This is why I'm consulting a CPA on the S-Corp issue. What you say about it being a service business is true as far as it goes. It's also a business where the funds are at high risk of loss - unlike a service business. Therefore a low salary during the year to be made up with a distribution at the end makes reasonable sense.
It totally depends on what the courts have held as being reasonable in similar situations, and I'm sure there is ample case law on this. That's what I'm expecting the CPA to research and advise on.
