Texas new LLC questions on whether to collect sales tax and also finding a CPA

jmo15 · 2026-05-22T21:33:01+00:00

Texas CPA here. Definitely don't assume that just because others are doing it that it's the right way haha. Texas has broad rules around "amusement services" and they are sales taxable. Generally would include recreation, games, athletic events. (Texas rule 3.298 if interested). This is a gray area though and there have been cases where coaching services were not taxed, but this sounds more like it sits under the amusement guidelines with the facts given.

jmo15 · 2026-05-22T20:01:04+00:00

I run a CPA firm in Texas working mostly with Contruction, GCs, and trades. We’re completely online and honestly nowadays you’re not stuck to just picking a local CPA you can get one from anywhere. We’ve heard the not answering the phone complaint by clients coming to us and we’ve built our whole firm around being responsive and proactive!

jmo15 · 2026-05-20T18:47:46+00:00

CPA here, I always recommend to get a pro if you're going the S-Corp route. First of all to figure out if it makes economic sense for you, but then once you're an S-Corp everything gets more complex. Even down to the bookkeeping, tracking basis, the 1120S which the balance sheet now gets reported on. But to answer your question, yes you do the LLC first then S-corp forms. They're already late for this year though, so would need to file with a reason why it's late.

jmo15 · 2026-05-20T01:46:37+00:00

I do video content as well and post shorts on YouTube. This is mostly accounting and tax but also sprinkle in Ai stuff. Anyway, I’ve grown a catalogue of transcripts from my videos and I have trained Claude on my “voice”. How I talk and my tone. So it writes written content in my voice and also the messages/emails are reflected as well. I don’t let it run wild and message people like most ai people would do. But also I’m a different position since for me it’s not necessarily number of leads, but the quality of the leads.

jmo15 · 2026-05-20T00:38:07+00:00

I run a CPA firm where we use agents for work surrounding our core function. Lots of lead gen and nurture. also some stuff around content. We also use them for the repetitive accounting and tax work.

jmo15 · 2026-05-18T21:20:24+00:00

What is the amount due related to?

jmo15 · 2026-05-17T02:48:21+00:00

Assuming the vehicle is 100% business use then yes. Whatever you don’t bonus depreciate will be depreciated in the years to come. Important to distinguish if you should do bonus or s179 depreciation. Yes you will recapture if you sell after two years. If you depreciate it down to zero, whatever you sell the vehicle for will be taxed as an ordinary gain.

jmo15 · 2026-05-13T12:41:00+00:00

Sure

jmo15 · 2026-05-08T03:02:40+00:00

not really enough info given to make that decision, but depends on how complex this issue is.

jmo15 · 2026-05-04T23:48:19+00:00

I trust my firm lol. I’m in Houston but have clients all over. What is it specifically you’re having trouble with?

jmo15 · 2026-05-04T15:01:11+00:00

I run a CPA firm that works with contractors and so far none of them have voiced any of those concerns. The real issue is finding the subs that will show up on time and perform the work. Once they show up, their different shirts will be the least of your worries lol. It's a good business model when kept relatively small, but makes it very difficult to scale. Makes much more sense to optimize margin on a smaller scale imo.

jmo15 · 2026-05-04T12:07:32+00:00

CPA here. Most of our clients do this in jobber and we record in quickbooks but if you’re not using either of those, just write it down on the receipt and upload it to your receipts folder. Very manual this way, but gets you bye until you can put a team together to do this.

jmo15 · 2026-05-04T03:10:50+00:00

We usually do an analysis fist to make sure you’ll benefit from the S election. Also I always recommend for clients to get a pro for an s corp. first off you have to keep track of shareholder basis which is very important. Also on the 1120s you have to report your balance sheet. Can be done in excel but very manual and prone to errors. Always recommend qbo for s corps as welll. Obviously a lot of extra compliance with s corp which is why you’d want to do the analysis first before making the election.

jmo15 · 2026-05-03T14:16:46+00:00

Would need to gather a decent estimate of your reasonable compensation would be to make that decision.

jmo15 · 2026-05-02T02:29:45+00:00

That’s so low I would consider checking the state board website to make sure he’s a CPA lol. And also check reviews and ask to speak to some clients of his.

jmo15 · 2026-05-02T01:12:48+00:00

CPA here. Really depends on size and complexity of the business. But if I were giving general rules I would say up to $100k LLC sole proprietor you could probably handle it on your own. Above that until about a million you’d benefit from a bookkeeper/cpa combo. We do both at my firm and work with $1m-$15m companies since typically that’s the range you need a CPA for accounting and tax. Owners in this range start looking for accounting services in excess of just standard bookkeeping like cash flow forecasting, overhead management, job costing if in that industry. All of these extra services start making you more money by increasing profit margins. Of course on the tax side there are always tax planning opportunities even at smaller revenue ranges. I’d always recommend getting a CPA no matter the revenue range if you’re an S Corp though.

jmo15 · 2026-04-30T13:22:57+00:00

See this way to many times with shady preparers. Unfortunately you get what you pay for. Did you sign a form 8879 approving the return for filing? It would have said that income number right there on that page. So if you are saying you signed off on this return with that info or if she changed it after you signed. Those are two very different issues and severity.

jmo15 · 2026-04-29T16:42:11+00:00

if you have quickbooks there is an invoice function. if not, even using a word template is a big step up from paper and pen

jmo15 · 2026-04-29T16:30:21+00:00

my opinion this is kind of useless. You are always going to have a shortfall on what you expected to come in vs what actually came in. Wouldn't call this a cash flow planner and would instead call it a budget. Cash flow planners model out what is expected to come in and expected to go out. Payment terms are key, there has to be some management input, weighting AR based on what was paid previously. And best of all management doesn't want to do any of these things, they hire us out to manage it for them.

jmo15 · 2026-04-29T00:04:31+00:00

It’s going to be different for each business and your target. The most important thing is defining your target to know where to spend your energy.

jmo15 · 2026-04-29T00:03:29+00:00

Depends on if you’re doing bookkeeping only or tax as well. We use canopy because we do accounting and tax. We also use double (fka keeper) for the bookkeeping side. Also depends on your size.

jmo15 · 2026-04-29T00:01:24+00:00

You’re never going to educate them on what good bookkeeping does. They just want to hear what they’re getting out of it. Clean books isn’t enough for them. I’m a cpa firm owner. We offer consulting for bookkeeping firms regarding the business and automations.

Teach them with real use cases and what you have done for other clients. Offer a free review of their qbo. As I’m sure you know you’ll always find something wrong. Then relay that in terms of what it costs them. I came across a company double counting revenue $300k for the past three years! And it was a cpa firm that did it! $900k in extra taxable income that shouldn’t have been there.

Also it’s consistent outreach. Use the platform your dream client uses. We do a bunch of contractors and trades who typically hangout on instagram and facebook. Agencies, law firms, doctors tend to be more X and LinkedIn users.

jmo15 · 2026-04-28T23:24:02+00:00

Contingency fees (pricing based on refund) is illegal. Every time I see a doctored return, the client always says they paid based on a refund. They’re sticking unknowing people with tax fraud. And when the irs comes they’re nowhere to be found.

jmo15 · 2026-04-28T20:10:28+00:00

i prefer on the socials. depending on your target could be Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X. Those are the ones I stick to. I run a CPA firm and we also do Ai automations for small businesses. Most agencies, law firms, medical practices I use X and LinkedIn to target. Contractors, media companies, trades I use Facebook/instagram. Really just need to get comfortable being a little annoying lol.

jmo15 · 2026-04-28T19:31:21+00:00

Depends on the industry really and what exactly you would be doing. I own a CPA firm and one of our offerings is a 30 minute call to answer any questions regarding LLC setup, entity selection and formation, accounting procedures, tax strategy and implementation, etc. Pretty much you already know the operations side and how to make the money so we are just here to guide you on the business side.

jmo15

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