Accounting and Tax Services for California Small Businesses - One Senior Advisor, One Flat Fee
Prefer to talk it through? Call (818) 297-4579.
CTEC-Registered Tax Preparer · Authorized IRS e-File Provider · QuickBooks Certified ProAdvisor · ★ 5.0 client rating on Yelp
Why one advisor
Your books and your taxes are one job. Most firms split it in two.
Most small businesses run their finances through two or three vendors: a bookkeeper who categorizes, a preparer who files, maybe a formation service that set up the LLC and vanished. None of them talk to each other - and the gaps between them are where deductions get missed, estimates go stale, and an S corp salary set in 2023 quietly stops making sense.
TrueArc works as an outsourced accounting and tax department for LLCs and S corps: the same senior advisor keeps your books, plans your quarters, and signs your returns. When one advisor sees the whole picture all year, April stops being an audit of everyone else's work.
- Books built for the return - every bookkeeping category maps to a line on your 1120-S or Schedule C.
- On the combined engagement, quarterly estimates are recalculated from your actual books, not last January's guess.
- For clients on an ongoing engagement, structure is reviewed every year: salary level, election status, whether the entity still fits the income.
Tax Strategy & Preparation - business and personal, filed together
What's included
- Business and personal returns prepared together - 1120-S, 1065, Schedule C, and the 1040 they flow into
- All four quarterly estimated payments delivered with your return - federal and California, on California's real 30/40/0/30 schedule
- Year-round strategy at the moments it can still change the outcome - S corp salary set for the current year, retirement contributions sized while the money can still move, and a year-end review in November
- Extensions handled properly when the year gets away from you
- IRS and FTB notice review for returns we prepared
Flat fee, from $495 (sole proprietor) or $1,395 (S corp - business and personal together). Quoted exactly, in writing, before work starts.
The right fit if: your income jumped this year, your preparer disappears between Aprils, or your business and personal returns have never met.
Accounting & Bookkeeping - monthly books that are ready for tax season
What's included
- Monthly categorization and reconciliation in QuickBooks Online
- Catch-up and cleanup for books that are behind, however far
- 1099 preparation and filing every January
- Quarterly estimates recalculated from your actual numbers, every quarter, without you having to ask
- A year-end close that hands your tax return finished numbers
Flat fee, from $295/month. Catch-up projects quoted as one fixed number - never an hourly meter running against a mess.
The right fit if: you're doing your own books at midnight, your bookkeeper and your preparer have never spoken, or there is a shoebox involved.
Business Setup & Entity Selection - run the numbers before you file anything
What's included
- Entity analysis on your real income: sole proprietor vs. LLC vs. S corp, side by side
- California LLC and corporation formation, filed correctly the first time
- S corp elections - including late elections when the deadline has already passed
- EIN and first-year setup: the $800 franchise tax, Statement of Information, estimated-payment calendar
- A structure check-in at twelve months, booked at setup rather than left to memory - and re-run every year for clients on a tax or bookkeeping engagement
Flat fee, from $595 plus state fees.
The right fit if: you're going out on your own, your net income cleared roughly $70K and everyone keeps saying "S corp," or you formed something years ago that nobody has looked at since.
Want the math before the conversation? The free entity selection calculator compares the options for a California business in about three minutes.
Not sure where to start?
Start with your situation, not a service menu
Nobody wakes up wanting "accounting services." You have a situation. Find yours below - and what it usually needs.
"My income jumped and my taxes suddenly feel wrong."
A strong 1099 year is usually the moment the sole-proprietor setup stops making sense. This calls for a return prepared by someone who works self-employment income all year - and a structure check built into it, because the return and the structure are the same conversation.
"I'm behind - on my books, my filings, or both."
Months of uncategorized transactions, an unfiled year, missed estimates: standard work here, no lecture included. Catch-up bookkeeping rebuilds the records; the returns follow from them. The earlier in the year we start, the more options you have.
"I'm starting a business and don't want to set it up wrong."
Entity choice, formation, elections, and the first-year calendar - California charges $800 a year just for the privilege of existing as an LLC, and you should know that before you file, not after. One setup engagement covers the whole sequence.
"I do everything myself, and I'm done."
QuickBooks at midnight, TurboTax in a panic, and the standing suspicion you're leaving money on the table. The cleanest exit is handing the books and the return to the same advisor - that's the monthly combination most of our clients run.
"Everyone keeps telling me I should be an S corp."
Maybe. The number to watch for is about $70,000 of net income - our calculator turns net-positive nearer $48,000, but below $70,000 a full-service payroll provider can absorb the margin. Above it the benefit builds steadily, always net of payroll and the second return. Run your own numbers in the free wizard, or bring them to a 15-minute call and we'll do it live.
Pricing
Accounting and tax services for small business, quoted as one flat fee before work starts
Every engagement runs the same way: a free 15-minute consultation, then a written flat quote for exactly the work described. You approve the number before anything starts, and it's the number you pay. If scope changes mid-year - you hire your first contractor, the books turn out messier than described, the S corp finally happens - the quote changes before the work does. Never after.
No hourly meters. No per-question billing - asking us something is free, forever. No April surprise line items.
Who you’ll work with
One advisor, every year
Every service on this page is led by the same senior advisor. TrueArc was founded by Amid Kobakival after more than a decade in tax and accounting, including training at Crowe LLP, a top-10 U.S. accounting firm, preparing and reviewing returns across every major entity type. What that changes on this page specifically: the three services above are normally bought from three different vendors, and here they are reviewed by one advisor before anything is filed. No file is handed to a junior to learn on, none of it is prepared offshore, and replies come quickly all year.
CTEC-Registered Tax Preparer · Authorized IRS e-file Provider · QuickBooks Certified ProAdvisor, Levels 1 & 2 · B.A. Economics, UCLA
★ 5.0 client rating on Yelp - every review we have is five stars. Read them on Yelp →
Run your own numbers before you talk to anyone
Both tools are free, take about three minutes, and don't ask for your email.
Entity Selection Wizard - LLC vs. S corp vs. sole proprietorship for a California business, with the tax math shown.
Deduction Finder - a personalized deduction checklist by business type, including the S corp deductions most owners never claim.
Educational estimates, not tax advice - bring the results to your free consultation and we'll pressure-test them together.
What business owners ask before hiring us
What does outsourced accounting and tax for an LLC or S corp include?
Everything your business’s finances touch in a year: monthly bookkeeping in QuickBooks Online, quarterly estimated payments calculated from those actual books, the business return and your personal return prepared together, 1099 filings in January, and an annual review of your structure and S corp salary. One advisor, one monthly rhythm, one flat quote – see flat-fee pricing for how it’s priced.
Can I hire you for just one thing, like a single year's tax return?
Yes. Every service on this page stands alone, and plenty of clients start with one return or a one-time cleanup. If the single service you’re asking for genuinely solves the problem, we’ll say so; if it’s a bandage on something structural, we’ll say that too – and the choice stays yours either way. Nobody gets upsold on a 15-minute call.
How does switching from my current bookkeeper or tax preparer actually work?
It’s a lot less involved than people expect. You share access to your QuickBooks file (or provide any other available records) and your last two returns; we review both before quoting so the quote reflects reality, flag anything that needs fixing, and take the books over as of a clean month-end. Your prior preparer never needs to be involved, and mid-year changes are routine.
What bookkeeping software do you work with?
QuickBooks Online is home base – TrueArc is a QuickBooks Certified ProAdvisor practice, Levels 1 and 2. If you’re on spreadsheets, Wave, or nothing at all, part of setup is moving you into QuickBooks so your books and your return finally speak the same language. The file is yours: your subscription, your ownership, your access, always.
Do you handle payroll for my S corp?
We don’t run payroll in-house. We set it up with a payroll provider that fits your size and budget, set your reasonable S corp salary, and review both every year so the payroll numbers and the tax return never drift apart. You get the S corp done right without us reselling someone else’s software at a markup.
How fast can you take over if a deadline is close?
Sooner is better than later – catch-up bookkeeping and S corp elections both get harder, and sometimes more expensive, the closer the deadline gets. Book this week and you’ll have your written flat quote this week. And if your timeline genuinely doesn’t work, you’ll hear that on the call instead of discovering it in April; we’d rather lose the engagement than miss your deadline.
Not sure which of these you need? That's what the fifteen minutes is for.
Book the free consultation and bring whatever you have - last year's return, a QuickBooks login, a shoebox, or nothing but a rough income figure. You'll leave knowing which of these services actually applies to you, which ones you can skip, and the flat fee for the ones that fit. If the honest answer is that you don't need us yet, you'll hear that too.
Or call (818) 297-4579 · email contact@truearctax.com
Video or phone. Evening slots available during busy season.