California · Bookkeeping Services
California bookkeeping services — reconciled, sales-tax-ready, CPA-ready.
Monthly bookkeeping, cleanup, and catch-up for California businesses by a named QuickBooks ProAdvisor — reconciled accounts, CDTFA district sales tax configured by location, the $800 franchise tax accrued, and CPA-ready statements, in your own QuickBooks file across all 58 counties.
Bookkeeping & advisory · Fixed-fee · written scope in 3 days
TechBrot provides bookkeeping services for California businesses — monthly bookkeeping, cleanup, and catch-up by a named QuickBooks ProAdvisor, with reconciled accounts, CDTFA district sales tax configured by location, the $800 franchise tax accrued, and CPA-ready statements, in your own QuickBooks file across all 58 counties. The full California bookkeeping summary is below.
Maintained by TechBrot Inc. California tax references ($800 FTB franchise tax; CDTFA district sales tax; AB5) reflect rules current as of the date this page was last updated.
The short version.
TechBrot provides bookkeeping services for California businesses — monthly bookkeeping, cleanup, and catch-up by a named QuickBooks ProAdvisor. Reconciled accounts, a clean chart of accounts, CDTFA district sales tax configured to the correct combined rate by location, the $800 franchise tax accrued, AB5 contractor tracking, and CPA-ready monthly statements — in your own QuickBooks Online or Desktop file across all 58 counties. Fixed-fee against a written scope ($400–$2,500+/mo monthly; cleanup $1,500–$15,000+; catch-up $2,000–$20,000+).
California bookkeeping services, in five questions.
What do California bookkeeping services include?
Reconciliation, categorization, a clean chart of accounts, CDTFA district sales tax by location, the $800 franchise-tax accrual, AB5 tracking, and CPA-ready monthly statements — by a named QuickBooks ProAdvisor in your own QuickBooks file.
Monthly, cleanup, or catch-up — which do I need?
Cleanup fixes a specific period that’s wrong; catch-up brings months or years of behind-books current; monthly keeps a current file clean going forward. The free file review tells you honestly which one fits — often cleanup or catch-up first, then monthly.
What California taxes do you build in?
The $800 FTB franchise tax, CDTFA district sales tax at the correct combined rate by location, and AB5 worker classification — all reflected in the books so the returns your CPA files tie out.
What does it cost?
Fixed-fee: monthly $400–$2,500+/mo; cleanup $1,500–$15,000+; catch-up $2,000–$20,000+. Exact fee in writing within 3 business days.
Do you work in my QuickBooks file?
Yes — your file, your data, in QuickBooks Online or hosted Desktop, with a named bookkeeper on the same file every month. We don’t lock you into proprietary software.
Three ways we keep California books.
Whether you’re behind, current, or scaling, the engagement is scoped to where your books actually are.
Monthly bookkeeping
A recurring close — reconciliation, categorization, district sales tax, and CPA-ready statements every month.
Monthly bookkeeping →Cleanup
A file with structural problems — flat-rate sales tax, unreconciled accounts, misclassified contractors — brought to a CPA-ready standard.
Cleanup →Catch-up
Months or years behind, scoped and brought current so your CPA can file and you can see where you stand.
Catch-up →District sales tax built in
CDTFA rates configured by customer location and reconciled, so the sales-tax return ties.
Sales tax help →$800 franchise tax accrued
The FTB minimum tax and LLC fee tracked in the books so it’s planned for, not a year-end surprise.
California overview →CPA-ready statements
Clean monthly financials your CPA files from and a lender or investor can rely on.
Financial statements →Three California facts that change how your books are kept.
Bookkeeping in California isn’t generic — these three realities shape the chart of accounts and the sales-tax setup from day one.
California’s $800 FTB franchise tax
Every LLC and corporation owes the Franchise Tax Board $800 a year to do business in California — even at a loss — plus an income-based LLC fee.
District sales tax by location
California’s 7.25% base is the highest in the U.S., and local district add-ons push the combined rate past 10.25% in places. QuickBooks must apply the correct combined rate by customer location, not a flat statewide rate.
AB5 worker classification
The ABC test reclassifies many core-work contractors as employees, with penalties of $5,000–$25,000 per violation plus back payroll taxes. We separate W-2 from 1099 and surface the exposure; disputes go to your CPA or counsel.
What we do — and what we don’t.
What TechBrot does
- Reconcile and categorize every account, every month
- Build and maintain a California-correct chart of accounts
- Configure CDTFA district sales tax by location and reconcile it
- Accrue the $800 franchise tax and track AB5 classification
- Deliver CPA-ready monthly statements
- Run cleanup or catch-up first when the file needs it
What your CPA does
- File California or federal income, franchise, or sales-tax returns
- Represent you before the FTB, CDTFA, or EDD
- Resolve worker-classification disputes or audits
- Provide legal or tax advice
Four steps from messy to handled.
Free file review
A QuickBooks ProAdvisor reviews your books and tells you whether cleanup, catch-up, or monthly is the right start.
Written fixed-fee scope
A written scope and fixed fee within 3 business days — no hourly billing.
Get to CPA-ready
We bring the file to a CPA-ready standard — district rates corrected, accounts reconciled.
Monthly cadence
A named bookkeeper keeps the file clean every month and hands statements to your CPA.
Automation handles the data entry. We handle the judgment.
Good California bookkeeping isn’t just tidy — it’s books where the district sales tax ties to the CDTFA return, the franchise tax is planned for, and the contractor mix is defensible.
Once that foundation is in place, fractional-CFO advisory turns it into decisions — forecasting and board reporting, in coordination with your CPA.
California bookkeeping services questions.
What do your California bookkeeping services include?
Do I need monthly bookkeeping, cleanup, or catch-up?
Which California taxes do you build into the books?
How much do California bookkeeping services cost?
Do you work in my own QuickBooks file?
Do you serve my California city or county?
Do you file my California taxes?
Can you fix a file where sales tax was set up wrong?
Maintained by TechBrot.
Maintained by TechBrot Inc., a bookkeeping and advisory firm serving California businesses remotely across all 58 counties. California tax figures — the $800 FTB minimum franchise tax, CDTFA district sales tax, and AB5 worker classification — reflect rules current as of the date below and are sourced from the California Franchise Tax Board, the CDTFA, and the EDD. TechBrot provides bookkeeping, QuickBooks work, and payroll coordination and works with your CPA, who files; we do not file California returns or represent clients before tax authorities.
Standards
Verified vs the CA FTB, CDTFA & EDD · No tax-filing or representation claims (out of scope) · Updated when rules change · No fabricated data
Around California.
California QuickBooks ProAdvisor & bookkeeping
The state page: services, industries, cities and the California tax terms in one place.
Bookkeeping services, nationally
The national engagement this page is the California version of — same scope, same written fixed fee.
Also in California:Monthly bookkeeping · Cleanup & catch-up bookkeeping.
California cities:San Jose · Bakersfield · Sacramento — served remotely, in your own QuickBooks file.
Not sure where your file stands? Start with the free QuickBooks file review.
Before you engage anyone.
Monthly bookkeeping checklist
The month-end sequence — every bank and card account reconciled, bills and invoices current, payroll tied out — in the order that catches errors earliest.
Bookkeeping cost calculator
An estimate of the monthly fee from your transaction volume, accounts, and payroll — the same inputs a written scope uses.
California bookkeeping pricing
What the engagement costs in California — the fixed-fee bands by scope, and what moves a quote up or down, before you book the call.
California small-business accountant
Bookkeeping is the monthly work; this is the person who reads it back to you — what a California small-business accountant does beyond keeping the books current, and when you need one.
California businesses start here
Ready for bookkeeping that ties to the CDTFA return?
Book a free discovery call. We’ll review where your books stand and send a written fixed-fee quote within 3 business days. No pitch.