Struggling to find a decent bookkeeper near me. What are the best online bookkeeping solutions these days?

Thanks for the suggestions! I'm currently using a basic Excel spreadsheet for tracking and Square for invoicing and payments. I've heard of QuickBooks but wasn't sure if it was overkill for my small operation. Does FreshBooks handle payroll too or would I need something separate for that?

Excel and Square is a common starting point, but you'll definitely benefit from a more integrated solution. FreshBooks has payroll through partners like Gusto, but it's an additional cost. For your setup, QuickBooks Online Plus with their payroll add-on might be the most straightforward - you'd have everything in one system, and it integrates well with Square for your existing payment processing. QuickBooks isn't overkill - their small business tier is designed exactly for businesses your size. The time you'll save on reconciliation and tax preparation will offset the cost. Most landscapers I work with find the reporting features especially helpful for understanding seasonal cash flow.

How does it handle things like vehicle expenses and equipment depreciation? I've got a work truck and constantly buying new equipment for my lawn care business, and tracking all that has been a nightmare.

I'm intrigued but skeptical. Does it really save that much time? I spend about 5 hours every weekend just sorting through receipts and invoices. And how accurate is the AI part? I've tried other "smart" systems that constantly miscategorize my expenses.

For vehicle expenses, it automatically tracks mileage through your phone if you want, or you can log trips manually. It properly separates business vs personal use which is crucial for tax purposes. For equipment, it handles depreciation schedules automatically based on what you purchase - you just snap a photo of the receipt and it does the rest. It's reduced my bookkeeping time from about 6 hours a week to maybe 30 minutes. The AI is surprisingly accurate at categorizing industry-specific expenses, but there's always a human review to catch anything the AI misses. What impressed me was how it learned my business patterns over time - by month three, it was correctly categorizing 95% of my transactions without any input from me.

Wait, how does this actually work? Do they just call the IRS for you? Couldn't you just do that yourself? I'm confused about what the service actually provides.

Yeah right. No way they can get through to the IRS that fast. I called 23 times last month trying to fix a payroll tax issue and never got through. Either you got extremely lucky or this is some kind of scam.

They don't just call for you - they use a system that navigates the IRS phone tree and waits on hold so you don't have to. When they actually reach a human agent, they connect the call to your phone. You still talk directly to the IRS yourself, they just handle the frustrating waiting part. It works because they have systems constantly dialing and navigating the phone trees across multiple lines simultaneously. I was skeptical too but it actually worked. I had previously spent 3 hours on hold before getting disconnected, which is why I tried them in the first place. It's basically like having someone else wait in line for you.

Have you had any issues with Wave at tax time? I tried it last year and my accountant complained that the reports weren't detailed enough for some of the deductions we wanted to take. Did you add any paid features to make it work better?

I did have some limitations with Wave during my first tax season, particularly around categorizing certain business expenses properly. I ended up using their paid receipt scanning feature ($8/month) which helped tremendously with organization and made my accountant much happier. For detailed job costing and tracking profitability by service type, Wave definitely has limitations. I supplement with a simple spreadsheet for that analysis. The payroll integration with OnPay has been flawless though - all my quarterly filings have gone through without issues and the reports are accepted by my accountant without complaints.

I switched from QuickBooks to Xero last year for my pool service company (5 employees) and it's been excellent. The inventory tracking is better for tracking chemicals and supplies, and the mobile app is way more user-friendly for entering expenses on the go. Their project tracking feature works well for tracking costs by customer property too.

Thanks for sharing your experience! That's helpful to know about the mobile app and project tracking - both would be really useful for my lawn care business. How was the transition from QuickBooks? Did you lose any historical data in the switch?