Fractional CFO Services in Austin
Fractional CFO and controller services for Austin construction, contractors, distribution, manufacturing, and service businesses.
Central Texas Coverage
Fractional CFO and Controller services for Austin-area businesses.
Vessel Advisors supports businesses across the Austin metro area and Central Texas — technology and SaaS businesses, professional service firms, construction contractors, and real estate operators. Our team includes CFOs and Controllers local to Austin, backed by a vetted national bench of senior finance leaders who support businesses that need expert help.
Austin's transformation from college town to global tech hub happened in fewer than ten years. The companies here are scaling fast and exposed in distinctive ways — and Texas's no-state-income-tax environment shapes every decision.
How can we help?
What’s going on in your business and where would you like help?
An Inc. 5000 Fastest-Growing Private Company for two consecutive years.
The Market
Austin is the second coming of Silicon Valley — without the income tax.
The Tesla, Oracle, and Apple relocations changed Austin's profile permanently. Tech companies followed. Capital followed. The professional services, real estate, and construction businesses serving that influx followed faster than anyone could plan for. Today, Austin is one of the most concentrated tech and tech-adjacent business markets in the country — and most of these businesses are run by founders who've never seen a slowdown.
Texas's tax position changes the math. No state income tax means owner distributions, transaction proceeds, and equity outcomes all carry more weight than they would in California or New York. But the cost — sales tax complexity across hundreds of Texas jurisdictions, franchise tax, multi-state nexus as customers expand — lands on the finance function. Austin operators need senior judgment that understands the trade-offs, not just bookkeeping that closes the month.
What we see most:
- SaaS and technology companies scaling toward Series B/C or an institutional sponsor.
- Professional services firms — IT services, engineering, consulting — riding the tech-driven growth.
- Construction contractors and specialty trades capitalizing on regional population and commercial growth.
- Real estate developers and property managers managing portfolios across the rapidly-expanding metro.
- Founder-led operators preparing for funding milestones, exits, or generational planning.
Industries
Where we work most in Central Texas.
Technology and SaaS
Software, SaaS, and tech-enabled services companies with recurring revenue or platform economics. ARR reporting, gross margin by product line, burn discipline, and the financial credibility to raise or sell. More on how we serve technology companies.
Professional and technical services
IT services, engineering, consulting, and creative agencies with utilization-based economics. Partner compensation, project profitability, and the discipline to scale past founder capacity.
Construction and real estate
Commercial and residential builders, specialty trades, and multi-entity real estate operators capitalizing on Austin's growth. WIP accounting, partner waterfalls, and project-level profitability. More on how we serve real estate operators.
Consumer brands
DTC and B2B brands scaling out of the Austin ecosystem. SKU-level margin, channel profitability, return reserves, and inventory discipline as the brand crosses the $5M-$50M revenue band.
Texas Taxes and Compliance
Austin founders pay no state income tax. Smaller companies can take the new Texas R&D credit as a refund.
The franchise tax falls on the company, not the founder. Here is how that tax, the 2026 research credit, sales tax on services and the employer rules apply to an Austin company.
Taxes
Research credit
8.722% of research spending above the base
For reports originally due on or after 1/1/2026, the franchise tax credit applies to qualified research above 50% of the prior three periods' average, and rises to 10.903% with a higher-education research contract. A company that had no qualified research in one or more of those three periods takes 4.361% of current spending instead, or 5.451% with a contract. The credit can offset up to 50% of tax due, and the rest carries forward for 20 reports.
E-Z computation
0.331% of revenue, but no credits
A company with total revenue of $20M or less can elect to pay 0.331% of apportioned revenue instead of 0.75% of margin. The E-Z method allows no cost of goods sold or compensation deduction and no credits of any kind, so an E-Z filer gives up the R&D credit and its refund.
Franchise tax
No tax due at $2.65M or less
Corporations, LLCs and limited partnerships owe nothing on 2026 and 2027 reports when total revenue is at or under $2.65M, or when the tax comes to less than $1,000. A pre-revenue startup still files its information report every May 15.
Data processing
Sales tax on 80% of the charge
Texas taxes data processing and information services with 20% of the value exempt. At Austin's 8.25% rate, that is an effective 6.6% of the price.
Sales tax
8.25% in Austin, 1.00% of it for CapMetro
The state takes 6.25% and the city 1.00%, and CapMetro's 1.00% applies in both the Travis and Williamson county parts of Austin. The seller adds the tax to the price, and a buyer whose seller doesn't collect it owes use tax instead.
Business personal property
First $125,000 of equipment exempt at each location
From tax year 2026, the exemption on a location's business personal property rose from $2,500 to $125,000. An office whose computers and furniture stay under that value owes no property tax on them. After one rendition certifying that, the company stops rendering from the next tax year unless the chief appraiser asks.
Employers
Paid sick leave
Austin's 2018 ordinance was preempted
Austin's paid sick leave ordinance was held preempted by the Texas Minimum Wage Act, and the appeals court's mandate issued December 14, 2020. Texas requires no paid sick leave, and since September 1, 2023, Labor Code 1.005 has voided city rules on leave, hiring practices, breaks, benefits and scheduling for private employers.
Minimum wage
$7.25, or $2.13 cash for tipped staff
Texas adopts the federal minimum, and city wage ordinances reach private employers only under a contract or agreement with the city. A tipped employee, one who customarily receives more than $20 a month in tips, can be paid $2.13 in cash with a tip credit of up to $5.12.
Unemployment insurance
$9,000 wage base, 2.70% to start
Each employee's first $9,000 of wages is taxable, a base fixed by statute. A new employer pays 2.70% in 2026 in every industry group and keeps that rate until it has four chargeable quarters.
Not required in Texas
No state leave program or E-Verify mandate
Texas has no state disability or paid family and medical leave program and no payroll contribution for one. Private employers aren't required to use E-Verify; a 2025 bill that would have covered all employers passed the Senate and died in a House committee.
Unclaimed property
Unpaid wages go dormant after one year
Wages go dormant after one year and other property generally after three. Reports are due July 1, and a company with nothing to report still files a negative report.
Questions Austin owners ask
Can a startup that owes no franchise tax get the research credit as a refund?
Yes. An entity at or under the $2.65M no-tax-due threshold, or with tax under $1,000, can take the credit as a refund, as long as it doesn't file on the E-Z computation. It files Form 05-183 with Form 6765 by Nov 15 of the report year. More on how we work with SaaS and technology companies.
We used the research sales-tax exemption in 2025. Can we still claim the new credit?
Not on the report that covers that period. An entity that took the sales-tax exemption during a report's accounting period can't claim the new credit on that report, and for most filers that is the 2026 report, which covers 2025. The exemption and the old credit were repealed 1/1/2026, and unused carryforwards of the old credit survive.
Will Texas tax my gain when I sell my shares?
No. Texas has no individual income tax, Austin levies no city income, earnings or payroll-expense tax, and an amendment added to the constitution on November 4, 2025 bars a tax on capital gains. Federal tax still applies to the gain.
Does a Texas LLC file an annual report with the Secretary of State?
No. Texas requires no Secretary of State annual report from for-profit entities. The Public Information Report or Ownership Information Report goes to the Comptroller by May 15 with the franchise report, even when no tax is due, and the Comptroller forwards it to the Secretary of State.
Do Austin builders charge sales tax on labor?
Labor on new construction and on residential repair or remodeling isn't taxable. Labor to repair or remodel nonresidential real property is taxable, and so are real property services. More on how we work with contractors.
Will a Texas court enforce our employee non-competes?
Yes, when the covenant is ancillary to an otherwise enforceable agreement and reasonable in time, area and scope. Texas sets no salary threshold and no notice requirement. A court must reform an overbroad covenant, but it awards no damages for breaches before the reform.
When is the franchise report due, and what does filing late cost?
The report is due May 15. An extension runs to November 15, or to August 15 and then November 15 for EFT payers, and requires paying at least 90% of this year's tax or 100% of last year's; new filers can't use the prior-year option. A late report costs $50, and late payment adds 5%, or 10% after 30 days, with interest from day 61.
Figures verified October 2026 against the Texas Constitution; the Texas Tax, Labor, Property, Government and Business and Commerce Codes; Texas Legislature bill records and appellate court records; the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, including its October 2026 sales tax rate table; and the Texas Workforce Commission. This is general information, not tax or legal advice.
Austin Finance Talent
Austin grew 2.1% in 2025. Its financial managers earn $167,180 at the median, level with the nation.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics counts 7,210 financial managers in the Austin metro, the category that covers controllers and finance directors. Median pay is $167,180 against a national median of $166,570, and the top tenth earns $318,720 or more, against $323,270 nationally.
The metro has 3,521 business locations with 50 to 499 employees, and it added 53,796 residents in 2025, the sixth-largest gain of any U.S. metro. A founder who needs CFO judgment before the company can support a full-time finance executive doesn't have to make that hire first.
Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos MSA. U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023 and Vintage 2025 population estimates.
How we engage.
When It's Broken
Put out the fire.
Interim CFO & Controller. At the loss of a key employee. When things crash or break. We deploy interim professionals — repairing what's broken and keeping the system running while you decide what's next.
When You're Building & Exiting
Advise and serve.
CFO, Controller & Accounting Team. Right-sized financial leadership — and the team to execute. Embedded for the long run. The CFO Power Team: right roles, right cost.
When You Don't Know What You Don't Know
Assessment services.
Financial Discovery Assessment. A structured deep-dive that reveals where your finance function stands today — and what it needs to support where you're going.
Transaction Readiness Assessment. Will the books and reporting tell the right story to a buyer or investor — and do the systems and processes support merger or acquisition activities?
Coverage
We cover Austin.
Our team includes CFOs and Controllers based in Austin. We staff engagements with local presence and pull in the vetted national bench when scope requires additional depth. Coverage area: Austin, Round Rock, Cedar Park, Pflugerville, San Marcos, and the broader Central Texas region.
Call the team
866-324-4473Our Proprietary Diagnostic
The Financial Discovery Assessment shows you what’s working, what’s missing, and the plan to get where the business needs to go.
Every Assessment applies the same structured examination — accounting systems and technology, processes and procedures, team members and team structure, and team-member will-skill — refined across hundreds of engagements in businesses that look like yours.
The output is the Financial Heat Map System: dollarized findings, hidden inefficiencies, and a sequenced plan. It’s presented at the Executive Action Meeting, where your stakeholders review findings and recommendations in non-clinical, non-technical language they can act on.
We’ve walked into hundreds of businesses at the stage yours is in now. We know where to look. We know how to fix what we find.
Prefer to call? 866-324-4473