Tax Checklist
What to bring to your tax appointment (individuals).
1-page PDFDownload
Palestine · East Texas · Est. Anderson County
Straight answers on taxes and business — for the folks who run the ranch, the shop, and the household down the road.
Sloan Shuffler, CPA is a Palestine-based firm helping families, ranchers, farmers, and local business owners take the stress out of tax season — and the guesswork out of the rest of the year. No jargon. No surprises. Just plain-English guidance from neighbors you can actually get on the phone.
2003
Serving East Texas since
600+
Returns prepared each year
20+
Years of CPA experience
710 W. Main St.
Office
Our approach
We speak your language.
You shouldn't need an accounting degree to understand your own finances. Around here, we explain things the way we'd want them explained to us — over a cup of coffee, in words that actually make sense.
Fancy software and fancy jargon don't help anybody make a better decision. Honest conversation and a CPA who picks up the phone — that does.
Taxes
Personal, business, farm, ranch, and rental. We'll explain what the numbers mean — and what to do about them.
IRS Letters
Bring it in, unopened if you want. We've read thousands of them. Nine times out of ten, it's nothing to lose sleep over.
Bookkeeping
Clean books that you can actually read — not a screen full of accounting code that needs a translator.
Business Decisions
Hiring, equipment, a new building, selling out — we'll walk through the tax picture in plain English before you sign anything.
Payroll
Get your folks paid right and on time, with the filings handled so you can get back to the work that pays the bills.
Just a Question
Pick up the phone. We don't bill for friendly. If it's a five-minute answer, it's a five-minute answer.
A simple belief
Hard work still matters.
The people who get up early, work late, raise the cattle, pour the concrete, run the shop, and keep this corner of Texas going — they deserve advisors who work just as hard for them.
That's the standard we hold ourselves to. Show up. Pick up the phone. Do the work right the first time. Treat your business like it matters — because it does.
Who we work with
- Farmers
- Ranchers
- Small business owners
- Contractors
- Local professionals
- Working families
- Family-owned operations
- Multi-generation businesses
A reminder
"Good advice isn't about complexity. It's about clarity."
The honest truth
Taxes don't have to be complicated.
Most of what you need from a CPA isn't complicated math — it's a clear head, steady hands, and somebody who will actually take the time to walk you through what's going on with your money.
Less stress
Walk in worried. Walk out lighter.
Better organization
Books, records, and filings all in one place.
Confidence
Know what's coming before it gets here.
Compliance
On time, accurate, and quietly handled.
Peace of mind
Somebody's watching the numbers besides you.
Real relationships
Same CPA. Same office. Year after year.
What we do
Services, framed around what actually matters.
Not a list of accounting tasks — a list of outcomes. Here's what working with our firm actually gets you.
Tax Preparation
Filed right. Filed on time.
Personal, business, farm and ranch, partnership, and trust returns — handled by a CPA who knows your story, not a stranger working off a checklist.
Tax Planning
Plan ahead. Pay less. Sleep better.
We look at the year before December 31st, not after. Practical moves that reduce surprises and keep more of what you earn at work for your family or business.
Business Services
An advisor you can actually call.
Entity setup, structure decisions, year-round guidance, and a real second opinion before you sign on anything big.
Bookkeeping
Books you can trust — and read.
Monthly or quarterly bookkeeping so you always know where you stand. No backlog. No mystery numbers at tax time.
Payroll
Pay your folks right.
Reliable payroll, tax deposits, and quarterly filings — done quietly in the background so you can get back to running the business.
Business Guidance
Plain-English answers to real questions.
Buying equipment? Hiring? Selling? Passing the business down? Let's talk it through — before the tax bill arrives.
What working with our firm feels like
Friendly. Patient. Plain-spoken. Done right.
We've designed the whole experience around taking the worry out of it. Here's how a relationship with the firm usually goes.
01
The first phone call
Call the office or stop in. Tell us a little about what's going on — taxes, a business question, an IRS letter, whatever. No pressure, no fee for a first conversation.
02
Gathering the paperwork
We'll send a short, friendly list of what to bring. Drop it off, mail it, or upload it — whatever works for you. We'll let you know if anything's missing.
03
We do the work
Your return or project gets prepared by Sloan, then reviewed twice before anything is filed. No surprises, no last-minute scrambles.
04
We sit down together
We walk you through the return or the plan in plain English. Ask anything. There are no dumb questions in this office.
05
We stay in touch
A check-in mid-year. A heads-up before deadlines. A real person on the other end of the line when something comes up. That's the relationship part.
Our hometown
Proud to call Palestine home.
We're not a regional outpost of a Dallas firm. We're not a tax-prep chain. We live here. Our kids go to school here. We bank, eat, worship, and shop on the same Main Street as our clients.
That's why the work we do feels different. When a rancher in Anderson County, a second-generation family business off Spring Street, or a young couple buying their first home walks through our door, they're not a file number. They're a neighbor.
East Texas families
Personal taxes, planning, and life-stage guidance.
Local businesses
From the shop on the corner to multi-location operations.
Farm & ranch
Schedule F, ag exemptions, equipment, and succession.
Generational planning
Quiet conversations about passing it down the right way.
Visit the office
710 West Main Street · Palestine, TX 75801
Monday – Friday · 8:30am – 5:00pm · Coffee's usually on.
From our neighbors
Real folks. Real relationships.
The long relationships we've built around East Texas are the part of the work we're most proud of. Here's what a few neighbors have to say.
Sloan has been doing our taxes for fifteen years. Personal, the ranch, and our small business — all of it. He explains things so we actually understand them, and he picks up the phone when we call. You can't ask for more than that.
The Whitaker Family
Cattle operation · Anderson County
We were behind on bookkeeping and dreading an IRS letter. Sloan's team had us caught up, calm, and back to running the shop in about a month. Real people, real help.
Daniel & Marisol Reyes
Owners, Reyes Auto · Palestine
Honest, plain-spoken, and never makes you feel small for asking a question. That's exactly the kind of CPA East Texas needs.
Pastor Tom Beasley
Long-time client · Palestine
Founder & CPA
Sloan Shuffler, CPA
Owner · Palestine, Texas
- · Certified Public Accountant — State of Texas
- · 20+ years of tax & advisory experience
- · Member, Texas Society of CPAs (TXCPA)
- · Active in the Palestine business community
Meet Sloan
A CPA who'd rather you understand than be impressed.
Sloan Shuffler is a Texas-licensed Certified Public Accountant who has spent his career advising East Texas families, farmers, ranchers, and business owners on the everyday decisions that quietly shape a financial life.
He opened the firm in Palestine with a simple idea: people around here deserve a CPA who treats them like neighbors — not file numbers. That means listening first, explaining clearly, and never charging for a friendly answer to a quick question.
When he's not at the office on West Main, you'll probably find him somewhere in Anderson County — at a high school ballgame, a church supper, the feed store, or just driving the back roads he grew up on.
"If you can't explain a tax decision over a cup of coffee, you probably shouldn't be making it. My job is to make this stuff make sense."
Helpful resources
A few things to make tax time easier.
Simple, plain-English checklists put together for our clients. Print them, mark them up, bring them in.
Farm & Ranch
Schedule F checklist for East Texas producers.
1-page PDFDownload
Small Business
Year-end checklist for owners and bookkeepers.
2-page PDFDownload
Start the conversation
Come on by. Or just give us a call.
Whether you've got a stack of receipts, an unopened IRS letter, a business decision to think through, or just a question — we'd be glad to help. First conversation is on us.
710 West Main Street · Palestine, TX 75801
Call (903) 723-8894 office@sloancpa.com
Office hours: Monday – Friday, 8:30am – 5:00pm. After-hours? Leave a message — Sloan calls back personally.