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How does pricing work?Our bookkeeping and tax plans are based on an annual subscription model with transparent pricing that scales with your expense rate and your business needs such as connected institutions, bills, and invoices. Please contact us for details.
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Is support included? Can I ask questions?Yes! Support is included in your plan. Your dedicated finance expert is happy to answer any questions you might have. We strive to respond to inquiries in a business day or less. Please contact us for more details.
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Will you send invoices to my customers and help pay my bills?Yes, we’re happy to provide this support as an additional service. Please contact us for details.
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What’s the difference between accrual and cash bookkeeping?Cash bookkeeping only tracks when money enters or leaves a bank account. Accrual bookkeeping is a more sophisticated approach that records when the money was earned or owed. Most larger companies use accrual, and we do accrual from day one so there’s no painful transition later.
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What types of companies can Zen Associates serve?We have experience serving companies of all sizes and spanning many industries, including high-growth technology startups, ecommerce providers, professional services, and non–profits. Get in touch with us to see if Zen Associates is the right fit for you.
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What are the requirements to start with Zen Associates?We have three requirements that allow us to deliver the most accurate books for your business: Electronic transaction access Expense reporting software No commingling of personal expenses
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Do you support international companies?We can support you if your company is a US entity, no matter where you are based in the world. As of now, we do not support foreign entities.
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Are AP/AR services included in Zen Associates' services?They are not included by default, but you can add them to any plan. Please contact us for details.
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Can I claim the R&D credit retroactively?Yes, we can help you file an amended tax return to claim the R&D credit for previously filed Income Tax returns (past 3 years), but you cannot take the PATH Act R&D credit on an amended tax return.
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How do prices change as I grow?We understand the importance of predictability and transparency. Every month, we’ll average your prior 3 months of books to understand your current expenses, as well as how your financial institution connections, special transactions, and hours of support have changed.
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How should I calculate my monthly expenses? What does that include?For pricing purposes, we include in expenses the money your company spends each month, including payroll, cost of goods sold, and distributions.
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Why do you price based on expenses?Our goal is simple and transparent pricing. In examining different models, we found that expenses closely reflected business complexity while also having the advantage of being simple to calculate. To determine the best Zen Associates plan for your business’ needs, we also factor in the number of financial institutions, transactions, and hours of support.
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What is your cancellation policy? What if I prepaid for the year?Your subscription will continue until the end of your billing cycle. If you decide not to renew after the year is over, you can let us know in advance and we’ll stop billing you for the next cycle.
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When I prepay for a year, does that lock in my price?No, if your business is growing rapidly, your books are growing in complexity as well. If your expenses and other support needs change and exceed the amount you’ve prepaid for, you’ll get billed the difference that month.
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Are there any one–time fees when I sign up for Zen Associates?Yes, there’s an onboarding charge equal to one month of bookkeeping to help us make sure your setup process is a smooth one.
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Why use QuickBooks?Zen Associates does all of its bookkeeping in QuickBooks Online because it offers a number of advantages: Seamless tax prep: Virtually every tax preparer in the US knows how to work with QuickBooks. You’ll have the freedom to choose any tax preparer you want. Industry standard: In addition to tax preparers, most other financial professionals (e.g., attorneys, bankers, and venture capitalists) all know how to work with QuickBooks. Again, this gives you the most freedom when making financial decisions. Data portability: QuickBooks means you’re not locked in. If you ever decide to move on from Zen Associates, your data goes with you, in a format that is immediately useful. However, we also support other accounting software based on your previous software.
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How do taxes work with Zen Associates?You have a couple of options for doing your taxes when you use Zen Associates. The first option is to use Zen Tax. Please note that tax preparation is not included in your Zen Bookkeeping subscription – you must purchase Zen Tax for those services. The second option is to use a firm of your choice and have Zen Associates hand off your prepared books to them. This handoff is included in your Zen Bookkeeping subscription at no additional cost.
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What does Zen Tax include?Zen Tax includes federal, state, and city-level income tax preparation, Form 1099-NEC e-filing services, and email support for included deliverables. Please see the full scope of services here.
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If Zen Associates didn’t do my books for the entire year, can I still use Zen Tax?Yes, we’ll generally want to take a look at the year’s books to make sure they meet our standards, but many of Zen Tax customers started Zen Bookkeeping halfway through the year.
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Do you do personal income taxes?Yes, we provide personal income tax services for founders, company employees, and business owners. Please contact us directly before the tax season approaches.
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Can Zen Associates handle my 1099s?If you have Zen Tax, our 1099 vendor information request form makes it easy to submit vendor information and e-file Form 1099-NEC. If you are only using Zen Bookkeeping, we are not able to file 1099 forms for you.
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Do I qualify for R&D tax credits?If your business has less than $5 million in annual revenue, and it's been less than five (5) years since your first gross receipts/sales, you can frequently reduce your Social Security Payroll tax liability under the PATH Act R&D credit. If you do not qualify under the PATH Act R&D Credit, you can take the regular R&D Credit against income taxes (rather than against payroll taxes).
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What activities qualify for R&D tax credit?Qualifying R&D expenses and/or activities are those which pass this four-part test: Technical uncertainty: The activity is performed to eliminate technical uncertainty about the development or improvement of a product or process, which includes computer software, techniques, formulas, and inventions. Process of experimentation: The activities include some process of experimentation undertaken to eliminate or resolve a technical uncertainty. This process involves an evaluation of alternative solutions or approaches and is performed through modeling, simulation, systematic trial and error, or other methods. Technological in nature: The process of experimentation relies on the hard sciences, such as engineering, physics, chemistry, biology, or computer science. Qualified purpose: The purpose of the activity must be to create a new or improved product or process, including computer software, that results in increased performance, function, reliability, or quality.
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How large will my R&D tax credit be?Unlimited, if applying the R&D credit against income taxes. These credits can range between 5% and 15% of qualifying R&D costs. If taking the PATH Act R&D credit, a company can receive up to $250k* against payroll taxes and take the remainder against income taxes. As an example, for an unprofitable 5-person tech startup that has less than $5M in annual revenue with roughly 80% of time being spent on qualifying R&D activities, and average salary of $100k/year, the credit might be between $20k to $60k. Zen Associates' fee is a small percentage of the total qualifying R&D expense and easily pays for itself by securing the R&D Tax Credit for you. $500,000 for 2023 tax year, $250,000 for 2022 tax year
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What does Zen Associates R&D Credit Service include?We help businesses with all aspects of claiming these R&D Tax Credits. Zen Associates will: Identify and calculate qualifying R&D expenses Prepare Forms 6765, 8974, and 941 to gain IRS approval of credit. If you use Zen Tax, we’ll file on your behalf as well. Prepare all required supporting technical and financial documentation, including documentation of research time, R&D payroll expenses, etc. This is an important pre-requisite to support an IRS audit in case that happens. Coordinate with your tax preparer, payroll provider, and accountant to ensure your books and taxes are accurate Continually ensure the credit is applied correctly against your payroll liabilities Email and phone support with R&D credit experts
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Does Zen Associates support you in case of an audit?Yes, we can help support you in the case of an audit. For more details, please contact us.
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Why is having an R&D study done important?Zen Associates recommends anyone who claims the R&D credit to get a study done. An R&D study determines the total amount the business should claim and collects the necessary documentation to support that claim. When filing for the R&D tax credit, you must submit the relevant tax forms to the IRS. However, you must also have the technical and financial justification of what you were claiming prepared in case the IRS audits your claim. If the IRS audits the claim and you can’t produce technical and financial evidence behind what you claimed, you will need to return the money and potentially pay a penalty. The R&D Tax program is on the IRS’s "Dirty Dozen List". Once you’ve been audited, the IRS can also audit your claims for up to 7 years prior – so you need to make sure that each year’s claim has proper and thorough substantiation.
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Can I use Zen Associates R&D Credit service without using Zen Tax?Yes, we’ll calculate the R&D tax credits and provide the necessary documentation for your tax preparer to file. If you use Zen Tax, we’ll take care of the full process and file the necessary tax paperwork on your behalf as well.
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Are there state-level R&D tax credits?33 states currently offer an R&D credit. Generally, the states follow federal guidelines on what constitutes qualified R&D expenditures with few exceptions. Zen Associates will provide guidance on state-level credits. For example, the CA R&D credit is non-refundable, which means it cannot be taken against payroll tax. Work must be done in CA to be considered qualified, and CA credits can carry forward indefinitely until exhausted.
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When should I outsource vs. hire a full–time CFO?You should outsource CFO services in two situations: If you are a small, growing business where you don’t have many needs or ability to pay for a full-time CFO, or If you are a large business that only needs CFO services occasionally.
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What does the process for CFO Services look like?Get started by filling out the form here. Our account executives will set up a call to discuss what fits your business needs and answer any questions. After you sign up, our CFO team will further scope out the details of supporting your financial needs and timelines during a kickoff call. Our goal is to deliver robust financial analysis and expert support to unlock growth for your business.
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Why is bookkeeping for consumer and retail companies unique?Online retailers and consumer companies face challenges around managing physical goods (such as COGS, inventory, supply chain, fulfillment), and often have complex selling channels (such as multiple platforms, differing fee and payout structures, and multiple payment processors). They also tend to have large transaction volumes. All of these things affect your books, which is why it’s important to have a bookkeeper with a strong background in your industry.
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What kinds of consumer and retail customers does Zen Associates support?Zen Associates serves consumer and retail customers of all shapes and sizes, across different sectors (food and beverage, apparel, hard goods) and business models (direct-to-consumer and multi-channel retailers, manufacturers, wholesalers).
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What types of sales platforms do your customers use?We have customers using every major e-commerce platform, including Shopify, Amazon, WooCommerce, Magento, BigCommerce, and Salesforce Commerce Cloud.
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Do you handle inventory?Zen Associates makes inventory updates in your financial statements every month based on data provided either directly by you or by the source of truth for your inventory, such as an inventory management system (e.g., Quickbooks Commerce).
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How does Zen Associates calculate Cost of Goods Sold?There are several different components that make up Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) for a typical Consumer and Retail company: For product COGS (i.e., the actual cost of the items sold), we base our calculations on inventory and fulfillment information you share with us. For Merchant Fees and Shipping Costs, we track your metrics automatically and categorize your variable expenses in COGS. For all other variable costs you wish to track as COGS (e.g., Storage Costs), we work with you to create accounts and categorization rules to implement this for your business.
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What system do you recommend for managing inventory?We work with a variety of inventory management solutions but recommend Quickbooks Commerce and Skubana based on their simplicity of use and ability to scale.
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How does Zen Associates handle returns/gift cards?Our automation pulls this information directly from your store, ensuring you have accurate figures for both items month-over-month.
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Can Zen Associates separate our merchant fees of all types in your Profit and Loss statements?Yes, Zen Associates can separate merchant fees of all types in your Profit and Loss statements.
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Does Zen Associates handle sales tax?Yes, we do handle sales tax with additional costs.
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