Juneau is a unified city-borough and Alaska's state capital - one government, no road in or out. From downtown and Douglas to the Mendenhall Valley and Auke Bay, Tides handles the books for Juneau's small businesses. 100% remote, which in Juneau is a feature, not a compromise.
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The City and Borough of Juneau is a unified city-borough: the city and the borough are one and the same government, so there is a single assembly and a single set of local filings. It is also the only U.S. state capital with no road connection to the rest of its state - you arrive by plane or by ferry, and everything you sell arrives the same way.
That geography defines the economy. State government is the largest employer, and the legislative session from January into May brings a wave of legislators, staff, and lobbyists into town every winter. Then in May the cruise ships arrive and the summer visitor economy takes over. Between the two, Juneau runs a double season that most towns never experience.
Underneath both sits a durable base: commercial fishing, two hardrock mines, the Coast Guard, and the professional services firms that serve a capital. It is a small market with an unusually sophisticated set of businesses - and unusually complicated cash flow.
Wherever your business sits, we serve the whole area with the same level of service. We are 100% remote, so your exact location does not change anything about how we work.
Alaska's capital. Because Juneau is a unified city-borough, the city and the borough are the same jurisdiction - one government, one 5% sales tax, one set of filings.
Franklin Street, the capitol, and the cruise berths. Tour operators, jewelry and gift retail, restaurants - businesses that earn most of their year between May and September.
Douglas and West Juneau, connected by the Douglas Bridge. Residential, small trades, and the Eaglecrest ski area on the back side of the island.
Where most of Juneau actually lives. The Glacier Highway retail corridor, contractors, medical and dental practices, and the everyday service economy.
The ferry terminal, the harbor, charter fishing operators, marine services, and the NOAA fisheries lab north of the valley.
Glacier Highway runs about 40 miles and then simply stops. Also serving Lemon Creek, Salmon Creek, Thane, and every community in the borough.
Booking for Juneau means understanding a place with a winter government season and a summer cruise season, no road out, and a 5% sales tax that most of Alaska's biggest cities do not have.
Juneau was born from the 1880 gold strike that Joe Juneau and Richard Harris made in the gulch above what is now downtown. The Alaska-Juneau and Treadwell mines made it the biggest city in the territory, and in 1906 the capital moved here from Sitka. The mines closed during World War II, and government replaced gold as the town's economic engine.
The single strangest fact about Juneau's economy is that you cannot drive here. Glacier Highway runs about forty miles and dead-ends. Everything - inventory, equipment, building materials, produce - arrives by barge or plane. Freight cost is not a rounding error on a Juneau P&L; it is a structural cost line that has to be tracked deliberately, and it is the reason margin math that works in Seattle does not work here.
The other defining feature is the double season. From January into May the legislature is in session and the town fills with legislators, staff, lobbyists, and press - filling hotels and restaurants in what would otherwise be the dead of winter. Then the session ends, and within weeks the cruise ships start arriving, bringing well over a million passengers across a summer. Two peaks, two very different customer bases, and a genuinely quiet shoulder in between.
Alaska has no state sales tax and no state personal income tax — which is exactly why so many business owners get Alaska tax wrong. More than 100 local jurisdictions levy their own sales tax, and the rules change borough by borough and city by city.
This is where Alaska's tax story gets counterintuitive. There is no state sales tax and no state personal income tax - but Juneau, unlike Anchorage and Fairbanks, levies a local sales tax of its own. And because Juneau is a unified city-borough, there is only one rate to worry about.
Rates shown are as of 2026 and can change. Always confirm the current rate with the taxing jurisdiction before you rely on it. Tides keeps your books tax-ready and works alongside your CPA — we do not file returns for you.
Seven core services, all delivered remotely. Everything your business needs to stay financially clean and tax-ready year-round.
Our flagship service. Every transaction categorized, every account reconciled, and clean financial reports delivered to your inbox each month — without you lifting a finger. The financial foundation every Alaska business deserves.
Behind on your books? We clean up any backlog — whether it is 3 months or 3 years — so you can move forward with accurate, up-to-date records.
New business or inherited a mess? We configure QuickBooks, connect your accounts, and build a chart of accounts that actually makes sense for your industry — including landed cost and job costing where Alaska demands it.
Monthly reconciliation of every bank account and credit card — ensuring your books match your statements and no transactions fall through the cracks.
P&L statements, balance sheets, and cash flow reports delivered monthly in a format you can actually understand and act on.
We keep your AP and AR organized so you always know what is coming in, what is going out, and what is overdue.
We make sure your payroll expenses hit your books correctly and stay in sync with your payroll processor every pay period — including seasonal crews.
We understand the financial patterns of the industries that actually drive this economy — not a generic list copied from somewhere in the Lower 48.
Deferred revenue, seasonal payroll, cruise-line contracts
Fish tickets, crew shares, fisheries business tax
State contracts, session-driven demand, billing cycles
COGS, tip payroll, 5% sales tax on every sale
Landed cost with barge freight, inventory, seasonal swing
Sales tax on services, short build season, barged materials
Lobbyists, consultants, attorneys - and yes, sales tax applies
Sales tax plus bed tax, session and cruise-season pricing
"I run a whale watching operation and I had no idea Juneau's 5% sales tax applied to my tours - I had come up from Anchorage where there is no sales tax at all, so I just assumed. Tides caught it, helped us get square, and rebuilt the books so we can finally see what the season actually earned after freight and fuel. Worth every dollar."
Alaska has no state sales tax - but Juneau does. The City and Borough of Juneau levies a 5% areawide sales tax as of 2026, and it applies to services as well as goods. This surprises people constantly, because Anchorage and Fairbanks, the two biggest cities in the state, have no general sales tax at all. If you are a consultant, contractor, or tour operator in Juneau, you very likely owe sales tax on what you sell. Confirm the current rate and exemptions with CBJ Finance.
No. Juneau is a unified city-borough, which means the city and the borough are the same government. One assembly, one sales tax, one set of local filings. That is simpler than a place like the Kenai Peninsula, where a borough rate and a city rate stack on top of each other.
Honestly, it matters less here than almost anywhere. Juneau has no road connection to the rest of Alaska, so nearly every professional relationship in town already runs on email, phone, and file sharing. We are 100% remote from our Greenville, South Carolina office and we work with Juneau clients exactly the way an in-town bookkeeper would - except we are not competing for the same handful of local accountants everyone else in Juneau is trying to hire.
By building the books around both. Session runs January into May and fills hotels and restaurants. The cruise season runs roughly May into September and is a completely different customer. We track them separately so you can see which season actually carries you, manage deferred revenue on bookings taken months out, and know your cash runway through the quiet shoulder months.
No. If you do not have QuickBooks Online, we set it up as part of onboarding. If you already have an account, we connect to it and clean it up as needed. We also connect Puzzle.io for real-time dashboards and an instant snapshot of your books before regular monthly service begins.
Pricing is based on your monthly transaction volume, not your zip code. Most small businesses land between $395 and $895 per month. You get an exact quote during your free consultation - no guesswork, no setup fees.
Alaska does not border another state, so we do not pretend to serve one. We serve Alaska — from Southeast to the Interior to the Y-K Delta.
Schedule a free 15-minute consultation. Tell us about your business - and about that 5% sales tax - and we will give you a clear picture of where your books stand.
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Official government resources for registering, filing, and staying compliant. Tides handles your books; these help with the rest.