Wineries & Vineyards

The Cook CPA Group offers a variety of services for wineries based in California, and we would be honored to work with your company. Our committed California winery CPAs will work diligently to ensure that you remain compliant with tax laws while also addressing other accounting issues that affect your company. Operating a winery requires an owner to handle various tasks, from making consumers happy to ensure that taxes for the company are timely and accurately filed.

We handle the accounting so you can focus on what matters most.

Additionally, unlike taxes on employer gifts, gift taxes are paid by the giver, not the recipient. Cash or cash-equivalent gifts of any amount, including gift cards, are considered taxable compensation. The Cook CPA Group could help you determine which business structures would work with your unique goals for your winery. One of winery accounting the most common questions winery owners have is how to structure their compensation. Understand the key roles of a winery accountant and winemaker and keep your business’ accounting running smoothly. Edited by CPAs for CPAs, it aims to provide accounting and other financial professionals with the information and analysis they need to succeed in today’s business environment.

Client Accounting Services

• Our team ensures your winery remains compliant while minimizing your tax liability.
• ©2024 “Pisenti & Brinker” is the brand name under which Pisenti & Brinker Management, LLC provides professional tax and business consulting services to its clients.
• The excise tax due, which is primarily based on the wine’s alcohol content, is computed at the end of the production process and must be paid, regardless of whether the wine is sold or given away.
• The client needed us to quickly integrate into their organization, modernize outdated accounting processes, tighten internal controls, improve the accuracy of financial reporting, and ensure compliance with bank reporting requirements.
• One of the few remaining bottles of ex-cellar 1973 Chateau Montelena Chardonnay has been sold by Spectrum Wine Auctions for $11,325.

A strong, industry-focused tax strategy can help identify potential tax opportunities to take advantage of areas where you could reduce your tax exposure. From tapping into consumer data to exploring smoke exposure mitigation processes while protecting your personal finances, prepare your business to seamlessly confront issues and seize emerging opportunities. Darren started his career as a business advisory and risk consultant for PricewaterhouseCoopers in the US and in China, where he worked for over 11 years.

• Determining the applicable costs to include in inventory can be challenging, but tracking such costs is crucial for both proper winery management and proper tax reporting.
• Combined with over 17 years of experience, we offer a personalized approach that prioritizes your success.
• A strong, industry-focused tax strategy can help identify potential tax opportunities to take advantage of areas where you could reduce your tax exposure.
• From optimizing tax credits related to agricultural practices to ensuring the most beneficial capital expenditure strategies, our approach is designed to maximize profitability.
• You cannot mention these specialized spirit businesses without also talking about hotel, real estate and food service.

Napa Office

Decades of winery and vineyard experience has led to the development of unparalleled relationships with industry bankers, lawyers, and other service providers. Additionally, our relationships extend to many industry associations and not-for-profits. As specialized winery accountants, our Accounts Payable Management approach combines industry experience, the latest in cloud accounting technology, and human compassion. Let our Compliance team shoulder the burden of complex, ever-changing state and federal wine industry regulations. The various processes (grape crushing, fermentation, product storage and aging, bottling) may be classified as cost centers relative to the allocation of general and administrative (G&A) costs. Allocating such costs to products through cost centers may be easy or complex; some allocations may be made simply on the basis of wine volume, as more intricate allocations may not be cost-beneficial.

For our core services, we offer simple subscription pricing, so that you always know what you’re going to pay. We are here to help make the finance part work, so that you can build a successful winery that will sustain itself, and you, for generations to come. Protecting against raw materials fraud can be challenging, but being aware of the possible types of frauds possible is a good start. The best internal control is to only do business with reliable and known suppliers and to have a contractual arrangement that allows for retribution if lower quality or mislabeled goods are provided. Employees and nonemployees alike should be trained about the benefits of sharing information about any irregularities of which they are aware.

Advisory

Because he takes such a vested personal interest in all of his clients, David is most dedicated to fixed assets minimizing the tax impact for all of the clients he serves. When operating a winery, it is vital to ensure that you are compliant with all tax regulations that may apply to your company. As mentioned, a serious error or failure to timely file tax returns for a company could lead to severe tax penalties.