Steven M. Ellard, CPA

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Steven M. Ellard, CPA Steven M. Ellard, CPA is a one stop back office provider of tax preparation, accounting, bookkeeping, Our goal is to make life easier for you and your company.

We are a local business that offers a variety of financial services that are affordable. Let us help your business become more profitable. We have an experienced team of CPAs and professional staff that will handle your year round back office paperwork allowing you to concentrate on what you do best-managing your business.

An S corp isn't a type of business. It's a tax election, a form you send the IRS, and your Cape Cod LLC can make it with...
10/06/2026

An S corp isn't a type of business. It's a tax election, a form you send the IRS, and your Cape Cod LLC can make it without changing a thing on the sign out front.

Why it comes up every fall: a sole proprietor or single-member LLC pays self-employment tax on the whole profit. Once the business elects S corp status, the owner takes a reasonable salary through payroll and the rest comes out as distributions, and the distributions don't carry self-employment tax. On a business that just had a strong summer, that's a real difference in what stays in the account.

Why we don't tell everyone to do it: the salary has to be one you can defend, you're now running payroll for yourself, Massachusetts charges S corps a minimum excise every year whether you made money or not, and switching back isn't a quick undo. Below a certain profit level the extra cost and paperwork eat the benefit. Our rule of thumb for where that line sits is on the blog, along with when to stay an LLC and leave it alone.

https://www.stevenmellardcpa.com/tax/taxes-with-llc-in-massachusetts/

The tax-planning meeting most Cape Cod business owners book in December is about eight weeks too late.Not because the ye...
10/02/2026

The tax-planning meeting most Cape Cod business owners book in December is about eight weeks too late.

Not because the year's over. Because the useful moves all need a clear picture of what the season actually did: buying the truck or the walk-in and getting it running before December 31, topping up a retirement plan, deciding whether a chunk of income belongs in this year or next, resetting the January estimate. On the Cape that picture doesn't exist in July, and by mid-December the vendor's backed up, the plan paperwork's stuck in someone's inbox, and you're making a five-figure decision between holiday parties.

September and October are the useful stretch. The books can be closed through August, the off-season budget is real instead of hopeful, and there's still time to act on whatever the numbers say. That's why our fall calendar fills the way it does, and why the people who book now get the good time slots.

The six moves we run through with clients every year are here: https://www.stevenmellardcpa.com/guides/year-end-tax-planning-cape-cod/

Two weeks from tomorrow, extended 2025 personal returns are due. October 15 is the end of the road, there's no second ex...
09/30/2026

Two weeks from tomorrow, extended 2025 personal returns are due. October 15 is the end of the road, there's no second extension (https://www.irs.gov/filing/individuals/when-to-file), and if you extended in April and haven't thought about it since, this is the reminder. Every year a handful of people on the Cape call us the week of, holding a folder.

The reason it drags is rarely the return. It's the one missing piece: a 1099 from a brokerage that never turned up, the K-1 from a partnership that filed its own extension, a mileage log that exists mostly in memory. The return itself takes an afternoon once every document is in one place, so the job for this week is the pile, not the form.

If you're not sure what's still outstanding, the list of what we need before we can file is here, and it works just as well in October as it does in January: https://www.stevenmellardcpa.com/tax/what-your-cpa-needs-before-tax-season/

Record summer on the Cape, same amount in your pocket. If that sounds familiar, the problem usually isn't the revenue.Re...
09/28/2026

Record summer on the Cape, same amount in your pocket. If that sounds familiar, the problem usually isn't the revenue.

Revenue is what came through the door. Take-home is what's left after cost of goods, payroll, the loan on the equipment, and two levels of tax, and every one of those can quietly grow faster than sales in a busy year. More covers meant more staff, more staff meant more overtime, and the bigger profit pushed more of it into self-employment tax because the business is still set up the way it was when it was small.

Closing that gap is what a CPA is for, and it's a year-round job rather than an April one: the right structure for the size the business is now, retirement contributions that work for you instead of just sitting there, timing purchases into the year where they do the most good, and a cash-flow forecast that survives February. None of it's exotic. It just has to happen before December, not after.

How we think about it, in detail: https://www.stevenmellardcpa.com/guides/how-a-cpa-helps-you-take-home-more-profit/

Let's look at an example we see every fall at the office. A shop owner closes out the best September in years, looks at ...
09/24/2026

Let's look at an example we see every fall at the office. A shop owner closes out the best September in years, looks at the balance, and buys the new van in October. By February the rent's tight, the January estimate went out late, and the van's the reason.

The balance in October isn't profit. On Cape Cod it's the money that has to carry rent, insurance, a skeleton crew, and your own pay through the quiet months between Columbus Day and Memorial Day, plus whatever's set aside for taxes. It's a big number with a lot of claims on it.

The fix isn't complicated, it's just unglamorous: a month-by-month look at last year's P&L to see where the dips actually landed, then a plain cash-flow plan for the winter before you commit to anything with a monthly payment. Write down what comes in each month, what goes out, and what's left. If the van still fits after that, buy the van.

Our end-of-year checklist, winter cash-flow plan included: https://www.stevenmellardcpa.com/guides/small-business-accounting-checklist/

For Cape Cod neighbors who've been wondering whether they've got the right setup.We do free 30-minute consultations. No ...
09/21/2026

For Cape Cod neighbors who've been wondering whether they've got the right setup.

We do free 30-minute consultations. No pressure, no upsell. Just an honest look at where you are.

A few of the things we usually walk through:

✔️ Whether your business structure is right for what you're earning now
✔️ Whether you're set up to handle the Cape's seasonal cash flow
✔️ Quarterly estimated payments lined up against actual profit
✔️ Deductions you might be missing (Cape businesses have specific ones)
✔️ What tax season is going to look like, so April isn't a surprise

If we're a good fit, we'll talk about working together. If we're not, we'll point you toward what you actually need.

Either way, you'll leave knowing more than you came in with.

Give us a call, or stop by the office.

Cape Cod homeowners who rent out their place for part of the summer, this one's for you.If you rent your home for 14 day...
09/18/2026

Cape Cod homeowners who rent out their place for part of the summer, this one's for you.

If you rent your home for 14 days or fewer in a calendar year, the rental income is completely tax-free under the Augusta Rule. You don't even report it. The IRS lets you keep every dollar.

Most Cape folks who do a Fourth of July week or a Labor Day weekend rental have no idea this is the rule. They've been reporting the income for years and paying tax on money the law says they don't owe.

The catch is the 14-day limit. Day 15 means the whole amount becomes taxable rental income, and the rules get a lot more complicated. So if you're close to that line, plan carefully.

This applies to Cape Cod second homes used for short-term rental too, as long as the days are limited.

If you've been reporting short-term rental income on a few summer weeks, give us a call. We can usually go back and amend prior returns.

🤔 “I just take money out when I need it… is that bad?”We hear this all the time.And honestly, it’s how a lot of business...
09/11/2026

🤔 “I just take money out when I need it… is that bad?”

We hear this all the time.

And honestly, it’s how a lot of business owners start.

But how you pay yourself actually matters more than people think. It affects your taxes, your cash flow, and how stable things feel month to month.

If you’ve never really set a strategy around it, it might be worth a second look.

This breaks it down in a really simple way:
https://www.stevenmellardcpa.com/bookkeeping/how-much-to-pay-yourself/

Q3 estimated taxes are due Tuesday, September 15, which is sooner than it feels when you're running a Cape Cod business ...
09/10/2026

Q3 estimated taxes are due Tuesday, September 15, which is sooner than it feels when you're running a Cape Cod business through the heart of the summer season.

Here's the situation we see most often: an owner missed the June 15 Q2 deadline, didn't realize, kept rolling through July and August, and now faces interest and penalties on top of two stacked quarters by the time they sit down with us in October.

The IRS calculates penalties from the day each quarter was due, not from when you finally pay. Skipping a quarter doesn't push the problem out, it just adds to it.

If June 15 slipped past you, the cleaner approach is to pay both quarters before September 15 lands. We wrote up what actually happens when Q2 gets missed here: https://www.stevenmellardcpa.com/bookkeeping/what-happens-if-you-miss-q2-estimated-tax-deadline/

Need help running the number for September? https://www.stevenmellardcpa.com/contact/

Address

2759 Main Street/PO Box 2241
Brewster, MA
02631

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm

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