a Schedule C
- Contractors, tradespeople, and consultants paid on 1099s
- People whose side work has grown into their main income
- Owners approaching their first hire or their first genuinely profitable year
Schedule C, done properly
The deductions available to a small business are genuinely generous, and most owners claim fewer of them than they are entitled to. Usually not out of caution — simply because nobody ever told them what qualifies.
Vehicle mileage, a home office that meets the exclusive-use test, equipment, professional subscriptions, and the business share of a phone bill are all ordinary and defensible. What makes them hold up is the record kept at the time, not the reconstruction attempted in March.
Quarterly estimates and self-employment tax
Two things catch out owners whose first good year goes well. Nobody is withholding tax on your behalf, and self-employment tax applies on top of income tax — covering both halves of Social Security and Medicare, where an employee only ever sees one.
The fix is unglamorous. Estimate quarterly, size the payments against what the year is actually doing rather than what last year did, and adjust when the business changes. April stops being an event.
Books that do not cost you at tax time
Disorganised records are the norm rather than the exception, and they are survivable. One long-standing client says as much plainly in their review — a small business owner describing themselves as a bit disorganised at tax time, and the work getting done anyway, year after year.
What changes the outcome is when the mess gets sorted. Untangling a year of receipts before the return is prepared is ordinary work. Doing it after a notice arrives is the same work, under a deadline, with far less room to be right.
When incorporating starts to pay
A Schedule C is the right home for a business for longer than most people expect. The signals that it has been outgrown are specific: profit that has become consistent rather than seasonal, self-employment tax that has grown into one of your largest single costs, employees on the payroll, or outside liability worth putting a wall around.
At that point an S-corp election is worth modelling properly — including the payroll, the second return, and the administration that come with it, not just the headline saving. If you have already incorporated, the compliance side is covered on our page for corporate clients.
Common questions
- Do I need an LLC to deduct business expenses?
- No. Ordinary and necessary business expenses are deductible on a Schedule C whether or not you have formed an entity. An LLC is about liability and structure — it is not what unlocks deductions.
- How much should I set aside for taxes?
- It depends on your profit and on the rest of your household's income, so any single percentage is a guess. What matters more is setting aside something on a schedule and reviewing it partway through the year, rather than discovering the number in April.
- I have not been paying quarterly estimates. How bad is that?
- Common, and fixable. There may be an underpayment penalty, it is usually smaller than people fear, and the sooner the payments start the smaller it gets.
- Should I become an S-corp?
- Possibly, and the answer changes as profit does. It is worth modelling once profit is consistent — but the saving has to be weighed against payroll, a second return, and the administration. We would rather run the numbers than guess.
This page is general information, not individualised tax advice. Tax rules change and every situation differs — please speak with us before acting on anything here.