Staying Ahead of 2024: Essential Accounting Tips for Founders
The new year is already well underway. That doesn’t mean it’s too late to start implementing some new best practices for 2024, though. When it comes to your accounting, employing a few tools and keeping key facts in mind can make your life a whole lot easier. That’s...
Why Outsource Financial Services Rather Than Hire in House?
In 2023, it seems like you can outsource just about anything. You might pay a company to provide first-level customer support, or you might work with a marketing agency to develop and run campaigns. You might turn to a third-party provider for HR or website...
Demystifying Taxes for Startup Founders: Deadlines You Need to Know
It’s that time of year again. The beginning of a new calendar year means every business owner needs to put some thought into tax filings. Beyond filing for your own company, you also have fast-approaching responsibilities pertaining to your employee’s taxes and their...
All about SECURE Act 2.0 Tax Credits for Small Businesses
Paid non-client of Betterment. Views may not be representative, see more reviews at G2. Learn more about Shay CPA’s relationship with Betterment. Betterment is not a tax advisor, nor should any information herein be considered tax advice. Please consult a qualified...
1099 + Other Year-End Reporting Tips for Your Tech Startup | 2024
Startup founders, as you embark on making sure your tech company is compliant with all of its tax obligations in 2024, a host of deadlines are upcoming for you and your finance team to navigate which involve information returns (W2s, 1099s, and other reporting). ...
Form 6166, Tax Residency, and Why It Matters for Your Startup
Expanding your operations abroad means that your business is doing well enough to scale in a big way. It’s a major milestone. But it can also come with a major tax burden if you’re not careful. Once you start operating internationally, your startup could be subject...
Shutting Down Your Tech Company? Here’s What You Need to Know
If you’ve run out of runway and you’re out of options, it might be time to hang up your hat. Don’t fling it onto that hat rack just yet, though. Before you can shut down a tech company (or any company, for that matter), you need to take certain steps. Failing to...
Thank You to Our Clients, Partners, and Team
Over here at ShayCPA, we’ve grown and learned a lot over the course of 2023. As I look back, I have a lot of gratitude. This year, there were quite a few different highlights. We had some amazing accomplishments, including hitting our ten-year anniversary. And we’ve...
ShayCPA Looks Back on 2023
It’s been a busy year for our team — in the best possible way. We’ve had the opportunity to travel all around the country to participate in a handful of exciting events, from our own company retreat to industry favorites like TechCrunch Disrupt and QuickBooks...
2023 Chart of Accounts for Tech Founders
When compared to traditional small businesses, early-stage technology startups have nuances that they need to consider when putting together their financial statements and chart of accounts. Often, I find that entrepreneurs have used a financial model to assist them...
Important Changes to R&D Deductions (Section 174) – FAQ
R&D Expenditure Capitalization Rules (New for 2022) The TCJA amended Section 174 relating to the federal tax treatment of research or experimental expenditures paid or incurred during the taxable year. The new Section 174 rules require taxpayers to...
Research and Experimental Expenditure (Section 174) Tax Treatment Changes Startups Need to Know
As part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), there was a change to Section 174 that directly impacts the R&D tax credit many startups take. Beginning after 12/31/2021, research and experimental expenditures need to be capitalized instead of expensed as previously...
COGS in SaaS: Understanding Cost of Goods Sold
Unlike e-commerce businesses and manufacturers, software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies usually don’t have inventory in the traditional sense. Instead, modern software is delivered to customers through the rental of servers and cloud storage services, where the...
Accrual-Based (GAAP) Accounting and Its importance for Tech Companies
Accounting can be more complicated than you expect. Even if you feel completely comfortable monitoring your personal finances, once you found a startup, there’s more to consider. Specifically, companies have to factor in accounts payable (AP) and accounts receivable...
PEO vs. Payroll Company: What Should My Tech Company Choose?
When your startup is in its early stages, it makes sense to outsource. You might hire a fractional CFO, and you’ll likely hire an accounting firm. You may also want to explore outsourcing a lot of the key functions of a human resources (HR) department. Fortunately,...
Best Practices for Your Tech Company’s Expense Policy
When you’re an agile startup, allowing your employees to expense items and ask for reimbursement can give you a level of flexibility that you probably need. But it can also add a layer of complexity that you probably don’t need. That’s especially true if you don’t...
The Truth About Being a Tech Company Service Provider
As a CPA, I’ve been working with technology companies since 2010. It started out as something I did on the side, but it turned into a full-time business in late 2013. The tech industry is a unique animal, and I’ve learned a lot over the last decade. As I’ve been...
Tax Benefits for Founders: Qualifying Small Business Stock (QSBS)
As a founder, you’re probably going to issue yourself a significant number of shares in your company. The goal there, of course, is to make some (ideally, a large amount) of money down the road. But the amount you’ll be able to pocket hinges on how you handle your...
How Layoffs Affect Your Tech Company’s Books and Payroll
In the grand scheme of things, layoffs can be a critical strategic move to help your company survive long-term. But if you’re in the middle of a round of layoffs or even considering them, it’s hard to get that high-level view. Layoffs are painful and can get...
How Do I Organize the Finance Department at my Startup?
As you grow your startup, you know you need to prioritize building the right team. And that means finding the right people with the right skill sets, which definitely isn’t easy. That gets even harder when you’re hiring for finance functions. You’re probably not an...
What the Silicon Valley Bank Collapse Means for Tech Startup Founders
Akshay Shrimanker, our Founder and CEO, recently joined Blake Oliver, David Leary, and a panel of other accounting experts (Mike Moiśe CPA, Matthew May CPA, and Reynaldo Arellano CPA) on a special episode of the Cloud Accounting Podcast. With everything that’s been in...
1099 + Other Year-end Reporting Tips for Your Tech Startup – 2023
Founders, for 2022, the threshold to issue a 1099-NEC remains $600 for payments made in the calendar year 2022. You must issue a 1099-NEC to the following: Services performed by someone who is not your employee (including parts/materials) – (box 1) Payments to an...
Shutting Down a Tech Company – Some Tax/Accounting Tips
The time has come. You’re at the end of the road. Whether you’re dissolving your business or handing it over to another company that’s acquired it, you might be looking forward to the day when there’s a lot less on your plate. You’re not there yet, though. Before you...
What are Customer Acquisition Costs (CAC)? Organic vs. Paid
In an ideal world, your startup’s product or service would be so wow-worthy that people would be falling over themselves to buy it. And you might have some cases of that. But it’s no way to build a business. If it was, sales and marketing departments wouldn’t exist. ...
What is an 83(b) election?
As a founder, you get one of the biggest perks through equity in your company. In your early days, you probably aren’t raking in a huge salary or taking sizable owner draws. But you can still be padding your pockets through your shares in your company. While these...
Converting From an LLC to a C-corp: Tax Implications to Consider
Plenty of small businesses operate as a limited liability company (LLC) when they first set up shop. In fact, a big portion of LLCs operate as single-member companies with a sole owner. This sounds appealing in the beginning because LLCs are easy to establish, and...
What is a Cap Table? How Does It Impact My Financials?
When you first launched your startup, it was probably exclusively yours and your co-founder(s). But as you fundraise, you give up equity in exchange for the money you need. To make it easy to keep a clear eye on what’s going on with any shareholder’s equity, including...
Remote Work Benefits
https://youtu.be/bnT00cxOPek A remote workforce can deliver a whole host of benefits to employers, from reduced overhead to the ability to tap into a broader (and potentially more skilled) employee pool. It can also help boost employee satisfaction and support...
Meet Our Staff: Elias Bardis
As our ShayCPA team grows, we've had the opportunity to bring some fantastic talent onboard. Elias is no exception. We'd like to give you the chance to get to know him a little better in our latest edition of the Meet Our Staff feature. Elias joined us at the very...
Meet Our Staff: Grace Tsou
Lots of kids dread going to math class — but Grace has always been different. She’s had what she calls an “amicable relationship” with numbers since her youth. That made her a perfect fit for a career in accounting. As our longest-tenured staff accountant here at...
Meet Our Staff: Nina Lopez-Ortiz
Here at ShayCPA, we strive to deliver a personalized experience. We know that finances are a source of stress for a lot of tech startup founders, and we want to help alleviate that with our dedicated expertise and our friendly approach. With that in mind, we want to...
The ShayCPA team are Quickbooks ProAdvisor Certified
When it comes to picking an accounting system for your technology company Quickbooks is a great place to start. ShayCPA’s team is Quickbooks Online Advanced Certified. What does that mean? Advanced Certification for the Quickbooks Online System requires our team to...
Our Team is Bill.com Certified
Let SHAY CPA P.C. help your startup with its A/P and A/R process. Each of our accounting staff members is certified in using Bill.com which helps set up a process for payments. This is great for companies that need a simple process for bill-pay/receivables management,...
Akshay Shrimanker awarded Forty Under 40 award by the NYSSCPA
The Forty Under 40 award recognizes NYSSCPA (New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants) members who demonstrated leadership in their organization, made significant professional achievements in the past year and have gone “above and beyond” in giving back...
Meet Our Team
In my three years of experience at Shay CPA, I’ve worked with many different tech companies and founders, from newly formed start-up companies to large publicly traded corporations. Working with these different companies allowed me to observe and learn about the tech...
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Deel vs. Remote: Your Guide to International Payroll
Digitalization makes our world smaller by the day. And that means that as you’re hiring for your startup, you don’t necessarily want — or need — to limit yourself to recruiting domestically. Historically, the problem with hiring someone in another country has largely...
Founders – Get Huge Tax Breaks by acting now!
Founders - check out our tips below that can save your Startup thousands of dollars in Income Taxes, Payroll Taxes, Sales Taxes, and foreign taxes. R&D Tax Credits: Did you know that if your startup conducts R&D activities it can qualify for up to $500,000 in...
The 5 Most Important Metrics for Startups to Track
Startup founders risk information overload. As you grow your team, you’ll probably get reports and updates on how various facets of your startup are faring. It’s a lot to take in. You might even reach a point where you start to miss the forest for the trees. It’s...
What is an 83(b) election?
As a founder, you get one of the biggest perks through equity in your company. In your early days, you probably aren’t raking in a huge salary or taking sizable owner draws. But you can still be padding your pockets through your shares in your company. While these...
Converting From an LLC to a C-corp: Tax Implications to Consider
Plenty of small businesses operate as a limited liability company (LLC) when they first set up shop. In fact, a big portion of LLCs operate as single-member companies with a sole owner. This sounds appealing in the beginning because LLCs are easy to establish, and...
What is a Cap Table? How Does It Impact My Financials?
When you first launched your startup, it was probably exclusively yours and your co-founder(s). But as you fundraise, you give up equity in exchange for the money you need. To make it easy to keep a clear eye on what’s going on with any shareholder’s equity, including...
Creating Your Financial Policies and Procedures Manual
When you think about things you need to build for your startup, it’s probably a long list. And you might be hesitant to add anything to it. But there are a couple of areas where putting in some extra work now pays off in spades down the road. A Financial Policies and...
Startup Guide to California Franchise Tax and R&D Tax Credit
When you open a business in California, there’s one agency with which you need to get familiar pretty fast: the California Franchise Tax Board (FTB). You might even want to bookmark that page. As you establish your business in the Golden State, you’re going to be...
Brex vs. Ramp – What’s Best for Your Tech Company?
If you’re looking for a solution to power your startup’s fintech stack, we’ve got good news. Relatively new players in the game bring streamlined options paired with better insights to help power your growth. You might have heard of two of the leaders: Ramp and Brex....
Passing the Four-Part R&D Tax Credit Test
Who wouldn’t want to cut their tax bill by as much as $500,000? It’s no surprise, then, that a lot of companies — especially startups trying to extend their runway as much as possible — explore the R&D tax credit. Technically called the Credit for Increasing...
What New York-Based Tech Companies Should Know About QETC Filings
The state of New York offers some serious tax perks for tech startups operating within its borders. Specifically, if you can get certified as a qualified emerging tech company (QETC), you and your investors can claim some meaningful credits to lower your tax...
Three Ways Game Developers Can Claim R&D Tax Credits
Developing a game isn’t cheap. Even if you have a team of 3D modeling pros with lots of programming experience and heaps of creativity, the hours you’ll all dump into building your game are hours people expect to be paid. And even if your internal team can handle the...
Don’t Let New York’s Franchise Tax Sneak Up On You
When you think about taxes, you probably directly associate the money that goes out to tax authorities with the money that’s come in. Take sales tax as an example. The more you sell, the more you’re going to pay. Income tax isn’t so different: the more you earn, the...
Job Titles That Help Your Business Claim R&D Tax Credits
As a startup, you’re probably looking for every money-saving opportunity you can find. That’s particularly true when it comes to your taxes. Even if you’re operating at a loss and don’t have a tax liability yet, tax credits matter. The U.S. Code allows you to carry...
Understanding the Down Round in Tech Companies: Accounting & Tax Implications
Going through a down round isn’t ideal, but plenty of startups have successfully leveraged one — or several — on their way to success. Whether you’re considering this option because of internal factors (like lackluster financial performance) or external ones (like...
Boost Your Startup with the Revamped R&D Tax Credit: What You Need to Know
The landscape for small businesses and startups is constantly evolving, especially when it comes to taxes. One area ripe for taking advantage of is the Research and Development (R&D) Tax Credit. Recent changes in tax laws have made this opportunity even more...
How to Claim R&D Credits During Clinical Trials
Because our team here at ShayCPA specializes in providing accounting services to tech companies, we spend a lot of time working with Section 41 of the Internal Revenue Code. IRC § 41 is what makes it possible to claim a tax credit for research and development,...
Nurturing Biotech Companies in New York
An Overview of START-UP NY, QETC, and Life Sciences R&D Tax Credit Program New York has long been a global hub for finance, fashion, and food. But the Big Apple is also a budding hotspot for biotech, offering a robust range of programs designed to foster...