FOR COACHES

I Reviewed 40 Coaching Businesses. Only 6 Had an S Corp Election. Here's What It Cost the Other 34.

(An S Corp Is a Tax Election, Not a Business Type)

I reviewed 40 coaching businesses running launches through Kajabi and Stripe this summer. Only 6 had elected S corp status. The other 34 overpaid an average of $11,400. Here is what separated the 6 from the 34, and the exact move to make before your next launch closes.

Book Free Review

Real accountants Flat monthly pricing S corp setup and payroll included

Phoenix · August 13, 2026 · 6 min read

Real coaches. Real numbers.

6 of 40

coaching businesses had an S corp election

“I closed $210,000 last year between my group program and 1:1 clients. My accountant before Amadae just filed my return every April and wished me luck. This time we set the S corp election up before my biggest launch, and I kept about $16,000 more than I would have otherwise.”

A business coach in the review · Group program and 1:1 clients, $210,000 a year

The launch high is real. So is the tax bill behind it.

Every coach described the same feeling: the dopamine of Stripe notifications stacking up during launch week, then a quiet dread three months later when the bill lands. That dread has a name. Rachel's August cohort brought in $94,000 in five days and her total profit was $187,000, and as a default single-member LLC every dollar of it paid 15.3% self-employment tax before income tax even entered the picture.

Do this today: Pull your last launch's net profit and multiply it by 0.153. That is your raw self-employment tax exposure.

Rachel's year, as a default LLC

August cohort launch, five days$94,000

Total profit for the year$187,000

Self-employment tax at 15.3%, before income tax$28,600

Gap vs a peer with the S corp election$14,300 a year

Your Kajabi revenue number is not your profit number

Coaches can quote launch revenue to the dollar and have no idea what they kept. Gross looks incredible on a screenshot. It looks less incredible after Kajabi's monthly fee, Stripe's 2.9% plus 30 cents, PayPal's cut on international clients, the certification renewal, and the four subscriptions you forgot. One coach had $6,200 a year in stacked fees she had never subtracted, so her mental profit number was 8% too high.

Do this today: Build a monthly profit and loss that subtracts every platform fee, subscription, and certification cost. This week, not at tax time.

Fitness tracking — $6,200 a year in platform and software fees one coach never subtracted. She was pricing off a number that was 8% too high.

You are not a freelancer with a website. You run a company.

This is the identity shift that separates coaches who scale from coaches stuck at the same ceiling for three years. If personal and business money share one checking account, you are running a hobby with a Kajabi login. The 6 of 40 who had the S corp handled treated their program like a CEO treats a portfolio: separate accounts, a real P&L, quarterly check-ins instead of a March panic.

Do this today: If you do not have a dedicated business bank account, open one this week. Every dollar of launch revenue goes there first.

What the 6 of 40 had in common

A dedicated business bank account
A monthly profit and loss, net of platform fees
Quarterly check-ins, not a once-a-year panic
S corp election filed before the biggest launch
Reasonable salary run through payroll

Want all of this handled for you, for one flat monthly price?

Book Free Review

Free 30-minute review. No pitch deck.

04AMADAE

The S corp election most coaches hear about two years too late

Elect S corp status and you become an employee of your own business, paying yourself a reasonable salary through payroll. That salary carries payroll tax. The remaining profit, the distributions, does not. On $187,000 of profit with a $90,000 salary, you pay the 15.3% on $90,000 instead of $187,000. Amadae files the election on time, runs the reasonable salary math against your actual launch calendar so it holds up if the IRS asks, and runs the payroll, books, and year-end return for one flat monthly price.

Book Free Review

What pays the 15.3% on $187,000 of profit

Default LLC: all of it$187K

S corp with a $90,000 salary$90K

Rachel's numbers; reasonable salary must reflect real market wages

34 of 40 coaches overpaid. Not one did it on purpose.

The ones overpaying were not making bad decisions. They just never had anyone run the specific math for their specific launch calendar. Rachel's gap alone was about $14,300 a year: a down payment on a car, a semester of private school, or the retail therapy she kept putting off because she did not know if the business could afford it.

Do this today: Write down last year's profit. If it is past $70,000 to $80,000, the election likely pays for itself.

$11,400

average overpayment across the 34 coaching businesses without an S corp election

Amadae review of 40 coaching businesses, summer 2026

Quarterly taxes do not care that your income is lumpy

A good launch week can fund a slow month, but the IRS still wants a check every quarter, and made most of my money in August is not a defense against an underpayment penalty. Coaches get hit because they estimated Q1 and Q2 off a slow spring, then closed a huge August launch and never adjusted. The election has a clock too: generally 75 days from forming the entity, or March 15 for an existing calendar-year business.

Do this today: Recalculate your quarterly estimate the week after any launch that beats projection by more than 20%, and set the difference aside immediately.

BONUSAMADAE

Bonus: One of the 6 ran her numbers twice

A business coach with a revenue profile like Rachel's made the switch two years earlier with Amadae running her books. We reran her numbers side by side against what she would have owed as a default LLC. That is what a properly timed election, real bookkeeping, and quarterly planning do to the bottom line when you stack launches on top of 1:1 income.

Book Free Review

A business coach in the review

Group program and 1:1 clients, $210,000 a year

Kept about $16,000 more in one year

Real coaches. Real numbers.

6 of 40

coaching businesses had an S corp election

$11,400

average overpayment by the other 34

$14,300

Rachel's gap on $187,000 of profit

$16,000

kept by one coach who elected before her launch

From Amadae's summer 2026 review of 40 coaching businesses

Accounting built for launch-based income

Books, payroll, and taxes from real accountants, for one flat monthly price starting at $249.

S corp election filed on time, with a reasonable salary that holds up
Payroll run for you, distributions tracked separately
Quarterly estimates recalculated after every launch
Year-end federal and state returns filed for you

Book Free Review

No long-term contract. Cancel any time. The intro call is free.

Plans from

$249/mo

If you make $40K - $69K. Flat, no hourly bills.

Monthly profit and loss reports
Tax set-aside management
Expense categorization
Real-time financial dashboard
Business bank account connections
Invoicing and contractor payments

Book Free Review

Cancel any timeReal accountantsTaxes filed for you

Straight answers

Questions creators ask us

My profit is under $70,000. Is an S corp worth it yet?+

Probably not yet, and we will tell you. The election pays for itself once profit crosses roughly $70,000 to $80,000 a year, which most coaches with a real signature program pass in a single quarter.

I missed the March 15 deadline. Am I stuck for the year?+

Usually the election applies from the next tax year, and there is late-election relief in specific circumstances. Either way, setting it up now means the next launch season is covered.

Can you handle Kajabi, Stripe, and PayPal payouts?+

Yes. Every platform payout lands in one dashboard, gets categorized net of fees by a real accountant, and feeds the quarterly estimate.

What does it cost?+

Plans start at $249 a month, flat. The election, payroll, books, and returns are included, with no hourly bills.

Someone should run the math for your business too

You already help clients see what is possible for them. Thirty minutes with a coach-focused accountant will show you what the 6 of 40 did differently, before your fall cohort launches.

Book Free Review

Keep reading

I Reviewed 32 Freelancers' Entity Elections. The S Corporation vs C Corporation Mistake Cost One $14,200.

The s corporation vs c corporation decision looks simple until it isn't. Here's the $14,200 mistake 32 freelancer tax reviews uncovered. 8 min read.

Business Account Taxes Cost These 47 Consultants $340,000. Here's Why.

Business account taxes blindsided 41 of the 47 independent consultants we reviewed this summer. Here's the audit that found out why, and what to do before Q3 estimates hit. (8 min read)

She Made $180,000 Coaching Last Year. She Paid $14,300 in Tax She Didn't Have To. What Is an S Corp, and Why Didn't Anyone Tell Her?

Still asking "s corp what is" after a big launch? See how one coach's $180K year exposed a $14,300 tax mistake, and what an S corp actually fixes.