Bookkeeping

A Shopify payout is net of processing fees and includes sales tax that is not yours. Here is the clearing account method, with a balanced worked entry and the month end split.

An Amazon settlement deposit is a net figure hiding gross sales, refunds, referral fees, FBA fees and advertising. Here is the correct journal entry, with the arithmetic shown.

Cash App Taxes files federal and state for zero and supports Schedule C, Schedule SE and Form 8829. This is the honest list of who it will not file for, and where e-file.com’s flat state fee actually earns its money.

H&R Block charges about $96 more than e-file.com for the same self-employed return. Every price verified against the vendors’ own pages on 9 September 2026, plus the two situations where the retail brand is genuinely the better buy.

What transfers and what does not, why to switch at a financial year boundary, how to handle opening balances, why to reconcile the first month twice, and what to confirm before you cancel anything.

Five gates that eliminate accounting software before price enters the conversation: double entry, seats, inventory, multi currency and monthly invoice volume, with year two costs for the whole field.

The setup order that prevents rework: plan gates first (inventory starts at Plus, $1,680 a year in steady state), then chart of accounts, feeds, connector, sales tax, payroll and month end.

You hold no stock, so inventory tracking is the wrong thing to pay for. A worked margin example showing what each option costs as a share of gross profit.

A ranking with one stated gate: where does inventory tracking start, and what does that tier cost a year at list price rather than at the promotional headline.

Six reasons people leave QuickBooks, and a different named answer for each one, with the year one and year two arithmetic printed out for every option.