A worked example
What the salary you pay yourself decides
Marta, 46, runs a consultancy netting $400k. She is thinking about electing S-corp status, taking a salary, and funding a solo 401(k).
“How much can I actually put away, and what does the salary I choose do to it?”
What the projection shows
That the salary does three jobs at once and they do not point the same way: it is the base payroll tax applies to, the W-2 figure the §199A deduction is capped at half of, and the compensation the employer contribution is 25% of — so a quarter of every dollar cut comes out of the retirement room. The Structure panel prices each salary side by side and picks none: what counts as reasonable pay is a §162 question for her CPA.
The planner arrives with this household already filled in. Change anything — the balances, the ages, the assumptions — and run it as yourself.
A projection under stated assumptions, not financial or tax advice.