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Specialty Support 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 retirement plans, family tax strategy, and industry-specific planning. Last updated: May 2026
So here’s the deal with this page. We took all the services that don’t fit neatly into one bucket (but absolutely make a difference in your financial life) and put them in one spot. Self-employed retirement plans that can shelter six figures in a single year? That’s here. Putting your spouse on payroll to double up on 401k contributions and deduct health insurance? Also here. Industry-specific CPA services for dentists, restaurant owners, and a dozen other professions? Yep. Business lifecycle services from formation through exit? You bet.
Think of this as the “everything else your business needs” page. And by “everything else,” I mean the services that often create the biggest financial impact but get overlooked because they don’t come with a flashy category name. Your business should fund your retirement, support your family, and work within the specific realities of your industry. If that sounds like what you’re after, keep reading. We could go on and on like a Journey song, but let’s get into the details instead.
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Who Is This Page For?
This page is for business owners, self-employed professionals, and entrepreneurs who have the basics figured out and are ready to dig deeper. Specifically:
- You want to maximize retirement contributions and aren’t sure whether a SEP IRA, Solo 401k, or something more aggressive makes sense
- You’re curious about the Turbocharged 401k and want to understand how business owners shelter $100K+ per year
- You’re thinking about adding your spouse to payroll for tax advantages, retirement contributions, or health insurance deductions
- You need a CPA who understands your industry — whether that’s dentistry, restaurants, real estate, medical, or something else
- Your business is growing and you need more than a bookkeeper — maybe a Fractional CFO or periodic business review
- You’re starting to think about exit planning and want to build value intentionally rather than scramble when the time comes
If you nodded at any of those, you’re in the right spot. Start with the overview or jump directly to the section that matches where you’re at.
Beyond the Basics: Specialty Services That Move the Needle
Here’s the thing — the tax return and the bookkeeping are the floor, not the ceiling. The real value shows up in the layers above: how you fund your retirement, how you structure compensation for your family, whether your CPA actually understands the nuances of your industry, and whether you have a plan for what happens when you’re ready to step away.
Most business owners discover these specialty services reactively. They hit a big tax bill and suddenly want to know about retirement plans. They hear about a neighbor’s kid getting paid by the family business and wonder if they should do the same. Their accountant asks if they’ve thought about exit planning and they realize the answer is “not once.” We get it. There’s a lot on your plate, and not all of it comes with a flashing neon sign.
That’s why we put this page together — to sort out these specialty services into a framework that actually makes sense. Whether you’re a dentist in Denver, a restaurant owner in Dallas, or a freelance consultant in Florida, the mechanics are the same: your business should work harder for you, your family, and your future. Our job is to show you how.
Our Pod-Based Approach
At WCG, we operate using a pod team structure — accounting pod, tax pod, advisory pod. So you’re not working with a generalist who dabbles in everything. You’re working with specialists who stay in their lane and coordinate behind the scenes. When your retirement plan intersects with your S Corp salary, your tax pod and advisory pod are already talking. When your industry has specific deduction rules, your CPA actually knows what they are (not because they Googled it, but because it’s what they do all day).
This coordinated approach means specialty services don’t exist in isolation. Your retirement plan impacts your payroll. Your family employment strategy connects to your entity structure. Your industry shapes which deductions and strategies are available. And your business lifecycle stage determines what to prioritize right now versus what can wait. We see the full picture and help you act on it — not just react to it.
Self-Employed Retirement Plans
Your business should fund your retirement. Period. Most people have a pretty good handle on personal finance and basic retirement savings. But throw in a small business, and a lot of owners get that deer-in-headlights look. There’s good reason — retirement planning within your small business carries a bunch more options and potential pitfalls. Sounds like life in general, doesn’t it?
The good news? Self-employed business owners have access to retirement vehicles that W-2 employees can only dream about. The bad news? Choosing the wrong one (or worse, choosing none) can cost you tens of thousands of dollars in missed tax savings every single year. And once that year is gone, it’s gone. You can’t go back and make a 2025 contribution in 2027. Well, technically SEP IRAs give you until the extended due date, but we digress.
Self-Employed Retirement Plans Hub
We walk you through SEP IRAs, SIMPLE IRAs, Solo 401k plans, and how to figure out which one makes sense based on your income, entity type, and goals. Contribution limits, employer versus employee deferrals, and the common mistakes that cost people real money — it’s all here.
Turbocharged 401k Plans
Our name for the Solo 401k plus defined benefit plan combination that can shelter $100,000 to $300,000+ per year depending on your age and income. If you have consistent high income and want to aggressively fund retirement while slashing your tax bill, this is the play. Big deal.
Roth 401k vs. Traditional 401k
Should your Solo 401k contributions be Roth (post-tax) or traditional (pre-tax)? Short answer: we generally lean Roth for the employee deferral piece, but there’s real nuance here around tax brackets, state income strategies, and the “free loan from the IRS” concept. We break it all down so you can make a smart call.
Crash Course on Investing
Cash basis versus accrual — most small business owners are cash-based, and recent IRS code changes have expanded eligibility. If you need accrual-based accounting for investors, franchisors, or a better near-term tax position, we’ll walk through the trade-offs and get things set up correctly.
Self-Employed Retirement Plan Comparison at a Glance
Here’s a side-by-side view of the most common self-employed retirement plan options. This table gives you a starting point, but your specific numbers depend on income level, entity type, age, and whether you have employees. Don’t freak out and snap your pencil — we’ll help you figure out which one fits.
| 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 |
All starting points assume two bank accounts (such as one checking and one credit card) and fewer than 250 transactions and 10 manual checks per month. Do we really count each transaction? No, but we have to start somewhere.
Family Tax & Payroll Strategy
Your family is part of your business. Let’s make that work for everyone. We get a lot of calls and emails from business owners asking about adding their spouse to payroll. And their kids. And sometimes Mom and Dad. There are several reasons where this might make sense, but there are also some pitfalls and things you need to be aware of. Don’t be that business owner who just goes out there and does something without consideration or consultation with a small business CPA like us. You would never do that, right? Right.
The biggest reason to consider family employment? Retirement plan contributions. If your spouse is on payroll, they can also contribute to the company 401k — effectively doubling your household’s tax-deferred savings. Add in health insurance premium deductions, Social Security credit building, and travel expense deductibility, and the math can work out beautifully. But (and this is a big but) if you don’t structure it correctly, you’ll generate unnecessary payroll taxes, unemployment insurance costs, and compliance headaches that eat into or eliminate the savings. We see this go sideways all the time.
Adding Your Spouse to Payroll
A deep dive into the pros, cons, and math behind putting your spouse on the company payroll. We dig into the payroll tax implications, reasonable salary considerations, Social Security angles, and the retirement plan supercharger that makes this strategy worth exploring for most S Corp owners.
Spouse Payroll: The Knowledge Base
Our knowledge base article on spouse employment — more technical, more detailed, and designed as a reference you can come back to. Includes the payroll tax math, unemployment insurance considerations, and state-specific gotchas (like California’s SDI, which always keeps things interesting).
Deducting Health Insurance Premiums
How S Corp shareholders and their families can deduct health insurance premiums through the business. This is one of the most frequently asked questions we get, and the rules are more nuanced than most people realize — especially around the 2% shareholder rules and W-2 reporting. Worth digging into.
Industry-Specific CPA Services
Your industry isn’t generic. Your CPA shouldn’t be either. Look, anyone can buy a QuickBooks subscription and call themselves a bookkeeper. And yes, most CPAs can prepare a tax return for most businesses. But there’s a massive difference between a CPA who can do your return and a CPA who understands the specific deductions, compliance requirements, revenue patterns, and operational realities of your industry. A dental practice has different financial DNA than a restaurant. A real estate investor faces different tax rules than an e-commerce seller. And a freelance consultant has different payroll considerations than a medical professional.
At WCG, we’ve built deep expertise in several industries — not because we set out to collect niches like Pokémon cards, but because our clients brought their industry problems to us, and we got really good at sorting them out. Some of these have grown into full service portals with dedicated resources, and others are in the works.
Dental CPA Services
Our most developed industry portal. Everything from dental practice tax preparation and S Corp elections to retirement planning, practice valuation, and dentist-specific tax deductions. If you’re a dentist, this is your home base — accounting, consulting, and tax planning built around how dental practices actually work. Not how some textbook says they should.
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. That matters.
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
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. Let’s be real — 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.
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.
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.
Fractional CFO Services
Part-time, senior-level financial leadership for businesses that have outgrown their bookkeeper but aren’t ready for (or don’t need) 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 who need someone to help them see around the corner.
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.
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) Alright, this is where the real savings show 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 dialed in?
- Pre-Exit (5–10 years before planned sale or transition) Start now. Seriously, 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. I hold 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.
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. Ouch.
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. Said differently, she went from funding a $7,000 Roth IRA to sheltering $51,000 per year. Worth it.
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 took care of their health insurance premium deductions and made sure the kids’ summer employment was structured correctly. Total annual tax savings: north of $100,000. Read that again.
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, put proper accounting systems in place, and began a five-year exit plan. I 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.
How This All Works Together
Each of these specialty services connects to the others. Your retirement plan choice depends on your entity type and salary. Your family employment strategy ties into that retirement plan. Your industry shapes which deductions are available and how aggressive you can be. And your business lifecycle stage determines what to prioritize. Said differently, none of these decisions should be made in isolation — and none of them should wait until April.
The business owners who get the most value from WCG aren’t necessarily the ones with the biggest income. They’re the ones who engage proactively — scheduling Periodic Business Reviews, using their advisory platform’s quick chats, and asking questions before making decisions. It’s the difference between strategic and reactive, and over a career, it’s worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. That matters.
Let’s Keep Your Business Working Harder
We’re not here to sell you complexity. We’re here to help you figure out which specialty services actually move the needle for your situation — and skip the ones that don’t. Because your business should:
- fund your retirement aggressively and tax-efficiently,
- support your family through smart employment strategies,
- operate within the realities of your industry,
- and have a plan that takes you from where you are to where you want to be.
Because in our world, intentional always beats accidental. And proactive always beats reactive.
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. Said differently, 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?
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.
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Let’s Chat
So if you’re trying to figure out which specialty services make sense for your situation — whether that’s setting up a Turbocharged 401k, getting industry-specific CPA support, or building an exit plan — let’s talk it through. We typically start with a quick conversation to understand where you’re at and where you’re trying to go. No pressure. No sales pitch. Just a smart discussion so you can make a good decision.
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?




