Bookkeeping in New York

Bookkeeping services for New York businesses.

Visory provides bookkeeping services for growing New York businesses, from professional firms and agencies 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 New York’s sales tax, withholding, and unemployment insurance rules. Visory has an office in New York. One flat monthly fee covers the agreed scope.

  • A dedicated team you know by name
  • New York rules in every pay run and close
  • One flat monthly fee for the agreed scope
Lower Manhattan’s skyline and One World Trade Center across the Hudson River at golden hour, seen from Hoboken.
Photo: Mike Chavarri, Unsplash License

Who we work with in New York State

Growing businesses across New York State.

Health care and social assistance is New York’s largest private industry, with about 1.88 million jobs, and professional, scientific, and technical services employ about 716,000 people in almost 90,000 establishments (BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, 2025 annual averages). Across the state, private employers averaged 8.4 million jobs in 2025.

New York rules

The New York rules your finance function runs on.

Four rules set by New York State, 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.

Withholding leaves the account days after payday.

The $700 trigger means most employers pay over the tax after every payroll, and the quarterly return has to agree with every payment made, so payroll and the books are reconciled each pay run, not each quarter.

Set by New York Tax Law, Article 22; Publication NYS-50-T-NYS (1/26)

Employers withhold New York State income tax using the 2026 tables in Publication NYS-50-T-NYS, revised for rate cuts of 0.2 percentage points on taxable income up to $215,400 ($323,200 for joint filers), phased in over 2026 and 2027. Rates rise with income to 10.90% above $25 million, and supplemental wages such as bonuses may be withheld at 11.70%. Once withholding reaches $700, it is paid with Form NYS-1 within 3 or 5 business days of the payroll.

New York Tax Law, Article 22; Publication NYS-50-T-NYS (1/26); withholding tables for payrolls made on or after January 1, 2026.

The cost lands early in the year.

Contributions stop once an employee’s wages pass $17,600, so the first quarter carries most of the year’s cost, and a budget that spreads it evenly understates January to March.

Set by New York Labor Law, Article 18 (Unemployment Insurance Law)

Employers pay unemployment insurance contributions on the first $17,600 of each employee’s wages in 2026, up from $12,800 in 2025; from 2026 the wage base resets each January 1 to 18% of the state average annual wage. Total 2026 rates run from 1.7% to 9.5%, including the 0.075% Re-employment Services Fund, and new employers pay 4.1%. Form NYS-45 is due April 30, July 31, October 31, and January 31.

New York Labor Law, Article 18 (Unemployment Insurance Law); 2026 wage base and contribution rates, from January 1, 2026.

The rate follows the work location.

A business with staff in Manhattan and in Albany pays two different floors, so each employee’s work location in the payroll file decides which one applies.

Set by New York Labor Law, § 652

The minimum wage is $17.00 an hour in New York City, on Long Island, and in Westchester County, and $16.00 in the rest of the state. The Department of Labor has confirmed the rates stay the same on January 1, 2027, because one of the law’s off-ramps was met. Only hospitality employers may take a tip credit: tipped food service workers in New York City are paid a cash wage of at least $11.35.

New York Labor Law, § 652; current rates, unchanged on January 1, 2027.

Sales tax quarters are not calendar quarters.

Tax collected is held for the state until the return for March to May, June to August, September to November, or December to February is due, so the books show it by filing period, and $300,000 of taxable receipts in a quarter moves you to monthly returns.

Set by New York Tax Law, Article 28

Sales of services are exempt from New York sales tax unless they are specifically taxable. Taxable services include interior decorating and design, protective and detective services, certain information services, and maintaining, servicing, and repairing real property. The state rate is 4%; with local tax, the combined rate is 8.875% in New York City and Yonkers and from 7% to 8.75% elsewhere. Most vendors file quarterly, for quarters ending in May, August, November, and February.

New York Tax Law, Article 28; combined rates in Publication 718, effective March 1, 2025.

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

A leadership team in New York. Businesses across the United States.

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 in the state 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.

New York 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 team works inside it 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 New York State.

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.

The commuter tax is a cliff, not a bracket

In New York City the rate applies to the whole quarter’s payroll there, so passing $437,500 moves it from 0.115% to 0.60%: about $503 on $437,500 of payroll, and $2,700 on $450,000. Insights shows the quarter your hiring plan crosses the line.

Unemployment costs, front-loaded

With the wage base up from $12,800 to $17,600, each employee costs up to $721.60 in contributions in 2026 at the 4.1% new-employer rate, and for anyone paid more than $70,400 a year, all of it falls in the first quarter. Insights puts that into the cash flow forecast.

Sales tax is held, not earned

Tax collected on taxable services sits in your account until the return is due, and New York’s sales tax quarters end in May, August, November, and February. Insights keeps it apart from operating cash, so the cash you plan from is the business’s own.

Looking for a fractional CFO in New York? 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 applies a commercial lens to how we manage client revenue, always ensuring we balance serving our clients with our business' best interests.”

Rachelle Harper Co-founder and COO, BrandBossHQ

Common questions

Questions New York businesses ask.

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

Is Visory based in New York?

Visory’s US leadership team is in New York, and its teams work with businesses across the United States remotely. A dedicated team you know by name looks after your business, meets you by video call when you want to talk things through, and keeps your books in your own QuickBooks or Xero file, which you own and 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 New York business?

Yes. What matters is that the team knows New York’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 New York?

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 New York businesses charge sales tax on services?

Only on services New York specifically taxes. Most services are exempt, but interior decorating and design, protective and detective services, certain information services, and maintaining or repairing real property are taxable. The combined rate is 8.875% in New York City. This is general information; the Department of Taxation and Finance sets the rules for your business.

Who has New York City income tax withheld?

Employees who live in New York City have city income tax withheld from all their wages, even when they work outside the city, using the city’s own withholding tables. So your payroll file needs a current home address for everyone, and Yonkers residents have a surcharge of their own. This is general information; the Department of Taxation and Finance sets the rules.

When do New York businesses file sales tax returns?

Most vendors file quarterly when they first register, for periods ending May 31, August 31, November 30, and February 28 or 29, with each return due within 20 days of the period’s end. Once taxable sales and purchases subject to use tax reach $300,000 in a quarter, returns are filed monthly from the first month after that quarter, and a business owing $3,000 or less a year may be reclassified as an annual filer, due by March 20. This is general information; the Department of Taxation and Finance sets the rules.

Can you look after staff in more than one state?

Yes. Each state sets its own income tax withholding, unemployment insurance, minimum wage, and leave rules, and New York withholds income tax from nonresidents for the work they do in the state. Visory keeps one set of books and runs payroll with each state’s rules applied to the staff who work there, so every state’s cost shows in one monthly report.

Do you offer a fractional CFO in New York?

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 (23) · rules last checked October 9, 2026

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