San Francisco · Bay Area · California
San Francisco bookkeeper & QuickBooks accountant.
Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor bookkeeping for San Francisco businesses — built around the city’s Gross Receipts Tax (levied on gross receipts, not profit), California’s $800 minimum franchise tax and FTB filing, and CDTFA sales tax. A named bookkeeper on the same file every month, kept CPA-ready for your CPA to file.
Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor team · San Francisco & the Bay Area · Fixed-fee · written scope in 3 days
TechBrot delivers Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor bookkeeping for San Francisco businesses — monthly bookkeeping, cleanup, and QuickBooks management by a named bookkeeper on the same file every month, fluent in the San Francisco Gross Receipts Tax and California’s FTB and CDTFA structure. The full San Francisco summary is below.
Reviewed by the Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor team at TechBrot Inc., an independent firm — not affiliated with Intuit Inc. San Francisco & California tax figures verified against the CA FTB, the CDTFA, and the SF Office of the Treasurer & Tax Collector.
The short version.
TechBrot provides Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor bookkeeping for San Francisco businesses — monthly bookkeeping, cleanup, and QuickBooks management by a named bookkeeper on the same file every month. What sets San Francisco apart is a tax stack almost no other U.S. city imposes: the San Francisco Gross Receipts Tax, which taxes your gross receipts rather than your profit, sits on top of California’s $800 minimum annual franchise tax (owed to the FTB whether or not you make money), the state’s 7.25% base sales/use tax administered by the CDTFA (about 8.625% in the city), and California’s strict AB5 worker-classification rules. We build awareness of all of it into your books, keep them CPA-ready, and coordinate with your CPA, who files. Fixed-fee against a written scope ($400–$2,500+/mo monthly; cleanup $1,500–$15,000+). Delivered remotely on QuickBooks Online or hosted Desktop. Independent firm — not affiliated with Intuit Inc.; does not file California or San Francisco taxes.
San Francisco bookkeeping, in five questions.
Who provides bookkeeping for San Francisco businesses?
TechBrot provides Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor bookkeeping for San Francisco and Bay Area businesses — a named bookkeeper per file, delivered remotely on QuickBooks, fluent in the San Francisco Gross Receipts Tax and California’s FTB and CDTFA tax structure.
What San Francisco and California taxes affect my books?
The San Francisco Gross Receipts Tax (levied on gross receipts, not net income), California’s $800 minimum annual franchise tax plus an income-based LLC fee (FTB), CDTFA sales & use tax (7.25% state base, about 8.625% in San Francisco), and AB5 worker classification.
What does it cost?
$400–$2,500+/mo for monthly bookkeeping; $1,500–$15,000+ for one-time cleanup. Fixed-fee against a written scope, never hourly. Fast-scaling SF businesses often run high transaction volumes, which we scope transparently before any work begins.
Do I owe the San Francisco Gross Receipts Tax?
It depends on your gross receipts, not your profit. The smallest businesses fall under a small-business exemption, but above it the city taxes gross receipts at rates that vary by business activity — which means a startup operating at a loss can still owe it. Larger firms can also face the Homelessness Gross Receipts Tax and the Overpaid Executive Tax. We keep the books so the real figure is clear; the SF Treasurer’s rules and your CPA confirm what’s due.
Which areas do you serve?
All of San Francisco — SoMa, the Financial District, the Mission, Mission Bay, Union Square, the Sunset and Richmond — plus the wider Bay Area, delivered remotely on QuickBooks, so your location doesn’t change the service or the named bookkeeper on your file.
Why San Francisco books are different.
Most cities tax what a business earns. San Francisco taxes what it takes in — and that single difference is what makes bookkeeping here its own discipline.
The San Francisco Gross Receipts Tax is levied on gross receipts, not net income, so a venture-funded startup burning cash at a loss can still owe the city tax — the opposite of how founders expect tax to work. Stacked on top is California’s structure: the $800 minimum franchise tax every LLC and corporation owes the Franchise Tax Board regardless of profit, an additional income-based LLC fee, the nation’s highest base sales/use tax (7.25%, administered by the CDTFA, not the IRS), and AB5, whose strict ABC test reclassifies many “contractors” as employees. No other state-and-city pair layers tax quite like this.
That is why out-of-state, software-only bookkeeping struggles here. If your books don’t separate gross receipts the way the city classifies business activity, the Gross Receipts Tax becomes a guess. If sales tax isn’t reconciled to the CDTFA return, it drifts. If a “contractor” should have been a W-2 employee under AB5, you find out the expensive way. TechBrot keeps a named bookkeeper on your file who knows these are the things that matter in this city — built into the monthly close, not the year-end scramble.
The result: books that reflect how a San Francisco business actually runs — gross receipts tracked, sales tax reconciled, contractor vs. employee handled cleanly — reconciled monthly and handed to your CPA CPA-ready, so filing the GRT, the franchise tax, and the income returns is fast and accurate.
San Francisco areas we serve.
San Francisco’s tax stack, at a glance.
California minimum annual franchise tax — every LLC, corporation, LP, and LLP owes it to the Franchise Tax Board (FTB) regardless of profit. LLCs also owe an additional income-based LLC fee (roughly $900 to $11,790 by total income). Filed by your CPA; tracked in your books so it’s never a surprise.
San Francisco combined sales & use tax — California’s 7.25% statewide base (the highest in the U.S.) plus the city district rate, administered by the CDTFA, not the IRS. Tracked and reconciled in QuickBooks for an accurate return.
San Francisco Gross Receipts Tax — the city taxes gross receipts (not net income), at rates that vary by business activity, with a small-business exemption for the smallest firms. Larger businesses can also face the Homelessness Gross Receipts Tax and the Overpaid Executive Tax. Because it’s on receipts, it can apply even in a loss year.
Industry-specific bookkeeping for San Francisco businesses.
Each links to our dedicated industry page, with the San Francisco wrinkles built in.
- Tech & SaaS startups — deferred-revenue recognition for subscriptions, burn-rate and runway reporting, equity-comp and R&D coordination with your CPA
- Professional services & agencies — project profitability, gross-vs-net revenue, and books structured for the gross-receipts classification
- Restaurants & hospitality — high-volume POS deposits reconciled to the CDTFA sales-tax return, tipped-employee payroll
- E-commerce & retail — multi-channel sales, marketplace settlements, and multi-state sales-tax nexus beyond California
- Nonprofits — functional-expense allocation, grant revenue recognition, and CA Attorney General / RRF-1 ready workpapers
- Real estate — investors, brokerages & property managers — multi-entity ledgers and trust accounting
Complete bookkeeping, San Francisco-aware.
Monthly bookkeeping
Cleanup & catch-up
QuickBooks management
Sales-tax- & GRT-ready books
Automation handles the data entry. We handle the judgment.
In a city that taxes your gross receipts and a state that bills $800 before you’ve made a dollar, the value isn’t in categorizing a transaction — it’s in knowing your gross-receipts classification is right, your runway against burn is real, and your contractor mix won’t fail an AB5 test. That judgment is what a named San Francisco bookkeeper brings, and what fractional-CFO advisory extends once the books are clean.
Reviewed by the TechBrot Certified ProAdvisor team.
Reviewer
TechBrot Certified ProAdvisor team · 40+ years combined operational accounting experience
Standards
Verified vs CA FTB, CDTFA & SF Treasurer & Tax Collector · No tax-filing or representation claims (out of scope) · Reviewed periodically · No fabricated data
Independence
Independent Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor firm · Not affiliated with Intuit Inc.
San Francisco bookkeeping questions.
Do you have a bookkeeper for my San Francisco business?
What San Francisco and California taxes affect my bookkeeping?
Do I owe the San Francisco Gross Receipts Tax?
What is California's $800 franchise tax?
How much does a San Francisco bookkeeper cost?
Can you clean up a messy San Francisco QuickBooks file?
Do you work with San Francisco tech and SaaS startups?
How do we get started in San Francisco?
San Francisco businesses start here
Book a San Francisco discovery call.
30 minutes. We review where your books stand and your San Francisco context — gross-receipts classification, the $800 franchise tax, CDTFA sales tax, AB5 contractor mix — and recommend the right engagement. Written fixed-fee scope within 3 business days. No pitch. Independent firm — does not file CA/SF taxes; coordinates with your CPA.