Bookkeeping & Back-Tax Cleanup
Books behind? We rebuild from the bank statement up.
Multi-month or multi-year cleanup, sales tax compliance, missed filings, and a monthly close that holds for contractors, service businesses, and ecommerce brands ($500K to $30M). Backed by our in-house CPA, IRS Enrolled Agent, and fractional CFO team.
Flat fee
After diagnostic, no hourly surprises
4-24+ wks
Planning timeline, by months behind
All 50
U.S. states covered in nexus reviews
Monthly
Close discipline that holds after
You probably know which of these is you.
The symptoms vary. The fix is the same: rebuild the books from primary source documents, then put a real close discipline in place so it doesn't happen again.
Bookkeeper quit, ghosted, or got fired
Nothing has been reconciled in months, expenses sit in catch-all accounts, and vendor bills are piling up.
Multi-year tax filings missed
Returns missed for multiple years, IRS notices in a drawer, and state sales tax gaps accumulating penalties.
Bank reconciliations months behind
Bank balances per books and per statement haven't matched all year, leaving P&L numbers no one trusts.
Suspected fraud or owner commingling
Unrecognized vendor payments or personal expenses mixed on business cards that need forensic separation.
Lender, sale, or audit deadline forcing the issue
A bank, acquirer, IRS agent, or tax preparer needs clean, tied-out financials on a hard deadline.
Sales tax exposure across multiple states
Ecommerce or multi-state brands that crossed nexus thresholds without registering or reconciling marketplace tax.
How a Level cleanup actually goes
Diagnostic first, flat fee second, real reconciliation third, monthly close discipline fourth. Not hourly. Not open-ended. Week ranges below illustrate a typical 12-month catch-up; 6-month cleanups compress, and 24-month or multi-year work runs longer.
Diagnostic & Fixed-Fee Scope (Week 1)
We diagnose your bank statements, missing periods, and filing history and deliver a fixed-fee scope within 24 hours.
Bank Statement-Up Reconstruction (Weeks 2-6)
Every bank, credit card, loan, and merchant account is reconciled chronologically with real PDF reconciliation reports.
Tax & Sales Tax Catch-Up (Weeks 4-10)
Our in-house CPA (Lewis Goldsmith, CPA) and IRS Enrolled Agent (Kenneth May, EA) coordinate back-tax filings, sales tax nexus cleanup, and penalty abatement.
Monthly Close That Holds (Week 8+)
We lock the close calendar and deliver monthly reconciliation reports, financial statements, and a close memo ongoing or ready to hand off.
A common cleanup scenario
An owner with two businesses, several years of unfiled returns, and one box of receipts from both companies mixed together asks where to even start.
The starting point is the bank statements, not the box. The fix is process and patience, not panic.
What you get back
A reconciled balance sheet that ties to every bank statement
P&L you can actually trust month-over-month
A real bank reconciliation report (PDF) for every account, every month
Sales tax nexus reviews, registrations, and historical liability reconciliations
Back-tax filings and penalty abatement with our in-house CPA & IRS Enrolled Agent (or your existing CPA)
A close calendar your bookkeeper can follow in your absence
1099 vendor tracking for next January and late prior-year filings, using each payment year's rules
Three monthly artifacts: rec reports, statements, close memo
Frequently asked questions
It depends on the months behind, the entity complexity, the volume of transactions, and the accuracy of what's already in the system. Non-exhaustive planning examples before diagnosis (not a quote): 6 months behind for a $1-3M services business: $3,000-$8,000. 12-24 months for a $2-10M business: $8,000-$25,000. Multi-year (5+ years) for any complexity: $15,000-$50,000+. The triage diagnosis supports the fixed-fee quote within 24 hours. Week 1 validates the supplied records against that scope; additional work is quoted and agreed in writing before it starts.
Both. Level has an in-house CPA (Lewis Goldsmith, CPA) and a former IRS Revenue Agent & Enrolled Agent (Kenneth May, EA) who handle back-tax filings, IRS transcripts, and penalty abatement directly, or we can prepare the clean year-end packet for your existing CPA.
Yes. For ecommerce and multi-state services brands, we scope your nexus footprint, identify states where you should have registered, evaluate voluntary disclosure agreements, register where needed, and reconcile historical liability. We coordinate with sales tax software (Avalara, TaxJar, Anrok) for ongoing compliance.
We pause and escalate carefully. The cleanup process surfaces evidence, but accusations require formal investigation. We coordinate with you (and a forensic accountant if needed) to preserve evidence, document findings, and outline next steps to review with your attorney, which range from internal correction to police report to civil action.
Non-exhaustive planning timelines before diagnosis: 6-month catch-up: 4-8 weeks. 12-24 month catch-up: 8-16 weeks. Multi-year: 12-24+ weeks. The deadline (lender, audit, sale) often drives sequencing more than the volume.
If you want us to. Many clients move from cleanup to ongoing monthly bookkeeping and Level's operating layer, once the data is clean, we can track margin and surface where cash is trapped. Some clients hand off to an internal bookkeeper or a different firm. We design the close calendar and chart of accounts to be portable.
Related reading
Simple pricing
Three tiers, one ladder.
$500+/mo
Bookkeeping
The clean data layer: monthly books, reconciliations, and organized financials AI can work with.
$1,500-$5,000/mo
Scale
The full AI operating layer: custom agents, weekly actions, and benchmarks to grow margin per hour.
Custom
Platform / Multi-Office
Multi-branch benchmarking and scorecards for PE-backed and multi-location groups.
Behind on books? Let's get you caught up.
Free 15-min triage call. We'll scope your cleanup and give you a fixed-fee quote within 24 hours.
No commitment. Real numbers, not generic advice.