What it is. Your federal and New York business returns, and the owner's personal return, prepared and filed by a CPA from reconciled books, with the New York elections handled on time.
Where the value is. The New York S election, the PTET SALT-cap election, entity-correct treatment of compensation and distributions, and estimated taxes managed so the return holds no surprises.
Why a New York firm. New York business tax carries its own forms, its own rates, and its own elections. A preparer working outside the New York rules leaves both money and compliance on the table.
Corviniti prepares and files business tax returns for Buffalo companies: S corporations on Form 1120-S, partnerships and multi-member LLCs on Form 1065, C corporations on Form 1120, single-owner businesses on Schedule C, each with its matching New York return, and the owners' personal returns alongside. A CPA prepares every filing from reconciled books, which turns tax season into assembly instead of a year-end reconstruction billed at premium rates.
What separates good business tax preparation in New York is the state layer. The New York S election is its own filing, easy to assume and easy to miss. The pass-through entity tax election has to be justified owner by owner now that the July 2025 federal law set the SALT cap near 40,000 dollars through 2029 with a phase-down for income above about 500,000 dollars. Owner compensation and distributions have to match the entity type, and estimated payments have to be sized off real numbers. Handle those correctly and the return comes out lower and cleaner; skip them and no amount of careful data entry makes up the difference.
For Buffalo and Erie County businesses, we keep books, plan tax, and file returns under one roof. The people who prepare the return already know your numbers, and the planning that lowers it happens during the year, while the numbers can still be moved. The returns we file, and the calendar each follows, are below.
This page sits under Corviniti Accounting in New York City, our New York headquarters. That page covers the full New York City and New York State picture, and links to the rest of our local coverage.
PTET mechanics
How the New York PTET works
The pass-through entity tax, step by step: what happens without the election, what changes with it, and the calendar it depends on.
How the PTET works, with and without the election. Illustrative, not tax advice.
Which return
Which return does your business file
Each entity type files a federal return and a matching New York return. The map, plus the filing calendar.
Business returns by entity type. Illustrative and not exhaustive.
The SALT cap
The 2025 SALT cap change, and who benefits
The federal cap on deducting state and local taxes changed in July 2025. The cap by year, and who still benefits from electing the PTET.
The SALT cap by year and who benefits. Illustrative, not tax advice.
C corporation
C corporation taxes in 2026
A small business structured as a C corp faces its own rulebook: two layers of tax, and the deductions and limits that decide the bill.
The core C corporation rules. Current federal and New York law; illustrative, not tax advice.
QSBS and cross-border
The C corporation upside: QSBS, and the cross-border items
The C corporation's biggest prize is QSBS, and it improved in July 2025. Plus the export and foreign-subsidiary regimes, renamed and re-rated the same year.
QSBS holding-period tiers and the international items. Illustrative, not tax advice.
This is for you if
You need your business return filed and are not confident last year's was done right.
You elected S corp federally but never filed New York's CT-6.
You are a profitable pass-through and have never heard your preparer mention the PTET.
Your books are behind and a filing deadline is coming.
What you get
Federal and New York returns The right return for your entity, with the New York counterpart reconciled to it.
The New York elections CT-6 S election and the PTET SALT-cap election filed, with the PTET credit reconciled to owners.
Estimated taxes managed Federal and New York estimates sized to a safe harbor, on the full deadline calendar.
The owner's return, coordinated The personal 1040 and IT-201 prepared alongside, so the K-1 and credits line up.
How We Help
What you get
Business tax preparation that produces a lower, defensible return, filed from books that tie out.
Federal and New York returnsThe right return for your entity, with the New York counterpart reconciled to it.
The New York electionsCT-6 S election and the PTET SALT-cap election filed, with the PTET credit reconciled to owners.
Estimated taxes managedFederal and New York estimates sized to a safe harbor, on the full deadline calendar.
The owner's return, coordinatedThe personal 1040 and IT-201 prepared alongside, so the K-1 and credits line up.
When companies bring us in
You need your business return filed and are not confident last year's was done right.
You elected S corp federally but never filed New York's CT-6.
You are a profitable pass-through and have never heard your preparer mention the PTET.
Your books are behind and a filing deadline is coming.
The Detail
The gaps, and how we close each one
Service 01
The right return for your entity, federal and New York
Each entity type files its own pair of returns, and the New York half does not always behave the way the federal half suggests. Gaps between the books, the federal return, and the state return are where examinations start.
How we handle it
We prepare the federal return for your structure, 1120-S for S corporations, 1065 for partnerships and multi-member LLCs, 1120 for C corporations, Schedule C for sole proprietors, together with the New York counterpart: CT-3-S for New York S corporations, IT-204 for partnerships, and CT-3 under the Article 9-A franchise tax for C corporations, where most small companies pay a 6.5 percent business-income rate. Two Article 9-A details worth knowing in this market: New York imposes a fixed dollar minimum keyed to New York receipts, starting at 25 dollars and owed even in a loss year, and qualified New York manufacturers pay a 0 percent business-income rate with reduced minimums, a status worth confirming every year for the region's solar-component, machining, and food-production companies. We reconcile the K-1s to the return and the return to the books, so all three agree and an examiner finds nothing loose to pull on.
What you get: The federal and New York returns for your entity, reconciled to the books.
Service 02
The New York S election (CT-6), a separate filing from the federal one
Owners who elected S corporation status federally usually believe the matter is settled. New York keeps its own list, and a company missing from it can be taxed by the state as a C corporation, with an expensive correction when the mismatch surfaces years later.
How we handle it
New York grants S status through its own election on Form CT-6, filed with the Tax Department separately from the federal Form 2553, and the state taxes you according to its own election records, whatever the IRS shows. We confirm your New York S status directly, file the CT-6 where it is missing, and line up the election, the reasonable owner salary that supports it, and the distribution treatment on the New York return. If a prior year was filed on the wrong assumption, we flag it and lay out the correction path before the state finds it first.
What you get: A filed CT-6 and a New York S status you can rely on.
Service 03
The PTET election, filed and reconciled
For profitable Buffalo pass-through owners, the PTET is often the largest single tax lever on the table, and the one most often missed, because it lives outside the return itself: a separate election, a separate payment calendar, and, since July 2025, a federal SALT cap that makes the answer owner-specific.
How we handle it
We test the PTET against the current federal SALT cap: roughly 40,000 dollars through 2029, phasing down toward 10,000 dollars above about 500,000 dollars of income, and scheduled to revert to 10,000 dollars in 2030. Where the election pays, we make it through the entity's Business Online Services account by March 15 of the tax year, a deadline that carries no extension, size and schedule the quarterly estimates due March 15, June 15, September 15, and December 15, file the annual PTET return, and reconcile the credit onto each owner's New York personal return. Split across a separate bookkeeper and preparer, one link in that chain usually breaks and the benefit leaks away. Handled by one team, the deduction converts into cash saved.
What you get: The PTET elected, paid, filed, and reconciled to each owner's return.
Unsure last year's business return was done right, or that New York recognizes your S corp? Talk to a CPA before you file again.
Estimated taxes and the deadlines that govern the year
Business tax is a calendar of dates, with April as only one of them. Missed pass-through deadlines and underpaid estimates add penalties to a bill that careful timing would have avoided.
How we handle it
We run the full calendar: 1099-NEC to contractors by January 31; S corporation and partnership returns due March 15; C corporation and personal returns due April 15; six-month extensions filed where useful, with the payment still due at the original deadline, since the extension moves only the paperwork. Federal and New York estimated payments are sized off your live numbers against a safe-harbor calculation, so you stay clear of underpayment penalties without parking extra cash at the IRS. The filing season that results has no scramble and no surprise balance due.
What you get: Estimated payments sized to a safe harbor on the full deadline calendar.
Service 05
Clean books in, a defensible return out
A return inherits the quality of the books beneath it. Filed off a ledger that does not reconcile, even a technically correct return rests on a foundation an auditor can take apart.
How we handle it
Our books close to a books-to-bank reconciliation standard, so the return stands on numbers that tie out: cash reconciled to the statements, owner accounts kept clean, fixed assets and depreciation documented, and the contractor detail behind the 1099s complete. If you arrive at filing time with books that are behind or wrong, cleanup comes first, quoted as a one-time project, because a return filed off bad books resurfaces later as an amended one. What you file is a return your lender, the IRS, and New York State can each rely on.
Service 06
The owner's personal return, coordinated with the business
For most Buffalo small businesses, the company's taxes and the owner's personal taxes are one connected problem. Prepared by two different people, the K-1, the PTET credit, and the estimated payments routinely fall into the gap between them.
How we handle it
We prepare the owner's personal return, Form 1040 and New York IT-201, alongside the business return, so the K-1 flows through correctly, the PTET credit is actually claimed, the home-office and vehicle positions stay consistent across both filings, and the personal estimates account for the business income. One team sees both sides, which is how the pieces connecting the two returns get connected. For owners with a fuller personal picture, our personal tax accountant page covers the individual side in depth.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Do you file both the federal and New York business returns?
Yes. The federal return for your entity is prepared together with its New York counterpart (CT-3-S, IT-204, or CT-3), and the owners' personal returns come alongside. One team files all of it from reconciled books, so the numbers agree everywhere they appear.
We elected S corp federally. Are we set for New York?
Not necessarily. New York requires a separate S election on Form CT-6, and without it the state can tax you as a C corporation. We check your New York S status, file the CT-6 if it is missing, and flag any prior year filed on the wrong assumption.
Can you still help if our books are a mess at filing time?
Yes. Cleanup and reconciliation come first, priced as a one-time project, and the filing follows from books that tie out. A return filed off bad books comes back later as an amended one, so cleanup is the right first step.
When are the business tax deadlines?
1099-NEC to contractors by January 31; S corporation and partnership returns March 15; C corporation and personal returns April 15. Six-month extensions are available, and the payment stays due at the original date. We manage the full calendar, including the separate PTET election and estimate dates.
How much does business tax preparation cost?
The price follows your entity, your complexity, and whether cleanup comes first. We quote a flat, specific number up front, usually within one business day of seeing your details.
Do you prepare returns for contractors and the trades?
Yes, the business return and the owner's. The items that decide a contractor's tax: the accounting method for long jobs (cash, accrual, or percentage-of-completion), work in progress on the return, the New York capital-improvement versus repair sales tax split, Section 179 and bonus depreciation on vehicles and equipment, and the S corporation and PTET elections for a profitable shop.
Do you prepare returns for medical and dental practices?
Yes, for the practice and its owners. The items that matter at practice income levels: entity choice (an S corporation is common), reasonable owner compensation, equipment depreciation, retirement-plan contributions that shelter high income, and the PTET election modeled per owner.
Do you prepare returns for restaurants and cafes?
Yes, for the business and its owners. The items that matter: the FICA tip credit on the employer payroll tax paid on reported tips, which is real money most preparers skip, Section 179 and bonus depreciation on equipment and build-out, cost of goods sold, and a return that reconciles to the sales tax you filed.
Do you prepare returns for e-commerce and retail sellers?
Yes, for the business and its owners. The items that matter: inventory and cost of goods sold accounting, sales tax nexus across states and the marketplace facilitator rules, fulfillment and home-office treatment, and the entity and PTET elections as the business scales.
Do you prepare returns for law firms and professional services?
Yes, for the firm and its owners. The items that matter: the cash versus accrual method, client trust funds kept out of income, partner and shareholder compensation, the PTET election that is often a partner group's largest lever, and the qualified business income deduction limits that apply to specified service businesses at higher incomes.
Do you prepare returns for real estate investors?
Yes, for investors, landlords, and property managers. The items that matter: depreciation and cost segregation to accelerate deductions, the passive activity loss rules and the real estate professional status that can unlock them, 1031 like-kind exchanges, and per-entity returns when properties sit in separate LLCs.
Sources & authorities
Primary sources for this page
The pass-through entity tax.New York's PTET: the election, the March 15 deadline, and the credit each owner claims.
New York S corporation election.Form CT-6 and its instructions: New York requires its own election, and approval before you file CT-3-S.
Corporate franchise tax.Article 9-A: the business income rate, the capital base and the fixed dollar minimum.
Contractor reporting.Form 1099-NEC: who gets one, the threshold, and the January 31 deadline.
This page summarizes New York State tax rules for general information, and is not tax advice for your situation. Rates and thresholds change; confirm the current figures with the authority before you rely on them.
