IRS Enrolled Agent or U.S. CPA — California S-Corp, Trust & Multi-Entity Tax Planning

PLEASE BEGIN YOUR PROPOSAL WITH: CALIFORNIA-1041-PTE We are seeking an experienced U.S. business tax professional to perform proactive 2026 federal and California tax planning for a married California business-owner household with multiple closely held entities. This is not a bookkeeping assignment or a basic tax-return preparation project. We need a technically strong IRS Enrolled Agent or active U.S.-licensed CPA who has current, hands-on experience with California pass-through entities, S corporations, partnerships, irrevocable trusts, prior-year tax losses, owner basis, and complex individual returns. An overseas professional is welcome to apply. However, the lead professional must have a verifiable active IRS Enrolled Agent credential or active U.S. CPA license. We may consider a senior U.S. tax preparer without one of those credentials only when a named EA or U.S. CPA in the same firm will personally review, sign, and file the returns, with responsibilities and pricing clearly disclosed. ABOUT OUR SITUATION We are California residents with anticipated mid-six-figure owner-level business income for 2026. Our current structure includes some combination of: • A profitable affiliate marketing/online advertising operating business • LLCs that may be treated as disregarded entities, partnerships, or S corporations • A minority ownership interest in another profitable operating company • An irrevocable trust and trust-owned LLC holding investments and business interests • Potential S-corporation shareholder-eligibility questions involving the trust/LLC ownership chain • Historical business losses, debts, guarantees, and possible suspended deductions or carryforwards • California PTE elective-tax considerations • Owner compensation, retirement-plan, QBI, and estimated-tax planning • Mortgage and securities-backed line-of-credit interest requiring proper tracing and classification We already have a CFO who maintains our books, P&Ls, balance sheets, and supporting schedules. The selected tax professional will not be expected to perform routine bookkeeping. Our CFO will organize documents and answer accounting questions. OUR OBJECTIVES We want a lawful, conservative, and audit-defensible strategy to: 1. Determine exactly which individual, trust, or entity is taxable on each source of income. 2. Verify whether the existing ownership structure and any S-corporation elections are valid. 3. Identify all usable federal and California losses, credits, suspended deductions, and basis amounts. 4. Produce a realistic 2026 federal and California tax projection. 5. Evaluate planning actions that must be implemented before December 31, 2026. 6. Determine appropriate quarterly estimated payments and cash reserves. 7. Minimize tax without using abusive, sham, or unsupported transactions. 8. Establish a relationship with someone who may later prepare, review, sign, and electronically file the applicable returns. We are not looking for someone who promises “zero tax” before reviewing the documents. We want accurate analysis, legitimate planning, and a clearly prioritized action plan. PHASE 1 SCOPE The initial engagement will be a fixed-price diagnostic and planning project. A. ENTITY AND TAXPAYER MAP Review the relevant formation documents, tax returns, elections, K-1s, and trust provisions, then prepare a concise entity chart showing: • Legal ownership • Federal tax classification • California tax classification • Return filed by each entity • Person or entity reporting each income stream • Whether the irrevocable trust is treated as a grantor or nongrantor trust • Whether any trust-owned or LLC-owned S-corporation interests create eligibility issues • Any missing or questionable elections, filings, or ownership documentation B. PRIOR-YEAR TAX-ATTRIBUTE REVIEW Review available federal and California returns and identify: • Net operating loss carryforwards • Excess-business-loss carryforwards • S-corporation stock and debt basis • Partnership outside basis • At-risk suspended losses • Passive-activity losses • Capital-loss carryforwards • Charitable-contribution carryforwards • California PTE credit carryforwards • Other material business or individual tax credits • Potential treatment of prior corporate debts, personally guaranteed obligations, bad debts, shareholder loans, or worthless securities The written work should distinguish losses that are immediately usable from losses suspended by basis, at-risk, passive-activity, or other limitations. C. 2026 TAX PROJECTION Prepare an Excel or Google Sheets projection showing, at minimum: 1. Current-structure/base case 2. Reasonably optimized case 3. Maximum practical retirement-contribution case The projection should separately show: • Federal regular income tax • California individual income tax • Self-employment or payroll tax • California entity-level tax and LLC fees • California PTE elective tax and owner credit • QBI deduction • Estimated payments and withholding already made • Remaining safe-harbor requirements • Expected April 2027 balance • Cash required to implement each strategy • Net cash retained after taxes and planning expenditures D. PLANNING ANALYSIS Please evaluate the applicability and economics of: • S-corporation classification and reasonable owner compensation • California PTE elective tax for each qualifying entity • Federal SALT deduction interaction with the PTE election • Section 199A/QBI planning • 401(k), profit-sharing, and cash-balance or defined-benefit planning • Spouse compensation based on genuine services • Accountable-plan reimbursements • Shareholder health-insurance treatment • HSA eligibility and California adjustments • Timing of legitimate business expenses • Bonus depreciation and Section 179 for genuinely needed property • Home-office or company reimbursement arrangements • Securities-backed line-of-credit interest tracing • Treatment of prior personally guaranteed business debts • Charitable giving of cash or appreciated securities • Federal and California estimated-tax safe harbors • Tax distributions from pass-through entities • Any technical issue requiring separate trust or tax counsel E. DELIVERABLES Phase 1 should include: • Initial document-request checklist • One kickoff meeting • Entity and taxpayer ownership chart • Written tax-attribute inventory • Federal and California projection spreadsheet • Written planning memorandum of approximately 5–10 pages • Prioritized action list with deadlines through December 31, 2026 • List of unresolved questions or documents required • Separate identification of issues requiring a tax attorney • One review meeting to present findings and answer questions We are looking for proactive, strategic, and lawful tax planning—not basic return preparation. The ideal professional is creative within the boundaries of the tax code, but conservative enough to keep the plan audit-defensible. We want someone who can identify legitimate opportunities involving entity structure, pass-through taxation, California PTE tax, retirement-plan design, prior-year losses, basis, QBI, accountable reimbursements, and timing of business expenses, while clearly flagging anything that would be aggressive, unsupported, or require attorney review. REQUIRED TECHNICAL EXPERIENCE Applicants should have recent hands-on experience with most of the following: Federal: • Form 1040 • Form 1041 • Form 1065 • Form 1120-S • Form 7203 • Form 6198 • Form 8582 • Form 461 • Grantor trusts and nongrantor trusts • QSST and ESBT concepts • S-corporation shareholder eligibility • S-corporation and partnership basis • Reasonable compensation • Section 199A/QBI • NOL and suspended-loss analysis California: • Form 540 • Form 541 • Form 568 • Form 100S • California PTE elective tax • California LLC annual tax and gross-receipts fee • California NOL and carryforward rules • Federal-to-California depreciation adjustments • California estimated-tax requirements REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS • Active IRS Enrolled Agent or active U.S. CPA license strongly preferred • At least five years of substantial U.S. individual and business tax experience • Current California business and trust tax experience • Ability to analyze prior returns rather than merely enter current-year data • Strong written English and ability to explain technical issues clearly • Ability to work directly with our CFO • Secure document-handling practices • At least two hours of Pacific Time overlap on agreed working days • No undisclosed subcontractors or offshore team members • Willingness to sign an NDA and use a secure portal for sensitive tax documents Ability to prepare, sign, and electronically file the eventual federal and California returns is strongly preferred. Clearly disclose whether you personally sign and file returns, whether another professional does so, and whose EFIN is used. APPLICATION QUESTIONS Please answer every question. Generic or AI-generated proposals that do not address these questions will not be reviewed. 1. Are you an active IRS Enrolled Agent or active U.S.-licensed CPA? State the credential type and licensing jurisdiction. You may provide the credential number privately if shortlisted. 2. Do you currently hold a valid PTIN? 3. Can you personally prepare, sign, and electronically file Forms 1040, 1041, 1065, and 1120-S and the related California returns? If another person or firm signs or transmits them, identify that arrangement. 4. Approximately how many Forms 1041 and California Forms 541 have you prepared or reviewed during the last two filing seasons? 5. Approximately how many California Forms 568 and 100S have you prepared or reviewed during the last two filing seasons? 6. In five to eight sentences, explain how you would determine whether an LLC owned by an irrevocable trust can validly hold S-corporation stock. Include the documents and elections you would request. 7. Briefly explain the difference among: • An NOL carryforward • An S-corporation loss suspended for lack of basis • An at-risk suspended loss • A passive-activity loss 8. Describe one similar multi-entity or trust-tax planning engagement you have completed. Do not disclose confidential client information. 9. Have you prepared California PTE election comparisons that model both the federal entity deduction and its effect on QBI and personal SALT deductions? 10. What tax software do you use? 11. Who other than you would have access to our tax returns, Social Security numbers, trust documents, and financial records? State the countries from which the records would be accessed. 12. What secure portal or encrypted document system do you use? 13. What Pacific Time hours can you overlap? 14. Provide your proposed fixed price for Phase 1 and the expected turnaround after receiving complete documents. 15. Are you interested and qualified to prepare and file the eventual 2026 individual, trust, partnership, S-corporation, and California returns? Please provide a preliminary explanation of how that later work would be priced. ENGAGEMENT STRUCTURE We expect to begin with a fixed-price Phase 1 diagnostic. A successful engagement may lead to: • Implementation assistance during 2026 • Quarterly tax projections • Retirement-plan coordination • Year-end tax planning • Preparation, review, signing, and filing of the 2026 returns • IRS or California FTB notice support concerning returns prepared by the selected professional Please do not include sensitive credential, PTIN, EFIN, or client information in the public proposal. These can be verified privately after shortlisting.