Does hiring a bookkeeper pay compared with doing my own books?

How this estimates

Cash and time in a year. Own books: 12 months of software and any payroll or sales-tax cost, plus tax prep and your estimate of mistakes and late fees. With a bookkeeper: the same lines for that path, plus 12 months of the fee. Your time is your hours a month times 12, times what an hour is worth, times the share that becomes money; hours that would not become money count as zero.

The answer. A year of your own books (cash and time) minus a year with a bookkeeper; a plus means the bookkeeper is ahead. Over several years the yearly results are added, the cleanup fee is taken off once and the catch-up hours you would have worked are added back once. A yearly rise applies to everything but the cleanup fee, and the flat-price check repeats the total with no rise.

Price of each hour freed. The extra cash the bookkeeper path takes over all the years, plus the cleanup fee, divided by the hours it frees (catch-up hours included). Divided by the share of freed hours that become money, it is the break-even value of an hour. The break-even hours are what it would have to free a month, at your value of an hour, for the two paths to cost the same.

What a bookkeeper usually does not do

One large provider's help page for its bookkeeping service (updated 2026-08-03, in the sources table) says its monthly fee does not include sending invoices or paying bills, payroll, tax advice, filing income or sales tax returns, or tracking inventory, what customers owe you or what you owe suppliers. Others differ. Ask for a written list of what the fee covers and enter what is left as your hours with a bookkeeper.

New York filings

Nothing here is calculated from these rules. They are the dates and penalties behind add-on fees and late-filing risk. Ask whether they are in the fee.

• Sales tax: quarterly returns (ST-100) when taxable receipts were under $300,000 in the previous quarter, annual (ST-101) if the tax is $3,000 or less a year, monthly at $300,000 or more a quarter. Due 20 days after the period ends (annual returns March 20). The minimum late penalty is $50, even if no tax is due. New York tax bulletin, filing page (older).
• Wages: Form NYS-45 (withholding, wage reporting and unemployment insurance) is due the last day of the month after each quarter, filed and paid online. A late return may draw a penalty that grows the later it is filed. NYS-45 instructions, due dates.
• Federal: the IRS says the employer stays responsible for payroll tax deposits when someone else does the work. Any recordkeeping system that clearly shows income and expenses will do (Publication 583). The choice of software or bookkeeper is yours.

What this leaves out and what is not verified

Taxes: both paths are compared before tax, with no claim about what is deductible. Also left out: promotions, the quality of any bookkeeper, and the chance of a mistake or late filing (you type your own yearly estimate). Not verified: the hours owners spend on their books, a bookkeeper's payroll or sales-tax fee, and one provider's own monthly price. Some price pages are undated. No screen reader has been run on this page.

Sources and date checked

Every starting value was checked on 2026-10-17 and is in the table below with its source and status. Software prices are regular prices as shown, with promotions left out; plans and prices change. Most pages that say a bookkeeper pays are written by firms that sell bookkeeping. This page sells nothing, names no bookkeeper, ranks no software and has no referral links.

An estimate from the numbers you typed. Not accounting, tax or legal advice. Confirm filing rules with the IRS, your state and a licensed preparer.