Questions
Answers to questions business owners ask us about bookkeeping, accounting, and how we work together.
Should I pay my cleaners as W-2 employees or 1099 contractors in NYC?
In most cases, your cleaners should be W-2 employees. New York State enforces worker classification rules aggressively, and the way most cleaning businesses operate makes it very difficult to justify treating cleaners as independent contractors.
Read answerHow do Bronx janitorial companies track recurring commercial contracts?
Set up recurring invoices in QuickBooks Online for each commercial contract and use customer types or class tracking to separate that monthly revenue from one-off residential or post-construction jobs.
Read answerDo Bronx cleaning companies need to issue 1099s to subcontractors?
Yes. If you pay a non-corporate subcontractor $600 or more during the year by check, cash, or ACH, you're required to file a 1099-NEC. Collecting W-9s before you make the first payment is the step most cleaning companies skip.
Read answerHow should a NYC residential cleaning business calculate gross margin on a contract?
Subtract your direct costs from contract revenue, then divide by revenue. Direct costs include labor, supplies, travel and tolls, and equipment. NYC operators should target 30-40% gross margin to cover overhead and leave room for profit.
Read answerWhat cleaning supplies should be inventoried vs expensed?
Almost all cleaning supplies should be expensed when purchased. They're consumed quickly and the amounts are too small to justify tracking as inventory. The only exception is a large bulk purchase near year-end that represents material future-period usage.
Read answerHow do residential cleaners in the Bronx handle customer deposits?
Customer deposits are recorded as a liability on your books, not revenue. The money only becomes revenue once the cleaning service is actually performed, which gives you an accurate picture of what you've truly earned.
Read answerHow should a Bronx pressure washing business handle equipment financing?
Financed equipment gets recorded as a fixed asset with a matching loan liability. Monthly payments split between interest expense and principal paydown. Depreciation is tracked separately and Section 179 may let you deduct the full cost in year one.
Read answerWhat's the best chart of accounts for a NYC residential cleaning business?
The best chart of accounts for a cleaning business separates revenue by service type, breaks out COGS for labor and supplies, and tracks overhead independently. This structure shows you which service lines actually carry margin instead of lumping everything into one bucket.
Read answerHow do I track employee mileage and tolls for a mobile cleaning business in NYC?
Use a mileage tracking app to log every business trip and reimburse employees at the IRS standard rate. For NYC tolls and congestion pricing, pull E-ZPass statements monthly and allocate costs to specific jobs so you know your true margins per client.
Read answerAre cleaning services subject to New York sales tax?
Yes. New York treats most cleaning as maintaining real property, which makes it taxable. The combined rate in NYC is 8.875%. Residential housekeeping has some exemptions, but commercial cleaning is generally taxable.
Read answerHow do NYC cleaning companies handle bonding and insurance in their books?
Annual bond and insurance premiums are recorded as prepaid expenses when paid, then amortized monthly over the coverage period. This gives you an accurate monthly P&L instead of one month absorbing the full cost.
Read answerWhat's a realistic gross profit margin for a Bronx commercial cleaning business?
Most commercial janitorial operators land between 30% and 40% gross margin nationally. In the Bronx, high labor costs and competitive contract pricing can squeeze that range, making accurate job costing essential for every account.
Read answerHow do I structure payroll for a cleaning company with crews across multiple NYC boroughs?
All five NYC boroughs share the same state and city tax jurisdiction, so you don't need separate payroll setups by location. The real work is tracking crew hours to specific jobs and calculating the full burden cost per hour so you know what each contract actually costs.
Read answerHow do NYC property management companies handle owner funds vs operating funds?
Rents and other owner funds must be held in a separate trust or escrow account, tracked per property. Management fees and operating income go to your company operating account. New York regulators treat commingling as a serious violation.
Read answerWhat's the right bookkeeping structure for a Bronx building maintenance company?
Separate revenue by contract type, track direct labor and materials per contract, and use work orders that feed into job costing. Recurring contracts should show up as monthly recurring revenue on your management reports.
Read answerHow do NYC security service companies track guard labor across multiple client sites?
Guards clock into specific client sites using mobile time tracking with GPS verification, and those hours flow directly into job costing by client account. This setup lets you see margin per contract and catch overtime cost overruns before they eat your profit.
Read answerShould a NYC property management company use trust accounting software with QuickBooks?
Yes. Platforms like Buildium, AppFolio, or Yardi handle owner trust ledgers that QuickBooks Online isn't built for. Monthly summaries flow from the trust software into QBO for your management company's operating financials.
Read answerHow do I track profitability by building maintenance contract in NYC?
Set up each contract as a project or sub-customer in QuickBooks Online, then allocate direct labor and materials to it. Shared overhead stays at the company level. Monthly gross margin per contract tells you which buildings make money and which ones need repricing.
Read answerWhat expenses can a NYC security services company deduct?
Security companies can deduct uniforms, firearms and equipment, NY State licensing and training, insurance premiums, vehicle costs, background checks, guard management software, and communication equipment. Many of these are significant costs that get missed when books aren't set up properly.
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