Advanced QuickBooks ProAdvisor • Xero Certified Advisor • 5.0 ★ Google Reviews • Serving Washington State
Every month, all over again
The 25th comes around, whether your books are ready or not.
You reconcile what you can, guess at what you can’t, and hit submit hoping the number holds up. Then you do it again in thirty days, in between bidding jobs, chasing subs, and running crews.
Nobody starts a contracting business to become an expert in Washington tax law. Most of our clients came to us after a couple of years of that, or after a letter showed up that they didn’t understand.
It doesn’t have to be your problem anymore.
Start with the part that trips everyone
Washington charges sales tax where the work happens.
Not where your shop is. Two jobs at the same price, a few miles apart, owe different amounts, and your software only knows the rate somebody typed into it.
Multiply a small error across a year of work and it shows up on your DOR return, usually with interest attached. Getting this right, every month, is the core of what we do.
Same job. Two addresses.
$18,000 retail service · destination-based rate
A $72 difference on one job.
Now run a year of them through a rate table nobody has updated since setup.
Note: Figures are for illustrative purposes only and may not reflect current rates – Always refer to official WA DOR website (https://dor.wa.gov) for most accurate information.
Sound familiar?
This is where contractor books usually go wrong.
Washington asks more of a contractor’s books than most states do. Here are 4 things that come up again and again when we open a new file.
Cash basis timing
The rate changed while the job was still open.
Long jobs and progress payments routinely straddle a rate change. On cash basis, what you collected months ago and what gets reported now can pull apart, and reconciling that after the fact is a great deal harder than getting it right as you go.
Software rate changes
Your software’s tax rates went stale.
Jobber, JobTread, Housecall Pro, Knowify, Contractor Foreman, Joist, Houzz Pro, Fieldd. Most let you key in rates by hand. The DOR updates them on its own schedule. When the list doesn’t get maintained, or the right rate lands on the wrong job, it syncs straight into your books and holds until the return doesn’t tie.
The One We Find Most
Washington bills sales tax and B&O on one return, but they are NOT the same kind of money.
The sales tax portion is money you collected and were holding for the state, so it clears a liability. The B&O portion is a tax on your gross receipts, so it’s an expense. One payment leaves the bank, but it has to land in two places.
When the whole payment gets coded to one account, sales tax payable never clears and quietly grows all year, or your P&L never shows the B&O you actually paid. Sometimes both. It’s the single most common thing we find when we open a new client’s file, especially when the last bookkeeper didn’t regularly file Washington returns.
Note: Figures are for illustrative purposes only and may not reflect current rates – Always refer to official WA DOR website (https://dor.wa.gov) for most accurate information.
What we do
A deliberately simple scope, done thoroughly.
We’re not trying to be your CFO. We keep your books accurate and your state filings correct, month after month.
Monthly bookkeeping
Transactions categorized, accounts reconciled, and the month closed on a schedule, in QuickBooks Online or Xero, whichever you already run.
Washington sales tax & B&O
Current destination rates on the right jobs, use tax accounted for, and state DOR returns prepared and filed on time.
City B&O & local filings
Registration and returns for the cities you actually work in: Seattle, Bellevue, Tacoma, Everett and others, whether they file through FileLocal or their own system.
W-9 collection & 1099 filing
The W-9 should be in hand before the first check goes out. When it isn’t, we flag the subs you’re missing while there’s still time to chase them, then prepare and file your 1099s at year end.
S-corp transitions
Electing S-corp changes how you pay yourself. We set the books up to match: Owner wages running through payroll, distributions coded correctly, equity accounts that hold up, all working from whatever your CPA has advised.
Cleanup & catch-up
Months or years behind, we bring the file current and reconcile it properly, including back DOR filings, so you have something your CPA can actually use.
Software & integrations
Auditing what your field service, POS and payment systems are actually pushing into your accounting file, and keeping their tax rates current instead of frozen at whatever was typed in on setup.
Payroll coordination
We work alongside whatever platform you already run: Gusto, QuickBooks Payroll, ADP, Patriot or Paychex. Wages, taxes and owner compensation all land in the books correctly.
What we don’t do
- Tax returns – Your CPA keeps those. We hand them clean books and stay out of the way.
- Construction CFO work – No WIP schedules, AIA billing or certified payroll. Most contractors your size don’t need it, and we’d rather tell you that than sell it.
- Guarantees about the DOR – We prepare your returns accurately from the records and information you give us, and we keep those records organized. What we can’t do is promise you’ll never hear from the DOR, or speak for periods before we took over.
The Right Fit
We’re a good fit for some businesses and a poor fit for others.
Worth knowing before you spend 20 minutes on a call.
A Good Fit
- Established Washington construction trades: General, remodel, HVAC, electrical, specialty
- Typically doing $500K to $3M a year, solo or with crews
- Law firms and professional service businesses
- Already running QuickBooks Online or Xero
- Wanting the books and the state filings handled properly, not just cheaply
Not A Fit
- Inventory-heavy businesses
- Shopping purely on price
- Wanting to hand it off and never hear from us
- Wanting tax prep and bookkeeping under one roof
“We have a small business with what I would consider slightly complex book work that involves multiple city tax codes. I at first attempted it myself and it was a disaster. We then hired a different bookkeeper and boy did she mess up our stuff… They quickly and efficiently cleaned up our books and got us back on track. Even our accountant praises their organization.”
Emma & Ryan
“We found Next Level Books after firing our bookkeeping service. Our books were a mess and needed a complete audit. Next Level completed the audit, corrected the errors and got us cleanly back on track.”
Smartdecks LLC
“I run a law practice and they have done an awesome job of managing my books and trust account, which is regulated by the WSBA. I get a text and email whenever they have questions and answer them all in a portal.”
Alykhan Sunderji
“We work with Taylor and his team and we are super happy. We tried some other bookkeepers before. Our company is growing and Next Level is always here for us for any questions and education.”
LYD Construction
The Next Level Difference
Big enough to help. Small enough to care.
People who know your file
You work with the same people month to month, not a rotating staff and not a ticket queue. When something looks off in your books, someone who knows your business is the one who notices.
Reach us how it suits you
Email, secure portal, text, or a call when something actually warrants one. Most questions get answered without anyone needing to schedule anything.
Who you’ll be working with
You’re hiring a person, not a portal.
I started Next Level Books because I kept meeting contractors with good businesses and bad books, usually through no fault of their own. Washington’s rules are genuinely difficult, and most bookkeepers would rather not learn them. We did.
My team does the monthly work and I’m your point of contact throughout. You’ll know who’s working on your file and why we made the calls we made. When something looks wrong in your numbers, you’ll hear about it from someone who understands your business, not a notification.
– Taylor Clouse, Owner of Next Level Books, LLC
Get started
Three steps, no pressure.
A short call
20 minutes to hear what you’re running, what’s working and what isn’t. If we’re not the right fit, we’ll say so on that call.
A proposal in writing
Scope, what’s included and what isn’t, in plain language. Accept it and you’ll get an engagement letter to sign digitally.
View-only access, then we go
We request view-only access to your accounting file, banking, DOR and connected systems. Enough to do the work, nothing more.
The next step
Find out what your books and filings should actually look like.
20 minutes, no obligation, and a straight answer about whether we’re the right fit.