Small Business Consultation

Providing necessary guidance

As your company grows, your personnel infrastructure will also need to grow with it. Carlson McKinnon consultants are experts in helping you identify when its time to go to the next level of structural support.

Areas to Consider

• Bookkeeping
• Managerial Accounting
• Payroll
• Tax Return Preparation
• Human Resources
• 401(k) Management
• Branding and Social Media
• I.T.
• Website Maintenance
• Sales
• Customer Service and Support
• Document Management

Carlson McKinnon consultants can provide a tremendous amount of value while you are in your initial stages in these areas. We can help you as a founder perform these functions while small and identify and transition you to additional resources when necessary as you grow.

Levels of Structural Support

• Level 1 - Founder performs service (with or without consultant advice)
• Level 2 - Company outsources service.
• Level 3 - Company hires employee to perform service in house

Web Design and SEO

High quality web presence

We specialize in small to mid sized businesses that are looking to have a polished, professional, and streamlined website at a reasonable fee. Our goal is to provide your customers with the best and simplest experience. We improve existing sites as well as build from scratch.

• Mobile friendly, responsive sites
• Analytics, see who and how customers use your site
• Hosting, this is how your content is served to the Internet
• Search engine optimization (SEO), this is how you make it easier for customers to find you online via search engines
• Graphic design

Branding

Distinguish yourself

Branding is your company’s differentiating factor. It tells everyone else who you are and what you bring to the table. It affects how your company is perceived. We will help you to define your brand to allow your company to express itself to the right people consistently across all lines of communication. This starts with a logo and color scheme. It extends into every avenue of your business including:

• Online presence
• Company voice - consistent messaging
• Advertising
• Graphic design

Mobile App Development

Go native mobile

A mobile friendly, responsive website is not always enough. We have the development expertise to build mobile apps that your customers can download directly from the app store via their smartphones, supporting both iPhone and Android. Have a killer app idea? We can build that for you as well.

Entity Selection

Understanding types of legal entities

In almost every situation, it’s best to form a legal entity for your business to protect yourself from personal liability. Every small business owner is then faced with what TYPE of entity to choose. Entity selection is a difficult but extremely important decision. Here are just a few of the considerations:

• Taxation (Single v. Double)
• Investor Profiles (Foreign v. U.S., Non-Profit, Tax Brackets)
• Ability to go Public
• Flexibility in Allocations and Distributions
• Management
• Liability
• Corporate Formalities

A Carlson McKinnon consultant* will discuss your current circumstance and long term plans and help you make the right decision for both today and the future.

*Disclaimer: Carlson McKinnon is not a law firm and does not provide legal opinions on entity selection matters. Carlson McKinnon has referral relationships with several law firms if legal services need to be provided in association with a consultation.

Small Business 101

Helpful Links

Entity Formation FAQs (Texas)

The Texas Comptroller has a great set of FAQs on corporate formation basics: link

Texas Franchise Tax

Every legal entity organized in Texas or doing business in Texas needs to file an annual franchise tax return and public information return. This must be filed EVEN IF NO TAX IS DUE or the entity will get its charter forfeited, exposing directors and officers to personal liability. Efiling and information link Franchise Tax and Public Information Report forms: link

Texas Sales Tax

Sales tax must be collected on the sale of most goods and some services. This Texas Comptroller portal provides good information on sales tax information: link

IRS Resources

This IRS portal hosts a wealth of information for small businesses with a significant number of publications on common topics, information about how to obtain an EIN, as well as information for filing certain Employment Tax returns link

Recordkeeping is KEY when it comes to proving business deductions. Here is more information on what you’ll need to keep in order to substantiate your deduction: link

Troy McKinnon

Principal and Co-Founder

Primary Areas: Software Development, Website Design, Consulting

McKinnon is a Software Engineer and manager of software development teams. He has been developing software for 10+ years with experience in small/midsize as well as large enterprise companies. He has experience in multiple domains and has developed software running in some of the world’s largest enterprises.

He received his B.S. in Computer Science and Chinese Language, magna cum laude, from Trinity University.

Domains of Development Experience

• Enterprise software
• Web
• Mobile
• Desktop
• Embedded

Professional Activities, Memberships & Affiliations

• Java User Group, San Antonio Chapter (2010-Present)

Austin Carlson

Principal and Co-Founder

Primary Areas: Business Formation and Strategies, Tax Consulting, Tax Return Preparation

Carlson is a licensed attorney and a Certified Public Accountant. He has years of experience in helping small businesses get their business off the ground with his expertise in entity selection and small business tax strategies. Carlson has formed hundreds of companies and worked with businesses with revenues ranging from the thousands to the millions in helping them minimize their tax burdens and successfully resolve IRS audits and inquiries. As a CPA, Carlson is also able to assist businesses by handling all of their State and Federal business and personal tax returns.

He received his B.B.A. in Accounting and M.S. in Taxation from Texas A&M University, and his J.D., with honors, from The University of Texas School of Law. He was recognized as a “Rising Star” by the Texas Society of CPAs (2015).

Professional Activities, Memberships & Affiliations

Texas Society of CPAs (2012-Present):

• Board of Directors (2015-Present)
• Federal Tax Policy Committee (2015-Present)
• International Tax Subcommittee (2015-Present)
• Relations with the IRS Committee (2013-Present)

Houston Society of CPAs

• Board of Directors (June 2015 - present)
• Membership Committee (2012-Present); Vice Chair (2013-2014); Chair (2014-2015)

State Bar of Texas

• Tax Section, International Tax Committee (2012-Present); Chair (2013-Present)

Other Affiliations: Houston International Tax Forum (2012-Present); Houston Young Lawyers Association Scouting Committee (2012-Present); Katie Prairie Conservancy Finance Committee (2015-Present); The Women’s Resource of Greater Houston Finance Committee (2015-Present).