What a QuickBooks ProAdvisor costs
Before you engage anyone in Tennessee: what a QuickBooks ProAdvisor charges nationally, why the fee is quoted as a written fixed scope rather than an hourly rate, and which factors move it.
The engagementTennessee
Your Tennessee QuickBooks bookkeeper — ProAdvisor expertise, Tennessee rules.
Bookkeeping, QuickBooks setup and cleanup, payroll coordination, and the Tennessee specifics that trip up generic bookkeepers — the high combined sales tax (a 7% state rate plus a local option up to 2.75%, so the combined rate commonly lands near 9.25–9.75% by location), the Franchise & Excise (F&E) tax kept ready in the books (a 6.5% excise on net earnings plus a 0.25% franchise tax on net worth, $100 minimum), the business (gross-receipts) tax that kicks in at $100,000 across state and city, and payroll set up with no state income-tax withholding because Tennessee has no individual income tax (the Hall tax was repealed in 2021) — delivered by your TechBrot team, with every close reviewed by a Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor, in your own QuickBooks file. Fixed-fee, all 95 counties.
$500–$2,500+
State rule
Tennessee rule: a business needs a standard business license from the county or city clerk once its gross receipts in that jurisdiction reach $100,000, and a minimal activity license above $3,000; QuickBooks tracks gross receipts by county and city. Source: Tennessee Department of Revenue.
What you can check before you sign
- Fixed fee, written first
- Your own QuickBooks file
- No hourly billing
If your file needs our paid diagnostic first, its fee is credited in full against the cleanup. Either way, you get a fixed fee in writing before any work starts.
§ 01 · In short
The short version.
§ In short
A Tennessee QuickBooks accountant from TechBrot keeps your file reconciled for the Franchise & Excise tax, a 6.5% excise on net earnings plus 0.25% on net worth, and sets sales tax by location. With no individual income tax, payroll has no state withholding. Bookkeeping runs $500–$2,500+ a month, agreed in writing.
They took something that felt overwhelming to me as a first-year business owner and made it simple.
What stood out the most was TechBrot Inc’s attention to detail.
Intuit QuickBooks Certification Level 2 and QuickBooks Workforce Certification,
§ 02 · What TechBrot does for your Tennessee books
Everything your books need, handled by one team.
Every engagement is scoped to your business and delivered in your own QuickBooks file by your TechBrot team — the same team, every month.
Monthly bookkeeping & reconciliation
Every bank, credit-card, and merchant account categorized and reconciled, a clean chart of accounts maintained, and monthly statements you can actually read — in your own QuickBooks file.
QuickBooks cleanup & catch-up
Behind or messy? We fix the file to a CPA-ready standard — undeposited funds, miscategorizations, broken reconciliations, a single sales-tax rate that missed the local layers, a tangled equity section that won’t support the franchise-tax net-worth base, commingled entities — then keep it clean.
QuickBooks setup & migration
A new file built right, or a Desktop-to-Online migration done without breaking your history — chart of accounts, the sales-tax items for the combined rate by location, and bank feeds configured by a ProAdvisor.
Sales tax & business-tax tracking
Tennessee’s combined sales tax is a 7% state rate plus a local option up to 2.75%, every locality has one, so the combined rate varies by location. Generic setups charge one statewide rate — wrong. We configure the QuickBooks sales-tax items so the correct combined rate applies by destination, reconcile them so the filings tie out, track the business (gross-receipts) tax by jurisdiction so the $100,000 threshold is visible, and scope multi-state nexus for sellers crossing the state line. You or your CPA file.
Payroll coordination
QuickBooks Payroll run and reconciled into the books — and because Tennessee has no individual income tax, there is no state income-tax withholding to manage (payroll is federal, FICA, and state unemployment only), with any multi-state staff set per work state — so wages, taxes, and liabilities reconcile every month.
Year-end CPA handoff
Clean, reconciled, documented books delivered to your CPA at year-end — with the sales-tax detail kept filing-ready by location and the balance sheet kept F&E-ready (a clean net-worth base for the franchise tax and net earnings for the excise) — so your return is faster, cheaper, and audit-ready. We coordinate with them directly so nothing falls through.
§ 03 · Tennessee tax realities we build into your books
Three Tennessee facts that change how your books are kept.
These aren’t footnotes — they shape how the chart of accounts, the sales-tax items by location, and the no-withholding payroll are set up from day one.
No individual income tax — no state withholding
Tennessee has no individual income tax. The old Hall income tax, which applied only to certain interest and dividend income and never to wages, was fully repealed for tax years beginning January 1, 2021. The practical effect on the books is clean: there is no state income-tax withholding on payroll — QuickBooks Payroll handles federal income tax, FICA, and state unemployment only. That’s simpler than the municipal-tax states (Ohio) or city-tax states (Michigan), and we set payroll up so Tennessee and any multi-state staff are withheld correctly.
The Franchise & Excise tax — the real business tax
Tennessee’s business-level tax is the Franchise & Excise (F&E) tax, filed together on the FAE 170: a flat 6.5% excise on net earnings plus a 0.25% franchise tax on net worth ($0.25 per $100, a $100 minimum). For tax years ending on or after January 1, 2024, the old property measure (the “minimum measure,” Schedule G) was repealed, so the franchise tax is now computed on net worth only. Because the franchise side keys off net worth, the equity section and balance sheet have to be clean. We keep the net-worth and net-earnings figures reconciled so the FAE 170 is straightforward for your CPA, who files it.
A 7% state rate plus up to 2.75% local
Tennessee’s state sales-tax rate is 7%, and counties and cities add a local option up to 2.75% (in multiples of 0.25%). Every Tennessee locality has a local rate, so the combined rate commonly lands near 9.25–9.75%, and getting the right combined rate by location is the recurring sales-tax work. Separately, the business (gross-receipts) tax kicks in once you gross $100,000 in a jurisdiction (a state and a city tax). We configure QuickBooks for the correct combined sales-tax rate by destination, sub-reconcile it monthly, and track the gross receipts so the business-tax obligation is visible.
§ 04 · The scope
What we do — and what we don’t.
What TechBrot does
- Monthly bookkeeping & reconciliation in QuickBooks
- QuickBooks cleanup, catch-up, setup & migration
- The combined sales tax (7% state + local up to 2.75%) by location, the business (gross-receipts) tax tracked by jurisdiction, and F&E-ready net-worth/net-earnings figures set up in QuickBooks
- Payroll coordination (no Tennessee state withholding) & year-end CPA handoff
- CPA-ready financial statements every month
What your CPA does
- Files your Tennessee & federal income-tax returns
- Files the Franchise & Excise (FAE 170) return; represents you before the Tennessee Department of Revenue
- Files the business (gross-receipts) tax & the sales-tax return; provides formal tax planning & opinions
- We coordinate directly — bookkeeper vs accountant
§ 05 · Bookkeeping or tax work
Small business accountant or bookkeeper: which Tennessee owners need
A small business accountant in Tennessee can mean the books or the tax work done from them. TechBrot does the books.
Just starting: set the books up first
The right entity and QuickBooks setup, a chart of accounts built for your industry, the sales-tax items set to the combined state and local rate by location, and gross receipts tracked by county and city for the business tax from the first sale. Your CPA or attorney handles the entity filing and the business-tax and sales-tax registrations.
An LLC, S-corp or partnership: entity-aware books
Each entity reads differently on the balance sheet. The chart of accounts is built so owner draws, distributions, guaranteed payments and reasonable S-corp compensation land where your CPA expects them, with the net-worth and taxable-income figures kept reconciled for the franchise and excise tax.
§ 06 · How a Tennessee engagement starts
Four steps from messy to handled.
Every Tennessee engagement follows the same rhythm — file accurate first, monthly cadence second, advisory third.
- Step 1
Discovery call
A free call to review your QuickBooks file and your Tennessee situation — volume, accounts, where your combined sales-tax rates land by location, whether you cross the $100,000 business-tax threshold, how your F&E net-worth figure should be kept clean, where your multi-state footprint runs, entity structure, and where things are breaking. No pitch.
- Step 2
Written scope
A fixed-fee proposal within 3 business days — cleanup, monthly, or both — with the price in writing before any work begins.
- Step 3
Cleanup & setup
Your senior bookkeeper gets the file CPA-ready and reconciled — fixing categorization, the sales-tax items for the combined rate by location, the gross-receipts tracking for the business tax, the equity section for the franchise-tax net-worth base, and broken reconciliations to a known-good baseline.
- Step 4
Monthly cadence
Same preparer, same file, every month — reconciled accounts, the sales tax current at the combined rate by location, payroll run with no state withholding, the books kept F&E-ready, statements delivered, with a clean year-end handoff to your CPA.
§ 07 · The advisory line
Automation handles the data entry. We handle the judgment.
Software can categorize a transaction. It can’t tell you when you’ve crossed the $100,000 business-tax threshold in a new county, which combined sales-tax rate applies to a sale in a different city, or whether your equity section will support the franchise-tax net-worth base on the FAE 170. As bookkeeping commoditizes, that judgment is where the value moves.
Once your Tennessee books are clean and reconciled, the question shifts from “are the books right?” to “what do they tell me to do next?” That’s what a fractional CFO engagement adds once your books are clean. Explore fractional CFO & advisory
Checked against the Tennessee Department of Revenue and its Franchise & Excise tax guidance.
§ 08 · Who works on your books
Your TechBrot team.
Every engagement runs on three roles: a client advisor who scopes it and stays your point of contact, a senior bookkeeper who prepares your setup and monthly close in your software, and a Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor who reviews every close before it reaches you. A U.S.-based bookkeeper is available on request; we can share their public directory profile with you.
Specialists when your books need them.
Senior bookkeepers who specialize in rental portfolios and Xero, and specialist partner practices for trust accounting for law firms and CFO advisory. We bring the right one onto your engagement when your business calls for it, under the same standards and review.
§ 09 · Around the engagement
Before you engage a Tennessee ProAdvisor.
Tennessee QuickBooks cleanup
If the file is behind or the numbers do not tie out, cleanup comes before any monthly engagement — what that involves in Tennessee, and how it is scoped.
The engagementTennessee small-business accountant
Bookkeeping or tax work: which one a Tennessee small business needs first, and where TechBrot’s work stops and your CPA’s starts.
The engagement§ 10 · Around this page
Around Tennessee.
Tennessee QuickBooks ProAdvisor & bookkeeping
The state page: services, industries, cities and the Tennessee tax terms in one place.QuickBooks accountant, nationally
The national engagement this page is the Tennessee version of — same scope, same written fixed fee.Also in Tennessee
Searching for a QuickBooks ProAdvisor near you, working remotely? Distance doesn’t change the work: it happens in your own QuickBooks file.
Not sure where your file stands? Start with the free QuickBooks file review · how Tennessee compares: state-by-state tax quirks.
§ 11 · Questions
Tennessee QuickBooks accountant questions.
Do I need a QuickBooks ProAdvisor in Tennessee, or will any bookkeeper do?
For a Tennessee business, a QuickBooks ProAdvisor brings two things a general bookkeeper often can’t: verified QuickBooks expertise and fluency in Tennessee’s specific rules — the high combined sales tax charged correctly by location (7% state plus a local option up to 2.75%), the business (gross-receipts) tax at the $100,000 threshold, the Franchise & Excise (F&E) net-worth and net-earnings tie-out, and the no-state-income-tax-withholding payroll reality (Tennessee has no individual income tax). TechBrot pairs ProAdvisor-level QuickBooks work with that Tennessee context, delivered as a fixed-fee engagement.
What does a Tennessee QuickBooks accountant actually do month to month?
Each month: categorize and reconcile every bank, credit-card, and merchant account; maintain a clean chart of accounts; keep the sales tax charged correctly at the combined rate by location and the balance sheet F&E-ready so the returns are accurate; track gross receipts so the $100,000 business-tax threshold stays visible; produce a profit & loss, balance sheet, and cash-flow statement; and hand your CPA clean, year-end-ready books. The work is done by your TechBrot team, with every close reviewed by a Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor
How much does a QuickBooks accountant cost in Tennessee?
TechBrot quotes fixed monthly fees against a written scope, not hourly. Ongoing monthly bookkeeping runs from $500/mo depending on transaction volume and accounts. One-time QuickBooks cleanup starts at $1,200, and setup at $750. You get the scope and price in writing before any work begins — no metered clock, no surprise invoices. Call (877) 751-5575 to scope it.
How do the F&E tax and the high sales tax affect my QuickBooks setup?
Two things drive the Tennessee setup. The Franchise & Excise (F&E) tax keys off net earnings (a 6.5% excise) and net worth (a 0.25% franchise tax, $100 minimum, net-worth-only since 2024), so we keep the equity section and balance sheet clean enough to support the FAE 170 base. The sales tax is a 7% state rate plus a local option up to 2.75%, varying by location, so we configure the QuickBooks sales-tax items for the correct combined rate by destination and sub-reconcile the liability monthly. We also track gross receipts so the $100,000 business-tax threshold is visible. We build it in; you or your CPA file.
What does a small business accountant do in Tennessee?
In practice the title covers two sets of work. The books: recording and reconciling transactions, producing financial statements, running payroll, and tracking the sales tax at the combined state and local rate and the gross receipts for the business tax. The tax work: filing returns, including the franchise and excise tax, and giving tax advice, which is a CPA’s or EA’s role. TechBrot does the first set and coordinates with your CPA for the second.
Can you fix a messy QuickBooks file and then keep it clean?
Yes — the path is a one-time cleanup or catch-up to get the file accurate and reconciled, then ongoing monthly bookkeeping to keep it that way. We scope the cleanup first, fix it to a CPA-ready standard — including the sales-tax items for the combined rate by location, the gross-receipts tracking, and a clean equity section for the franchise-tax base — and roll straight into a monthly cadence so the file never drifts again.
How do we get started?
Book a free Tennessee discovery call, or call (877) 751-5575. We review your QuickBooks file and your situation, identify whether you need cleanup, monthly bookkeeping, or both, and send a written fixed-fee proposal within 3 business days. If it’s a fit, your senior bookkeeper starts on your file; if it isn’t, we’ll point you in the right direction.
§ 12 · Talk to a client advisor
One call tells you exactly where your books stand.
Tell us what you need QuickBooks help with. We’ll tell you which engagement fits, and whether we’re the right fit at all.
What happens when you call