Bookkeeping in Michigan

Bookkeeping services for Michigan businesses.

Visory provides bookkeeping services for growing Michigan businesses, from professional firms and design studios to nonprofits. A dedicated team you know by name works inside your own QuickBooks or Xero file, with Delphi AI taking the repetitive parts under that team’s oversight, and keeps your books to Michigan’s sales and use tax, withholding, city income tax, and unemployment insurance rules. One flat monthly fee covers the agreed scope.

  • A dedicated team you know by name
  • Michigan rules in every pay run and close
  • One flat monthly fee for the agreed scope
Detroit’s riverfront skyline, with the Renaissance Center and the Penobscot Building, across the Detroit River on a clear afternoon.
Photo: GV Chana, Unsplash License

Who we work with in Michigan

Growing businesses across Michigan.

Health care and social assistance is Michigan’s largest private industry, with about 641,000 jobs, and manufacturing employs about 583,000 people, 1.64 times its share of jobs nationally (BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, 2025 annual averages). Across the state, private employers averaged 3.8 million jobs in 2025, and professional, scientific, and technical services about 308,000 of them.

Michigan rules

The Michigan rules your finance function runs on.

Four rules set by Michigan, each with the law that sets it and what it does to your month. Your team works to them every pay run and every close.

One return carries three taxes.

Withholding, sales tax, and use tax share a filing frequency, so payroll and the sales ledger are closed on the same calendar and the annual return has to agree with every period filed during the year.

Set by Michigan Income Tax Act, MCL 206.51; Form 446 (Rev. 02-26)

Employers withhold Michigan income tax at 4.25% of compensation after deducting the personal and dependency exemption allowance, set at $5,900 for 2026 and claimed on Form MI-W4. Bonuses paid separately from regular payroll are withheld at a flat 4.25%. Withholding is reported with sales and use tax on one combined return, filed monthly or quarterly by the 20th, as Treasury assigns, and every filer also submits an annual return by February 28.

Michigan Income Tax Act, MCL 206.51; Form 446 (Rev. 02-26); 4.25% rate for the 2026 tax year.

Good standing lowers the bill.

A missed report or a small unpaid balance moves every employee onto the $9,500 wage base, so reports and payments are reconciled each quarter, and the cost lands early in the year because it stops at the wage base.

Set by Michigan Employment Security Act

New contributing employers pay 2.7% in their first two years, except certain construction employers. In 2026 the rate applies to the first $9,000 of each employee’s wages for employers in good standing, meaning every quarterly report filed and no unpaid balance of $25 or more; other employers are taxed on the first $9,500. Quarterly wage and tax reports are due April 25, July 25, October 25, and January 25.

Michigan Employment Security Act; taxable wage base for 2026.

The floor rises again in January.

The step to $15.00 lifts the cost of every hourly role paid near the minimum, so pay rates in the payroll file are reviewed before the first pay run of 2027, not after it.

Set by Improved Workforce Opportunity Wage Act, Public Act 337 of 2018

Michigan’s minimum wage rose from $12.48 to $13.73 an hour on January 1, 2026, and the Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity lists $15.00 from January 1, 2027. Tipped employees may be paid $5.49 an hour, 40% of the minimum wage, provided they receive at least $8.24 in tips, and minors aged 16 and 17 may be paid 85% of the minimum wage, $11.67 an hour.

Improved Workforce Opportunity Wage Act, Public Act 337 of 2018; rates from January 1, 2026; $15.00 from January 1, 2027.

One rate, wherever you sell.

With no local sales tax, a business that sells goods charges 6% across the state, and the books hold the tax collected apart until the return Treasury has assigned is due.

Set by General Sales Tax Act, Act 167 of 1933

Michigan’s 6% sales tax applies to retail sales of tangible personal property, and the companion 6% use tax also reaches certain services, such as telecommunications and hotel accommodations. Michigan does not allow cities or other local units to impose a sales or use tax. Treasury assigns each business a monthly, quarterly, or annual filing frequency: monthly and quarterly returns are due by the 20th, and every filer submits an annual return by February 28.

General Sales Tax Act, Act 167 of 1933.

Rules last checked October 9, 2026 against the sources at the foot of this page. General information only. It does not take your circumstances into account.

How it works from anywhere

Can a team outside Michigan run a Michigan business?

Yes. Visory’s US leadership team is in New York, and its teams work with businesses across the United States remotely, inside your own accounting file, so nothing about the work depends on where your office is.

Your own file

Your books stay in your own QuickBooks or Xero file. Your team works inside it, so you see the same numbers they do, whenever you look.

A team you know by name

A dedicated team runs the work, led by a Business Performance Partner. You meet them by video call, and you always know who to ask.

Michigan rules, built in

Visory runs the finance function for growing businesses across the United States, with its US leadership team in New York. Your books stay in your own QuickBooks or Xero file and your pay runs in your own payroll platform, and your team works inside them with you. Every pay run and every close is checked against the rules on this page.

Business hours, and the platform after them

Your team works 9am to 5pm Eastern Time on business days, all year round, and the Visory platform is open to you around the clock for documents, approvals, and your numbers.

Visory Insights

What your numbers should show in Michigan.

Clean books are the start. Every month, Insights turns them into a plain-English report, and a named Business Performance Partner walks your leadership team through what they mean for the year ahead.

Unemployment costs, front-loaded

At 2.7% on the first $9,000 of wages, each employee costs a new employer $243 in 2026, or $256.50 on the $9,500 base if the account falls out of good standing. For anyone paid $36,000 or more a year, all of it falls in the first quarter. Insights puts it into the cash flow forecast.

The 2027 minimum wage step

The move from $13.73 to $15.00 adds $1.27 an hour, or $2,641.60 a year for a full-time employee working 2,080 hours, before payroll taxes. Insights models the step against your current pay rates, so the budget for 2027 already carries it.

Detroit is due before the state

Detroit’s monthly withholding return is due on the 15th, five days before Michigan’s monthly return on the 20th, and it is filed even in a month with nothing owed. Insights puts both dates in the cash calendar, so neither payment surprises the account.

Looking for a fractional CFO in Michigan? Visory has no standalone CFO offer. That work sits inside Visory Insights and your sessions with a Business Performance Partner. See Visory Insights

What customers say

In a customer’s words.

“Visory ensures we have a clear view of who we need to pay and how that impacts cash flow so that there are no surprises.”

Rachelle Harper Co-founder and COO, BrandBossHQ

Common questions

Questions Michigan businesses ask.

Straight answers about bookkeeping for a Michigan business, from a team that works remotely.

Does Visory have an office in Michigan?

Visory’s US leadership team is in New York, and its teams work with growing businesses across the United States remotely, so we support businesses in Michigan as we do everywhere else. A Michigan business gets a dedicated team you know by name, who work inside your own QuickBooks or Xero file and meet you by video call. Your records stay in your file, which you can open at any time.

What hours does my Visory team work?

Your team works 9am to 5pm Eastern Time on business days, all year round. Outside those hours, the Visory platform is your 24/7 access point, so your financial information is there whenever you need it.

Can a bookkeeper outside my office look after a Michigan business?

Yes. What matters is that the team knows Michigan’s rules and works inside your own accounting file. Visory connects to your bank feeds and software, codes and reconciles transactions through the month with Delphi AI working under an expert team, and meets you by video call. Nothing about the work depends on where your office is.

How much does a bookkeeper cost in Michigan?

Visory charges one flat monthly fee for the scope we agree, with no hourly billing and no timesheets. The fee reflects the services you take, from bookkeeping and payroll to accounts payable, accounts receivable, and Insights, and the volume of work in your business. After a discovery call, you get a clear proposal, so you know the monthly cost before you start.

See how pricing works

Do you work in QuickBooks and Xero?

Yes. Visory works inside the systems you already use: QuickBooks and Xero for the ledger, Gusto and Rippling for pay runs, and Bill, Ramp, and Stripe for payments, along with your bank feeds. Your books stay in your own accounting file, which you own and can open at any time. Any change to your setup is agreed with you first.

Do Michigan businesses charge sales tax on services?

Michigan’s 6% sales tax applies to retail sales of tangible personal property, and use tax reaches only certain services, such as telecommunications and hotel accommodations. Cities cannot add a sales tax of their own, so the rate is the same everywhere in the state. Returns are filed monthly, quarterly, or annually, as Treasury assigns. This is general information; the Department of Treasury sets the rules.

Which Michigan cities have an income tax?

Twenty-four cities levy one, including Detroit at 2.4% for residents and 1.2% for nonresidents, Grand Rapids and Saginaw at 1.5% and 0.75%, and Lansing and Flint at 1% and 0.5%. Employers in those cities withhold it alongside state tax, so the payroll file needs each employee’s home and work city. This is general information; the Department of Treasury and each city set the rules.

Do Michigan businesses owe use tax on their purchases?

Yes, when Michigan tax was not collected at the sale. Use tax of 6% is due on the total price of taxable items brought into Michigan or bought online, by mail, or by phone from out-of-state retailers that do not collect sales or use tax, with credit for tax paid to another state. It goes on the same combined return as sales tax and withholding, at the filing frequency Treasury sets. This is general information; the Department of Treasury sets the rules.

Can you look after staff in more than one state?

Yes. Each state sets its own withholding, unemployment insurance, minimum wage, and leave rules. Michigan has reciprocal agreements with Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin, so residents of those states working in Michigan are not subject to Michigan withholding. Visory keeps one set of books and applies each state’s rules to the staff who work there.

Do you offer a fractional CFO in Michigan?

A fractional CFO advises on numbers someone else produces. Visory runs the books, payroll, and payments, then delivers the insight from the same team: Visory Insights is a plain-English monthly report and a session with a named Business Performance Partner. There is no handover between the doing and the advising, and it comes on one flat monthly fee.

See how Visory Insights works
More questions, longer answers. Every question has its own link. See all common questions

Getting started

Start with clarity, not a contract.

Three steps, in whatever rhythm suits you. Each one is useful on its own.

  1. Two people shake hands across a desk beside a laptop

    Book a discovery call

    An obligation-free conversation about your goals and what you want the numbers to tell you.

    Obligation-free
  2. A woman takes notes beside a laptop showing a financial report

    Get your free financial health check

    A senior member of the Visory team analyzes your financials and shows you where your finance function can improve. It is free, and it is your own numbers.

    Free · your own numbers
  3. Top-down view of hands on a laptop showing the Visory accounts receivable workflow

    Receive a clear proposal

    A clear commercial proposal for the scope we agree, on one flat monthly fee. No hourly billing. You decide whether to go ahead.

    Flat monthly fee

Get started

The best is ahead for your business.

Start with a discovery call. We will listen first, then show you what your own numbers have been trying to tell you.

Sources (27) · rules last checked October 9, 2026

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