Houston, TX, CPA Who Works With You All Year

Your return used to take an hour. Now there is a rental property, or equity compensation, or a side business, or a move across state lines — and the software keeps asking questions you are not sure how to answer.

You are profitable, but you do not know whether you are structured correctly, what to set aside each quarter, or what your numbers are actually telling you until your accountant sends the return in March.

It is a report on a year that has already ended. By the time your preparer opens your file in February, nearly every decision that determined your tax bill has already been made.

A good preparer records those decisions accurately and claims what you are entitled to. That is real work, and it matters — but it is bounded. There is only so much anyone can do with a year that is already closed.

It is the set of decisions made during the year: how the business is structured, when income is recognized, what gets bought and when, which retirement vehicle is funded, how much goes to each quarterly payment.

These are the decisions that move the number.

A W-2 plus consulting income, or two states in one year, or a spouse who became self-employed mid-year. Each addition creates interactions the software asks you to resolve without telling you what is at stake.

Basis, depreciation, and the treatment of improvements versus repairs are areas where an error compounds quietly across years and only surfaces when you sell.

RSUs, ISOs, NSOs and ESPP shares each have their own timing rules, and the withholding your employer applies is frequently not the amount you actually owe.

Children in college, a parent’s care, a dependent who is nearly but not quite independent. The credits and thresholds here shift, and the right answer often depends on which household claims whom.

Marriage, divorce, a death in the family, a move, an inheritance, retirement. Life events are where the most tax is won or lost, and they are the events people are least likely to consult anyone about.

We prepare your federal return and any state returns you need. Before we file, we walk you through what drove the result — not a summary of the forms, but a plain explanation of why the number is what it is. And we tell you what to do differently next year, while there is still a year left to do it in.

You can reach us between February and December. That is not a small thing.

When you are self-employed, you pay self-employment tax on top of income tax, because you are covering both the employee and employer halves of Social Security and Medicare.

The rate is 15.3%: 12.4% for Social Security and 2.9% for Medicare. Three details matter, and they are the ones usually left out:

• It applies to 92.35% of your net earnings from self-employment, not the full amount.
• The Social Security portion stops at an annual wage base. The Medicare portion does not.
• You deduct one-half of the self-employment tax when figuring your adjusted gross income.

Source: IRS, Topic no. 554 — Self-employment tax.

This is not a small tax, and it is the one people are least prepared for in their first profitable year. But it is not a flat 15.3% off the top, and anyone who tells you it is has not read the rule.

You will see a lot of confident advice online that electing S corporation status will cut your tax bill. It can change how much of your profit is subject to employment taxes. It also carries obligations that the confident advice tends to skip.

The IRS is explicit: distributions to a corporate officer “must be treated as wages to the extent the amounts are reasonable compensation for services rendered to the corporation,” and the IRS has the authority to reclassify distributions as wages where it finds compensation unreasonably low. (Source: IRS, S Corporation Compensation and Medical Insurance Issues.)

In practice, an S election means running payroll, filing payroll returns, filing a separate business return, and being able to defend the salary you set. For some businesses that trade is clearly worth it. For others — particularly earlier, or with uneven revenue — the added cost and administration outweigh the benefit.

We will model your actual numbers and tell you which side of that line you are on. If the answer is “not yet,” we will say so and tell you what would need to change.

Nobody is withholding on your behalf. The IRS expects payment through the year.

Generally you are required to make estimated payments if you expect to owe $1,000 or more when your return is filed. You will generally avoid an underpayment penalty by paying at least 90% of the current year’s tax or 100% of the tax shown on your prior-year return, whichever is smaller — with a different figure applying to certain higher-income taxpayers. (Source: IRS, Estimated taxes; see Publication 505 for the higher-income threshold.)

Most people either guess and overpay, tying up cash they needed, or guess and underpay and get a penalty for it. We calculate the number, tell you what to set aside, and adjust it as the year moves.

Every taxable entity formed or organized in Texas, or doing business in Texas, is subject to the franchise tax. For the 2026 and 2027 report years, entities with revenue below $2,650,000 owe no franchise tax. (Source: Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts.)

“No tax due” is not the same as “nothing to file.” Missing the filing is one of the more common and more avoidable ways a Texas business falls out of good standing.

We review your income during the year rather than after it, identify the decisions still open to you, and walk you through structural changes — including whether and when an S corporation election makes sense for your numbers.

Federal and state preparation for individuals and businesses, including multi-state returns and returns with rental property, equity compensation, or self-employment income. We claim the positions you are entitled to and document them properly.

Tax planning is only as good as the underlying records. We set up cloud accounting, keep expense tracking and reconciliations current, and turn the result into cash-flow reporting you can actually use to make decisions.

As a CPA, Deanna is authorized to represent you before the IRS. We take over the correspondence, determine what the notice actually says, and respond on your behalf.

Entity selection, formation documents, and the compliance calendar that follows — registered agent, EIN, franchise tax reporting, and the ongoing obligations most formation services do not mention.

Fifteen minutes. You describe your situation. We ask questions and tell you what we would actually do. If we are not the right fit, we will say so and point you somewhere better.

You receive a written engagement letter setting out scope and fees before any work begins — so there are no surprises on either side. Documents are exchanged through a secure portal.

We review your prior returns and current position, then come back to you with findings and recommendations in plain language.

We prepare and file, or implement the plan, depending on what you engaged us for.

For planning and advisory clients, this is the part that matters. Scheduled check-ins through the year, and access when something changes.

What independent contractors can and cannot deduct, and the documentation each one requires.

How the two are actually taxed, what an S election obligates you to, and how to tell whether your numbers support it.

Every step from entity selection through your first franchise tax report.

If your return is a W-2 and a standard deduction, probably not — and we will tell you that on the call. If you have self-employment income, rental property, equity compensation, multiple states, or a year with a major life change in it, the answer is more often yes.

It depends on scope, and we quote it in writing before any work starts. Nobody gets an invoice they were not expecting.

Yes. Deanna is licensed in Texas, and federal tax practice is not limited by state. We work with clients outside Texas and prepare the state returns your situation requires. We will confirm the details on the consultation.

Frequently. We review prior-year returns as part of onboarding, and if there is an error worth correcting we will tell you whether amending makes sense.

A CPA is licensed by a state board, holds a degree and has passed the Uniform CPA Examination, must complete continuing education, is bound by rules of professional conduct, and can represent you before the IRS. Anyone with a PTIN can prepare a return.

Yes, by appointment. Most of the work is handled online, by video or phone, but if you would rather meet face to face we can schedule an in-person appointment.

Before the decision, not after it. The best time to call is when you are thinking about starting the business, selling the property, or making the election — not the following March.