Tax planning clients for Texas CPA and EA firms

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Short answer

The Texas owners most likely to pay for planning are partnerships, S corporation owners with staff, and businesses near the $2,650,000 franchise tax threshold. Texas has no personal income tax, so you sell them federal planning plus the yearly franchise tax margin choice, and you book those meetings in the fall, ahead of the May 15 report.

Texas has no personal income tax, so the planning conversation with a Texas owner runs through federal rules and the franchise tax. That shapes what you can charge for and which owners are worth a meeting. Below are the Texas rules that matter in that meeting, the size of the Texas market from Census data, and the owners we would put on your calendar first.

20 qualified tax planning meetings in 90 days, guaranteed.

Our team contacts and qualifies them so you don't waste time on the wrong leads, then books them on your calendar.

See if your firm is a fit

No income tax, a franchise tax instead

The Texas Constitution closes the door on a personal income tax. Article 8, Section 24-a says the legislature "may not impose a tax on the net incomes of individuals, including an individual's share of partnership and unincorporated association income." [1]

Businesses pay the franchise tax instead. The Comptroller lists these figures for reports due in 2026 and 2027 [2]:

The tax is charged on margin, and an entity picks one of four ways to work it out: total revenue times 70 percent, total revenue minus cost of goods sold, total revenue minus compensation, or total revenue minus $1 million [3]. The annual report is due May 15, moving to the next business day when May 15 lands on a weekend or holiday [2].

Since the 2024 report year, an entity at or below the no tax due threshold files no franchise tax report. It still has to file a Public Information Report or an Ownership Information Report [4].

Why Texas has no pass-through entity tax election

Entity-level elections work because IRS Notice 2020-75 lets a partnership or S corporation deduct income tax it pays to a state, and keeps those payments out of each owner's SALT deduction limit [5]. Texas puts no income tax on an owner's share of business profit, so a Texas election would have nothing to move. For a Texas owner, the entity conversation is federal: the S corporation salary, distributions, retirement contributions and how profit splits among owners. If a Texas client also owns part of a business taxed in another state, that state's rules decide whether its entity can pay at the entity level.

Sales tax on services in Texas

Texas taxes more services than owners tend to expect. The Comptroller's guide to taxable services covers data processing, information services and insurance services such as damage and loss appraisal, claims adjustment and actuarial analysis, along with other categories [6]. For data processing, 20 percent of the charge is exempt, so tax falls on the rest [6]. Payroll processing, check preparation and accounts payable or receivable preparation all appear as data processing examples [6].

Your own work sits outside that list. The same guide says a bookkeeper or accountant who applies accounting knowledge to produce financial statements, or to prepare income, franchise or sales tax returns, is not performing taxable data processing, even on a computer [6].

So when a Texas owner sells back-office, data or claims work, there is a sales tax question waiting inside the planning meeting, and it is one more reason the owner needs a planner during the year.

The Texas tax and accounting market in numbers

These figures come from the US Census Bureau's County Business Patterns for 2023, the latest year published [8]. They count business locations with paid employees in mid-March 2023, so self-employed preparers with no staff are left out. Percentages are our own arithmetic on the Census counts.

One thing stands out. Partnerships run 15 percent of Texas employer locations, a bigger share than the US figure of 11 percent.

Licensing and the profession in Texas

The Texas State Board of Public Accountancy issues the CPA certificate [9]. There are now two routes to it. Pathway A asks for 150 semester hours and 12 months of full-time experience. Pathway B, which took effect on August 1, 2026, asks for 120 semester hours and 24 months of full-time experience. Both need 27 semester hours of upper-level accounting, a 3-hour ethics course approved by the Board, and the CPA Exam [9].

The Board's rules of professional conduct include Rule 501.82 on advertising, which is worth reading before your firm changes how it promotes planning work [9]. The state society is the Texas Society of CPAs, known as TXCPA [10].

In our view, Pathway B lets more graduates reach the certificate on a 120-hour degree. Over time that should widen the pool of people a firm can hire to run planning meetings, and staff hours are one of the limits on how many planning meetings a firm can run.

The margin choice and other topics Texas owners pay for

Our view of where a Texas owner sees value worth a fee:

• Picking the margin method each year. Four methods, a $480,000 compensation deduction limit and an EZ option up to $20 million of revenue mean the cheapest choice moves as the business grows [2][3]. An owner close to $2,650,000 of revenue also wants to know which side of the threshold next year's report lands on.
• Owner pay and entity choice. With no state tax on the owner's share, federal rules set most of the bill. S corporation salary, distributions and family payroll are where the planning hours go.
• Retirement plan design. A business with 10 to 99 staff has room for plan design and owner contributions. Texas has 174,528 employer locations in that size band [8].
• Sales tax on what the business sells. Data processing, information and insurance services carry Texas sales tax [6], and owners who sell them often find out late.
• Income from other states. An owner who moved to Texas, or still earns from a business taxed elsewhere, needs that state's rules applied to that income.

Which Texas planning clients to chase

Our read of the Census figures, labelled as our view:

1. Partnerships and multi-owner LLCs. 101,092 Texas employer locations are run by partnerships [8]. Several owners means several returns, profit splits to plan and more reasons to meet during the year.
2. S corporation owners with staff. 285,602 locations are run by S corporations [8]. The salary and distribution question comes back every year.
3. Owners near the $2,650,000 line. They need a projection before May 15, and a firm that sees them in the fall can give them one.
4. Businesses selling taxable services. Their sales tax question gives you a second reason to be in the room.

Free-advice tire-kickers and clients who only call in March are screened out by our qualification check. The owners we book want planning during the year.

Want more Texas owners like these on your calendar? Tell us who you want, and we fill the meetings.

See if your firm is a fit

The franchise tax calendar

• May 15: annual franchise tax report due, next business day if it falls on a weekend or holiday [2].
• Fall: the window to project next year's franchise tax margin and the owner's federal position before year-end. This is our suggested timing, not a filing deadline.
• August 1, 2026: Pathway B to the CPA certificate took effect [9].

Steps for a Texas firm this quarter

1. Pull every client entity with total revenue between about $2 million and $3 million and flag who could cross the $2,650,000 no tax due threshold next year.
2. For entities above the threshold, run all four margin methods and the EZ computation side by side, and show the owner the cheapest one in writing.
3. List clients who sell data processing, information or insurance services and check that they charge Texas sales tax on the taxable part.
4. Set the S corporation salary and distribution plan for 2027 with each owner before December.
5. Put a franchise tax projection meeting on every eligible client's calendar in the fall, with a check-in in March ahead of the May 15 report.

How we work with Texas firms

Financial Sales Insider is a marketing company based in Florida. We fill the calendars of CPA and EA firms across the US, including Texas, with qualified tax planning meetings. Your firm runs each meeting, makes the offer and decides who to take on. At kickoff you tell us the states you serve, and we only book owners who fit the criteria you sign off. Nothing goes out under your firm's name without your approval.

A qualified meeting is one where a business owner we've qualified books onto your calendar and shows up.

If you have fewer than 20 qualified meetings after 90 days, we keep booking with no further monthly fee until you reach 20.

$3,000 a month. This is the management fee. Ad spend is separate, and your firm funds it directly. The term is 3 months.

Questions Texas firm owners ask

Can you book only Texas owners? Yes. The states your firm serves are part of the written criteria we agree at kickoff. If you only want Texas owners, that is what we look for.

Do you talk to owners about the franchise tax? No. We don't give tax advice. Our qualification check confirms that the owner fits your criteria and wants planning during the year. You run the planning meeting.

Do owners who don't show up count? No. A meeting counts when a qualified owner books onto your calendar and shows up. If someone misses it, we chase them and rebook.

See if your firm is a fit

20 qualified tax planning meetings in 90 days, guaranteed.

Our team contacts and qualifies them so you don't waste time on the wrong leads, then books them on your calendar.

See if your firm is a fit

General information from the official sources listed below, checked October 25, 2026. Not tax or legal advice.

Also on this site

• Tax planning clients by state
• California
• New York
• Illinois
• Florida
• How we book qualified meetings
• About Financial Sales Insider

Sources

1. Texas Constitution, Article 8, Section 24-a. https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/CN/htm/CN.8.htm
2. Texas Comptroller, Franchise Tax (rates, thresholds, due date). https://comptroller.texas.gov/taxes/franchise/
3. Texas Comptroller, Franchise Tax Overview, publication 98-806 (margin methods). https://comptroller.texas.gov/taxes/publications/98-806.php
4. Texas Comptroller, Texas Franchise Tax Report Forms for 2026 (no tax due reporting). https://comptroller.texas.gov/taxes/franchise/forms/2026-franchise.php
5. IRS Notice 2020-75 (entity-level state income tax payments). https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/n-20-75.pdf
6. Texas Comptroller, Taxable Services, publication 96-259. https://comptroller.texas.gov/taxes/publications/96-259.php
7. Texas Comptroller, Data Processing Services are Taxable, publication 94-127. https://comptroller.texas.gov/taxes/publications/94-127.php
8. US Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023, state file (NAICS 541211, 541213 and all sectors by legal form). https://www.census.gov/data/datasets/2023/econ/cbp/2023-cbp.html and https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/cbp/datasets/2023/cbp23st.zip
9. Texas State Board of Public Accountancy, CPA Certification. https://www.tsbpa.texas.gov/candidates/certification/
10. Texas Society of CPAs (TXCPA). https://www.tx.cpa/