Looking for a fractional CFO in Austin often follows a particular kind of growth. The company is moving fast, the books are decent, and the questions are getting harder. This page speaks to Austin owners who want a senior finance partner for the year ahead and would rather not hire one, and Steven Palmieri is a Tax CFO.
Think of a fractional CFO as a monthly share of a senior finance person. A few hours at a time bring the judgment of someone who reads many sets of books, with no full salary attached. We work with Austin owners by video, from a practice in Dallas. We are all Texans, so the rules and the calendar are shared.
The month starts with a close. Bank, cards and loans get matched to the books, and every sale, cost and tax line wears a location tag. The close feeds a forward view of cash, and out of it comes one decision for the month. Add a person, sign a lease, or hold still.
Sales tax in Austin is 8.25 percent, and the local 2 percent splits evenly, with one percent to the city and one to Capital Metro, the transit authority. A company with a second location in another city carries different pieces there, as the page on sales tax across Texas locations explains.
Property in Austin is appraised by the Travis Central Appraisal District, which describes its job as appraising every property in Travis County at full market value. If an owner disagrees with a value, the process starts with an informal meeting and moves to a hearing before the Appraisal Review Board if needed. Austin also reaches into Williamson County, so an address near the edge can answer to a different appraisal district. The page on renditions and protests across Texas counties covers both.
The Comptroller keeps a field office in Austin for the rare owner who wants in-person state tax help. Most questions are settled online, and we handle them with you.
Austin businesses live on a calendar that most other cities do not share. SXSW has run every March since 1987, and a restaurant, a hotel or a rental company feels that month in its sales and its staffing. The Austin City Limits Music Festival and the Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas both come in October. The University of Texas, with about 55,000 students on a fall and spring calendar, shapes demand around move-in and graduation.
Each of those is a cash event. Revenue arrives in lumps, staffing runs ahead of it, and the strong weeks should be counted and set aside as they close. We plan for them ahead of time and show you the months that follow.
Austin has many companies that grow fast and report to investors. If that is you, the monthly close is what an investor update stands on, and we prepare the numbers behind it. As revenue climbs, we watch it against the franchise line, which for 2026 and 2027 reports is $2,650,000 of revenue, so the tax is a planned number and not a surprise. See the planning view.
Many Austin owners have a second location in Houston, San Antonio or Dallas and Fort Worth. The same set of books handles all of them, with a tag for each place. Working across the Texaplex describes how that runs.
We would rather say it here. If investors or a lender need audited statements, a licensed firm signs those, and we get the books ready. If your question is a legal conversion, an attorney comes first. And if the company has one location, no employees and no franchise tax due, clean books may be enough for now.
For an Austin company the date to circle is March, when SXSW fills the calendar, and May 15, when the franchise report is due. The first one tests your cash, and the second tests your planning.
Talk about your Austin company's year with us on a free Second Look call. No paperwork and no payment.
You will be talking to the Steven Palmieri practice.