Long Island bookkeeping done by a CPA-led team, at a flat monthly fee you know before any work starts. We keep the books, file the sales tax at your county rate, run the payroll, and prepare the returns for small businesses across Nassau and Suffolk. A New York licensed CPA reads your file every month, so the numbers come back with an answer attached rather than only a report.
Flat monthly fee, quoted before any work starts
Sales tax filed at the right county rate, 8.625 percent Nassau and 8.75 percent Suffolk
Most people arrive looking for a bookkeeper and need two of these. Keeping them together is what stops the return being built from books nobody reconciled.
What we need from you at month end, what comes back, and how long it takes. Filmed at the Melville office.
[confirm length once filmed]
What Long Island bookkeeping has to get right
The mechanics of bookkeeping are the same everywhere. What changes here is the tax surface a Long Island business sits on, and it catches people who moved a business out from the city or who have only ever worked with a preparer at year end.
Two county sales tax rates. Nassau collects 8.625 percent and Suffolk collects 8.75 percent. A contractor billing jobs in both counties is collecting at two rates and has to report them separately. Charging one rate across the whole book is the single most common error we find on a first review.
The MCTMT. Nassau and Suffolk are inside the Metropolitan Commuter Transportation District, so the payroll mobility tax applies once quarterly payroll expense passes 312,500 dollars. It is a real employer cost, and a business that crosses the threshold mid-year and does not notice usually finds out through a notice.
Clothing under 110 dollars. The state 4 percent comes off, and Nassau and Suffolk both keep charging their local portion. Retailers who read the state guidance and stopped there have been under-collecting.
Property tax is the owner's other bill. Long Island carries some of the highest property taxes in the country, so for most owners here the household return and the business return are one conversation, not two.
Bookkeeping, tax and CFO support in one place
Most people find us looking for a bookkeeper and end up needing two of the three. Keeping them together means the return is built from books somebody actually reconciled.
Monthly bookkeeping. Categorization, bank and card reconciliation, and a profit and loss, balance sheet, and cash flow statement that close on a schedule.
Catch-up bookkeeping. Rebuilding months or years of unreconciled history back to a clean starting balance.
Sales tax. Registration, collection review at the right county rate, and the return filed on the schedule the state put you on.
Payroll. Processing, NYS-45, the MCTMT, and a worker classification review before it turns into an assessment.
Business and personal tax. S corp, partnership, and Schedule C returns, and the owner's return alongside them.
Fractional CFO. Forecasting, margin work, and pricing, for owners who have outgrown knowing the bank balance.
Where we do Long Island bookkeeping from
Two staffed offices, one in each county. Melville sits on the South Service Road off the LIE, which puts it minutes from the Hauppauge industrial park and the Route 110 corridor. Hicksville sits by the LIRR hub, which is the practical centre of Nassau.
Most of the work happens electronically wherever you are. The offices matter for the businesses that would rather hand over a box of receipts than scan them, and for the ones that want a face across a table before handing over the books.
How it works
1
A twenty minute call
You tell us what you run, roughly how many transactions a month, and how far behind the books are. Nothing to prepare.
2
A flat quote, same day
A monthly number in writing, plus a separate figure for catch-up work if you need it, so you see both before deciding anything.
3
Two weeks to onboard
Read-only access to your bank feeds and your last filed return. We rebuild whatever needs rebuilding and hand you a clean starting balance.
4
A fixed close date, every month
Statements land on the same date each month, reviewed by a CPA, with the sales tax and payroll filings already handled.
What this looks like in practice
These are the situations we are typically brought in to fix on Long Island. Details are generalised, and we never publish a client's business.
1
A Bay Shore bar and restaurant
Bay Shore, Suffolk County
What we found
Two years of books built from the POS export alone, so credit card fees, delivery app commission, and comps were never separated. The owner believed food cost was running about 28 percent.
What we did
Rebuilt both years from the bank rather than the POS, split the merchant deposits back into gross sales and fees, and separated the delivery platforms out of restaurant sales. Reconciled sales tax collected against sales tax reported.
Where it landed
Food cost was closer to 36 percent. The gap was almost entirely delivery commission booked as revenue. Menu pricing on the delivery apps was reset, and the sales tax under-report was corrected before it aged further.
2
A Huntington dental practice
Huntington, Suffolk County
What we found
Three associates paid as contractors, and equipment financing booked as an expense rather than as a financed asset, so the balance sheet showed almost nothing owned.
What we did
Reclassified the financing into asset and loan, rebuilt the depreciation schedule, and ran a worker classification review against the actual working arrangement.
Where it landed
The associates moved onto payroll before the arrangement was challenged. The corrected depreciation changed the tax position materially, and the practice could finally show a bank a balance sheet that matched the equipment in the operatories.
3
A Hicksville HVAC contractor
Hicksville, Nassau County
What we found
Charging one sales tax rate on every job across both counties, and treating capital improvement work and repair work identically.
What we did
Split the job book by county and by whether the work was a capital improvement, and put a certificate process in place so the exempt jobs were documented at the time.
Where it landed
Collection came into line at 8.625 percent in Nassau and 8.75 percent in Suffolk. The capital improvement documentation is now the part that would carry an audit, which it would not have done before.
What it costs
A flat monthly fee, quoted from your transaction volume, your accounts, and whether you run payroll. You get the number in writing before any work starts. Catch-up work is quoted separately so it does not inflate the ongoing fee.
Basics
$250per month
Solo owners and single-location businesses under about $50k of monthly expenses.
Monthly bank and card reconciliation
Expense categorization with bank rules
Profit and loss, balance sheet, and cash flow every month
Sales tax return prepared and filed at your county rate
Ro Sokhi is a New York licensed CPA. The person who signs off on your numbers is the person who can tell you what they mean for your tax bill.
Flat monthly fee
You know the number before the month starts. No hourly meter, no surprise invoice for a phone call in March.
On Long Island, not a call center
Staffed offices in Melville and Hicksville. We will come to the shop if the shoebox is easier to hand over than to scan.
Catch-up work is normal here
Most businesses that call us are behind. Some by a quarter, some by three years. That is the job, and it is quoted separately so the monthly fee stays clean.
Our offices
Both offices are staffed. Most work happens electronically wherever you are, and the offices are there for the businesses that would rather hand something over in person.
Suffolk County Office
68 S Service Rd #100 Melville, NY 11747
On the South Service Road off the LIE, serving Suffolk County and eastern Long Island.
Sales tax rates by county.Publication 718: New York State Publication 718 lists the combined rate for every jurisdiction, including Nassau at 8.625 percent and Suffolk at 8.75 percent.
Suffolk's rate change.Sales tax rates bulletin: Suffolk raised its local rate from 4.25 to 4.375 percent effective March 1, 2025, which is why the two counties no longer match.
Clothing under $110.Publication 718-C: Publication 718-C sets out which localities exempt clothing and footwear under $110 and which continue to tax their local portion.
MCTMT employer rates.MCTMT employer rates: The payroll expense threshold and the Zone 2 bracket rates that apply to Nassau and Suffolk employers.
CPA licence verification.NYSED licence register: The New York State Education Department register, where any CPA licence can be checked, including ours.
Every rate on this page links to the New York State authority that publishes it. Figures are current as of the date shown above. They explain how the numbers work and are not tax advice for your situation.
SCORE Long Island Free mentoring for small businesses across both counties.
Every rate on this page links to the New York State authority that publishes it. Figures are current as of the date shown above. They explain how the numbers work and are not tax advice for your situation.
Questions
Do you work with businesses in both Nassau and Suffolk?
Yes, and the county difference matters. Sales tax runs at 8.625 percent in Nassau and 8.75 percent in Suffolk, so a business working across the line is collecting at two rates. We set the book up to report them correctly rather than averaging them.
What software do you work in?
QuickBooks Online for most clients, and Xero where a business is already on it. We do not force a migration for its own sake. If you are on spreadsheets and a shoebox, that is a normal starting point and we will move you when it is worth moving.
How much does a bookkeeper cost on Long Island?
Our plans start at $250 a month for a solo owner and run to $850 for a multi-entity business, set by your monthly expense volume rather than by the hour. You get the number in writing before any work starts. Independent bookkeepers on Long Island often quote hourly, which looks cheaper until a busy month arrives; a flat fee is a number you can budget.
My books are two years behind. Is that a problem?
It is the most common reason people call. We work backwards from the last filed return, rebuild the periods in between, and reconcile to the bank rather than to whatever the prior file says. You get a clean starting balance and a written list of what changed. Catch-up is quoted as a one-time project, usually one to two months of the recurring fee.
Do you file sales tax returns?
Yes, and on Long Island that matters more than most places. Nassau charges 8.625 percent and Suffolk charges 8.75 percent, so a business selling in both counties collects at two rates and has to report them separately. We register you if you are not registered, review what you are collecting, and file on whatever schedule the state has put you on.
Are you a CPA firm?
Ro Sokhi is individually licensed as a CPA in New York and leads the work. The operating entity is a business corporation and is not registered with NYSED as a public accounting firm, so we do not perform audits, reviews, or compilations. If your bank or a buyer needs assurance work we will tell you plainly and point you to a registered firm.
What is the difference between a bookkeeper and a CPA?
A bookkeeper records what happened. A CPA is licensed, can represent you before the IRS, and can tell you what the numbers mean for your tax position and your decisions. Most small businesses are sold one or the other. Here the bookkeeping is done to a standard a CPA is willing to sign off on, and the same person handles the return.
Do you work with QuickBooks, or do I have to switch?
QuickBooks Online for most clients, and Xero where a business is already on it. We do not force a migration for its own sake. If you are on spreadsheets, a shoebox, or a system your last bookkeeper set up badly, that is a normal starting point and we will move you when moving is worth it.
How long does it take to get started?
A first call takes about twenty minutes and a quote follows the same day. Once you accept, we need read-only access to your bank and card feeds and your last filed return. Most businesses are fully onboarded inside two weeks; a business needing catch-up work takes longer, and we tell you how much longer before you commit.
Do we have to meet in person?
Only if you want to. Most clients send documents electronically and talk to us on a call. The Melville and Hicksville offices are there for the businesses that would rather hand over a box of receipts than scan them, and for anyone who wants to meet the person doing the work before handing over the books.
Can you handle payroll as well as the books?
Yes. We process payroll, file the NYS-45, and track the MCTMT, which applies here because Nassau and Suffolk are inside the Metropolitan Commuter Transportation District. We also review worker classification, because contractors who work like employees are the payroll issue New York challenges most often.
What happens if I get a letter from New York State or the IRS?
Send it to us the day it arrives. Most notices are routine and are resolved with a reconciliation and a reply. Ro is a CPA and holds unlimited representation rights before the IRS, so if a notice turns into something more, you are not looking for help at that point.
Are you taking new clients right now?
Yes. We keep the client list small enough that the same person reviews your file every month, so there are periods when onboarding runs a few weeks out, and we tell you that on the first call rather than after you sign.
