FREE 135-PAGE BOOK · BY TOM WOOLLEY
Most service-based S-Corp owners overpay $6,000 to $30,000+ in federal tax every year. Not because the strategies are hidden — because their CPA files returns instead of planning them. This book closes the gap.
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$6K–$30K+
Average federal tax most readers find on their first pass
15
Strategies covered in detail with real dollar ranges and IRC citations
10 min
Diagnostic quiz routes you to the chapters where YOUR dollars are
THE THESIS, IN ONE PICTURE
THE TAX PREPARER
What 90% of S-Corp owners hire
“Great year. Big tax bill.”
THE TAX PLANNER
What this book teaches you to be (or hire)
“Four moves before December 31.”
Tax preparation happens after the year is over.
Tax planning happens before.
The dollars live in the difference.
15 STRATEGIES, REAL DOLLAR RANGES
PART 4 · THE BIG THREE
$5K – $15K/year
Defensibly correct S-Corp salary. Not too high (overpay payroll tax). Not too low (audit bait). Ch. 6.
PART 4 · THE BIG THREE · HIGHEST IMPACT
$15K – $40K+/year
For SSTBs near the $484K joint phaseout. Often the single highest-dollar move in the entire code. Ch. 7.
PART 4 · THE BIG THREE
$10K – $25K/year
Solo 401(k), profit-sharing, defined benefit. Direct fed tax savings, still your money. Ch. 8.
PART 5 · ACCOUNTABLE PLAN · FOUNDATION
Unlocks $10K – $30K+/year
The board-adopted plan that makes the next three reimbursements legitimately pre-tax. Required infrastructure. Ch. 9.
PART 5 · ACCOUNTABLE PLAN
$4K – $20K/year
S-Corp shareholder premiums reimbursed pre-tax under the plan — not stranded on Schedule A. Ch. 10.
PART 5 · ACCOUNTABLE PLAN
$3K – $10K/year
Square-footage reimbursement through the plan. Higher ceiling than the standard home-office deduction. Ch. 11.
PART 5 · ACCOUNTABLE PLAN
$3K – $10K/year
Reimbursed at business-use percentage under the plan. Pre-tax, no W-2 inclusion. Ch. 12.
PART 6 · FAMILY STRATEGIES
$5K – $15K/year
Unlocks a second retirement contribution, expands accountable plan reach. Ch. 13.
PART 6 · FAMILY STRATEGIES
$3K – $8K/year
Shift income to their lower bracket. Fund a Roth IRA at 12. Tax-deductible. Ch. 14.
PART 6 · FAMILY STRATEGIES
$3K – $15K/year
Rent your home to your S-Corp 14 days/year. Tax-free in. Deductible out. IRC §280A(g). Ch. 15.
PART 7 · ADVANCED PLAYS
$10K – $30K/year
12-month safe harbor. The December move that pulls you back below QBI phaseout. Ch. 17.
PART 7 · ADVANCED PLAYS
$10K – $50K+/year
If you own the building. Cost segregation + grouping election + real estate equity. Ch. 18.
PART 7 · ADVANCED PLAYS
$2K – $10K/year
Properly classified business retreats, team facilities, and employee-benefit recreation. Ch. 19.
PART 7 · ADVANCED PLAYS
$3K – $25Kone-time
Amend the last three years for missed depreciation, misclassified repairs, or unclaimed credits. One-time recovery. Ch. 20.
PART 6 · QUICK WIN
$1.5K – $8K/year
Pure bookkeeping. Most teams under-claim 100% deductible team meals. No structural change. Ch. 16.
Stack three or four of these and you’re inside the $20,000 – $40,000+ band most readers find on their first pass.
REAL OWNERS · REAL NUMBERS
Sarah Chen
SOLO FOUNDER
Brand consultant · $850K rev · $450K net
~$28,000+annual fed tax saved
David Rodriguez
TEAM OWNER
Denver agency · $1.4M rev · 8 employees
~$70,000+annual fed tax saved
Marcus Patel
SCALED OWNER
Chicago agency · $4M rev · 32 employees
~$45,000+annual fed tax saved
Every strategy in the book is modeled with Sarah, David, and Marcus’s actual numbers so you can map your situation onto whichever profile is closest. Different sizes. Different playbooks. Same pattern: the dollars are sitting there.
HOW TO READ IT
Strategies don’t save you anything until they’re implemented. The book is built so the path from page to paycheck is short, no matter where you start.
01
Read in order. Strategies build on each other. Chapter 6 (Reasonable Comp) is the foundation everything else stacks onto. Plan on an afternoon for the read, then a quarter to implement.
02
Chapter 5 is a 20-question diagnostic across five sections (entity & compensation, QBI, retirement, deductions, family). Your score routes you to the chapters where your unrealized savings are largest. Skip anything that doesn’t apply.
03
For readers who already know the strategies. The appendix is a one-page reference of every strategy with the relevant chapter pointer. Useful for running an annual self-audit or briefing your existing tax advisor.
INSIDE THE BOOK
PART 01
PART 02
PART 03
PART 04
PART 05
PART 06
PART 07
PART 08
+ The 1-page Cheat Sheet · Citations and Authorities appendix · About the firm
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Tom founded Today CFO in 2015 on a simple thesis: the traditional CPA relationship — compliance-focused, reactive, transactional — doesn’t serve growing service businesses. The firm runs proactive tax planning, ongoing accounting, and fractional CFO advisory on a year-round calendar for clients in the $500K to $6M revenue range.
The strategies in this book are the same ones the firm implements as a standard part of its engagements with marketing agencies, management consultancies, MSPs, professional services firms, staffing companies, and SaaS businesses. Today CFO clients pay $5,000 to $25,000 per year for the full service. The book is the playbook that engagement runs on.
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COMMON QUESTIONS
Part 2 (S-Corp Foundations) covers when an S-Corp election is appropriate and when a simpler structure makes more sense. If you’re running a sole prop or single-member LLC and your net profit is over roughly $80K, the book’s framework still applies. Below that, the structural complexity often outweighs the savings — the book will tell you that directly in Chapter 4.
Most CPAs are tax preparers: they file what already happened. A smaller number are tax planners: they manage the year-round calendar that shapes what shows up on the return. The book’s 20-question diagnostic in Chapter 5 will tell you in ten minutes which kind you have. If your reasonable compensation hasn’t been formally reviewed in the last 12 months, if no one has run a mid-year QBI projection this year, and you don’t have a written accountable plan, you have a preparer. The book covers what a planner would do.
The book’s closing chapter lays out three approaches: do it yourself with the Implementation Checklist (4 to 6 hours of focused work spread over two or three sessions), direct your existing bookkeeper to handle the administrative pieces and keep the strategic decisions yourself, or hire a proactive tax planner to run the calendar. The book gives you everything you need to choose — and to know whether the planner you’re evaluating is actually any good.
PDF. After you submit the form you can download it instantly, and we also email it to you as backup. Reads on phone, tablet, laptop, or e-reader. No DRM, no streaming app, no expiring access.
Citations were accurate as of the 2026 publication date. The IRC, Treasury Regulations, and case law cited are stable, but contribution limits and phaseout thresholds adjust for inflation each year. The book’s citations appendix lets you (or your tax advisor) verify any specific number against current guidance before implementing.
Yes. The book was written by Today CFO and is the same playbook the firm runs for paying clients. Some readers eventually decide they’d rather have someone run their tax calendar for them — if you’re one of them, you’ll know exactly what to ask for. If you’d rather DIY forever, that’s also a great outcome — you stopped overpaying.
LAST THING
Free PDF. Drop your email and start reading in 30 seconds. Read it once, keep it as reference, implement at your own pace. The book pays for itself the first time you use one strategy from it.
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