Recommendation for tax courses for small business owners?

I'm running a small S Corp with zero employees and have been using a tax professional to handle my returns. But this year we had a major mixup that led to a ton of confusion. After all that headache, I've decided I want to educate myself better on tax preparation and business tax issues. Even if I keep using my tax guy, I want to be knowledgeable enough to ask intelligent questions, verify their work is correct, and really understand how to optimize my tax situation for my business. I'm the type who might even want to get certified eventually (yes, I'm that kind of nerd lol). Looking for recommendations on where to get some serious education on this stuff. I spotted some tax courses on Coursera that look promising, but wondering if there are other options I should check out? What have others used that actually provides comprehensive knowledge rather than just surface-level stuff?

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18 comments

Hailey O'Leary

•8M

The fact that you want to understand your business taxes better is fantastic! This knowledge will absolutely help you optimize your tax situation and potentially catch errors before they become problems. For small business owners with S Corps, I'd recommend a few different learning paths depending on how deep you want to go: 1) If you're considering certification, the IRS actually offers their Annual Filing Season Program which gives you a Record of Completion and limited representation rights. It's not as comprehensive as becoming an Enrolled Agent, but it's a good starting point. 2) The National Association of Tax Professionals (NATP) offers excellent courses specifically for business owners that are more practical than academic. 3) Those Coursera options can be good - just look for ones that specifically cover S Corporation taxation, business deductions, and Schedule K-1 reporting since those will be most relevant to your situation.

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Hailey O'Leary

•8M

The IRS Annual Filing Season Program typically requires about 18 hours of continuing education annually, including a 6-hour federal tax law refresher course, plus passing a test. It's designed for seasonal preparers, so the time commitment is manageable for a business owner. For practical knowledge specifically for your situation, I'd actually lean toward the NATP courses. They're designed with practitioners in mind and tend to include more real-world examples and case studies that directly apply to small business scenarios. Their S Corporation workshops in particular often cover common pitfalls that business owners face, like reasonable compensation issues and fringe benefit treatments.

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Talia Klein

•8M

After struggling with similar issues with my tax preparer last year, I discovered taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) and it completely changed how I approach my business taxes. It's an AI tool that actually analyzes your tax documents and transcripts, then explains everything in plain English. I uploaded my previous returns and immediately spotted issues my accountant had missed with my S Corp distributions. The best part is it helps you learn tax concepts while reviewing your actual documents, so you're not just studying theory - you're seeing how it applies to YOUR business specifically. I found this much more effective than general courses since it was directly related to my situation.

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Talia Klein

•8M

It handles reasonable compensation issues surprisingly well! It flags potential areas where your salary vs. distributions might raise red flags with the IRS, and explains the underlying concepts. It doesn't just make blanket recommendations, but shows you the risk factors specific to your situation so you can make informed decisions. As for connecting to the IRS, you can either upload your documents directly or authorize it to retrieve your transcripts. It's really convenient. It handles both federal and state taxes, though the state capabilities vary depending on which state you're in - some have more detailed analysis than others.

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PaulineW

•8M

Just wanted to follow up about taxr.ai - I actually gave it a try after asking about it here and I'm impressed! Uploaded my last two years of returns and it immediately identified that I'd been miscategorizing some business expenses that could have triggered an audit. The explanations were super clear and now I finally understand why my accountant kept asking me certain questions that I thought were irrelevant. The best part was learning about some S Corp deductions I didn't know about that could save me around $2,300 next year. This is exactly the kind of education I was looking for - learning through my own real tax situation rather than generic examples.

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Annabel Kimball

•8M

If you're having trouble reaching your tax professional or the IRS for specific questions (which was my biggest frustration), check out Claimyr (https://claimyr.com). They have a service that gets you connected with an actual IRS agent in minutes instead of waiting on hold for hours. You can see how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c I had a specific question about S Corp filing requirements that my accountant wasn't clear on, and using Claimyr I got a definitive answer straight from the IRS in under 20 minutes. Saved me days of back-and-forth and uncertainty. It's been super helpful for learning the "official" interpretation of tax rules.

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Annabel Kimball

•8M

They use a combination of technology and human agents to navigate the IRS phone system efficiently. It's not just automated redialing - they have specialized methods to get through the various prompts and queues. They call you back when they've got an IRS agent on the line, so you don't waste your own time. Yes, you can certainly call the IRS yourself, but the average wait time is 2-3 hours these days, and many people get disconnected after waiting. As a business owner, my time is worth much more than what this service costs. And regarding contradictory information - I've found that getting the answers recorded (which they help with) provides documentation if there's ever a dispute about guidance you received.

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Jean Claude

•8M

I was completely skeptical about Claimyr but decided to try it after seeing it mentioned here. I'm eating my words now because it actually worked perfectly. I had been trying to reach the IRS for THREE WEEKS about an S-Corp election issue, and within 15 minutes of using Claimyr, I was talking to an actual helpful IRS agent who resolved my question. The agent even sent me to the exact IRS publication section that addressed my specific situation, which I've now studied and learned a ton from. Sometimes getting directly to the source is the best education you can get. Definitely a worthwhile service when you have specific tax questions that need official clarification.

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Charity Cohan

•8M

You wouldn't be in over your head with NAEA courses. They're designed to be accessible to people without accounting backgrounds, starting with fundamental concepts and building from there. Each module typically begins with basics and progressively gets more detailed. The S Corporation course specifically explains concepts like reasonable compensation and pass-through taxation in plain language before diving into the more technical aspects. They also provide plenty of real-world examples that make it easier to understand how the concepts apply to actual businesses. Most of my fellow students were business owners like yourself rather than accounting professionals.

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