How much does catch-up bookkeeping cost?

With Return Ready, $699 per business per year of books, flat. Elsewhere it is usually quoted hourly or per month of backlog after a look at your records, and the total is known only at the end.

Is a part year a full year?

A year of books is a calendar or fiscal year of statements. A business that started in August is still one year for that year; a return is filed on it either way.

Do I pay before you start?

Yes, for the year you are catching up. Tell us about the business first; we set it up, you pay for the year, then you upload the statements. Nothing about your books reaches us until you put it there.

What if I have five years to catch up?

Five years of books, $3,495 for that business. Most owners that far behind need only the open tax years; ask your CPA which years actually have to be filed before you buy all five.

Do CPA firms get a different price?

The per-year price is the same. Firms putting many clients through take the Firm plan, which is priced on volume and adds the separation and branding a firm needs.

Is there a discount for the first year?

Sometimes, on a call, for a first engagement. It is not a published rate, so ask.

Catch-up bookkeeping cost: $699/year of books

$699 per business, per year of books. That is the whole price.

Most catch-up bookkeeping is quoted by the hour, or by the month of backlog, after someone has looked at your statements, and the number is rarely on the website. Ours is: $699 for each year of books, for each business, however many bank and card accounts it has and however many lines are in them. The price is the same before you start as after.

What a year of books includes

Every bank and card statement for the year, in any format the bank gives you (PDF, CSV, OFX, QFX), any number of accounts.
Every line posted to a double-entry ledger, with the questions only you can answer asked once, in plain words.
Profit and loss, balance sheet, trial balance and general ledger, reviewed by an accountant before they go out.
The detail behind every figure, so your CPA can trace any number back to the bank.
A QuickBooks import file and an Excel workbook.
The 1099 list and W-9 collection for the year.

A worked example

A gas station with one checking account, one savings account and two credit cards, two years behind, with a return due in March. That is one business, two years of books: 2 × $699 = $1,398. The four accounts, the 9,000-odd lines and the fuel-jobber question do not change the price. If the owner also has a second store under its own LLC and the same two years, that is a second business: another $1,398.

A restaurant three years behind, one account: $2,097. A consultant one year behind: $699. The unit is always the same, so you can price your own situation before you talk to anyone.

After the catch-up

Once the books are current you can stop there and hand the files to your CPA. If you want them to stay current, connect the bank and the books keep themselves up to date:

Essential, $29 per business per month. Bank connection, books kept current without anybody touching them, next season a review instead of a rebuild. Stop or start per business whenever you like.
Plus, $49 per business per month. Everything in Essential, with classes, locations and projects on every line, so a firm with several properties, jobs or sites gets a profit and loss per property, per job, per site.
Firm plan, custom. For CPA and bookkeeping firms putting many clients through: unlimited clients, every client kept separate, your branding on what the client sees, a named contact. Book a call and we price it on your volume.

Why it can be a flat price

A catch-up is predictable work. The statements have a known number of lines, each line is posted once, and software does the typing. What makes other quotes open-ended is the unknown, usually a wrong existing file that has to be audited line by line. We do not do that; we rebuild from the statements, which is the same job every time, so it can carry the same price every time.

What is not included

We do not file your tax return; we make it fileable. We do not log into your existing QuickBooks to fix it. Payroll, sales tax filings and invoicing are not part of the books we build. If you are not sure whether your situation is a catch-up, the behind-on-bookkeeping guide walks through it.

Questions people ask

How much does catch-up bookkeeping cost?: With Return Ready, $699 per business per year of books, flat. Elsewhere it is usually quoted hourly or per month of backlog after a look at your records, and the total is known only at the end.
Is a part year a full year?: A year of books is a calendar or fiscal year of statements. A business that started in August is still one year for that year; a return is filed on it either way.
Do I pay before you start?: Yes, for the year you are catching up. Tell us about the business first; we set it up, you pay for the year, then you upload the statements. Nothing about your books reaches us until you put it there.
What if I have five years to catch up?: Five years of books, $3,495 for that business. Most owners that far behind need only the open tax years; ask your CPA which years actually have to be filed before you buy all five.
Do CPA firms get a different price?: The per-year price is the same. Firms putting many clients through take the Firm plan, which is priced on volume and adds the separation and branding a firm needs.
Is there a discount for the first year?: Sometimes, on a call, for a first engagement. It is not a published rate, so ask.

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We do not file your returns. We make them fileable.