Fractional CFO Services in Dallas-Fort Worth
Fractional CFO and controller services for Dallas-Fort Worth construction, contractors, distribution, manufacturing, and service businesses.
North Texas Coverage
Fractional CFO and Controller services for Dallas-Fort Worth-area businesses.
Vessel Advisors supports businesses across the DFW metroplex and North Texas — manufacturers, distributors, professional service firms, real estate developers, and construction contractors. We work with private-equity-backed platforms, family-owned businesses, and the regional service companies behind DFW's sustained growth.
Texas has no state income tax. The DFW finance question isn't about minimizing tax — it's about turning a scaling business into one that can withstand institutional scrutiny.
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
DFW is the most institutionalized middle market in the country.
Dallas–Fort Worth has more PE capital deployed, more Fortune 500 headquarters, and more sophisticated middle-market activity than almost any region outside of New York. The companies we work with here are typically further along the institutionalization curve than what we see in other markets — they've often already raised debt, taken on a sponsor, or completed a transaction.
That changes the finance conversation. The pressure isn't "get the books cleaner" — it's "be ready for a quarterly sponsor review, the next add-on diligence, or the eventual sale process." DFW operators tend to know what good finance looks like. They just need a team that can build it without permanent overhead.
What we see most:
- PE-backed platforms running add-on acquisition strategies, where integration capacity and sponsor reporting discipline are constant pressure.
- Manufacturers and distributors serving the broader Texas and South-Central US industrial base.
- Real estate developers, property managers, and construction contractors riding DFW's sustained population growth.
- Professional services firms — engineering, consulting, IT — scaling regionally with utilization economics.
- Founder-owned businesses preparing for institutional capital or third-party sale within a defined window.
Industries
Where we work most in North Texas.
Manufacturing and distribution
Industrial manufacturers, regional distributors, and food/beverage producers serving the South-Central US. Gross margin visibility, inventory accuracy, and standard cost discipline are the recurring gaps. Our manufacturing case study shows the pattern.
Construction and real estate
Commercial construction, residential builders, and multi-entity real estate operators capitalizing on DFW's population growth. WIP accounting, retention, partner waterfalls, and project-level profitability are baseline.
Professional and technical services
Engineering, IT services, consulting, and architecture firms with utilization-based economics. Partner compensation modeling, project profitability tracking, and the discipline to scale beyond the founders.
PE-backed platforms
Sponsor-backed platforms running add-on strategies across services, healthcare, manufacturing, and distribution. EBITDA quality, integration discipline, and quarterly sponsor reporting are where we add the most leverage.
Texas Taxes and Compliance
Texas has no income tax. Its franchise tax reaches every LLC and corporation in a group.
Dallas–Fort Worth owners pay no state or city income tax. Their groups still owe franchise tax, collect an 8.25% sales tax and pay property tax on equipment and inventory, and every entity with employees answers to the rules below.
Taxes
Franchise tax
0.75% of margin, 0.375% for wholesalers
The tax reaches corporations, LLCs, LPs and LLPs, including single-member LLCs that are disregarded for federal tax. A distributor primarily engaged in wholesale or retail trade pays the lower rate, unless half or more of that revenue comes from goods it or an affiliate produces.
No tax due
$2.65M revenue threshold for 2026–27
An entity with total revenue of $2.65M or less, or with tax under $1,000, owes nothing on its 2026 and 2027 reports. It still files a Public Information Report or Ownership Information Report by May 15, and each member of a combined group files its own.
Compensation deduction
$480,000 cap per person
Margin is the lowest of 70% of revenue, revenue minus cost of goods sold, revenue minus compensation, or revenue minus $1M. A company that takes the compensation deduction counts no more than $480,000 for any one person on 2026–27 reports, up from $450,000 for 2024–25.
Sales tax
8.25% in Dallas, Fort Worth, Plano and Arlington
Above the 6.25% state rate, Dallas and Plano add 1.00% for the city and 1.00% for DART, Fort Worth adds 1.00% for the city and 0.50% each for its Crime Control and Prevention District and Trinity Metro, and Arlington's city takes the full 2.00%. A Texas seller charges local tax based on its own place of business, not the customer's address.
Business personal property
$125,000 exempt at each location from 2026
The exemption on equipment, furniture and inventory rose from $2,500 for tax year 2026. Related businesses at the same address are added together, so splitting one location's property among a group's entities doesn't create a second exemption.
Income tax
No state or city income tax
Texas has no individual income tax, and Dallas, Fort Worth, Plano and Arlington levy no city income, earnings or payroll-expense tax. With no state tax to elect into, owners have no pass-through workaround for the federal SALT cap.
Employers
Minimum wage
$7.25, with no city rate
Texas uses the federal minimum, and state law supersedes city wage ordinances for private employers, so the state rate applies across Dallas, Fort Worth, Plano and Arlington.
Paid sick leave
Not required, in Dallas or statewide
Texas has no paid sick leave law, and Dallas's ordinance can't be enforced against private employers. Labor Code 1.005 has voided city rules on leave, hiring practices, breaks, benefits and scheduling for private employers since September 1, 2023.
Unemployment insurance
2.70% for new employers on the first $9,000
Every new employer pays 2.70% in 2026, whatever its industry, until it has four chargeable quarters. When an acquired business shares substantially common ownership or management with the buyer, the seller's experience rating transfers with it.
Final paychecks
Six days after a discharge
A discharged employee is paid within six days, and the statute counts days, not working days. An employee who resigns is paid on the next regularly scheduled payday.
Non-competes
Enforced if reasonable, reformed if not
A non-compete holds when it is ancillary to an otherwise enforceable agreement and reasonable in time, area and scope. A court must reform one that reaches too far, and it awards no damages for breaches that happened before the reform. Texas sets no salary threshold and no notice rule.
Questions Dallas–Fort Worth owners ask
What should we check before closing an add-on acquisition in Texas?
Two agencies can collect a seller's unpaid taxes from the buyer. A buyer who doesn't withhold enough of the price until the seller shows a Comptroller receipt or a Certificate of No Tax Due is liable for the seller's state taxes up to the purchase price, including assumed debt; seller and buyer request the certificate jointly on Form 86-114. The Texas Workforce Commission can also collect the seller's unpaid unemployment tax from a buyer of the business or substantially all its assets, with no price cap. More on how we support a newly acquired business.
Does every LLC in our group owe Texas franchise tax?
Every LLC is a taxable entity, including a single-member LLC that is disregarded for federal tax, and an LLC can never qualify as passive. One with total revenue of $2.65M or less owes no tax on 2026 and 2027 reports, but it still files its information report by May 15. An entity that doesn't file forfeits its right to transact business in Texas, and its officers, directors, members and owners can be held personally liable for certain of its debts.
Are our rental partnerships subject to franchise tax?
Yes, when their income is rent. A partnership is a passive entity, outside the tax, only if at least 90% of its income is passive, such as dividends, interest and gains on securities or real property, and rent doesn't count as passive income. An LLC that holds property can never be passive. More on how we work with real estate companies.
We sell nationwide. How much of our margin does Texas tax?
Texas apportions margin by a single factor based on gross receipts, so payroll and property play no part in the formula. The apportioned margin is taxed at 0.75%, or 0.375% for a business primarily engaged in retail or wholesale trade.
How much retainage can an owner hold on a private Texas job?
No statute caps contractual retainage on private work. Separately, the owner must reserve 10% of the contract price, or of the value of the work done, until 30 days after the work is completed, and that reserve protects lien claimants. A claimant's notice for unpaid contract retainage is due within 30 days of completion.
Does my spouse have to sign my personal guaranty?
No Texas statute requires a spouse's consent to a guaranty. Texas is a community property state, so property either spouse acquires during marriage is presumed to be community property, and rebutting that takes clear and convincing evidence. During the marriage, a spouse's sole-management community property can't be reached for the other spouse's non-tort debts unless both are liable, and neither spouse can sell or encumber the homestead without the other joining.
Do we file an unclaimed property report if we have nothing to report?
Yes, the Comptroller's 2026 instructions require a negative report. Reports and payments are due July 1 for property presumed abandoned as of the prior March 1, and owners of property worth more than $250 must be notified no later than 60 days before July 1. Wages go dormant after one year and other property generally after three.
Figures verified October 2026 against the Texas Constitution; the Texas Tax, Labor, Property, Family and Business and Commerce Codes; 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.
Dallas–Fort Worth Finance Talent
Dallas–Fort Worth has 26,600 financial managers and pays them above the national median.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics counts 26,600 financial managers in the Dallas–Fort Worth metro, the category that covers controllers and finance directors. Median pay is $169,200, 1.6% above the national median of $166,570, and the top tenth earns $313,130 or more.
The metro has 11,722 business locations with 50 to 499 employees, and it added 123,557 residents in 2025, the second-largest gain of any U.S. metro. A company that needs CFO judgment can have it without outbidding that market for a full-time executive.
Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington 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 Dallas-Fort Worth.
Our team includes CFOs and Controllers local to DFW. We staff engagements with local presence and pull in the vetted national bench when scope requires additional depth. On-site time when it matters, virtual delivery when it doesn't.
Coverage area: Dallas, Fort Worth, Plano, Frisco, Arlington, McKinney, and the broader North 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