Estimate the one-time project cost to bring your books current. Months behind × complexity-adjusted rate, anchored to ProAxis's published 2026 catch-up pricing of $300-$600 per month of backlog. Includes optional rush-fee modeling.
Planning estimate only — not an offer. Specific pricing scoped in engagement letter. See Disclaimer.
How Catch-Up Bookkeeping Is Priced
Catch-up bookkeeping is a one-time project that brings a backlog of unreconciled months current. It is priced separately from ongoing monthly bookkeeping because the work is project-shaped — there is a defined scope (the months behind) and a defined deliverable (clean financials through the most recent month).
Three factors drive the estimate. Months of backlog is the multiplier — six months behind is roughly twice the work of three months behind. Complexity per month determines the per-month rate — a solo freelancer with one account catches up at $300/month-of-backlog; a multi-entity real estate investor with payroll and inventory catches up at $1,500+/month-of-backlog. Urgency is the third factor — rush catch-up under 30 days adds typically 30-50% above standard.
ProAxis publishes catch-up pricing at $300-$600 per month of backlog for a typical small-business profile (the canonical pricing pillar). The calculator below estimates total catch-up cost based on the inputs you provide. Specific pricing is confirmed during a free scoping call after a sample bank statement and a QuickBooks snapshot are reviewed. The agreed price is documented in a written engagement letter signed before any work begins.
Your Numbers
Number of months between the last reconciled period and today. If books were last reconciled on Jan 31 and today is July 31, enter 6.
$
Annual revenue or current run-rate. Sets the base complexity tier.
Bank deposits + checks + credit card charges per month, all accounts combined. Drives reconciliation labor per month.
Each account is a separate reconciliation per month of backlog.
Each entity = separate set of books to catch up.
"Never started" and "incomplete" are typical. "Messy" or "reconstruction" adds a cleanup uplift.
Rush timelines require same-week material delivery from the client and dedicated bookkeeper time.
Estimate only — not an offer.
The figure below is a planning estimate based on the values you entered, ProAxis's published 2026 catch-up pricing of $300-$600 per month of backlog scaled for complexity, and typical engagement profiles as of 2026-05-07. It is not an offer, not a binding quote, and does not create a CPA-client relationship. Specific pricing depends on the cleanliness of existing data, availability of bank statements for the back period, current chart of accounts, prior bookkeeper quality, and whether year-end close adjustments are needed within scope. Specific pricing is scoped during a free 30-minute call (after we review a sample bank statement and a QuickBooks snapshot) and documented in a signed engagement letter before any work begins. Results vary by client. ProAxis Tax & Accounting Services accepts no liability for reliance on this output. See full Disclaimer.
Estimated Catch-Up Project Cost
Per-Month Rate
$0 – $0
Per month of backlog, complexity-adjusted
Months of Backlog
0
Standard timeline
Estimated Catch-Up Total
$0 – $0
Estimate as of 2026-05-07
One-time project cost. Ongoing monthly bookkeeping is separate.
Why this range
Enter values to see contributing factors.
Important: Catch-Up Is a One-Time Project; Ongoing Bookkeeping Is Separate
The calculator uses ProAxis's published 2026 catch-up pricing baseline of $300-$600 per month of backlog (the canonical pricing pillar at Outsourced Bookkeeping Cost 2026 — NJ, NY & PA) and scales by complexity factors.
The total reflects one-time project cost only. Ongoing monthly bookkeeping after catch-up completes is a separate recurring fee — use the Bookkeeping Cost Calculator to estimate that.
Tax return preparation for back years is a separate engagement. The catch-up project produces clean financials; tax returns flow off those financials but are scoped and priced separately. Plan for both if you have unfiled returns.
Rush surcharges (20% for 2-4 week delivery; 40% for under-2-week delivery) require same-week material delivery from the client. ProAxis cannot rush a catch-up that the client cannot accelerate on the document-gathering side.
"Reconstruction" book condition (missing bank statements, unusual circumstances) requires special handling — the calculator approximates with a 30% uplift, but actual reconstruction work can run materially higher depending on what is missing. Discuss specifics on the scoping call.
If books are more than 7 years behind, bank statement retrieval becomes a separate cost and timeline factor. Most banks retain digital statements for 7 years online; older periods require archive requests with separate fees from the bank.
The output covers labor only. Add roughly $50-$200/month for software for the months going forward (QBO, Gusto, Bill.com). Software costs for the back period are typically retroactive subscription fees that the client pays directly.
For a precise quote tailored to your specific situation, schedule a free 30-minute scoping call. ProAxis reviews a sample bank statement and a QuickBooks snapshot before quoting, then signs the engagement letter that documents the agreed catch-up price plus the ongoing monthly fee starting on day one of completion.
Pricing ranges reflect typical engagements but are not an offer. No CPA-client relationship is created by using this calculator. ProAxis is engaged only after a written engagement letter is signed by both sides.
Worked Example 1 — Solo Designer, 4 Months Behind, Standard Timeline
A NJ freelance graphic designer single-member LLC, 4 months behind on books. Annual run-rate revenue $90,000. About 30 transactions per month during the backlog. 1 bank account + 1 business credit card. No payroll, no inventory. Single entity. Professional services. Books were "incomplete" (bank feeds connected but transactions never categorized). Standard 4-8 week timeline.
Complexity tier: Solo / freelancer profile.
Per-month rate: $300-$350/month-of-backlog (lower end of published $300-$600 baseline because complexity is at the floor).
Total estimate: $1,200-$1,400. 4 months × $300-$350/month. Standard timeline; no rush surcharge. After catch-up completes, ongoing bookkeeping starts at the solo tier (use the Bookkeeping Cost Calculator).
Worked Example 2 — Restaurant, 8 Months Behind, Books Need Cleanup
A Bergen County restaurant S-Corp, 8 months behind. Annual revenue $1,400,000. About 600 transactions per month during the backlog. 5 accounts (operating, savings, payroll funding, two business credit cards). Payroll for 12 employees (Gusto). Simple inventory. Single entity. Restaurant industry. Prior bookkeeper made categorization errors that need cleanup ("messy" book condition). Standard 4-8 week timeline.
Complexity tier: Mid-tier ($500K-$2M revenue) with high transaction volume, payroll, inventory, and restaurant industry uplift.
Per-month rate: $850-$1,100/month-of-backlog. Mid-tier base ($600-$1,000/mo catch-up rate) plus messy-book cleanup uplift (+15%).
Total estimate: $6,800-$8,800. 8 months × $850-$1,100/month. Restaurant catch-ups often involve fixing daily-settlement reconciliations that the prior bookkeeper booked at gross instead of net of merchant fees, plus tip-and-gratuity reclassification — both add labor. After catch-up, ongoing bookkeeping resumes at the mid-tier rate (use the Bookkeeping Cost Calculator).
Worked Example 3 — Multi-Entity Real Estate, 12 Months Behind, Rush
A NJ real estate investor with 4 LLCs, 12 months behind. Combined annual revenue $480,000. About 80 transactions per month combined during the backlog. 5 accounts. No payroll. AP only. Multi-entity (4 LLCs). Real estate industry. Books in "incomplete" condition. Tax return for the prior year due in 3 weeks → needs rush completion.
Complexity tier: Multi-entity / complex ($1,800-$4,000+/mo ongoing range). Forced into the complex tier due to 4 LLCs.
Per-month rate: $1,300-$1,700+/month-of-backlog (mid-to-upper range of complex tier — multi-entity escalation pushes to $1,200 floor with $300/entity uplift; complexity score positions in mid-range).
Standard total before rush: 12 months × $1,300-$1,700/month = $15,600-$20,400. With 40% rush surcharge for under-2-week delivery: $21,800-$28,600. Aggressive timeline requires same-week bank statement and QuickBooks snapshot delivery from the client and dedicated bookkeeper time. After catch-up, ongoing monthly bookkeeping resumes at the complex tier (use the Bookkeeping Cost Calculator).
After You Run the Calculator
The estimate is the starting point. Here is how to use the result:
Compare the catch-up cost to the cost of NOT catching up. Unfiled tax returns accrue penalties (5%/month of unpaid tax up to 25%, plus 0.5%/month for the late-payment penalty). The IRS can substitute-file returns based on third-party data without your deductions, often producing a much higher tax bill than reality. Catch-up bookkeeping is usually significantly cheaper than the avoidable tax-penalty exposure.
If the rush surcharge is the binding cost consider whether the deadline is real. A tax-return extension (Form 4868 for individuals, Form 7004 for businesses) buys 6 additional months for filing without rushing the bookkeeping. Estimated tax should still be paid by the original deadline — but the books do not need to be done to make a reasonable estimate.
If the per-month rate is the binding cost a few drivers may be reducible. Closing redundant entities (the "do I really need 4 LLCs" question), simplifying the chart of accounts, consolidating bank accounts, or moving payroll to a bookkeeper-friendly platform like Gusto each reduce the ongoing complexity score and therefore the per-month rate.
Bundle the catch-up with ongoing bookkeeping. ProAxis catch-up engagements roll directly into a monthly subscription on day one of completion. The engagement letter covers both. Owners who try to handle ongoing bookkeeping themselves after catch-up usually fall behind again within 6-9 months — outsourcing the recurring work is part of the value of the catch-up project.
If unfiled tax returns are the actual problem ProAxis bundles back-tax-return preparation with the catch-up bookkeeping. The two are scoped separately but onboarded together. Discuss tax return scope on the scoping call.
Whatever the result, the next step is a free 30-minute scoping call. ProAxis reviews a sample bank statement and a QuickBooks snapshot, confirms the specific catch-up price in writing, signs the engagement letter, and starts within a week (or sooner if rush).
How to Use This Calculator
Enter months behind. Count from the last reconciled period to today. If books were last clean on March 31 and today is November 30, enter 8.
Enter annual revenue. Sets the base complexity tier. Use the run-rate if revenue varies by season.
Enter monthly transaction volume during the backlog. Drives reconciliation labor per month-of-backlog.
Enter bank + credit card account count. Each is a separate reconciliation.
Select payroll, inventory, entity count, and industry. Each adds complexity uplift.
Select existing book condition. "Incomplete" is most common. "Messy" or "reconstruction" adds cleanup uplift.
Select urgency. Standard is 4-8 weeks. Rush surcharges apply for 2-4 week or under-2-week timelines.
Read the result. The calculator shows per-month rate, total project cost, and the contributing factors.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is catch-up bookkeeping and how is it priced?
Catch-up bookkeeping is the one-time project work that brings a backlog of unreconciled months current. It is priced separately from ongoing monthly bookkeeping because it is project-shaped — there is a defined scope (the months behind) and a defined deliverable (clean financials through the most recent month). ProAxis publishes catch-up pricing at $300-$600 per month of backlog for a typical small business profile, scaling up to $1,500+/month-of-backlog for high-complexity engagements (heavy transaction volume, multi-entity, inventory, payroll integration, or industry-specific complexity). The calculator on this page estimates the total catch-up project cost based on months behind multiplied by a per-month rate that reflects your business complexity.
Why does catch-up bookkeeping cost more per month than ongoing bookkeeping?
Catch-up work involves more labor per historical month than ongoing forward-looking work. The bookkeeper must locate every bank statement, credit card statement, and supporting receipt; reconstruct missing entries; investigate discrepancies that the business owner may not remember; rebuild or fix the chart of accounts; and produce financial statements that tie out to the bank balances. A typical month of catch-up work runs 1.5x-2x the time of a clean ongoing month because there is no momentum and no recent context. ProAxis prices catch-up at slightly below the equivalent ongoing rate per month for simple cases and roughly on par with ongoing for high-complexity cases — the per-month-of-backlog rate published as $300-$600 reflects the typical small-business profile.
What inputs drive a catch-up bookkeeping quote?
Three factors drive the catch-up estimate. Months of backlog is the multiplier — six months behind is roughly twice the work of three months behind. Complexity per month determines the per-month rate — a solo freelancer with one bank account and 30 transactions per month catches up at $300/month-of-backlog while a multi-entity real estate investor with 8 LLCs and complex AP catches up at $1,500+/month-of-backlog. Urgency is the third factor — if you need books caught up in under 30 days (for example, to file an extended tax return that is due in 2 weeks), ProAxis applies a rush surcharge typically 30%-50% above the standard rate. Standard catch-up timelines run 4-8 weeks for typical engagements; rush catch-up runs 1-2 weeks and requires same-week material delivery.
I'm 18 months behind on my books — is that fixable?
Yes, almost always. ProAxis has caught up engagements 24+ months behind, including cases where prior bookkeepers left abruptly, software migrations failed, and business owners simply did not have time. The constraint is not how far behind you are — the constraint is whether bank statements and supporting documents are available for the back period. Banks generally retain digital statements for 7 years online, so any engagement under 7 years behind is typically straightforward. Beyond 7 years requires coordination with the bank's archive team and may add cost. The longer the backlog, the more important it is to start — penalties accrue on unfiled returns, the IRS can substitute-file returns based on third-party data without your deductions, and bookkeeping work to recover detail gets harder over time as memories fade.
Will the catch-up project also include preparing my back tax returns?
No, not by default. The catch-up bookkeeping engagement produces clean financial statements through the most recent month. Tax return preparation for back years is a separate engagement. ProAxis bundles both into a single onboarding for clients who need them — bookkeeping catch-up first, then tax returns flow off the cleaned books — but the engagement letter covers them as separate scopes with separate pricing. Tax return preparation pricing depends on entity type and year complexity. ProAxis publishes typical fee ranges in the tax services hub and confirms specific pricing during the scoping call.
Can ProAxis catch up books the prior bookkeeper messed up?
Yes. About 30% of ProAxis catch-up engagements involve cleaning up books that a prior bookkeeper or accountant produced but that contain errors — wrong chart of accounts, miscategorized transactions, broken bank reconciliations, missing entries, or incorrect accruals. The work is similar to a from-scratch catch-up but starts from existing financial statements that are unreliable. ProAxis investigates and corrects rather than rebuilds when the existing data is largely usable. The complexity rating and per-month rate are typically higher for clean-up engagements because investigation work is more time-intensive than data entry. The calculator's complexity factors approximate this — high transaction volume, multi-entity, and industry uplift all push toward the upper end of the range.
Is the catch-up calculator output a binding quote?
No. The calculator returns a planning estimate. Specific pricing depends on facts the calculator does not see — the cleanliness of the existing data, the availability and completeness of bank statements for the back period, the chart of accounts in use, prior bookkeeper quality, and whether year-end close adjustments need to be made within the catch-up scope. ProAxis confirms specific catch-up pricing during a free scoping call, after reviewing a sample bank statement and a snapshot of the current QuickBooks file (read-only access). The agreed price is documented in a written engagement letter signed by both sides before any work begins.
Once catch-up is done, what does ongoing bookkeeping cost?
After catch-up completes and books are current, ongoing monthly bookkeeping resumes at the standard tier-based rate. ProAxis's published 2026 NJ/NY/PA monthly rates: solo or freelancer with simple operations $300-$500/mo; small business under $500K revenue $400-$700/mo; small-to-mid $500K-$2M revenue $700-$1,400/mo; mid-market $2M-$5M revenue $1,200-$2,500/mo; multi-entity or complex $1,800-$4,000+/mo. Use the Bookkeeping Cost Calculator to estimate the ongoing monthly fee separately. Most ProAxis catch-up engagements roll directly into a monthly subscription on day one of completion — the engagement letter covers both the one-time catch-up project and the ongoing monthly retainer.
Tax Extension Filing — Form 4868 / Form 7004 to buy time for tax returns while catching up books
IRS Tax Resolution — for unfiled returns, IRS notices, or substitute-filed returns that need correction
Fractional CFO Services — controller-level review, financial modeling, and oversight that complements bookkeeping
Ready to Get Books Caught Up?
Schedule a free 30-minute scoping call with ProAxis Tax & Accounting Services. We'll review a sample bank statement and a QuickBooks snapshot, confirm the specific catch-up price in writing, and start within a week (or sooner for rush engagements).
