Advisory Services

Posted Thursday, May 14, 2026

Advisory Services

Written by Jason Watson, CPA Senior Partner, WCG CPAs & Advisors | Author of Taxpayer’s Comprehensive Guide to LLCs and S Corps | 20+ years advising business owners on tax strategy, business consulting, and real estate planning. Last updated: May 2026

Welcome to our Advisory Services hub — the place where tax planning, business strategy, real estate tax wizardry, and “how do I keep more of my money?” all come together under one roof. Sure, anyone can buy a QuickBooks subscription, file a tax return in April, and cross their fingers. But that’s not advisory. That’s survival mode. And survival mode has a funny way of costing you thousands of dollars in missed deductions, poorly timed decisions, and strategies you didn’t know existed until your buddy bragged about them at a barbecue.

We are consultants first and accountants second. That is not just a tagline we slap on coffee mugs — it drives how we build engagements, how we structure our team, and frankly, how we sleep at night. Whether you are a business owner wondering how to optimize your S Corp salary, a real estate investor trying to navigate the short-term rental loophole, or a high-income earner staring at a six-figure tax bill wondering if there’s a better way — this page is your starting point.

The answer, by the way, is almost always “it depends.” Not super satisfying, but honest. Our job is to make “it depends” actually useful by running the numbers, weighing the trade-offs, and giving you information so you can decide. We are professionally detached like that. We digress.

Who Is This Page For?

This page is for business owners, self-employed professionals, real estate investors, and high-income earners who want more than a tax return. Specifically:

  • You’re paying too much in taxes and you suspect there are strategies you’re not using — but you don’t know which ones actually apply to your situation
  • You have a business and need a CPA who acts like an advisor, not just a number cruncher who shows up in April
  • You own rental properties and want to understand REPS, the STR loophole, cost segregation, and how they all fit together
  • You’re a high-income earner looking for legitimate ways to reduce your taxable surface — retirement planning, Roth conversions, income shifting, and beyond
  • You want ongoing support — someone who knows your financial life and can answer questions without starting from scratch every time
  • You’re not sure which advisory service is right for you — Tax Patrol, Business Advisory, standalone planning, or something in between

If any of that resonates, you’re in the right place. Start with the overview below or jump to the section that matches where you’re at.

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Explore Our Advisory Platforms

Proactive Advisory That Actually Moves the Needle

Here is an uncomfortable truth: the difference between a $40,000 tax bill and a $28,000 tax bill is rarely about aggressive deductions or exotic loopholes. It is almost always about timing, structure, and having someone who knows your situation well enough to flag opportunities before they expire. That is what advisory services are.

At WCG CPAs & Advisors, we have built our practice around the idea that tax preparation is the floor, not the ceiling. Tax returns tell you what happened. Advisory tells you what to do next. And the business owners and investors who engage with us year-round — through Tax Patrol Services, Business Advisory platforms, or standalone planning engagements — consistently pay less in taxes, make better financial decisions, and experience fewer April surprises than those who only show up once a year.

We are not being dramatic. Bad news in August is palatable. Surprises in April are unacceptable. That is a hill we will die on.

Our Advisory Philosophy

We have over 50 full-time professionals including Certified Public Accountants, Enrolled Agents, Certified Financial Planners, and a whole gaggle of wonderful support staff. We serve business owners and real estate investors in all 50 states, primarily in California, Nevada, Colorado, Texas, the Midwest, Florida, and New England. Long distance is a snap.

Our advisory approach boils down to three things:

  • Discover your goals — We need to know where you want to be before we can help you get there.
  • Find the holes — We identify gaps in your tax, business, or financial life that are costing you money or creating risk.
  • Continuously evaluate — Your plan isn’t static. A strategy that worked at $150K in income might not work at $400K. We adjust as your circumstances change.

Anyone can balance a checkbook or put the right numbers on a tax return, but proper consultation and plan execution is necessary to stay ahead of the tax obligations and changing tax code.

Small Business Consulting

Because your CPA should do more than just file your return. Running a small business is complicated enough without wondering whether you are leaving money on the table, structuring your entity wrong, or paying yourself the wrong salary. Our small business consulting services are built around the idea that a good CPA doesn’t wait for you to ask the right question — they bring the questions to you.

We take a consultative approach to our client relationships. We have the experience of a big CPA firm without the stuffiness. WCG will be your advocate by putting you in a position to make informed decisions as you travel through the ebbs and flows of your financial life — sounds like a cheesy intro to a soap opera, right? But so true!

Business Consultation

Our consultation services cover everything from customized business structures and operating agreements to salary optimization and retirement planning. We consult on riveting topics like Section 199A optimization, reasonable shareholder salary, entity selection, and tax reduction strategies — with over 50 professionals on your team ready to dig in.

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Business Advisory & Patrol Services

WCG divides the tax house between Business Advisory (Vail, Telluride, Aspen) and Tax Patrol (Keystone, Copper, Breck) — aptly named after fancy-pants Colorado ski resorts. Advisory is the robust old-fashioned with lots of planning. Tax Patrol is the refreshing vodka-lemonade with streamlined planning. Both include tax prep, planning, and consultation. Choose your speed.

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Small Business Services Portal

Our Business Services portal is your home base for everything from tax preparation and S Corp elections to payroll processing and retirement planning. Need consultation? Questions about putting your kids on payroll? Worried about the Section 199A deduction? It is all here — organized so you can actually find what you need.

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Small Business Tax Deductions

Most CPAs are compliance-oriented and are not client advocates helping owners understand general principles and subsequent business tax deductions. We have several objectives when engaging with business owners — chief among them: put business owners in better IRS-compliant positions to minimize tax consequences and keep more money in their pockets. Revolutionary, we know.

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Real Estate Tax Strategy

Where the loopholes aren’t loopholes — they’re just tax code that most CPAs don’t bother to learn. Real estate is one of the most tax-advantaged asset classes in the Internal Revenue Code, but only if you know how to use the tools available. Depreciation, cost segregation, the short-term rental loophole, real estate professional status, 1031 exchanges — these are not exotic strategies. They are mainstream tools that your average CPA probably hasn’t spent enough time on.

At WCG, many of our team members are landlords themselves. We speak your language — practically and down-to-earth, not just in typical CPA compliance speak. Jason Watson has been a real estate investor and landlord since 1997 and literally wrote the book on it (I Just Got a Rental, What Do I Do?).

Real Estate Professional Status (REPS)

Why designate yourself as a real estate professional? Because passive activity loss limits cap rental deductions at $25,000 annually, phasing out by $150,000 in AGI. REPS removes those caps entirely — and exempts rental income from the 3.8% Net Investment Income Tax. You need 750+ hours and more than 50% of your work time in real estate to qualify. Hours must be documented contemporaneously. No fudging.

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Short-Term Rental Tax Loophole

The STR loophole is our number one traffic-driving topic for good reason. If your average guest stay is 7 days or fewer and you materially participate, your rental becomes a non-passive trade or business — meaning losses can offset W-2 income, K-1 income, and investment income without passive loss limitations. Combine it with a cost segregation study and you have a first-year tax deduction that can make your accountant’s eyes water.

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Real Estate Professional Status Deep Dive

Our comprehensive REPS knowledge base article from our rental property book covers everything from material participation tests and time tracking to spousal elections and IRS audit techniques. If you are serious about claiming REPS, this is required reading — all seven material participation tests, plus case law and practical strategies for surviving an audit.

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Cost Segregation Studies

A cost segregation study reclassifies building components into shorter depreciation periods — 5, 7, and 15 years instead of 27.5 or 39. Combined with bonus depreciation, this can generate massive first-year deductions. A $400,000 rental property might yield $50,000+ in accelerated depreciation in year one. Pair it with the STR loophole or REPS and the numbers get very interesting very fast.

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High-Income Earner Planning

Making money is not the problem. Keeping it is the project. When your household income crosses into the $250,000+ territory, the tax code gets meaner. You lose deductions. Phase-outs kick in. The 3.8% Net Investment Income Tax appears like an uninvited guest. And suddenly the standard advice — “max out your 401k” — isn’t enough to move the needle.

High-income earners need layered strategies that work together: retirement plan optimization, income timing, Roth conversion ladders, entity structuring, and real estate investment planning. And they need someone who understands how all these pieces interact, because pulling one lever affects the others.

Financial Planning

Financial planning is much more than plugging a few numbers into a calculator and getting “your number.” It covers three major components — accumulation (the fun part), preservation (the tricky part), and transfer (the necessary evil part). At WCG, we coordinate financial planning with your tax strategy so every dollar works harder. As the quote from The Hunt for Red October goes: “Russians don’t take a dump, son, without a plan.”

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Restaurant & Hospitality CPA Services

Restaurants are the hardest business on earth — thin margins, volatile revenue, tipped employees, inventory chaos, and a patchwork of compliance requirements. We help restaurant owners build financial systems and tax strategies that reflect how hospitality works in the real world, not how accountants wish it worked on a spreadsheet.

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Industries We Serve

While our dedicated portals cover dental and restaurant clients, we actively serve business owners across many other sectors. Our pod team structure means your CPA brings industry-specific knowledge to every engagement:

  • Medical Professionals — Doctors, surgeons, CRNAs, and specialists with complex compensation structures, practice management, and retirement planning needs
  • Real Estate Investors & Agents — From cost segregation and STR loopholes to 1031 exchanges, this is one of our deepest areas of expertise with 199+ knowledge base articles on rental property topics alone
  • Technology & Consultants — Solo operators and small firms navigating S Corp elections,  reasonable salary determinations, and scaling from freelancer to business owner
  • E-Commerce & Online Sellers — Multi-state nexus, sales tax, inventory accounting, and platform-specific challenges
  • Contractors & Trades — Job costing, equipment depreciation, project-based cash flow, and compliance
  • Cannabis — Section 280E limitations, cash-heavy operations, and evolving state regulations that require a CPA who actually pays attention

Business Lifecycle Services

From launch to exit — and every stage in between. Your business doesn’t stay the same, and neither should your advisory relationship. What you need at startup is fundamentally different from what you need at $500K in revenue, and both are different from what you need when you’re thinking about selling. We think of business advisory as a lifecycle — formation, growth, maturity, and exit — and we have services mapped to each stage.

Too many business owners operate in a perpetual “growth mode” without ever building the systems, financial clarity, or exit plan that would give them real options. Running your business should feel intentional, not accidental. And when the day comes to step away — whether that’s five years from now or fifteen — you should have a plan that maximizes value and minimizes the tax bill. Not a scramble.

Feature SEP IRA SIMPLE IRA Solo 401(k) Turbocharged 401(k) Defined Benefit Plan
Max Contribution (2026) ~$70,000 (25% of compensation) ~$16,500 + 3% employer match ~$70,000 ($23,500 + employer) $70,000 + DB layer Varies by age ($100K–$300K+)
Catch-Up (Age 50+) N/A $3,500 $7,500 $7,500 + DB layer Built into actuarial calculation
Super Catch-Up (Age 60–63) N/A $5,250 $11,250 $11,250 + DB layer Built into actuarial calculation
Roth Option ❌ No ❌ No ✅ Yes (employee portion only) ✅ Yes (employee portion only) ❌ No
Employee Eligibility All eligible employees receive same contribution % All eligible employees Owner-only (no full-time employees) Owner-only (no full-time employees) Can be designed to favor owners
Admin Complexity Low Low–Moderate Moderate High High
Annual Filing Requirements None (under $250K) None (under $250K) Form 5500-EZ (over $250K) Form 5500-EZ + actuarial reporting Form 5500 + annual actuarial valuation
Best For Simple setup with moderate income Small businesses with a few employees Solo business owners wanting flexibility High-income owners age 40+ Owners seeking maximum retirement deferrals
Setup Deadline Tax filing deadline (with extension) October 1 of current year December 31 of current year December 31 of current year December 31 of current year
Approx. Annual Admin Cost $0–$100 $100–$500 $200–$1,000 $2,000–$5,000 $2,000–$5,000
Your specific situation — income, age, entity type, and employee count — can significantly affect which retirement plan makes the most sense. The best strategy balances tax savings, retirement goals, and cash flow flexibility.

Schedule a Retirement Plan Consultation →

Business Formation Services

Everything you need to launch your business correctly — entity selection, LLC or corporation formation, EIN, operating agreements, and S Corp elections when appropriate. Starting clean means fewer problems to untangle later. Our formation fee is typically $625 plus state filing fees.

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Business Entity Selection

LLC, Corporation, S Corp election — the entity decision that impacts everything else. We keep it simple: LLC is your first choice in most cases, corporation if you have specific needs, and an S Corp election when the tax savings justify the compliance costs. This page walks you through the full decision framework.

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Fractional CFO Services

Part-time, senior-level financial leadership for businesses that have outgrown their bookkeeper but aren’t ready for a full-time CFO. Cash flow forecasting, financial modeling, KPI dashboards, and strategic planning — without the $250K salary. This is for businesses in the growth-to-maturity transition.

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Periodic Business Review (PBR)

WCG are business consultants first and accountants second. Our PBR is a structured framework for reviewing your business — ownership, entity structure, tax deductions, retirement planning, family employment, real estate, and more. It’s your meeting, and no rock goes unturned. Think of it as a business tune-up that pays for itself many times over.

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Which Specialty Service Do You Need?

Use this as a starting point — not a final answer. Every situation has nuances, but this framework covers the most common paths we see.

What stage is your business in?

→ Startup (Year 0–2, under $100K net income) Focus on business formation and entity selection. Get the foundation right — LLC, EIN, operating agreement, and potentially an S Corp election if income justifies it. Keep retirement simple with a SEP IRA or Solo 401k, and make sure your accounting is clean from day one. Don’t overcomplicate things yet. Crawl before you walk.

→ Growth (Year 2–5, $100K–$300K net income) This is where the real leverage shows up. You should have an S Corp election generating payroll tax savings, a Solo 401k with both Roth and pre-tax contributions, and regular Periodic Business Reviews to catch opportunities. Consider adding your spouse to payroll to double retirement contributions. If you’re in a specific industry like dental or restaurants, make sure your CPA knows your world. Subscribe to one of our advisory platforms and start building real strategy.

→ Maturity ($300K+ net income, established systems) Time to go aggressive on retirement — a Turbocharged 401k with a defined benefit plan can shelter $100K–$300K+ per year. Consider Fractional CFO services for strategic financial leadership. Your Tax Patrol engagement should include proactive tax planning, not just return preparation. Review your entity structure — do you need a holding company? Is your industry-specific strategy optimized?

→ Pre-Exit (5–10 years before planned sale or transition) Start now. Exit planning is not a six-month project — it’s a multi-year strategy. Build transferable value, document processes, clean up the financials, and start succession planning. Your CPA Concierge team should be coordinating with your attorney, financial advisor, and any potential buyers or successors. Jason Watson holds the Certified Valuation Analyst (CVA) designation and can assist with business valuations.

→ Not sure? Start with a conversation. We typically schedule a 20-minute complimentary quick chat with one of our Partners to figure out where you are and what to prioritize. Schedule a discovery meeting →

How This Plays Out in Real Life

Spreadsheets and comparison tables are great, but let’s talk about what these specialty services look like for actual business owners. These are composite scenarios based on real client situations.

Scenario 1: The Solo Consultant Who Left Money on the Table

Sarah is a 48-year-old management consultant earning $250,000 in net income through her single-member LLC. She had been filing Schedule C and contributing $7,000 per year to a Roth IRA. That’s it. No business entity. No retirement plan beyond the IRA. She was paying roughly $35,000 in self-employment taxes alone.

What we did: We formed an LLC, elected S Corp status, set her reasonable salary at $110,000, and established a Solo 401k. She now contributes $23,500 (Roth employee deferral) plus $27,500 (pre-tax employer contribution) for a total of $51,000 per year in retirement savings. Her self-employment tax savings from the S Corp election are approximately $12,000 annually. Combined with the retirement plan tax deferrals, her effective tax rate dropped by nearly 15 percentage points. She went from funding a $7,000 Roth IRA to sheltering $51,000 per year.

Scenario 2: The Dentist Couple Who Turbocharged Everything

Dr. Martinez and his wife run a dental practice netting $450,000. Both are active in the business — he does the dentistry, she manages the office and marketing. They were already set up as an S Corp but only had a basic SEP IRA.

What we did: We restructured compensation to pay both spouses a reasonable salary, established a Solo 401k with Roth deferrals for each, and layered on a cash balance (defined benefit) plan. Between the two of them, they’re now sheltering over $200,000 per year in retirement contributions. The Turbocharged 401k alone saves them approximately $90,000 in taxes annually at their effective rates. We also optimized their health insurance premium deductions and ensured the kids’ summer employment was structured correctly. Total annual tax savings: north of $100,000.

Scenario 3: The Restaurant Owner Planning an Exit

Tony has run a successful restaurant group for 18 years — three locations, 85 employees, $4.2 million in combined revenue. He’s 57 and wants to retire at 62. When he came to us, he had no succession plan, his entities were a mess (two LLCs, a dissolved corporation that was never properly wound down, and a real estate holding company with outdated operating agreements), and his financial statements wouldn’t survive buyer due diligence.

What we did: We started with a Periodic Business Review to map the landscape, cleaned up the entity structure, implemented proper accounting systems, and began a five-year exit plan. Jason Watson performed a preliminary business valuation to establish a baseline. We’re now tracking KPIs that buyers care about, building transferable value, and structuring the eventual sale for maximum tax efficiency. Tony still has four years on his timeline, and he’ll exit on his terms — not scrambling.

Frequently Asked Questions

Here are some quickie FAQs to learn more about WCG’s specialty support services and how they fit into your overall tax strategy—

How much can I contribute to a Solo 401k in 2026?

For 2026, the employee deferral limit is $23,500 — this can be Roth or pre-tax, your choice. On top of that, your company can contribute up to 25% of your W-2 salary as a profit-sharing contribution (always pre-tax). The combined annual additions limit is $70,000. If you’re 50 or older, add $7,500 in catch-up contributions. And thanks to SECURE Act 2.0, if you’re between 60 and 63, the catch-up jumps to $11,250. The Solo 401k gives self-employed owners the most flexibility and the fastest path to max contributions compared to SEP IRAs or SIMPLE IRAs. Explore all self-employed retirement plan options →

What is a Turbocharged 401k and how does it work?

This is our name for combining a Solo 401k with a defined benefit (cash balance) plan. The 401k handles up to $70,000 in annual contributions. Then the defined benefit plan layers on top — with actuarially determined limits that increase significantly with age. A 50-year-old might shelter an additional $150,000+ through the cash balance plan. A 60-year-old could push past $250,000 in total combined deferrals. The catch? You need consistent high income, and the defined benefit plan requires multi-year funding commitments. But for owners with the cash flow to support it, this is the most powerful tax reduction tool available. Learn about Turbocharged 401k plans →

Can I add my spouse to my business payroll?

Yes, and it’s one of the most common questions we get. The primary benefits include doubling your household’s 401k contributions (each spouse can defer $23,500+), deducting health insurance premiums through the business, building Social Security credits for your spouse, and creating legitimate deductions for business travel. However, you’ll create additional payroll taxes — Social Security, Medicare, and unemployment insurance — on the spouse’s wages. The key is making sure the compensation reflects real work and that the savings outweigh the costs. For most S Corp owners earning above $150,000, the math works nicely. Below that, it depends. Read the full analysis on adding your spouse to payroll →

Does WCG specialize in my industry?

We serve business owners across a wide range of industries, but we’ve built particularly deep expertise in dental practices, restaurants and hospitality, real estate investors, medical professionals, consultants, technology companies, and e-commerce businesses. Our pod team structure means your CPA isn’t a generalist dabbling in your industry — they’re a specialist who understands the specific deductions, compliance requirements, and financial patterns of your field. That said, the core principles of entity selection, S Corp optimization, and retirement planning apply universally.

What is a Fractional CFO and do I need one?

A Fractional CFO provides part-time, senior-level financial leadership — cash flow forecasting, KPI tracking, financial modeling, and strategic planning — without the $200K–$300K annual salary of a full-time hire. You probably need one if your business has grown past the point where a bookkeeper and annual tax return are enough. Typical indicators: revenue above $500K, increasing financial complexity, difficulty making data-driven decisions, or preparing for a major event like raising capital, expanding locations, or planning an exit. Think of it as upgrading from a rearview mirror (historical bookkeeping) to a windshield (forward-looking financial strategy). Our Periodic Business Reviews often serve as a stepping stone.

When should I start thinking about business exit planning?

Five to ten years before you want to exit. We know that sounds aggressive, but exit planning isn’t just about finding a buyer and signing papers. It involves maximizing business value (which takes years, not months), cleaning up financial statements to survive due diligence, structuring the sale for tax efficiency, ensuring personal financial readiness (can you actually afford to retire?), and planning for leadership succession. Owners who start early have significantly more leverage in negotiations and typically pay far less in taxes on the transaction. If you’re even slightly thinking about it, let’s start with a Periodic Business Review and establish a baseline.

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The tax advisors, business consultants and rental property experts at WCG CPAs & Advisors are not salespeople; we are not putting lipstick on a pig expecting you to love it. Our job remains being professionally detached, giving you information and letting you decide within our ethical guidelines and your risk profiles.

We see far too many crazy schemes and half-baked ideas from attorneys and wealth managers. In some cases, they are good ideas. In most cases, all the entities, layering and mixed ownership is only the illusion of precision. As Chris Rock says, just because you can drive your car with your feet doesn’t make it a good idea. In other words, let’s not automatically convert “you can” into “you must.”

Let’s chat so you can be smart about it.

We typically schedule a 20-minute complimentary quick chat with one of our Partners or our amazing Senior Tax Professionals to determine if we are a good fit for each other, and how an engagement with our team looks. Tax returns only? Business advisory? Tax strategy and planning? Rental property support?

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Taxes can be tricky. Chat with a WCG human now and get questions answered.

After almost 6 years with this CPA group, there is NO ONE else we would trust to do our taxes.

L. Matisek

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We've worked with multiple bookkeepers and accountants over the years and WCG has completely blown us away.

N. Sellden

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As a novice business entrepreneur they provided me with the tools to both structure and tax my business efficiently

Mayon Hight

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They've made my taxes a breeze and are worth every dime I pay them for the peace of mind their services provide.

Lynn Shannon

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The good folks at WCG have impressed me, as being highly competent, patient & friendly.

Fred LeBlanc

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They've made my complicated business life simple and I'd recommend them to anyone with a slightly complicated-to-overwhelmingly complicated tax strategy!

Nic J

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For nearly nine years, I have had the privilege of working with WCG and their team of exceptionally knowledgeable and experienced CPAs.

Alex Hickman

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Amanda - WCG CPA - You guys have been invaluable in helping us get this business and tax planning setup properly and executed correctly.

Lance Dodd

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WCG is extremely knowledgable, timely and attune to the unique aspects of our businesses.

Carl Protsch

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WCG CPAs are professional and a pleasure to work with.

Nakapan P.

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They go beyond the call of duties to assist me not only with Tax return matters but with any questions on other personal and company tax matters.

Juan Mayorga

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I've always dreaded tax season, but WCG has made things so easy, even as we changed to an S corp. So happy we found them!

Paige de Kock

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It was great to find an accounting firm eager to take on new clients, answer initial questions in depth, and support our “keep it simple” philosophy.

Stuart B.

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Working with WCG was so easy, shout out to Sally Rhoades who handled my complicated tax situation this year wonderfully and was available for all my questions.

Stefani Cinto

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I am so thankful to be a client of WCG CPAs & Advisors.

Carol Kersten

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It's a wonderful and rare treat to find a company like WCG these days with their high level of service, personal approach, and deep knowledge of accounting.

Jeffree Hilton

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Such a great firm. Great communicators, great attention to detail and overall great people.

Jeff Owens

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