What to Do After Filing Your Tax Return

Tax season just ended.

Your return is filed, your extension is in, or your last check is written. And now, almost every business owner does the same thing. They close the folder and move on.

That's the decision that produces the same tax bill, same April shock, year after year.

Knowing what to do after filing your tax return is how the owners who pay less actually operate. The window that matters isn't April. It's the ten months that follow.

Step 1: Figure Out What You Actually Paid and Why

Before you plan anything, understand what just happened. Pull out your 2025 return and look at three numbers:

Your effective tax rate. Not your bracket,the actual percentage of total income that went to taxes. Divide total tax paid by total income. If you don't know this off the top of your head, that's the first problem.

Your self-employment or payroll tax burden. If you're a sole proprietor or LLC owner, SE tax can add 15% or more on top of income tax. Many owners focus on income tax and are genuinely surprised by the SE bill.

The gap between quarterly payments and your final balance. A large balance due in April means something went wrong during the year. Either income grew faster than your estimates, or payments weren't based on real projections.

You can't improve what you don't measure. Start with these three numbers.

Step 2: Set Your Q2 Estimated Payment Correctly

The Q1 2026 estimated payment was due April 15. The next one is June 16.

Most business owners default to the safe harbor method, paying 110% of last year's total tax, divided by four. That protects you from IRS penalties. It doesn't mean you're paying the right amount for 2026.

A better approach: build a rough income projection for 2026. Apply your effective tax rate from last year as a baseline, then adjust for known changes, revenue shifts, major purchases, entity changes, planned distributions. Set quarterly payments that track actual 2026 results, not 2025.

June 16 is eight weeks away. If your CPA hasn't called with a forward-looking estimate, ask for one now.

Step 3: Review Your Entity Structure

Tax season just gave you a complete picture of 2025 results. That makes now the best time to ask: is your current structure still right?

If you're a sole proprietor or single-member LLC with no S-Corp election: If net profit consistently topped $75,000–$100,000, the S-Corp election math is worth modeling. Payroll tax savings on the spread between a reasonable salary and total profit can be substantial.

If you're already an S-Corp: Is your current salary still reasonable given what you're earning? Too low creates audit risk. Too high wastes the structure's advantage.

Entity changes require timing and state filings. Start the analysis now so any changes can be in place before year-end.

Not Sure If Your Current Setup Is Working?

Most business owners have never had a proactive conversation about what the next twelve months should look like. A Free Financial Assessment is a 1-hour meeting where we look at your 2025 return, explain what it's telling you, and identify the specific gaps in your current setup. No pitch. No obligation.

Book Your Free Financial Assessment

Step 4: Open Key Planning Windows Now

The best tax moves for 2026 need to happen during 2026, not in April 2027.

Several high-value actions have hard deadlines:

• Retirement contributions. Solo 401(k) employee contributions must be elected before December 31. You can't retroactively maximize this in April.

• Entity structure changes. An S-Corp election filed early in the year applies to the full calendar year. Act soon if you want it to cover all of 2026.

• Bonus depreciation. Qualifying property must be placed in service before year-end — not just ordered. Timing this requires a planning conversation now, not December.

• Income and deduction timing. Accelerating deductions or deferring income requires knowing where the year is tracking. That's exactly why a mid-year projection matters.

Step 5: Clean Up Books and Map Your Cash Flow

Tax planning falls apart when the books are behind.

If bookkeeping got messy during tax season, clean it up now. Categorize transactions, reconcile accounts, and make sure the numbers are accurate. This is the foundation everything else sits on.

Then build a basic cash flow projection for the rest of 2026:

• Expected revenue and payment timing

• Known large expenses, equipment, insurance, tax payments

• Owner compensation and planned distributions

• Estimated payments for Q2, Q3, and Q4

Specifically worth modeling:
What does your cash position look like in September, before Q3 taxes are due? Find a shortfall now and you have five months to plan around it. Find it in September and you don't.

Step 6: Schedule a Mid-Year Review Today

This is the highest-leverage action most business owners skip.

A mid-year review in July or August gives you four to six months of runway to act on what you find. During the year, there's still time to adjust estimated payments, make retirement contributions, accelerate a planned purchase, or catch a missed deduction.

After the year closes, you can only document what happened.

Schedule the review now while April's urgency is still fresh. If your CPA waits for you to call, call them. If you're not sure they'll bring real projections and actionable ideas, that tells you something about the relationship.

The Post-Filing Checklist

1. Pull three numbers from your 2025 return: effective rate, SE tax burden, quarterly payment gap

2. Plan Q2 estimated payment around a 2026 projection, due June 16

3. Review entity & salary structure given 2025 results, is the current setup still optimal?

4. Open planning windows now: retirement contributions, depreciation timing, income and deduction strategy

5. Clean books and build a cash flow map for the next two to three quarters

6. Schedule a mid-year review for July or August, put it on the calendar today

Tax season is over. The planning season isn't.

Kaufmann Advisors is a CPA-led advisory firm working with established business owners on year-round tax strategy and financial clarity.