Level Up Academy

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Level Up Academy

Tax advisory & business compliance for solopreneurs and small business owners.

We protect your business so you can focus on growing it.
📍 Houston, TX | Serving clients nationwide.

10/28/2026

Let me bust one of the most expensive myths I hear from business owners.

"An S-Corp saves you money."

Sometimes it does. Sometimes it costs you more than it saves. It depends entirely on your numbers.

What an S-Corp can do: As a sole proprietor or single-member LLC, you pay self-employment tax on your net profit. With an S-Corp election, you pay yourself a reasonable salary that is subject to payroll tax, and the remaining profit can be taken as distributions that are not subject to self-employment tax.

The illustration: $100,000 in net profit. As a sole proprietor, self-employment tax comes to roughly $14,100. With an S-Corp paying a $60,000 salary, payroll tax on that salary is about $9,200. That's a difference of around $4,900.

What it costs: Payroll has to be run properly. A separate tax return is required. The IRS expects a reasonable salary, and skipping it is a common audit trigger. And there are added bookkeeping and state costs. At lower profit levels, those costs can erase the savings.

The questions to ask: Is my net profit consistent and high enough? Can I run payroll properly? Have I run the numbers both ways?

This is an illustration, not advice for your situation. The right answer comes from your numbers, not from what worked for someone else.

I run the S-Corp vs. LLC analysis in the Level Up Tax Intensive.

Visit https://lnkd.in/gK3HQj7T to book.

10/26/2026

There are 66 days left in the year, and most of the tax planning that actually lowers your bill has to happen before December 31.

Not in March. Not when your preparer asks for your documents. Now.

Here's why October matters: Once the year closes, your income and expenses are locked in. The decisions that can still change your number are the ones you make in the next nine weeks.

What to do this week: Review your year-to-date net profit. You can't plan around a number you haven't looked at. Check your estimated tax payments. Are you on track, or is there a January bill coming? List the purchases and hires you're planning. Timing can matter. Look at your retirement options. Some plans have year-end deadlines, and others give you until you file. Confirm your entity still fits. If your profit has changed, your structure may need to change with it.

Planning in October gives you options. Planning in April gives you a filing.

If you want a year-end plan before December 31, this is exactly the work we do in the Level Up Tax Intensive.

Visit https://lnkd.in/gK3HQj7T to book.

10/21/2026

Most people think it's too late to change their taxes this year. It isn't.

If you have a W-2 job, and especially if you also have a side business, your paycheck withholding is one of the last tools you can still adjust before December 31.

Here's why it matters: Income from a side hustle has no tax withheld from it. If you haven't been making estimated payments, that bill shows up in April, sometimes with penalties attached.

Here's the move most people miss: You can submit a new Form W-4 to your employer and ask for extra withholding on your remaining paychecks. Tax withheld from a paycheck is generally treated as if it were paid evenly across the year, no matter when it actually came out. That can help with an underpayment penalty even when the extra withholding starts late.

The real number: If you expect to owe about $3,000 on your side income and you have five paychecks left this year, an extra $600 per paycheck covers it.

A few things to know: A new W-4 only affects paychecks going forward, so the sooner you do it, the smaller each adjustment. The IRS Tax Withholding Estimator can help you find the right number. And if your side income is large or growing, a plan for next year matters more than a fix this year.

If you work a W-2 job and run something on the side, this is the kind of thing we map out in the Level Up Tax Session.

Visit https://lnkd.in/gK3HQj7T to book a session.

10/16/2026

Let me bust a myth that costs side hustlers real money.

"If I call it a business, it's a business."

The IRS doesn't care what you call it. It cares whether you are actually operating with the intent to make a profit. And the answer changes how your income and expenses are taxed.

Here's what the IRS looks at: Whether you run it like a business: a separate bank account, real records, a way to track income and expenses. How much time and effort you put in. Whether you've changed how you operate to improve profitability. And whether you have a track record of income, or years of nothing but losses.

Why it matters: If it's a business, your ordinary and necessary expenses can generally be deducted, and a loss can generally offset other income. If it's a hobby, the income is still taxable, but the expenses generally are not deductible.

A helpful benchmark: showing a profit in at least three of the last five years helps support that you're operating as a business. It isn't a guarantee, and it isn't the only factor, but it matters.

If you're making money on the side and your paperwork looks like a hobby, that is worth fixing before you file, not after you get a letter.

Not sure which side of the line you're on? Let's look at it together.

Visit https://lnkd.in/gK3HQj7T to book a session.

10/14/2026

Tax myth: LLC is not a tax strategy

Let me bust a myth that sends a lot of new business owners to the state website with their credit card out.

"I need an LLC so I can pay less in taxes."

An LLC is not a tax strategy. It's a legal structure.

Here's what an LLC actually does: It separates you from your business, which can protect your personal assets from business debts and lawsuits. It gives your business a clean legal structure, and it adds credibility with banks and clients.

Here's what it doesn't do: By default, a single-member LLC is taxed like a sole proprietorship. You report the income on Schedule C, you pay self-employment tax on your net profit, and your federal tax bill looks the same as it did before you formed it.

The protection comes with responsibilities: Keep your business and personal money separate. File your state annual report on time. Keep your registered agent active. Skip those and the structure you paid for gets shaky, and the state can eventually move your LLC from active to delinquent.

Where tax savings can come in: An S-Corp election, once your profit is high enough to justify it. That's a separate decision with separate costs, and it comes after the LLC, not instead of it.

So the question isn't "should I form an LLC to save taxes?" It's "what am I trying to protect, and what does my profit look like?"

If you're starting out, or wondering whether your structure still fits, let's work through it together.

Visit https://lnkd.in/gK3HQj7T to book a session.

10/12/2026

If you filed an extension, October 15 is your deadline. That's this Thursday.

Let me clear up the most expensive misunderstanding I see every October.

An extension gives you more time to file. It does not give you more time to pay.

If you owed tax and didn't pay it by the original deadline, interest has been running since then. And if you miss Thursday, penalties start stacking on top.

Here's how the penalties work: The penalty for filing late is generally 5% of your unpaid tax for every month you're late. The penalty for paying late is generally 0.5% a month. Filing late costs roughly ten times more.

The real number: On $10,000 of unpaid tax, missing the filing deadline by five months can run up to about $2,500 in penalties, before interest. Filing on time and paying late costs about $250 over that same stretch.

What to do this week: File on time, even if you can't pay in full. A late payment is a much smaller problem than a late return. Gather your documents today, not Wednesday night. If you can't pay what you owe, there are payment options. Ask before the deadline, not after.

Filed late is fixable. Ignored is expensive.

If you're stuck on anything before Thursday, reach out now.

Visit https://lnkd.in/gK3HQj7T to book a session.

10/09/2026

Let me introduce myself properly.

My name is Marie Sutton. I'm the founder of Level Up Academy LLC, and I'm a tax professional and strategic consultant for solopreneurs and small business owners.

I built Level Up because too many business owners are told to wait until tax season to think about their money, their entity, or their compliance. By then, the best options are already gone. I wanted to create something different: real strategy, explained in plain English, from an advisor who is in your corner all year long.

Here is exactly what I help with:

Tax strategy and preparation
Business formation and registered agent service
S-Corp and entity strategy
Bookkeeping and compliance
Compliance health audits
Funding and business credit
Monthly compliance support
Remote online notary services

On that last one, I've been a notary for more than five years, and I'm now certified to notarize remotely for clients in all 50 states. So wherever you are, I can help you get it done.

If you're building something, you shouldn't have to figure out the tax and compliance side alone.

Visit linktr.ee/Marie_LevelUpAcademy to book a session and tell me where your business is today.

Who's building something right now? Tell me what you do in the comments. I'd love to meet you.

09/24/2026

TAX MYTH · COMPLIANCE

You Don't Need An Accountant On Retainer.

That's what most solopreneurs tell themselves — right up until a deadline sneaks up, a filing gets missed, or a decision gets made with no one checking the tax impact first.

Here's what a retainer actually protects you from:

WHAT IT COVERS
☐ Missed compliance deadlines (franchise tax, annual reports, renewals)
☐ Decisions made without a tax strategy lens
☐ Scrambling every quarter instead of planning ahead

WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE AT LUA
☐ Foundation Guard — $200/mo: the essentials covered, every month
☐ The Shield — $400/mo: deeper strategy + compliance monitoring
☐ The Fortress — starting at $650/mo: full governance — entity, tax, and planning in one

If you're still handling this reactively — one panicked filing at a time — that's not a discipline problem. That's a missing system.

Visit https://lnkd.in/gK3HQj7T to book a session and find the right level of support for where your business is right now.

09/14/2026

Tomorrow is September 15th.

If you are self-employed, freelancing, running a business, or have any income outside of a W-2 — your Q3 estimated tax payment is due tomorrow.

Don't wait until tomorrow morning. Do it today.

Here's exactly how:

Go to IRS.gov/payments → click Direct Pay → select Estimated Tax → tax year 2026 → enter your amount → submit.

Free. No account required. Takes less than 5 minutes.

Not sure what to pay? Use the safe harbor method:

Last year's total federal tax bill ÷ 4 = your Q3 payment.

That's the number. Send it today.

If you've already paid — you're good. Your next deadline is January 15th, 2027.

If you haven't paid yet — don't let today pass. The underpayment penalty isn't catastrophic but it is completely avoidable. And it stacks every quarter you miss. Don't pay a penalty for something this straightforward.

Questions about what you owe or whether this applies to you? Visit linktr.ee/Marie_LevelUpAcademy and let's figure it out together.

09/11/2026

ometimes you don't need a full strategy session.

You just need someone to look at your situation and tell you what you're actually dealing with.

That's what the Tax Diagnostic & Fit Session is for.

It's a 30-minute deep dive built for people dealing with complexity — multiple states, back taxes, an IRS notice sitting on your desk that you've been avoiding, a major income change, a life event that affected your filing status, or just a feeling that something isn't right and you don't know where to start.

In 30 minutes we identify the red flags, cut through the confusion, and map out the clearest path forward. You leave knowing exactly what you're dealing with and what to do next.

No judgment. No alarm. Just clarity.

$129 · 30 minutes · Zoom

Visit linktr.ee/Marie_LevelUpAcademy to book.

Address

363 North Sam Houston Parkway
Houston, TX
77060

Website

https://linktr.ee/Marie_LevelUpAcademy, https://book.squareup.com/appointments/fhuuj33jmqnnw8/location/LNFNVBPX0XDNC/ser

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