As somebody else stated, you're running into issues (I am assuming) because you are running your business as a sole proprietorship. You need to incorporate and have yourself listed as an employee. Title your self President, CEO, whatever. Have your accountant draw you up a paycheck weekly and deposit it... like you would if you worked for any other business.
You can pay yourself whatever you want. Do that for 6 months or a year and then you won't have any issues. This is all accounting 101. You should have been doing this for years. Running a business as a sole proprietorship has absolutely no advantages other than cutting down on accounting fees.
As a corporation, or even an LLC, you release yourself from any liability that the company may cause and leaves you held harmless. That's not to mention the insane amount of tax benefits you receive in the long run.
It sounds to me like you have been trying to limit your costs over the past 25 years in order to increase your bottom line when in all actuality you have been fucking yourself.
Also, you may want to look into a new accountant if this hasn't been suggested to you in the past. There is not a sane accountant in the world that would watch somebody run a business for 25+ years and not let them on to incorporating. It's asinine.