https://www.sos.state.tx.us/texreg/archive/March282025/Adopted%20Rules/34.PUBLIC%20FINANCE.html#131
Below in italics I've accumulated the new rule. Emphasis Mine
(a)
(A) Data processing service includes:
(ii) payroll and business accounting data production;
(C)Under its exclusive jurisdiction to interpret taxable services, the comptroller excludes from the definition of "data processing service," data processing that is sold for a single charge with another service if the data processing service does not have a separate value, and the data processing service is ancillary to the other service. The burden is on the taxpayer to demonstrate that the data processing service does not have a separate value and is ancillary to the other service.
(iv) In determining whether the data processing service is ancillary to another service, or conversely, whether the other service is ancillary to the data processing service, the comptroller may consider the extent to which the service provider exercises discretion or judgment in individual applications of the processed data based on knowledge of the physical sciences, accounting principles, law, or other fields of study. The routine or repetitive manipulation of data by the seller is a factor suggesting that the data processing activity is not ancillary to another service and should be taxable as a data processing service. The manipulation of data that depends on the external knowledge and discretionary judgment of the service provider in individual applications suggests that the data processing activity is ancillary to another service and should not be taxable as a data processing service. The provider's skill, experience, or expertise, in processing data or information is not a factor. Other factors may be considered, and the weight of the factors may vary from case to case. The evaluation is based on what the service provider is doing, not on what the customer wants.
(b) Examples of services that are and are not taxable data processing services.
2) The production of business accounting data, such as inventory reports, is a taxable data processing service because it involves the routine and repeated simultaneous application of the same process to different data. The service provider's skill, experience, or expertise with business reports is not determinative.
(3) The preparation of financial statements kept in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, is not a taxable data processing service, even though it has elements of data processing, because the categorization and characterization of the data is variable and depends upon the discretion and certified opinion of an accounting professional. For example, the use of a computer by a certified accounting firm, enrolled agent, or bookkeeping firm to produce a financial report or to prepare federal income tax or state franchise or sales tax returns is not taxable data processing services.
So the preparation of financial statements, under anything accounting other than GAAP no longer has protection under the current administrative code. They provide a two part explanation of "Variable Data" and a "Certified Opinion." It's hard for me not to see this as most small business accounting services that do not come with an opinion may now be pursued as taxable.
