- Serving Taxpayers Since 1993
- File In Person or Fully Virtual
- Year-Round Help, Not Just Tax Season
- Nonprofit & Church Specialists
- Flexible Refund & Payment Options
Drive the Grand Parkway on a Sunday morning and you pass church after church. Some meet in school cafeterias. Others are pouring the slab for a second building. Katy’s congregations grow right along with the master-planned communities around them, and so does the paperwork. A ministry that began with a few families in a living room can have staff, a payroll and a building fund within a few years. We handle the tax and money side of that growth for churches and nonprofits in Katy, Fulshear and across Fort Bend County, so your leaders can keep their attention on people.
Signs Your Church or Nonprofit Needs Accounting Help
Growth is usually the first sign. The volunteer treasurer who kept the books on a laptop when you had sixty members is now tracking two campuses, a youth trip fund and a payroll. Giving statements go out late in January. Nobody is quite sure which account the mission money is sitting in.
Texas adds a sign many groups miss. An IRS letter does not, by itself, free you from state taxes. A 501(c)(3) has to apply to the Texas Comptroller on Form AP-204 to be exempt from Texas franchise tax and sales tax. If you have been paying sales tax on supplies for years, that is a clue the step was skipped.
Then there are the deadlines. A nonprofit that misses its yearly IRS return three years in a row loses its exemption on its own. The IRS page on automatic revocation says the agency cannot undo a proper revocation, so the group has to apply all over again. Churches skip that yearly return, but they still owe payroll reports, and donors still need written receipts for larger gifts.
Our Nonprofit & Church Accounting Services
Brand-new groups often start with Start a Nonprofit in Katy. We help prepare and file the paperwork, beginning with the Certificate of Formation the Texas Secretary of State requires for a nonprofit corporation, then your federal ID number. The 501(c)(3) Application in Katy comes next, where we help you decide between the full Form 1023 and the shorter 1023-EZ. Once the IRS letter arrives, Texas Nonprofit Tax Exemption in Katy covers the Comptroller filing for franchise and sales tax, plus what to know about property tax at the appraisal district.
For groups already up and running, Form 990 Preparation in Katy protects your status each year with the right return, from the short 990-N to the full 990, and Form 990-T when you earn business income outside your mission. Church Bookkeeping in Katy covers giving records, designated funds, monthly bank matching and financial statement preparation. We sort every dollar the way the IRS asks, so year-end reports come out of records you already keep.
Once you pay people, Church & Nonprofit Payroll in Katy handles pastors and staff, payroll tax deposits, quarterly reports and the clergy housing allowance. And when your board has to approve a budget it can follow, Nonprofit Board Training & Budgeting in Katy walks members through your own statements in plain words.
Nonprofit & Church Accounting for Katy Congregations and Charities
Katy grew fast, and its churches grew with it. Neighborhoods like Cinco Ranch, Cross Creek Ranch, Elyson, Firethorne and Jordan Ranch filled with young families, and many brought a church home with them or started one. Fort Bend County keeps adding new ministries every year: church plants meeting in rented space, food pantries, tutoring programs, sports leagues and support groups that began as a sign-up sheet.
Texas makes some of this simpler. There is no state income tax, so payroll has no state withholding and no city tax to sort out, even when your staff live in Harris or Waller County. Other parts take extra care. Unemployment tax runs through the Texas Workforce Commission. Property tax exemption is decided by the appraisal district in the county where the building sits, and Katy straddles three of them. A growing church that buys a second campus across a county line ends up working with a second district.
What to Expect
Call or book a time online and tell us where you are. Some groups are only an idea; others are years behind on filings. We ask for what you have: formation papers, your IRS letter, bank statements, last year’s 990 or a stack of giving records. Then we look it over and give you a short plan that shows what has to happen first, what can wait and our fee before work begins. You can meet us at the Kingsland Boulevard office near the Grand Parkway or send everything online.
Why Choose Us for Nonprofit & Church Accounting
Most tax offices in Katy stop at personal and business returns. Church and nonprofit work is a core part of our business, not a side line, and we have prepared taxes since 1993. Because one office can prepare the 990, run payroll, keep the books and prepare the pastor’s own return, the numbers agree from one form to the next. We stay open all year, Monday through Friday from 10 to 6 and Saturday from 10 to 4. That helps when a 990 extension runs into the fall.
Churches and charities are a big reason why Katy clients file with us.
Our Nonprofit & Church Services in Katy
501(c)(3) Application
Form 1023 or 1023-EZ, prepared so the IRS can recognize your charity.
Form 990 Preparation
The yearly IRS return that keeps your exemption, filed before the due date.
Church Bookkeeping
Giving by household, separate funds and monthly bank matching.
Church & Nonprofit Payroll
Pastor and staff pay, housing allowances, deposits and quarterly forms.
Start a Nonprofit
Texas Form 202, an EIN and the next filings, in the right order.
Nonprofit Board Training & Budgeting
Plain-language sessions on your reports and a budget built on real giving.
Texas Nonprofit Tax Exemption
Comptroller franchise and sales tax exemption, plus property tax basics.
Common Questions
We have our IRS letter. Do we still pay Texas sales tax?
Usually yes, on what you buy, until the Comptroller approves your state exemption. A 501(c)(3) applies on Form AP-204 with a copy of its IRS letter. Churches use Form AP-209 and do not need an IRS letter for it. Keep in mind the exemption covers purchases, not everything you sell.
Can you help a church plant that doesn't own a building yet?
Yes. A new church can set up giving records, payroll and its Texas exemption long before it owns property. Property tax exemption only comes into play once the church owns property, and then the request goes to the appraisal district for that county.
Do you only work with churches?
No. We also work with charities, food pantries, booster clubs, tutoring programs, small foundations and other tax-exempt groups. The rules differ by type, so the first step is sorting out which ones apply to you.