Ben Collier

They describe that as a silent money bleed and identify situations where the election is often the wrong move: a business that is too new or barely profitable; profit low enough that a quick analysis only looks good; a Tennessee client where franchise tax often kills the benefit; a client whose other businesses offset active income; or a client whose W-2 income already fills the Social Security wage base.

• They also note the opposite risk: waiting too long can cost a client savings.
• Their conclusion: the best CPAs model the election before deciding, then run the hindsight check that almost never gets done.

A Tennessee S-corp owner who believed she was saving money was losing about $4,546 a year before compliance costs.

Across the posts, the emphasis moves from whether to elect, to whether the election was worth it in hindsight, to specific levers such as the QBI wage question and the Tennessee OME election.

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They cite a 6.5% excise tax on S-corp earnings, while an LLC can effectively zero out the excise tax through a Schedule J substitution.

• The trade: an S-corp pays 6.5% excise tax on distributions to avoid the 2.9% Medicare tax — a 3.6% hit on distributions.
• Clients will feel it as a penalty even though Tennessee does not use that word.
• Collier mentions a $50,000 standard deduction but says a business below that profit level probably would not elect S-corp status anyway, and adds a 0.25% franchise tax on top.

Assuming a fixed 40% salary-to-profit split for a married-filing-jointly solo owner, Collier maps the breakpoints: about a $4,000 advantage to the S-corp at $150,000 profit, $2,000 at $200,000, a wash around $220,000, an $8,000 loss versus an LLC at $300,000, and a $17,000 loss at $400,000 — then a flip back to a $2,000 S-corp advantage at $405,000 once the QBI threshold is crossed. They call roughly $220,000 to $404,000 the 'danger zone.'

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Collier makes clear that the tradeoff is real — the election waives state-level liability protection — so the tax math alone does not settle the recommendation. Presenting both the arithmetic and the exception gives the post the caution of expert advice rather than a clean sales line.

For a solo S-corp owner with $450,000 net profit and a $95,000 W-2 salary, the franchise tax bill is $19,825 before any S-corp savings reach the client.

• Under OME it drops to $0.
• Total tax liability falls from $102,002 at a 24.1% effective rate to $81,893 at 18.5%, a net saving of $20,109 — but state liability protection is given up.

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They also show how numbers travel: some advisors pitch the top-line federal benefit and omit offsetting costs, leaving the client anchored to a bigger number than the real one. Their lesson: the advisor with the complete breakdown saves the day; the one without it cleans up someone else's oversell.

For a solo high-profit S-corp with about $1.5 million net business profit and a PTE election, a $160,000 salary leaves a QBI deduction of $80,000, while an optimized $428,550 salary produces $187,944. The federal QBI benefit is $31,024, but payroll tax rises by $12,433 while California franchise tax savings add $4,029 — a real net benefit of $22,620 a year, roughly 27% below the windfall being pitched.

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The posts explain the Tennessee danger zone, the OME election, the QBI wage comparison and the S-corp versus LLC review through product-led arguments rather than neutral commentary. Their specific numbers and usually visible assumptions make the analysis checkable, but each conclusion is framed in service of a tool.

The 'Was electing S-Corp worth it?' post describes a button added to Profit Shield Pro, then routes readers to a Strategic Tax Analysis module and a demo booking; the Tennessee post asks readers to comment 'TN' to book a demo.

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It is a strong first stop because it shows the QBI wage-limit tradeoff with actual numbers, not a rule of thumb.

Ben Collier walks through a solo, high-profit S-corporation above the QBI phase-out, with net business profit around $1.5 million and a PTE election.

• A $160,000 salary leaves QBI at $80,000, while an optimized salary of $428,550 produces an optimized QBI deduction of $187,944.
• After payroll-tax friction and California franchise-tax savings, the real net benefit is $22,620 a year—significant, but about 27% less than the $31,024 federal benefit some advisors pitch because that figure leaves out the costs.
• The teaching point: the default advice to 'pay yourself less' can destroy the deduction once profit is high enough.

For brands planning a campaign

For a tax-planning software company, this is a ready-made expert-content angle: show the full QBI wage limitation and payroll friction, then position software as a way to catch missed action items before a client hears an oversold social-media number.

It turns the familiar 'no income tax' claim into a specific franchise-tax and OME tradeoff.

The post explains that Tennessee levies a 6.5% excise tax on S-corporation net income, even though the state has no income tax.

• It uses a solo S-corporation owner with $450,000 net profit and a $95,000 W-2 salary to show $19,825 in Tennessee franchise tax before any S-corporation savings reach the client.
• Ben Collier says the Tennessee OME election can reduce that franchise tax to $0 by treating the S-corporation as a disregarded entity for franchise-tax purposes, but the tradeoff is waiving state-level liability protection.
• The figures: total tax liability without addressing the issue is $102,002 at a 24.1% effective rate; with OME elected, total tax is $81,893 at 18.5%, a net savings of $20,109.

For brands planning a campaign

This is the strongest direct fit for a brief about CPAs advising Tennessee S-corporation clients. A co-marketing or expert-content partnership could build around the OME decision, with software positioned as a way to model the franchise-tax hit and liability-protection tradeoff.

It is a practical starting point because it names situations where the election is often the wrong move and points to a product feature for a hindsight check.

Ben Collier describes a Tennessee S-corporation owner who thought she was saving money but was losing $4,546 a year before compliance costs.

• The post lists common cases where an S-corporation election is often wrong: a business that is too new or barely profitable; profit low enough to make a quick analysis look good; a Tennessee client whose benefit is often wiped out by franchise tax; other businesses offsetting active income; or existing W-2 income already filling the Social Security wage base.
• They also say Profit Shield Pro added a 'Was electing S-Corp worth it?' button that gives an instant S-corporation versus LLC breakdown and can push the scenario into a Strategic Tax Analysis module.

For brands planning a campaign

Useful for a software partner because it connects a recurring advisory question to a product feature. The campaign angle is retrospective S-corporation review, not just election modeling: catch clients already locked in and quantify whether the election still makes sense.

It is a useful deep dive because it maps the profit 'danger zone' with several data points instead of one headline number.

Ben Collier calls Tennessee's excise tax the hidden trap: 6.5% on S-corporation earnings, while an LLC can effectively zero out the excise tax with a Schedule J substitution.

• The post frames the result as a Tennessee S-corporation penalty of 3.6% on distributions, because the S-corporation pays 6.5% excise tax to avoid 2.9% Medicare tax.
• Using a fixed 40% salary-to-profit assumption for a married-filing-jointly solo business, the post sets a danger zone of roughly $220,000 to $404,000 profit: at $150,000 profit, the S-corporation has a $4,000 advantage; at $200,000, a $2,000 advantage; at $220,000, a wash; at $300,000, an $8,000 loss versus LLC; and at $400,000, a $17,000 loss.
• Above the QBI threshold, the math flips again: at $405,000 profit, the S-corporation has a $2,000 advantage.
• The post also notes the 0.25% franchise tax and promotes a Profit Shield Pro S-corporation calculator in beta.

For brands planning a campaign

This offers a detailed Tennessee modeling story a software company can repurpose into a calculator, webinar, or CPA guide. The partnership angle is scenario education: show why the answer changes by profit band, salary assumption, and QBI threshold, and let the tool handle repeated modeling.

In one post, they argue that many CPAs decide up front and never ask afterward, "Was electing S-corp worth it?"

• They list situations where the election is often the wrong move — a business too new or barely profitable, profit low enough that a quick analysis only looks good, a Tennessee client, a client whose other businesses offset active income, or a client whose W-2 income already fills the Social Security wage base.
• They illustrate the cost with a Tennessee S-corp owner losing about $4,546 a year before compliance costs, and point to a software feature that compares an S-corp with an LLC, showing the bottom-line savings or loss.

For brands planning a campaign

This is the clearest co-marketing angle: a vendor can build expert content and demo material around reviewing existing S-corp clients, not just modeling new elections. The retrospective question is a natural hook for a calculator feature and targets CPAs who already have a book of elected clients.

Examples: Source 1

Collier cites a 6.5% excise tax on S-corp net income.

• In one post, they frame the trade as paying 6.5% excise tax on distributions to avoid the 2.9% Medicare tax — a 3.6% hit on distributions that, they say, a client will feel like a penalty even though Tennessee does not call it one.
• They note a $50,000 standard deduction but say a business below that profit level would probably not elect S-corp status anyway, and mention a 0.25% franchise tax on top.
• They model the breakpoints: about a $4,000 advantage to the S-corp at $150,000 profit, $2,000 at $200,000, a wash around $220,000, an $8,000 loss at $300,000 and a $17,000 loss at $400,000, with the math flipping back to a $2,000 S-corp advantage at $405,000 once the QBI threshold is crossed.
• They call roughly $220,000 to $404,000 of profit the "danger zone" for a married-filing-jointly solo owner.

Scenario modeling with stated assumptions — a fixed 40% salary-to-profit split for a married-filing-jointly owner, with the salary set above the Social Security wage base for arithmetic simplicity.

For brands planning a campaign

For a vendor targeting CPAs with Tennessee clients, this is the highest-signal subject: a state-specific threshold that can be demonstrated live in a calculator and that many CPAs may not check by default. Thresholds like these lend themselves to a webinar, a modeled case study, or a demo script that ends with the client's own numbers.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2 · Source 3

Under OME, the S-corp is treated as a disregarded entity for franchise tax purposes, dropping a $19,825 franchise tax bill to $0 for a solo owner with $450,000 net profit and a $95,000 W-2 salary.

• Collier reports total tax liability falling from $102,002 (a 24.1% effective rate) to $81,893 (18.5%), a net saving of $20,109.
• They identify the tradeoff: the election waives state-level liability protection.
• Across the available posts, the emphasis shifts from whether to elect, to whether the election was worth it in hindsight, to specific levers such as this one and the QBI wage question.

The OME election gives up state liability protection, so the tax math alone does not settle the recommendation; that judgment stays with the CPA.

For brands planning a campaign

Pairing the savings with the liability caveat makes the content feel expert rather than promotional. It gives a software vendor a credible way to position its tool as the arithmetic layer beneath a decision the CPA still owns.

Examples: Source 1

For a solo high-profit S-corp with about $1.5 million net business profit and a PTE election, Collier says a low W-2 wage destroys the deduction: a $160,000 salary produces an $80,000 QBI deduction, while an optimized $428,550 salary produces $187,944.

• They break down the advertised benefit rather than simply repeat it: federal QBI lowers federal tax by $31,024, payroll tax rises by $12,433, and California franchise tax savings add $4,029, for a real net benefit of $22,620 a year rather than the $31,000 windfall pitched on social media.
• Their point: the advisor who brings the complete breakdown saves the day; the one who does not is cleaning up someone else's oversell.

Breaking a headline number into its contributing tax lines so readers see the net figure, not the advertised one.

For brands planning a campaign

The "correcting an oversell" frame works well for software marketing: it positions the tool as a check on advice a client has already absorbed elsewhere and gives a vendor a reason to publish the full line-by-line breakdown that a competitor's pitch omits.

Examples: Source 1

Even the educational passages — the Tennessee danger zone, the QBI wage comparison, the S-corp versus LLC review — lead to a product demonstration. The numbers are specific and the assumptions usually visible, but the posts are product-led rather than a general education series.

For brands planning a campaign

Because the writing is already tied to a product, a brand partnership here is less like sponsoring neutral commentary and more like negotiating sponsored worked examples, demos, or co-branded scenarios. That can work, but the sponsor should expect the post to route to a tool and agree in advance on where its own product fits.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2 · Source 3 · Source 4

They invite readers to claim free beta testing spots for the 2026 S-Corp Calculator by commenting a keyword or to schedule a 1:1 demo. The posts offer direct access to Collier through demos but don't explain their connection to the business; ask them to clarify the commercial relationship.

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Collier covers the same ground from the compliance side rather than the election side.

White teaches through narrative analogies and broad checklists aimed at owners, then closes with a simple starting plan. Collier works through specific S-corp and state-tax scenarios with dollar figures and a software call to action.

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The posts draw a similar boundary: here is the gap your existing advisor does not cover.

Taylor focuses on benefits–payroll integration and FICA savings, and writes about partnering with benefits brokers rather than replacing them. Collier focuses on entity election and state franchise and excise tax modeling, with calculator scenarios rather than broker relationships.

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Both write for decision-makers inside firms and companies rather than consumers.

Gibler writes about cybersecurity, AI risk, and election security for security leaders. The subject matter does not overlap with Collier's tax work; the similarity lies in how they teach and whom they teach, not what they teach.

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The two posts offer practical checklists: five IRS audit risk areas (inconsistent income, excessive deductions, repeated losses, weak recordkeeping, worker misclassification) and a self-employed tax-planning prompt covering retirement contributions, health expenses, and business deductions. A software vendor seeking a general small-business tax audience, or planning a compliance-education series rather than a state-specific S-corp deep dive, would find material closer to that audience.

The tradeoff is losing the Tennessee S-corp technical core.

• Ben Collier's posts do not work through S-corp election math, Tennessee excise or franchise tax, the OME election, or QBI wage limitations.
• They focus on audit risk and general deduction categories.
• For a campaign aimed at CPAs advising Tennessee S-corp clients, that leaves the central modeling problem unaddressed and gives the vendor's tool less specific content to plug into.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2

The posts focus on integrating benefits with payroll structure to reduce FICA liability, report an employer saving of $50,000+ in year one, and outline a clear division of labor with benefits brokers. A tax-planning software company targeting employers or CPAs who also advise on benefits-payroll integration, Section 125, or FICA savings would find a closer subject match than Ben Collier's S-corp election content.

The tradeoff is that this material does not address S-corp elections, Tennessee excise or franchise tax, QBI thresholds, or the CPA advisory workflow around them.

• The audience and problem are different: benefits-payroll integration for employers rather than state-specific S-corp modeling for CPA firms.
• A campaign aimed at Tennessee S-corp modeling would need to be rewritten around a different tax problem.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2

The posts cover AI Zero Trust for security leaders, with a planned webinar for CISOs and technology executives, and a firsthand account of a 2020 Florida voting-systems audit. A vendor in those fields would find relevant material; the tax-planning software campaign has no subject overlap.

The tradeoff is a total domain mismatch: the posts contain no tax planning, S-corp, Tennessee, or CPA advisory content. This alternative suits a campaign that has moved away from its original goal, not one seeking a different angle on it.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2