Washington · Small Business
Your Washington small business accountant, starting with the books.
Bookkeeping, QuickBooks setup, and cleanup for Washington small businesses — entity-aware books for LLCs, S-corps, and partnerships, no income tax (so payroll carries no state withholding), the Business & Occupation (B&O) gross-receipts tax tracked by classification with no deduction for costs (plus city B&O where it applies), the high combined sales & use tax charged correctly by location (the 6.5% state rate plus local, destination-based), the 7% capital-gains tax on owners coordinated with your CPA, the Washington payroll premiums (PFML and WA Cares) configured, and a named Certified ProAdvisor. We keep the books; your CPA files. Fixed-fee, all 39 counties.
Independent firm · not Intuit, not a CPA firm. Coordinates with your CPA.
Certified by Intuit
Real credentials held by our firm and operators — verification available on request.
Washington small business accounting, in brief.
TechBrot is the day-to-day financial backbone for Washington small businesses — Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor bookkeeping, setup, cleanup, an entity-aware chart of accounts, and the sales & use tax configured at the correct combined rate by location (the 6.5% state rate plus local, destination-based), with the Business & Occupation (B&O) gross-receipts tax tracked by classification — with no deduction for costs, plus any city B&O — clean cost-basis records kept so your CPA can determine any 7% capital-gains tax, and payroll set up with no state income-tax withholding because Washington has no income tax (though the PFML and WA Cares premiums apply), kept in your own QuickBooks file by a named ProAdvisor and coordinated with your CPA, who files. The full Washington small-business summary is below.
Reviewed by the Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor team at TechBrot Inc., an independent firm — not affiliated with Intuit Inc., and not a CPA or tax-prep firm. Washington facts (no income tax — neither individual nor corporate — so payroll carries no state income-tax withholding; the Business & Occupation (B&O) tax — a gross-receipts tax levied by classification with no deduction for the costs of doing business (retailing 0.471%, wholesaling and manufacturing 0.484%, service and other activities tiered from 1.5%), plus a separate city B&O in many cities; the high combined sales & use tax — a 6.5% state rate plus local, destination-based, among the highest combined rates in the country; the 7% capital-gains tax on long-term gains above the standard deduction ($278,000 for 2025); and the Washington payroll premiums — Paid Family & Medical Leave at 1.13% for 2026 and WA Cares at 0.58%, employee-paid) reflect current Washington Department of Revenue and Employment Security Department guidance.
Washington small business accounting, in five questions.
Do I need an accountant or a bookkeeper?
Most Washington small businesses need both, in sequence — a bookkeeper to keep books clean monthly, a CPA to file and advise. TechBrot does the bookkeeping/QuickBooks side and coordinates with your CPA, who files. If budget is tight, clean books come first.
What does it cost?
The bookkeeping/QuickBooks work runs from $400/mo for monthly service, with QuickBooks setup from $750 and cleanup from $1,200 — fixed-fee against a written scope. CPA tax-return prep is billed separately by them.
I’m just starting — what do I need?
The right entity & QuickBooks setup, a clean industry-specific chart of accounts, the sales & use tax configured at the correct combined rate by location (the 6.5% state rate plus local, destination-based), gross-receipts tracking by Business & Occupation (B&O) classification, and payroll set up correctly — Washington has no state income-tax withholding, but the PFML and WA Cares premiums apply — from day one. We handle setup and the books; your CPA or attorney handles entity filing and tax registration.
My books are a mess from fast growth — help?
Yes — a one-time cleanup to get the file CPA-ready, then monthly bookkeeping so financials keep pace as you scale — including the sales & use tax at the combined rate by location, gross-receipts tracking by B&O classification, clean cost-basis records so your CPA can determine any capital-gains tax, and correct payroll with the Washington premiums.
Is TechBrot a CPA firm?
No — an independent Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor & bookkeeping firm. We run the books; your CPA files and represents you. We do not file returns. Most Washington small businesses use both.
The short version.
Most Washington small businesses need both a bookkeeper and a CPA — and in that order. TechBrot is the day-to-day financial backbone: bookkeeping, QuickBooks setup and cleanup, payroll coordination, sales-tax tracking at the correct combined rate by location (the 6.5% state rate plus local, destination-based), and payroll with no state income-tax withholding — because Washington has no income tax — kept by a named Certified ProAdvisor, fixed-fee against a written scope (monthly from $400/mo; cleanup from $1,200).
We keep entity-aware books — an LLC, S-corp, or partnership each reads differently on the balance sheet, and the chart of accounts is built so owner draws, distributions, guaranteed payments, and reasonable S-corp compensation land where your CPA expects them — and so the gross receipts behind the Business & Occupation (B&O) tax are tracked by classification, with no deduction for costs, plus any city B&O where it applies. If you run a technology, aerospace, e-commerce, or professional-services operation, we keep payer reconciliation, job and standard costing, inventory, WIP, and per-location books clean; if you have employees, payroll is simpler on the income-tax side — Washington has no state income-tax withholding — but we configure the Washington payroll premiums (Paid Family & Medical Leave and WA Cares), and we charge the high combined sales & use tax at the right rate by location. Your CPA files your returns, determines any capital-gains tax, and advises on tax; we keep the books that make their work fast and accurate.
We’re not a CPA or tax-prep firm — we don’t file federal returns, the B&O / Combined Excise Tax Return, the sales-tax return, the capital-gains tax, or the city B&O return, and we don’t represent you before the Washington Department of Revenue. We’re the bookkeeping and QuickBooks side, coordinating directly with yours. All 39 Washington counties — from Seattle’s cloud and tech economy to Tacoma’s port and logistics, Everett’s Boeing aerospace, Spokane, Vancouver, Bellevue, and Kent — most industries. Independent firm — not affiliated with Intuit Inc.
The financial backbone, built and maintained.
Every engagement is scoped to your business and entity, delivered in your own QuickBooks file by a named Certified ProAdvisor.
QuickBooks setup, done right
The right QuickBooks edition, a clean industry-specific chart of accounts built around your entity (LLC, S-corp, or partnership), and the sales-tax items configured for the combined rate by location plus the Washington payroll premiums and no-state-withholding payroll set from the start.
Monthly bookkeeping
Reconciled accounts and owner-ready, CPA-ready statements every month, by a named bookkeeper — so you always know where the business stands.
Cleanup & catch-up
Behind from growth, or commingled across entities? We get the file accurate and CPA-ready — reclassifying transactions, fixing a single sales-tax rate that missed the destination-based local layers and a tangled equity section, and reconciling to a known-good baseline — then keep it that way.
Sales tax, B&O & payroll
The sales & use tax configured at the correct combined rate by location (the 6.5% state rate plus local, destination-based), the Business & Occupation (B&O) gross-receipts tax tracked by classification (and by city where a local B&O applies) with no cost deduction, and payroll set up with the Washington premiums (PFML and WA Cares) and no state income-tax withholding (Washington has none) — so the returns reconcile to the books rather than being guessed at filing time.
Year-end CPA handoff
Clean, documented, entity-aware books delivered to your CPA at year end — B&O-ready (gross receipts tracked by classification, with clean cost-basis records for any owner capital-gains tax), with the sales & use tax sub-reconciled by location — for faster, cheaper, audit-ready filing.
What we do — and what your CPA does.
We’re bookkeepers and Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisors, not a CPA or tax-prep firm. The split is clean, and we coordinate directly across it.
Bookkeeping & QuickBooks — not tax filing
TechBrot
- Bookkeeping, reconciliation & monthly statements
- QuickBooks setup, cleanup & management
- Entity-aware books (LLC, S-corp, partnership)
- Sales & use tax at the combined rate by location (6.5% state + local, destination-based)
- Business & Occupation (B&O) gross receipts tracked by classification (plus city B&O)
- Clean cost-basis & gain records for any owner capital-gains tax
- Payroll with the Washington premiums (PFML + WA Cares), no state income-tax withholding; multi-state set per work state
- Payer reconciliation, job costing, inventory, WIP & per-location books
- Year-end handoff to your CPA — sales & use tax and equity sub-reconciled
Files returns & represents you
Your CPA
- Files Washington & federal returns
- Files the B&O / Combined Excise Tax Return (plus any city B&O)
- Files the sales-tax return & the capital-gains tax
- Represents you before the Washington Department of Revenue
- Tax planning & formal advice
- We coordinate directly — bookkeeper vs accountant →
Automation handles the data entry. We handle the judgment.
Apps can categorize transactions; they can’t tell a Washington founder their margins are slipping, their owner draws are outrunning profit, which Business & Occupation (B&O) classification a new revenue line falls under, or whether a planned sale of a business interest will trigger the 7% capital-gains tax. Clean books are the foundation; judgment is the value.
Once your books are solid and entity-aware, the question shifts from “are the numbers right?” to “what do they tell me to do next?” That’s where fractional-CFO advisory comes in — a Certified ProAdvisor who knows your numbers turning them into pricing, cash-flow, multi-state nexus, and entity-structure conversations to have with your CPA. Explore fractional CFO & advisory →
Reviewed by the TechBrot Certified ProAdvisor team.
This page reflects how TechBrot handles Washington small-business engagements. It is maintained by the Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor team at TechBrot Inc., a Delaware-incorporated independent ProAdvisor firm serving Washington businesses remotely across all 39 counties, and reviewed for accuracy on the bookkeeping scope, the entity-aware chart of accounts, and the Washington references (no income tax — so payroll carries no state withholding — the Business & Occupation (B&O) tax, a gross-receipts tax levied by classification with no deduction for costs (plus city B&O), the high combined sales & use tax of a 6.5% state rate plus local, and the 7% capital-gains tax on owners). TechBrot keeps the books and coordinates with your CPA, who files; we do not file Washington or federal returns, the B&O / Combined Excise Tax Return, the sales-tax return, the capital-gains tax, or the city B&O return, and do not represent clients before the Washington Department of Revenue.
Certifications
Active Intuit Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor — Online (L2), Desktop, Enterprise, Payroll
Scope
Bookkeeping, QuickBooks, the sales & use tax at the combined rate by location, the Business & Occupation (B&O) gross-receipts tax by classification, capital-gains-ready cost-basis records, the Washington payroll premiums, no-state-withholding payroll, job costing · income-tax filing coordinated with your CPA/EA (out of our scope)
Engagement
Fixed-fee, written scope before work · delivered in your own QuickBooks file
Independence
Independent Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor firm · Not affiliated with Intuit Inc.
Talk to a ProAdvisor
One call tells you exactly where your books stand.
No form, no sales script. You speak with a Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor who has looked at files like yours — and you get a written fixed-fee scope within one business day.
(877) 751-5575Mon–Fri · we reply the same business day
- You talk to a ProAdvisorA real Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor — not a call centre.
- We review your fileWe look at what’s actually in your QuickBooks and what it needs.
- You get a written scopeA fixed fee in writing within 3 business days. Then you decide.
Washington small business accounting questions.
Do I need an accountant or a bookkeeper for my Washington small business?
What does a small business accountant do in Washington?
How much does a small business accountant cost in Washington?
I’m just starting a business in Washington — what do I need?
Can you help if my business is growing fast and the books are a mess?
Is TechBrot a CPA firm?
How do we get started?
Get the books right — the rest gets easier.
Book a free discovery call. We’ll review your situation and your books, recommend setup, cleanup, monthly service, or a mix, and send a written fixed-fee quote within 3 business days. No pitch. Independent firm — we keep the books and coordinate with your CPA, who files; we do not file Washington returns, the B&O / Combined Excise Tax Return, the sales-tax return, or the capital-gains tax.