One tip nobody's mentioned yet - if you made under $58,000 last year, you might qualify for the Earned Income Tax Credit even as a single person with no kids. Check if you're eligible! Could mean several hundred dollars in your refund. Also, don't forget to check if you're eligible for any education credits if you were in school part of last year before graduating. The American Opportunity Credit can be worth up to $2,500 and Lifetime Learning Credit up to $2,000 depending on your education expenses.

Make sure you're filing as independent if your parents aren't claiming you! This was my biggest mistake my first time. My parents had always claimed me, but we didn't communicate clearly and we BOTH ended up claiming me which caused a huge headache with the IRS. Check with your parents about this asap! The rules are basically if you provided more than half of your own financial support and didn't live with them for more than half the year, you should file independently.

One aspect of C-corp compensation that hasn't been mentioned yet is the dividend strategy. If you're moving to part-time and the business is profitable, you could consider a combination of reasonable salary + dividend distributions to shareholders. The benefit is that while dividends are subject to double taxation, they don't incur payroll taxes. For a company with stable profits like yours, establishing a dividend policy might make sense if you're looking to provide regular returns to your investors as well. Just make sure your salary comes first and is defensibly "reasonable" before you start declaring dividends. Documentation is key!

Have you considered the option of electing S-Corp status instead? Since you mentioned that you're not planning to raise more capital and are running this as a smaller operation now, an S-Corp could potentially give you more tax flexibility. The main benefits would be avoiding double taxation and having more options for taking profits out of the business. You'd still need to pay yourself a reasonable salary, but the remaining profits could pass through without the additional layer of corporate tax.

Have you considered hiring a bookkeeper who specializes in small food businesses? I have a bakery LLC and tried doing everything myself for the first year. Big mistake. Ended up missing some major deductions and probably overpaid by thousands. Found a local bookkeeper who charges me $200/month and she handles all my QuickBooks categorization, reconciliation, and prepares everything for my tax filing. She also helped me understand when to make estimated tax payments and how much to set aside. For coffee wholesale, you probably have inventory management tax considerations that are even more complex than my situation.

Don't overlook state-specific LLC taxes and fees! In CA where I am, there's a minimum $800 annual LLC tax regardless of whether you make any profit. Nearly killed my small business before it got off the ground. Also be careful about nexus issues if you're selling across state lines - some states will want you to file taxes if you have enough sales there.

One thing I'm not seeing mentioned is that you need to make sure the courses actually qualify for LLC. Just because money is listed on a 1098-T doesn't automatically make it eligible for the credit. The courses need to be taken at an eligible educational institution (basically any accredited post-secondary school), and they need to be job-related skills. Hobby courses don't qualify. Also, expenses for books and supplies only count if they're paid directly to the educational institution. For your presentation, you might want to include examples of what does and doesn't qualify as eligible education expenses.

Pro tip for your presentation: explain that unlike the American Opportunity Credit, the Lifetime Learning Credit doesn't require the student to be at least half-time. This makes it perfect for the scenario you described where someone is taking non-degree courses for career advancement. Also, the LLC can be claimed for an unlimited number of years, while the AOC is limited to 4 tax years. These are key differences that many tax preparers overlook when advising clients about education benefits!

14 Don't forget about identity theft concerns when shredding tax documents! I work in financial security, and you should definitely use a cross-cut shredder, not a strip-cut one. Those tax documents and pay stubs have your SSN, bank account numbers, and everything someone would need for identity theft. Even better, many communities have free shredding events where they bring industrial shredders to a central location. I take all my sensitive documents to these events rather than trying to shred them at home - it's faster and more secure.

3 Something nobody mentioned - if you claimed depreciation on equipment or property, you need to keep those records for 3 years after you file the return for the year you stop using the item or sell it. I learned this the hard way when I got audited for a home office deduction from 5 years prior because I had sold my house!