Financial Advisor and CPA for Engineers and Architects
A flat-fee CPA and Financial Planner team that gives you personalized, holistic advice across your taxes and financial plan. We plan your firm ownership, ESOP account, retirement plans and side consulting, and file your returns.
What we handle for engineers and architects
At engineering and architecture firms, ownership often comes through an ESOP or a partner buy-in, and each is taxed differently from your salary.
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QBI at an engineering firm
Engineering and architecture are written out of the specified service rules. An owner above $201,750 of 2026 taxable income, or $403,500 joint, keeps the 20% deduction, capped by the wages the firm pays and the property it holds instead of phased out.
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Becoming a partner or shareholder
A partner’s draws and guaranteed payments come with no withholding, so quarterly estimates take over. Your K-1 can list states where the firm has projects, which can mean nonresident returns or a composite return the firm files for you.
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Your ESOP account
Shares are allocated to you each year at an appraised value. At 55 with 10 years in the plan, you can diversify 25% of your account over six years, and 50% in the last. Shares that do not trade publicly come with the right to make the firm buy them back.
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When the ESOP pays you
Retire, become disabled or die, and payment starts within a year after that plan year ends. Leave earlier and the plan can wait until the sixth plan year after you go, then pay in installments over five years. Your plan may pay sooner; we plan cash around its schedule.
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179D on public building design
The designer of a building owned by a government, a tribe or a nonprofit can claim its energy-efficient buildings deduction through a written allocation the owner signs. For 2026 it is up to $5.94 a square foot with prevailing wage and apprenticeship, or $1.19 without, and it ends for construction beginning after June 30, 2026.
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Side consulting
Consulting outside the firm goes on Schedule C with self-employment tax. A Solo 401(k) for it shares your $24,500 deferral limit with the firm’s 401(k), but if you do not control the firm, its employer contribution has a separate $72,000 limit. Check your firm’s outside-work policy first.
How Nino helps engineers and architects
An owner at an employee-owned firm can hold much of their net worth in one private company valued once a year. On an Advisor plan your financial planner and CPA plan around that stake and file the returns it creates.
Book a free consultation-
A plan in your first two weeks
Your financial planner and CPA build a plan from your returns, K-1s, ESOP statement, 401(k) plan summary and any shareholder or partnership agreement, then revisit it every quarter and before a buy-in or a move.
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K-1s and state returns prepared
Your CPA prepares your federal and state returns from your K-1s, including any 179D deduction passed through the firm, and Schedule C for side work. Plus includes K-1s and up to three states. Nothing is filed until you approve it.
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Your stake in one view
Nino’s AI software connects your 401(k), brokerage and bank accounts read-only, so you can ask how a buy-in, a profit sharing contribution or a five-year ESOP payout changes your plan.
What should engineers and architects decide about ownership?
Four choices that tie your savings to your firm, or move them out of it.
Whether to buy in
A buy-in is paid with after-tax money and becomes your basis, which reduces your gain when you sell. Compare the price with what the stake pays each year, and with how much of your net worth would then sit in one firm that also pays your salary.
Whether to diversify at 55
The diversification window moves part of your ESOP into other investments or pays it out. Skip it and your job and most of your retirement depend on the same firm, valued by the same appraisal.
Roll over or take the ESOP cash
A payout you keep before 59½ owes a 10% additional tax unless you left in or after the year you turned 55, and the plan withholds 20% of it. A direct rollover to an IRA avoids both. Dividends an ESOP passes through to you are exempt from the 10%.
Moving to an equity-heavy role
Leaving for a role paid in RSUs or options trades a slow ESOP payout for stock taxed when it vests or when you exercise. See how tech professionals plan for the withholding gap and the concentration.
Pick your plan
Every Advisor plan includes a CPA and Financial Planner team, federal and state tax filing, and our Ultra software.
Essential
- Everything in Ultra software, plus:
- A dedicated CPA and Financial Planner team for you
- Single-filer return, quarterly taxes included
- Retirement & equity planning
- Quarterly advisor access
- Rentals
- 0
- K-1s
- 0
- States
- 1
- Brokerage
- 3
Plus
Most Popular- Everything in Essential, plus:
- A dedicated CPA and Financial Planner team for you and your spouse
- Married filing jointly return, international coverage included
- One coordinated plan for both of you
- Quarterly and ad hoc advisor access
- Rentals
- 2
- K-1s
- 5
- States
- 3
- Brokerage
- 5
Premier
- Everything in Plus, plus:
- Business bookkeeping and tax filings, priced by complexity
- Joint or single return, complex international coverage
- Advanced equity & estate planning
- Priority advisor access
- Rentals
- 5
- K-1s
- 10
- States
- 5
- Brokerage
- 10
Software plans starting from $20 a month
Our AI financial assistant on its own, with a 7-day free trial.
Guides for engineers and architects
Read up on these decisions, or run your own numbers.
401(k) Contribution Limits for 2026
The 2026 employee limit is $24,500. See age-based catch-ups, employer contribution limits, and the Roth catch-up rule.
Read guideConcentrated Stock Position
Size the exposure, including shares still vesting, stress-test a drop, then sell down over several tax years under the 2026 capital gains and charitable rules.
Read guideSolo 401(k) vs SEP IRA
A Solo 401(k) beats a SEP IRA at most incomes because it adds a $24,500 employee deferral and catch-ups. See the 2026 math at $60K, $150K, and $300K.
Read guideRSU Tax Withholding
RSUs are taxed like salary. Here is why a vest loses so many shares to withholding, why it can still leave you owing in April, and how sell-to-cover works.
Read guideRetirement Calculator
Estimate retirement income, how long savings could last, and any funding gap.
Open calculatorSEP IRA Contribution Calculator
Estimate your 2026 SEP IRA maximum as a sole proprietor or S corp owner, the federal tax it saves, and the Solo 401(k) alternative.
Open calculator
More people we work with
See how our CPA and Financial Planner team helps people in situations like yours.