Ready to get started on your business idea?
Before you reach out, get your books in order.
Clean books are the best way to get the most value out of a tax advisor. And bookkeeping does not have to be painful.
There are free options, but sometimes the painless experience is the one you pay for. It’s like driving a nicer car or buying the warmer winter coat: there’s real value in paying for premium, so your accounting flows straight into your tax return without you lifting a finger. Here are the premium tools that make bookkeeping painless.
Taxana
You wonder if you’re okay. Your books should just answer.
Taxana is done-for-you bookkeeping and tax with a licensed CPA. You don’t do data entry. You don’t chase categories. You open your dashboard and know exactly where you stand, and your books are ready for tax time before you are. If you’re serious about your side hustle, this is the one we’d pick.
- Done-for-you bookkeeping with a CPA-led team behind it
- Connects to your business bank and cards with read-only access
- Transactions categorized for you, with anything unclear flagged for review
- Snap or email receipts and they’re matched to the right charge
- Live dashboard: cash, revenue, expenses, profit and weekly cash flow
- Clean profit and loss plus a Document Center your tax preparer can use
#2
QuickBooks Online
The industry standard, with the biggest ecosystem in small business accounting.
Intuit’s ecosystem is what makes QuickBooks so powerful. It works hand in hand with TurboTax, QuickBooks Payroll, payments and hundreds of connected apps, and nearly every accountant already knows how to work in it. If you want one system that grows with your business, this is it.
Learn more#3
LandLordTax
An iOS app built specifically for landlord accounting.
Track rent, deposits and expenses property by property, with every deduction sorted into IRS Schedule E categories. At tax time it exports CPA-ready Schedule E summaries and Excel workbooks organized by property. Free on the App Store.
Learn moreRead about free options
Zoho Books (Free plan)
Free for businesses under $50K in yearly revenue: 1 user plus your accountant, up to 1,000 invoices a year and bank reconciliation. Automatic bank feeds start on the paid plans.
See pricingWave (Starter plan)
Free with unlimited invoices and bookkeeping records. On the free plan you enter or upload transactions yourself; automatic bank imports come with Pro at $19 a month.
See pricingFree plans are a fine way to start. When you’d rather spend your time on the business than on data entry, that’s when premium pays for itself.