1-800Accountant

Bookkeeper vs. accountant vs. software, in real life

A bookkeeper records what happened: every sale, every expense, sorted into categories, reconciled against the bank account. An accountant advises and files: reads what the bookkeeper recorded, tells you what it means, finds deductions, and signs the tax return. Software is the notebook they both write in. QuickBooks Online and its cousins don't do the bookkeeping or the accounting; they hold the records so a human (you or someone you pay) can.

Quick answer for someone just starting: with no revenue yet, you need none of them. With a simple sole proprietorship and a manageable pile of transactions, software plus your own attention is usually enough for year one. The accountant becomes worth paying for when an entity, an election, payroll, or plain fear enters the picture. More on where that line sits below.

1-800Accountant's pitch is all three, stapled together: a national virtual firm that files your taxes, advises you year-round, and (on the bigger plans) does the bookkeeping and payroll, all by phone and portal. This article, part of our resources directory of honest service reviews, covers what it sells, what it costs per its own pricing page, what the reviews really say, and when a Chicago CPA or plain software beats it.

Before we start, a note on how this was put together. The research and the checking are our team's work, we used AI to help organize the ground that needed covering, and every opinion and recommendation in here comes straight from us.

Say you run a one-person cleaning business. (Hypothetical; we don't invent member stories.) Every job paid by Zelle, Venmo, check, or cash; supplies bought on a personal card you keep meaning to stop using. Bookkeeping is the weekly chore of recording all that: which deposits were revenue, which charges were business, does the total match the bank. Skip it for six months and tax season becomes archaeology.

The accountant enters twice a year at your size. Once in January through April to file, taking the year's records and turning them into a return you can defend. And ideally once before December, to tell you things past-tense filing can't fix: that you should be setting aside roughly a third of profit, that you qualify for a home office deduction, that at your income an S corporation election might save real money next year. Recording is a chore. Advice is leverage, and it's a different job with a different price tag.

Software holds the middle. It pulls in bank transactions so recording takes minutes instead of weekends, and it hands your accountant clean records instead of a shoebox. What it cannot do is know that your "supplies" category is hiding a deductible mileage log, or that you crossed the income line where an entity election matters. The notebook doesn't give advice.

The honest sequence for most new founders: software first, accountant at your first real tax season, bookkeeper (human or service) when the recording chore starts eating hours you bill for.

What 1-800Accountant actually is

1-800Accountant is a virtual accounting firm. There's no office you visit; everything happens through phone calls, video, and an online portal. Its FAQ puts it plainly: "We serve small businesses across the United States remotely." The pricing page claims the firm "has serviced over 100,000 businesses in the last decade," and the company's own pages describe a team of CPAs and enrolled agents, with a tax preparer, tax advisor, bookkeeper, and payroll specialist attached to your account depending on plan. Those staffing claims are theirs, not independently audited. A fair question for the sales call is "who exactly is assigned to me, and what's their credential?"

The front door is a free consultation. Be clear-eyed about what that is: a real conversation about your business, conducted by someone whose job is to sell you a plan. Free, yes. Neutral, no.

Beyond the core plans, the service list runs long: entity formation, catch-up bookkeeping, back taxes, amended returns, 1099 filing, sales-tax guidance, even dissolutions. The entity formation page shows no price, just "Costs vary by state and entity type," which is representative: everything outside the three main plans is quoted through the consultation. If you just need the entity, our LLC setup guide walks through filing it yourself in Illinois for the state fee alone.

What it costs, per their own pricing page

Everything here is from 1-800Accountant's pricing page as of September 2026. Two warnings before the numbers. First, these prices carry an asterisk: billed annually. A "$299/mo" plan is really a roughly $3,588 annual commitment, paid as a year, not a month-to-month subscription you can quietly drop in March. Second, the final scope of what you buy is set in the consultation, and firms like this adjust plans and prices often. Click through and confirm before relying on anything below.

• Tax Advisory: $209/mo, billed annually (about $2,508/year). Portal access, a dedicated accountant, year-round tax advice, proactive planning, quarterly reviews. Read that list again: filing is not on it. This is the advice layer only. If you assume the entry plan files your taxes, you'll be assuming wrong by about $2,500.

• Starter: $299/mo, billed annually (about $3,588/year). The plan that actually files: your personal return plus one business entity (Schedule C, 1065, 1120, or 1120-S, federal and state). The page says the filing process "us[es] AI to automate 25% of your return" with "expert review prior to filing." Includes a subscription to ClientBooks, the company's own bookkeeping software, plus the advisory layer: quarterly reviews and an annual tax plan. Note that the software is the notebook. At this tier, entering and categorizing transactions is still your chore.

• Business Complete: $469/mo, billed annually (about $5,628/year). Everything in Starter plus the humans: full-service bookkeeping with a dedicated bookkeeper (starting at 75 monthly transactions), payroll set up and handled, and quarterly estimated taxes calculated and tracked.

Is that expensive? Against a local CPA charging a few hundred dollars for a simple return, yes, dramatically. Against separately hiring a bookkeeper, a payroll service, and a tax preparer, the top plan starts to look like ordinary market math. The value question is entirely about which comparison describes you.

Who it actually fits

The honest customer profile: a founder who wants a human handling taxes but doesn't have, and doesn't especially want, a relationship with a local CPA. You travel, you started the business from a laptop, your operation is an LLC with an S election and a payroll of one, and you'd rather message a portal in the evening than park near a strip-mall office in February. For that person, a flat-rate team that files, plans quarterly, and answers the phone all year is a genuine product, and it's why the firm sits in our resources directory.

It fits worst at the two extremes. If you're pre-revenue or running a simple first-year sole proprietorship, $2,500-plus a year buys advice you barely have income to apply; software and one season of DIY (next section) costs a fraction. And if your business is deeply local, a Chicago storefront, a food business, anything licensed by the city, the specifics that bite you are exactly the ones a national remote firm is weakest on, which is the section after that.

The review split, read honestly

Two big platforms rate 1-800Accountant, and they disagree. As of our September 2026 check: Trustpilot shows 4.4 out of 5 across roughly 12,700 reviews. The Better Business Bureau's customer reviews show 3.8 across roughly 1,400, with about 354 complaints on file with the BBB.

The split is more informative than either number. The Trustpilot profile is claimed and actively managed by the company, and reviews there are largely solicited: customers invited to rate the experience, often right after a good interaction. Nothing scandalous; that's how Trustpilot works for most firms. But nobody solicits a BBB complaint. People go to the BBB when something went wrong and they want it fixed on the record. So read Trustpilot to learn what the service is like when it works, and read the BBB complaints, a dozen of them at least, to learn what the failure mode looks like when it doesn't, and how the company responds. About 354 complaints against a claimed hundred thousand customers isn't a red-alert ratio, but annual billing makes any dispute expensive. Get cancellation and refund terms in writing before paying for a year.

We're deliberately not quoting individual reviews here. Cherry-picking one glowing and one furious review would tell you about our selection, not the service.

The local-CPA alternative, treated fairly

The traditional answer to "I need a human for taxes" is a CPA in your own city, and for a Chicago business it deserves a fair hearing. A good local CPA knows the terrain this article can only sketch: which City of Chicago taxes touch your particular activity, Cook County's quirks, the Illinois replacement tax that surprises new S corps (next section). They sign your return with their own name and license, you can sit across a desk from them, and for a straightforward business return an independent CPA's fee is often less than a year of the Starter plan, though bookkeeping and payroll then cost extra, and quotes vary enough that you should get two or three.

The honest downsides: finding a good one takes referrals and patience, the best ones stop taking clients by February, and year-round advice is billed by the hour rather than bundled. The IRS keeps a directory of credentialed preparers. Anyone paid to prepare returns must have a PTIN (an IRS preparer ID number), and the directory shows who holds a real credential: CPA, enrolled agent, attorney. Worth a visit whoever you hire, national or local. We list Chicago-area options, alongside national services like this one, in the resources directory.

The software-only path

For a first-year sole proprietor with clean, simple finances (services sold, no inventory, no employees), doing it yourself is not reckless. It's normal. The recipe: QuickBooks Online (or a competitor) to keep the records as you go, a Schedule C at tax time through consumer tax software, and the discipline to set aside money for taxes as revenue arrives, because nobody is withholding for you anymore.

That last part is the trap worth naming with numbers. Self-employment tax, meaning Social Security and Medicare, runs 15.3% of net self-employment earnings, and it applies once you clear a mere $400 for the year. It's owed on top of income tax, and it's the line that shocks every first-year founder. And if you'll owe $1,000 or more for the year, the IRS expects quarterly estimated payments via Form 1040-ES, not one lump in April. Software will happily record your income while you sleepwalk past both. The notebook doesn't give advice. That's the deal.

The Illinois and Chicago reality, at high altitude

A few verified facts a Chicago founder should hold onto, whoever does the filing.

Illinois taxes income at a flat 4.95% for individuals, per the Illinois Department of Revenue. Sole proprietors and standard LLC owners pay it on business profit through their personal returns.

Entity choice has an Illinois-specific price tag. The same IDOR page lists the personal property replacement tax: partnerships, trusts, and S corporations pay an extra 1.5% of net income; corporations pay 7% income tax plus a 2.5% replacement tax. Translation: the S-corp election that a national advisor pitches for federal savings also signs you up for a separate Illinois return and a 1.5% state levy that a sole proprietorship doesn't pay. Not a reason to avoid the election, but a reason to make sure whoever advises you is doing Illinois math, not just federal math. (Forming the entity itself is the easy part; our Illinois LLC guide covers it step by step.)

Chicago has no general city income tax, but it taxes activities. The city's own tax list is a catalog of specific levies: a restaurant tax, an amusement tax, a personal property lease transaction tax, a bottled water tax, a checkout bag tax, and more. None of them is a blanket tax on your income; any of them can apply depending on what your business does. This is precisely where a local professional out-earns a remote one, and where "we serve all states remotely" deserves a follow-up question about who on the team knows Chicago.

One practical note: whoever prepares your taxes, the IRS and the Illinois Department of Revenue will send mail to your business address for years: notices, letters, the occasional heart-stopper that turns out to be routine. If that address is your apartment, every move risks a lost notice; a business mailbox at a real street address keeps government mail landing in one stable place.

A note from Lobi Space management

Management here has been at this for more than twenty years: dealing with technology, hiring people, using remote employees and live reception services, trying many bookkeeping platforms and marketing platforms along the way, and sitting through hundreds of meetings with mentors. It can all be overwhelming, and one thing is for sure: you get overwhelmed when you're working without a strategy, a goal, and a road map. So start with a plan. Write down every single process your business needs in order to succeed, then match each process to a tool or a person. Don't understand how to file your articles of incorporation? Hire LegalZoom or someone who can help you understand it. Can't organize your leads in a Google spreadsheet? Get a free HubSpot account that puts all of your contacts in one place. Accounting works the same way. If keeping the books and filing on time is the process you can't carry, that's the moment a service like this one earns its fee. Buy against your written list, not against a sales call.

The short version

Learn the three roles before buying any of them: bookkeeper records, accountant advises and files, software is the notebook. First year, simple sole prop: software and DIY, with self-employment tax and quarterlies on your radar. Ready for a human: get quotes both ways. 1-800Accountant's plans run $209 to $469 a month billed annually per its own pricing page (and the $209 plan doesn't file), against a local CPA whose per-return fee is often lower but whose advice bills hourly. Weigh the 4.4 Trustpilot against the 3.8 BBB with complaints on file, get cancellation terms in writing before committing to a year, and if your business is entangled with the City of Chicago, tilt local.

Blunt questions, straight answers

Can I just do my own taxes the first year? If you're a sole proprietor with straightforward income and expenses, yes. Plenty of people do, with consumer tax software and a Schedule C. The two things that make DIY dangerous are self-employment tax (15.3%, owed once net earnings pass $400, per the IRS) and skipping quarterly estimates when you owe over $1,000. Once you elect S-corp status, hire someone, or carry inventory, the DIY era should end.

Is the free consultation actually free, or is it a sales call? Both. No charge, and the person on it is paid to convert you. Use it anyway. Arrive with specific questions (who's assigned to me, what's their credential, what happens at tax season, what are the cancellation terms) and you'll extract real value before any pitch lands.

What does "billed annually" really mean if I hate it by month three? It means you've paid, or committed to, a year: roughly $2,508 to $5,628 depending on plan. The public pages we checked don't publish refund or cancellation terms for these plans, which is exactly why you should get them in writing before paying. A meaningful share of the friction visible in the BBB record is the kind that annual billing makes expensive.

My LLC exists but has no customers yet. Do I need any of this? No plan, no bookkeeper. But filing duties don't wait for revenue: a plain single-member LLC just reports on your personal return (fine, even at zero), while an LLC that elected S-corp status must file Form 1120-S for every year the election is in effect, per the IRS instructions, income or not. If you made an election you don't fully understand, that's the one question worth an hour of a professional's time right now.

Whoever they assign me versus a CPA I hire in Chicago: what's the real difference? Credential-wise, possibly none; the company says its team includes CPAs and enrolled agents, and many local preparers hold the same licenses. The differences are continuity (a local CPA is the same person every year), local knowledge (city and county taxes, Illinois replacement tax), and accountability you can look in the eye. Either way, check whoever signs your return in the IRS preparer directory; every paid preparer needs a PTIN (their IRS preparer ID), and credentials are searchable.

Is that 4.4 on Trustpilot fake? Not fake, but filtered. The profile is company-managed and the reviews largely solicited, which skews any firm's score upward. The BBB's 3.8 with ~354 complaints is the unsolicited counterweight. The truth about the service lives in the gap: mostly fine when things work, and worth reading the complaints to see what happens when they don't.

What actually happens if I skip quarterly estimated taxes? An underpayment penalty. The IRS estimated taxes page says most taxpayers avoid it if they'll owe under $1,000 after withholding. Above that, you'll pay the year's tax plus a penalty that accrues like interest. Not a catastrophe, but a pure waste of money, and the single most common first-year founder mistake.

The road map comes first

A last word from the Lobi Space team. An accountant, a bookkeeper, software, seminars: all of it is great, and none of it saves you on its own. Without a road map, a goal, and a plan, you're shooting in the dark or chasing a dream. Make the plan first. Every decision in this article gets easier the day you do.

Why it made our list

• Bookkeeping, payroll and tax filing come under one predictable bill instead of three vendors and three invoices.
• They specialize in small businesses rather than running a seasonal tax chain, so the advice is year-round.
• A flat monthly cost replaces April surprises, which is worth more than the small premium over a solo bookkeeper.