Murfreesboro, Tennessee · Business Taxation
Your Business Deserves More Than Tax Preparation.
Business tax preparation and tax efficiency planning for S corporations, partnerships, corporations, and the owners behind them — built for entrepreneurs who expect their CPA to understand the business, not just the forms.
Prepare accurately. Plan intelligently. Move confidently.
The Problem
Your tax return shouldn't be the first time your CPA understands your business.
Most business owners have the same relationship with their CPA. Documents go in. A tax return comes out. Questions get answered when they come up.
And somewhere along the way, everyone assumes that's what a CPA relationship is supposed to look like.
We disagree.
Your tax return is the final expression of hundreds of decisions made throughout the year. Every one of them moves your tax landscape.
That's why Lionstone doesn't treat tax preparation as data entry. We treat it as the last step in understanding your business well enough to get the return right.
- structure the business
- pay yourself
- deploy capital
- acquire assets
- fund retirement
- structure a transaction
- document a deduction
- prepare for growth
Services
Business Tax Preparation
Serious businesses require serious tax preparation. Lionstone prepares federal and state returns for closely held companies and their owners.
S Corporations
Pass-through taxation, shareholder basis, distributions, reasonable compensation, shareholder benefits, asset purchases, retirement contributions, and multi-state compliance.
Partnerships
Capital accounts, partner basis, contributions and distributions, special allocations, guaranteed payments, ownership changes, and asset transactions.
C Corporations
Corporate returns prepared with compensation, shareholder transactions, capital expenditures, tax attributes, credits, and the corporate-to-shareholder interaction in view.
Business Owners
For business clients, we prepare the owners' individual returns alongside the business return so compensation, distributions, investments, and retirement planning are evaluated together — not in separate offices.
Tax Efficiency Review
Before we recommend a strategy, we map the landscape.
Tax planning shouldn't begin with a list of deductions. It should begin with understanding the taxpayer. The Tax Efficiency Review is a comprehensive examination of your current tax position.
What we examine
- Your most recent tax returns
- Current and expected income
- Every business entity
- Owner compensation
- Retirement and tax-advantaged accounts
- Investments
- Capital expenditures
- Available deductions and credits
- Strategies already in place
- Near- and long-term goals
What you receive
A written map of how those pieces interact, with inefficiencies, risks, and opportunities ranked by dollar impact and by how much they change your decisions.
And a clear recommendation on what deserves action now, what deserves a conversation, and what should be left alone.
Tax planning shouldn't be a scavenger hunt for deductions. It should be financial engineering within the boundaries of the law.
How It Works
Three steps. No surprises.
Start with a conversation.
A short call to understand your business, what you're trying to accomplish, and whether we're the right fit. If we aren't, we'll say so and point you somewhere better.
Map your tax landscape.
For most new clients, the Tax Efficiency Review comes first. It gives both of us a clear picture before any return is prepared or any strategy is recommended.
Prepare, plan, and stay ahead.
Lionstone prepares your business and owner returns and keeps the tax conversation running through the year — so decisions get made before the opportunity passes, not after.
Our Philosophy
Tax compliance is the floor. Tax efficiency is the goal.
There's an important distinction between paying the lowest tax today and operating within the most efficient tax landscape. They aren't always the same thing.
A deduction can save taxes while destroying cash.
A deferral can lower this year's bill while creating a larger one later.
An aggressive position can produce short-term savings while introducing unnecessary risk.
A perfectly legal strategy can still be a terrible business decision.
We evaluate every tax decision in context: tax impact, cash-flow impact, economic impact, compliance risk, and long-term consequences.
Our Approach
We don't start with strategies. We start with questions.
Before we recommend anything, we want to know what you're trying to accomplish, where the business is going, what your cash position looks like, what risks you're willing to accept, and what a decision does economically — not just on the return. Only then does tax strategy enter the conversation.
$30,000 saved. $100,000 spent.A strategy that saves tax while requiring unnecessary spending isn't automatically a win.
Locked away for a deduction.Not when the business needs the liquidity more than the write-off.
Five entities instead of one.Not when one properly structured company would do the job.
Complexity isn't sophistication. Good tax planning creates efficiency.
Why Lionstone
Business owners need a CPA who understands business.
Accounting tells you what happened. Tax returns report what happened. Business owners live in the space between those events, making decisions.
That's why our perspective extends past the tax forms to financial statements, cash flow, capital allocation, entity structure, investments, acquisitions, and what it actually takes to build a company.
That broader perspective changes the questions we ask. Better questions lead to better tax decisions.
About
Meet Mike Carter, CPA
President, Lionstone CPA · Forbes Business Council · U.S. Air Force Veteran
Mike Carter is a CPA, entrepreneur, and business advisor who has spent more than a decade working alongside business owners. Over his career he has worked with roughly 1,200 businesses and their owners, developing a perspective that goes well beyond traditional tax compliance.
A United States Air Force veteran, Mike moved his family back to Murfreesboro after his enlistment to attend Middle Tennessee State University, finishing his degree in two and a half years. He built his tax and advisory foundation at a large Nashville firm, then at a local firm serving small and mid-sized business owners, before beginning to shape the idea behind Lionstone in 2016 and moving to full-time firm leadership in 2019. He and his family live in Murfreesboro and are active at River Oaks Church.
His work centers on one objective: creating clarity for business owners facing complicated financial and tax decisions.
Mike believes the CPA profession is at its most valuable when technical expertise is paired with an understanding of the owner's actual objectives. Taxes aren't evaluated in isolation — and neither are investments, business decisions, compensation, entity structures, or capital expenditures. They're pieces of a larger financial landscape.
Mike's work and commentary focus on business taxation, tax efficiency, financial decision-making, entrepreneurship, and the stewardship of business resources.
The Team
The people behind the work.
Trust is an integral part of any relationship, especially one that involves financial matters. Three of the four of us served in uniform before we served business owners; all of us answer the phone.
Earl Carter, EA
Operations ManagerEarl earned his BBA in Finance from Middle Tennessee State University and served eight years as an Army Military Police officer, domestically and overseas. He then spent a decade serving veterans and their families through the Department of Veterans Affairs as a medical biller and Veteran Service Representative. He joined Lionstone in January 2024 as a tax preparer and earned his Enrolled Agent designation in January 2025, which allows him to represent clients before the IRS in all tax matters. Off the clock he's kayaking or hiking state parks with his wife and two children.
Direct: 629-310-0539
Helen Miller
Client Success CoordinatorHelen joined the firm in 2022 after more than thirty years in West Tennessee. Her administrative career runs through the United States National Guard and Army Reserves, Tennessee Technology Center, and a secretary-and-treasurer role at First Christian Church in Adamsville, with eight years as an architectural drafter and eleven in the clothing industry before that. She's the person most clients hear from first. Helen enjoys crafting and craft fairs, camping, and exploring new places; she's a mother of three sons and a grandmother of five.
Direct: 629-310-0543
Maxine Yap
HR Consultant & Admin ManagerMaxine holds an MBA with honors from the Jack Welch Management Institute and brings more than twenty years in administrative leadership, HR operations, project management, and organizational development. Before Lionstone she was Director of Human Resources for a national marketing agency, partnering with executive leadership on talent strategy, engagement, and retention. Her career has ranged from ballet instructor to coordinator of international conferences, which is why she treats administrative and support functions as the backbone of a company, not the overhead. Outside work: music, art, cooking, and family.
Direct: 629-310-0540Our Standard
Clarity over complexity.
The tax code is complicated enough. Your CPA shouldn't make it worse. Clients deserve:
Complicated issues explained in language you can actually use.
Creativity never replaces compliance.
The important tax conversations happen before the opportunity has passed.
A tax strategy still has to make financial sense.
When we think something is a bad idea, we'll tell you.
Not every technically available strategy belongs in your return.
Fit
The right fit matters.
We're probably a good fit if…
- You own a closely held business.
- Your tax situation has gotten more complicated as you've grown.
- You operate an S corporation, partnership, or corporation.
- You want your CPA to understand the economics behind the return.
- You're making larger investments and financial decisions.
- You value proactive communication.
- You want sophisticated tax thinking without unnecessary complexity.
And you're looking for a long-term professional relationship — not the lowest-cost preparation available.
We're probably not the right fit if…
- Your primary objective is the lowest-cost preparer.
- You want complexity manufactured to justify fees.
- You want tax savings promised before anyone understands your facts.
- You want questionable positions recommended because they're popular on social media.
Our clients hire us for professional judgment. Sometimes that means identifying an opportunity. Sometimes it means identifying a risk. And sometimes the most valuable thing we can tell a client is: don't do it.
Professional Service Firms
Specialized tax expertise for professional service businesses.
Professional service firms combine taxation, owner compensation, cash flow, and personal financial considerations in ways most businesses don't. As they grow, the owner's financial life and the company's financial life become increasingly interconnected. Our job is to understand both.
Tax Library
Tax knowledge for business owners.
You shouldn't need a tax degree to understand the decisions affecting your company. The Lionstone Tax Library explains complicated business-tax issues in practical terms.
- S Corporation Taxation
- Partnership Taxation
- Reasonable Compensation
- Shareholder Basis
- Partner Basis
- Business Vehicle Deductions
- Section 179
- Bonus Depreciation
- Retirement Plans
- Cost Segregation
- Business Acquisitions
- Partner Buyouts
- Entity Selection
- Tax Credits
- Business Owner Fringe Benefits
- Real Estate Taxation
- Capital Gains
- Qualified Small Business Stock — §1202
- Tax Planning
- Tax Efficiency
Questions
Frequently asked questions.
What types of clients does Lionstone serve?
Closely held businesses, entrepreneurs, professional service companies, and their owners.
Does Lionstone prepare individual returns?
Yes — for business owners and other taxpayers whose personal returns are connected to the business and investment work we do. We don't take standalone individual returns.
Does Lionstone provide bookkeeping?
Our primary focus is taxation. We work best with clients who have their books maintained internally or by a bookkeeper, and we're glad to recommend one. If your accounting needs are more involved, tell us on the first call and we'll say plainly whether it fits.
Does Lionstone provide tax planning?
Yes. Our approach emphasizes tax efficiency: evaluating strategies within your broader financial and business landscape rather than searching for short-term deductions.
How does Lionstone price its work?
Fixed fees quoted in advance for tax preparation and for the Tax Efficiency Review, based on the complexity of your situation. You'll know the number before we begin.
When is the right time to switch CPAs?
Earlier than most people think. The best time is before year-end, while there's still room to act on what a review turns up. Switching in February limits what anyone can do for the year that just ended.
What should I bring to a first conversation?
Your most recent business and personal returns, a current year-to-date profit and loss, and a sense of what you're trying to accomplish over the next few years. If you don't have all of it, come anyway.
Do I have to be in Murfreesboro?
No. Lionstone is headquartered in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, but our technology and processes let us work with qualifying clients anywhere.
How do I know if Lionstone is the right firm for me?
Start with a conversation. We'll learn your situation, understand what you're looking for, and tell you whether we believe Lionstone is a good fit. If we're not, we'll tell you that too.
Start Here
Your business has grown. Your CPA relationship should grow with it.
At some point, tax preparation stops being about getting forms filed. Your business gets more sophisticated. Your decisions get larger. Your tax landscape gets more interconnected. And the cost of getting something wrong gets greater.
That's where Lionstone belongs.
Business taxation. Tax efficiency. Professional judgment. Clarity when the decision matters.