Texas Franchise Tax: Sourcing Rules, COGS Calculations, Entity Issues, and Combined Reporting

Course Details
- smart_display Format
Live Online with Live Q&A
- signal_cellular_alt Difficulty Level
Intermediate
- work Practice Area
Corporate Tax
- event Date
Monday, May 5, 2025
- schedule Time
1:00 p.m. ET./10:00 a.m. PT
- timer Program Length
110 minutes
-
BARBRI is a NASBA CPE sponsor and this 110-minute webinar is accredited for 2.0 CPE credits.
This course will provide a guide to various compliance requirements and planning opportunities related to the Texas Franchise Tax. The program will discuss options for calculating and reporting the most challenging aspects of the tax, including the most recent sourcing regulations, identifying Texas cost of goods sold, apportioning margin to Texas, issues particular to partnerships and LLCs, and combined reporting questions.
Faculty

Ms. Mondrik, focuses her practice on state and federal tax controversies and litigation. She is board certified in tax law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. She handles IRS cases involving substantial corporate, individual and estate taxes. Her state tax experience includes disputes arising under Texas franchise tax, sales and use tax, fuel taxes, severance taxes, motor vehicle sales tax, and other state taxes. She was the 2009-13 chair of the TSCPA state taxation committee and the chair of the 2009-10 state tax conference committee. As chair of the state tax committee of the TSCPA, she was a principal drafter of comments submitted by the TSCPA in response to legislation implementing the Texas margin tax and to administrative rules promulgated under the various state taxes.

Mr. Crow is Lead SALT Counsel for CTA. He brings over 25 years of multistate tax experience including tenure as an in-house tax counsel for a supermajor oil company and as a manager and partner for major tax consulting firms (including Big 4). Mr. Crow has assisted clients across the state and local tax spectrum, including income/franchise, sales/use, and property tax matters clients in nearly 50 states.
Description
The Texas Franchise Tax remains one of the most complex and controversial state business taxes in the entire country. The tax is essentially based on gross receipts but is complicated by both entity identification and computational challenges. This margin calculation has routinely been the subject of numerous lawsuits, partially due to its complexity and structure.
Texas' franchise tax applies to most entity types. Out-of-state entities with annual gross receipts of $500,000 or more from businesses in Texas have economic nexus even if they have no physical connection with the state. Texas does provide a cost of goods sold calculation and has its own R&D credit that can reduce the tax burden for eligible businesses. However, its rules are specific to Texas and do not follow federal guidelines.
The Texas Franchise Tax No Tax Due threshold has been raised to $2.47 million. No Tax Due reports have been eliminated but filing Form 05-102, Public Information Report or Form 05-167, Ownership Information Report, along with any affiliation schedules, is still required.
Listen as our panel identifies compliance challenges and planning opportunities related to the Texas Franchise Tax.
Outline
- Introduction
- Legislative and case law update
- Elimination of No Tax Due Report
- Other updates
- Recent amendments
- Margin tax calculation options
- Issues in computing revenues
- Recent changes to tax rates and structure
- Elections
- Combined reporting and affiliated entities
- Other recent developments
Benefits
The panel will give guidance to deal with these and other key issues:
- Industry-specific issues, particularly concerning the cost of goods sold calculation
- Identifying affiliates and addressing combined reporting issues
- How the Sirius XM Radio decision affects the taxation of companies doing business in Texas
- Tax base alternatives: identifying the method that will result in the lowest tax bill for your company
- Mining tax planning opportunities: the apportionment formula, passive entities, maximizing deductions, and other areas
- Anticipating tough audits: where the state is likely to challenge your business on the tax calculation, a unitary filing declaration, etc.
NASBA Details
Learning Objectives
After completing this course, you will be able to:
- Determine correct cost of goods sold calculations
- Identify affiliates and combined reporting issues
- Calculate margin tax and ascertain various options
- Recognize the recent amendments to the Texas Franchise Tax
- Select the best way to calculate revenues
- Verify reporting requirements are met

Strafford Publications, Inc. is registered with the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) as a sponsor of continuing professional education on the National Registry of CPE Sponsors. State boards of Accountancy have final authority on the acceptance of individual courses for CPE Credits. Complaints regarding registered sponsons may be submitted to NASBA through its website: www.nasbaregistry.org.
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Business vs. Nonbusiness Income: When to Allocate and When to Apportion
Available On-Demand

Texas Franchise Tax: Sourcing Rules, COGS Calculations, Entity Issues, and Combined Reporting
Saturday, March 22, 2025
1:00 p.m. ET./10:00 a.m. PT