Set Up Your Texas Webfile Account in 10 Minutes – Avoid Late Fees Forever!

Did you know the Comptroller will put a lien on your bank account if you owe them money? They're more aggressive than the IRS when it comes to filing penalties and what they'll do if you don't pay them. If you don't want them coming after you, make sure you watch this video. I'm going to show you the first thing you need to know so that you can file your taxes, be able to pay any amounts that you owe, and get in compliance with them. In this video, I'm going to show you how to set up your Webfile eSystems profile and how to connect your tax account to it. The steps are going to be the same whether you need to file your sales tax or your franchise taxes. This is essential for LLCs, corporations, or anyone who has a sales tax permit. I'll also show you 3 key benefits for why you should use the online system, and I'll share some helpful pro tips as well. Setting up an online account can save you time, money, and headaches. You can also use your online account to apply for certain state permits like a sales tax permit. There are 2 things you need to do to set yourself up to be able to file your sales tax and your Franchise Taxes Online. So let's jump into it. I'm going to show you how to set up your account profile. First, go to comptroller.texas.gov. Click on Webfile. Webfile is a part of the Texas Comptroller's eSystems portal, and it's a secure platform. Setup is a one-time process. You'll need to create a username, a password, set up some security questions in order to create your user profile. Your user profile is how you log into eSystems and access all the things you can do from there. Okay, on this page, click Create Profile. Then go ahead and enter a user ID that you want to use, and they'll check and make sure nobody else has it. It can be 10 to 25 characters, and you can use numbers and letters only. The user ID is not case sensitive. Next, you'll set up your password, and the rules are: it could be 10 to 50 characters, it has to have one uppercase and one lowercase character, it needs to have one number and also one special character, and you can't have three of the same numbers or letters in a row. Once you've met the requirements, go enter your first name and your last name, your email address, and choose whether or not the phone number you're going to enter is going to be your mobile phone number or if it's going to be a different phone number like a landline, and then click continue. Next, they want you to choose some security questions. Just choose one for each question and then provide your answer there. Don't forget to make sure you save your username, your password, and all 3 security questions and the answers to them somewhere safe, because you want to make sure that if you ever get locked out of your account, you have this information to be able to verify yourself and be able to get logged back in. Once you've set up your security questions, go ahead and click Continue. Next, they want you to read the terms and conditions of using the eSystems portal. Then go ahead and check the box saying you've read and agree to comply with the terms of use for the Texas Comptroller eSystems, and then click Continue. And we're almost done with this part. On this part of setting up your profile, they've sent you a verification email that you need to click on in order to verify your email with them so that they know they have a good email to reach you for future notices. So go ahead and hop into your email account and find that email that they just got through sending to you. You should see the title is Comptroller Email Verification. When you open up that email, you'll see a button inside. Click on that link to verify your email. You'll have up to 24 hours to check your email and go ahead and click on that verification button. So make sure you get that done as soon as you're able to because that link will expire and then you'll have to start over again. Once you click verify your email, it'll say congratulations, you've successfully created your eSystem user profile. So you're now done with setting up your profile. The next thing you're going to want to do is connect your tax account to your profile so you can file your sales tax and your franchise taxes when it's time to file. For this next part, you're going to need your taxpayer number and your Webfile number. That's how you'll connect your profile to your Webfile tax account. When you first signed up as an LLC or as a corporation, or if you filed for a sales tax permit, you would have been assigned a Webfile number That Webfile number would have come to you like in a welcome letter, that one of the— that would have been the first letter that they sent out to you. There's a different one for franchise taxes from your sales taxes. So if you have a franchise tax return that you need to file and the sales tax return that you need to file, you'll need the Webfile number for both accounts. If you don't have your Webfile number, you'll need to call the Comptroller at 1-800-442-3453 and you'll go through the options to request your Webfile number. But if you've never filed before and you've never made a payment before, that option is not going to work for you. If you need help getting your Webfile number, you'll want to watch my other video on how to get your Webfile number if you don't have it already. It'll give you some tips on how to get your Webfile number, and it'll also help you if you have some special issues that you need to deal with. But if you already have your taxpayer number and your Webfile number, click Continue to eSystems, and it'll take you back to the login page. You'll go ahead and log in with the username and password you just got through setting up. Then you'll click on Assign Taxes/Fees. You can see there's quite a few things you can do here once you've set up your profile, and just depends on what your situation is of what you need to accomplish online. And like I said, it includes being able to apply for a sales tax permit if you don't already have one. But we're going to go ahead and click on Assign Taxes and Fees so we can go ahead and connect either our franchise tax account or our sales tax account to our profile. So the first thing they want is your 11-digit taxpayer number. So go ahead and enter that information right here and click Continue. On this page, you'll see your taxpayer number along with your company name, and you'll also see any taxes that you're supposed to file based on what you've already registered for. Like, for example, if you set up your LLC or corporation, you'll see franchise tax here. If you got a sales tax permit, you'll see sales tax here. And to connect both of them, you'll need the Webfile number for each, like I was saying before. So on this part, for the sake of this example, I'm going to show you how to connect your franchise tax account to your profile. But the steps are exactly the same whether you have a franchise tax account or a sales tax account. It's the same steps that I'm showing you here. So go ahead and click Assign, and you'll see it's a dropdown that opens up a box for you to enter your Webfile number. And it lets you know it'll either start with RT or XT. So go ahead and enter that number here. Make sure you include the RT or the XT. Then click Assign and then click Submit Changes. On this page, it's going to ask you to agree to their confidentiality agreement because they know that when you connect a profile to a tax account, it's not necessarily just the taxpayer connecting their tax account to their own profile. Sometimes you'll have an accountant that is filing taxes on behalf of taxpayers, and they'll get that Webfile number from the taxpayer in order to be able to file their taxes from their own— from the accountant's own profile. So that's why they're asking you to sign off on a confidentiality agreement. Go ahead and click the box that you agree and click Continue to My Taxes/Fees. Okay, you are done setting up your profile, you are done connecting your tax account to your profile, and now you're ready to file taxes. So on this page, you're going to see your company name and it says Franchise Tax at the bottom if you connected your franchise tax account to this profile, or it'll say Sales and Use Tax if you connected your sales tax account to your profile, and that way you can file each return when they're each due because they are not on the same schedule at all. They both have their own schedule. Franchise taxes are due on the 15th. If it falls on a weekend or a holiday, it'll be due the following business day. Whenever it's time for you to file either one of the taxes, you'll just log into your eSystems account. You go to the Comptroller's website, click on eSystems, click on Webfile. You'll log in with your username and password. You'll come to this page where you'll see your franchise tax or your sales tax or both, and you'll click on whichever one it is that you need to actually file that day. When you click on it, it'll take you to the next page that allows you to start the filing process. Now that we're done setting up your profile and connecting your tax account to it, I want to go over the 3 key benefits of using the online system to file your taxes. The first thing I want to share is that it makes it fast and easy to file, because the alternative is filing paper returns. Filing everything online is easier because there's no paperwork to fill out or mail in. Online filing is simpler than having to learn how to fill out the paper form, mailing it, and hoping that it gets received securely and on time. Here's what the paper return of a franchise tax return looks like. The second key benefit is that it lets you make payments more easily. You can pay online with an electronic check or with a credit or debit card. You can also schedule your payment if you choose the electronic check option. When you file online, you get an instant confirmation that your return's been filed and that your payment has been filed, making sure that you're in clients. Now, the third key benefit is that it helps you stay organized. By having your online profile set up, you have access to the history of your filings for your account. You have access to outstanding and upcoming returns and reports that are due, along with the due date. So if you're like, I don't know when my next tax return is due, log in and you'll be able to look inside your account to be able to see when your next tax return is due. That way you can set a reminder and keep it in your calendar. Now, if you hire an accountant to file your taxes for you, they'll They'll be able to set up their own profile and then connect your tax account to the profile. But when they file, you won't be able to see the history of what they filed, but you will be able to still track if there are any outstanding filings due for your account. So it's like a checks and balances. You'll be able to check to see whether or not there's any outstanding tax returns due. If you told your accountant to get it done and you check in your account and it still shows that it's outstanding, that means it hasn't been filed yet, and you'll want to follow up with your accountant or go and take the necessary steps of filing it yourself if needed. The eSystems portal is really useful if you have multiple businesses and multiple taxpayer accounts that you need to manage, and you can add all of those tax accounts under that one profile so that you can keep up with each of the filings that are due. All you do is add the taxpayer number and the Webfile number for each business so that you can start filing taxes for that business. You'll be able to update your password, your security questions, your business address, and other contact information easily. Directly through your online account. And some of you might have a franchise tax account that needs to get reinstated. You'll be able to request your clearance letter directly through this portal so that you can get your company reinstated again. If you're not sure about what the status is of your franchise tax is, you can click on the link below to access my guide where I tell you step by step exactly how to find out what your franchise tax status is. And if you already know your status is inactive, once you sign up for that guide, it'll point you in the right direction on how to get reinstated. Real quick, I want to go over a few pro tips that I made a list of that to go over with you. At the front of the Comptroller's website, before you log in, if you scroll down, you'll see the number of returns that are currently being processed, meaning the Comptroller is letting you know how many actual taxpayers are logged into their account filing taxes at that exact time. The reason why this is important is because come May 15th, or whatever other deadline you're under, like for sales tax and the deadlines that, that go with those tax returns, you're going notice that this number is going to get very high. The higher that number is, the harder it might be for you to get your tax return filed. So it's better for you to file ahead of time so you don't get stuck to where you can't even log in because their system is too bogged down with too many people logged in trying to file their last-minute tax return. Don't be one of those people. And that number is in real time, so it gives you a good idea of when you can jump in or maybe wait a little bit to make— see if the numbers go down a little bit and less people are in the system. Because there was one year that the Comptroller system got so bogged down that they literally had to extend the deadline by 2 days, I believe, that year. But I wouldn't count on that being the case now because you can never tell if they'd actually do that again. And it's just best to file ahead of time. You'll want to file early to avoid the peak system usage during tax deadline. Another pro tip is you should really just go ahead and set up your eSystems profile as soon as you get your welcome letter from the Comptroller. So whenever you create a new business, your LLC or your corporation, you'll want to go ahead and set up your profile and connect your Webfile number to your profile as soon as you get that welcome letter so that you don't have to go scrambling around a year later when taxes are due trying to figure out where that letter went. Another pro tip is, since you're able to see your upcoming due dates for your tax returns, I always recommend that you create a reminder for yourself. That way you don't forget to file your tax return. In fact, what I do for myself is I create an event in Google Calendar, and I put reminders based on the ideal filing time for that tax return. So for example, for the franchise tax return, I'll set a reminder for May 1st, and I'll make the reminder have the start date of the 1st and the end date of 15th and set a specific time of the day that I want to get reminded for it. So I'll get a little ping on my phone to remind me, hey, it's time to file your franchise tax return. It'll give me a reminder on May 1st, and if I dismiss it and I don't actually complete the task, then I'll get another reminder on the 2nd and the 3rd, because you never know when, uh, life hits you and you get too busy. So that's why I like to set up a, a reminder that's going to remind me every day up until the deadline just to make sure, because if I can file early, I'm going to file early, and that way I'll be done for the year and I don't have to worry about it again. Now that you know how to create your profile and connect your taxpayer account to your profile, you're ready to start filing your taxes, and you can enjoy the streamlined process of filing and making payments. You'll be able to benefit from the time and cost savings and be able to manage your accounts more easily, all from your online account. Your Webfile account makes it easy for you to stay in compliance. Clients. Comment below if you have any questions. If you enjoyed watching this video and you want to see more, you can always join my BAM Boss membership. As a member, you can ask business questions in my private community, access my course library, and ask me any questions in my live monthly group meeting I hold every month. Thanks so much for watching. I appreciate your support. Bye for now.