Ecommerce tax services built on books that are actually right
Tax problems are usually bookkeeping problems discovered in April. We keep the books tax-ready all year, coordinate sales tax, and work with your CPA or bring one in.
Every ecommerce tax horror story starts the same way: the return was built on bad books. Gross sales that don't match the 1099-K. COGS with no inventory support. Sales tax collected and booked as income. The CPA can only file what the books say, and by tax season it's expensive to say something different.
Our tax work starts twelve months before the deadline: accrual books where the 1099-K ties out, inventory valuation that survives scrutiny, and collected tax sitting in a liability account where it belongs.
The expensive ecommerce tax mistakes
1099-K mismatch letters
Marketplaces report your gross sales to the IRS. Returns filed off net deposits understate revenue, the computers notice, and the letter that follows costs more to resolve than a year of bookkeeping.
Sales tax treated as revenue, or ignored
Marketplace facilitator laws mean Amazon and Walmart remit most marketplace sales tax, but your Shopify sales are on you, and nexus can exist in states you've never visited via FBA warehouses. We keep the bookkeeping side clean and coordinate with filing tools for the rest.
Foreign owners missing Form 5472
A foreign-owned single-member US LLC that skips Form 5472 faces a $25,000 penalty per form, per year, even with zero US tax owed. We've seen sellers hit for $50,000 across two missed years. Our international practice exists for exactly this.
What we do every month
- Accrual books that tie to every 1099-K
- Year-end CPA package: statements, GL, inventory support
- Sales tax collected tracked as liability, always
- Nexus exposure flagged as your footprint grows
- Coordination with TaxJar, Avalara or your filing provider
- Form 5472/1120 coordination for foreign-owned LLCs
- Quarterly estimated-tax number support
- Direct line to your CPA, or an introduction to ours
We do the books-side of tax. Deliberately.
Bookkeeping firms that casually bolt on tax filing tend to do both halves averagely. We keep the boundary honest: we make the numbers right and tax-ready, coordinate filings, and partner with CPAs (yours or ours) for returns and strategy. You get specialists at both layers instead of one firm being mediocre at two jobs.
For international sellers, that coordination includes the non-resident stack: pro-forma 1120 with Form 5472, W-8 forms for platform tax interviews, and ITIN or EIN paperwork. Details on the international sellers page.
Related services
Closed by day 10, or 50% off
Your prior month is reconciled and delivered by the 10th business day, guaranteed in writing. Miss it and that month's fee is half price. No competitor guarantees anything.
You own your books
We work inside your QuickBooks, Xero or NetSuite file, not ours. Leave any time and everything stays with you, diligence history included.
Exit-grade, always
Accrual books with landed-cost COGS and a maintained addback schedule. If a buyer or lender called tomorrow, your books would be ready.
Published pricing, no lock-in
Our full rate card is on the website and engagements run month-to-month. Every ecommerce-exclusive competitor hides pricing behind a sales call. We don't.
Ecommerce tax FAQs
Do you file my tax return?
We prepare tax-ready books and coordinate with a CPA who files, either yours or one from our partner network. That separation keeps both jobs done by specialists, and it means our monthly price isn't hiding a mediocre tax add-on.
Do I owe sales tax in other states?
Possibly. Marketplace sales are mostly handled by facilitator laws, but direct-channel sales create obligations where you have nexus, and FBA inventory placement can create it without you doing anything. We flag exposure as your books show your footprint growing.
What does my CPA get at year end?
Financial statements, general ledger, 1099-K reconciliation, inventory valuation support and answers to their questions, directly from us so you're not playing telephone in March.
I'm not a US resident but sell on US platforms. What do I file?
Typically a pro-forma 1120 with Form 5472 for a foreign-owned single-member LLC, plus whatever your home country requires. The 5472 penalty for skipping it is $25,000. See our international sellers page; this is a core practice area for us, not an exception.
We'll do last month's books free, and show you what your bookkeeper missed
The free Ecommerce Books Audit: connect read-only access and within 3 business days you get a clean month of books plus a 10-minute recorded teardown of every margin leak, COGS error and sales-tax risk we found. Keep it all, even if you never hire us.
- ✓ Books closed by day 10, guaranteed in writing
- ✓ Everything stays in your QuickBooks, Xero or NetSuite file
- ✓ Published pricing, month-to-month, no lock-in