PR For Your Startup – Is the Right Time Now?
By Scott Rosenblum As we head into 2024, founders might be reviewing revenue goals, hiring, operational costs, taxes, and marketing spending. Some may also be considering adding Public Relations to that spend to help build brand awareness. Most founders hear that...
Hiring Employees and Contractors in the U.S. and Abroad: Tax Considerations & Software Solutions
A good team is the backbone of any thriving company. And the rise of technology has made it easier than ever before to expand your hiring pool well outside the boundaries of your city or even your state. Before you seek out the best and the brightest, though, make...
6 Year-End Tax Planning Tips for 2023
As the year wraps up, it’s time to start making that list and checking it twice. No, it’s not your holiday gift list. It’s your year-end tax planning to-dos. Taking some time to get yourself sorted could mean thousands of dollars of savings between your startup’s...
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...
Budgeting for 2024 for Your Tech Company
Think back to the earliest days of your startup. What started off as nothing more than an idea bloomed into a company. How did that happen? To a large extent, you can probably chalk it up to careful planning followed by diligent execution. With the new year about to...
✨ Celebrating a decade of excellence at Shay CPA! ✨
November 15th, 2013, was my last day at my full-time job at WNET-Channel 13. That day was a culmination of a three-year journey prior where I was moonlighting and creating my CPA firm on the side - nights, weekends, and even lunch hours. Leaving a full-time job was a...
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...
Startups – What’s your burn rate?
It might be time to update the old adage. Maybe it’s not cash that’s king, but cash flow. One study conducted by U.S. Bank concluded that 82% of business failures can be chalked up to bad cash management. When your startup’s in its early days, it probably isn’t...
Founders – Bookkeeping vs. Accounting: What’s the Difference?
When it comes to differentiating bookkeepers from accountants, a lot of startup founders primarily focus on when to hire them. For example, you might hire a bookkeeper on an ongoing basis, but only work with an accountant during tax filing season. The trick, though,...
The Best Bookkeeping Tips for Tech Startups
When you’re in the early days of your startup, a lot comes down to money. So much of your focus has to go toward finding the funding you need to get your idea off the ground. After all the work you put into finding investors, securing grants, or forging other paths...
Do You Need Bookkeeping as a Pre-Revenue Startup Company?
If your startup is in its early stages, your plate probably feels overly full. With so much to do to get your idea off the ground, fund your growth, and scale your operations, it’s easy to push things that can wait to the back burner. The thing is: bookkeeping isn’t...
Convertible Notes vs SAFE’s – Accounting/Tax Considerations
Disclaimer: The terms below are discussed in the context of financing that occurs in the United States for Early-Stage Technology companies. We would strongly advise anyone to seek out a professional to help with their individual company circumstances. Earlier this...
Revenue Recognition for SAAS Companies
Founders, as you embark on your journey of starting your SAAS-based business one thing that will come up time and time again will be the concept of ‘Revenue Recognition.’ What is revenue recognition you may ask? Revenue recognition is the process of recognizing...
Chart of Accounts for Tech Founders
Early-Stage technology startups have nuances compared to more traditional small businesses 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 in...
Artificial Intelligence & Accounting
On November 14, Akshay Shrimanker of Shay CPA P.C. participated in a panel discussion about accounting and artificial intelligence hosted by Michael Guthammar inside the offices of 24SevenOffice. The panel also included 24SevenOffice CEO Stian Rustad and Westmusa Inc....
Accounting/Financials + Tax 101 for Early Stage Startups
On Wednesday, October 23rd, Akshay Shrimanker of Shay CPA P.C. conducted an accounting, finance, and tax workshop for early-stage startups inside New Lab -- a coworking space in the Brooklyn Navy Yard which is home to over 130 startups and considered an oasis for...
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...
Gusto vs. Justworks: A Closer Look
Building a business has changed — and in a way that can make your life easier. Thanks to the latest software tools, it’s getting simpler to do things that used to be a huge time suck, like filing payroll and tracking employee work hours. Before you can start wielding...
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...
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...
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...
Startups – What’s your burn rate?
It might be time to update the old adage. Maybe it’s not cash that’s king, but cash flow. One study conducted by U.S. Bank concluded that 82% of business failures can be chalked up to bad cash management. When your startup’s in its early days, it probably isn’t...
Does Your Startup Need a Technical Founder?
When you’re building a startup, you know that the people you gather around you matter more than almost anything else. If you’re launching a tech company and you don’t have a programming background yourself, that becomes particularly important. That’s why a lot of...
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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...
Startups – What’s your burn rate?
It might be time to update the old adage. Maybe it’s not cash that’s king, but cash flow. One study conducted by U.S. Bank concluded that 82% of business failures can be chalked up to bad cash management. When your startup’s in its early days, it probably isn’t...
Founders – Bookkeeping vs. Accounting: What’s the Difference?
When it comes to differentiating bookkeepers from accountants, a lot of startup founders primarily focus on when to hire them. For example, you might hire a bookkeeper on an ongoing basis, but only work with an accountant during tax filing season. The trick, though,...
Does Your Startup Need a Technical Founder?
When you’re building a startup, you know that the people you gather around you matter more than almost anything else. If you’re launching a tech company and you don’t have a programming background yourself, that becomes particularly important. That’s why a lot of...
How to Create an Executive Summary That Will Wow Investors
When your startup is in its seed stage, you face a catch-22. On the one hand, you need investors to power your growth. But, on the other hand, you need to grow to have something tangible to show investors why it’s worth betting on you. Fortunately, you can lean on an...
The Normalization of Remote Work Will Change How Companies Allocate Their Resources and Funding
By Kaci Goff By late 2020, experts had already started speculating about what the pandemic would do to the workplace. As a result, many workplaces moved to a “virtual first” mentality, and Zoom became a verb in a whole new way. That was especially true in the tech...
C Corps vs. S Corps
When you’re getting a tech company off the ground, you’re faced with a lot of big decisions. From identifying the right funding sources to building your company’s branding, you’re making choices that will affect you from here on out. That’s particularly true when it...
Do You Need Bookkeeping as a Pre-Revenue Startup Company?
If your startup is in its early stages, your plate probably feels overly full. With so much to do to get your idea off the ground, fund your growth, and scale your operations, it’s easy to push things that can wait to the back burner. The thing is: bookkeeping isn’t...
Accounting/Financials + Tax 101 for Early Stage Startups
On Wednesday, October 23rd, Akshay Shrimanker of Shay CPA P.C. conducted an accounting, finance, and tax workshop for early-stage startups inside New Lab -- a coworking space in the Brooklyn Navy Yard which is home to over 130 startups and considered an oasis for...
Using Your R&D Tax Credit Against Payroll Taxes
As you wrapped up the 2022 books for your startup, you probably did some high-level financial review and analysis. Looking over key documents like your profit and loss statement, you get a better idea of what’s driving revenue — and where you’re spending. For most...
2023 Tech Company Tax Tips
Does thinking about filing your taxes put some tension on your shoulders? If so, it’s probably because you’ve had a less-than-ideal filing experience in the past. And in most cases, those unwelcome filing instances come from surprises. Or you might be feeling...
Tax Season 2023: Get Your Books Ready
The start of a new year always feels fresh. You’re looking ahead and probably getting excited about everything your startup will accomplish in 2023. Don’t forget to look behind you, though. Even as you vision-cast for the year ahead, you need to wrap up the year...
DELAWARE ANNUAL FILING – 2023
The Delaware Annual Filing is due on March 1st, just 3 weeks away. So make sure to be on the lookout for an email from your registered agent in Delaware. You can sometimes use their portal to file an entire annual report. You will need your file number, which you can...
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...
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...
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...