From Honolulu to Hilo, Kahului to Līhuʻe, Tides Bookkeeping provides remote bookkeeping, payroll support, and monthly financial reporting for small businesses across Hawaii — including the General Excise Tax tracking the islands demand. Clean books. Real results. No commute required.
No setup fees · Cancel anytime · 100% Remote
Hawaii's economy is built on tourism, a major military presence, diversified agriculture, healthcare, and state and county government — with a fast-growing remote-work and tech sector reshaping how business gets done across the islands. And every business here shares one signature bookkeeping need: staying on top of the General Excise Tax.
Hawaii is one of the most unique places in America to run a business. Its economy runs on visitors, the U.S. military, diversified agriculture, healthcare, and government — with a rising wave of remote workers and tech founders who now call the islands home. That opportunity comes with a real cost of doing business: high shipping and real-estate costs, and a tax structure found nowhere else in the country.
The biggest difference for local bookkeeping is the General Excise Tax (GET). Hawaii has no sales tax. Instead, the state levies GET on nearly all gross business income — about 4% statewide, and 4.5% on Oʻahu with the county surcharge. It applies to services and rents, not just goods, and it's owed on gross receipts whether or not you passed it on to your customer. Tracking GET liability and staying ready for periodic filings and the annual G-49 reconciliation is a recurring need for every Hawaii business.
Hawaii's road network is island-by-island — the H-series interstates on Oʻahu, plus the belt highways that ring each of the other islands.
Seven core services designed for small businesses across every industry in Hawaii — all delivered remotely, all handled by our team, all built with the islands' GET obligations in mind.
Your most important foundation. We categorize every transaction, reconcile your accounts, track your GET liability, and deliver clean P&L and balance sheet reports every single month — so you always know exactly where your business stands.
Months or years behind? We clean it all up — systematically organizing your past transactions so you can get current and stay compliant.
Starting fresh or inheriting a mess? We connect all your accounts, configure your chart of accounts, and set everything up correctly from day one.
Every account, every month. We match your books to your bank statements and flag any discrepancies before they become problems.
P&L, balance sheets, and cash flow statements delivered monthly in a format you can actually read and act on.
We track what you owe and what's owed to you — keeping your cash flow picture clear and your vendor relationships clean.
We ensure your payroll expenses hit your books correctly every pay period — working alongside your payroll processor to keep everything reconciled.
From Oʻahu's business core to the Big Island, Maui, and Kauaʻi, Tides Bookkeeping serves small businesses in every county and major city across Hawaii. 100% remote means we're just as effective in Hilo as we are in Honolulu.
From Waikīkī hospitality to Kona coffee farms to Maui vacation rentals, we understand the financial rhythms — and the GET obligations — of Hawaii's most common industries.
Seasonal revenue, tours, activities, GET on services
Job costing, subcontractor payments, material expenses
COGS tracking, tip payroll, inventory & vendor management
Commissions, vacation rentals, GET on rental income
Consultants, attorneys, agencies — clean P&L every month
Inventory, merchant fees, platform reconciliation
Insurance billing, payroll, HIPAA-aware practices
Startups, SaaS, and remote pros building from the islands
We're not a local firm that added remote services. We were built remote-first, which means our process, communication, and delivery are optimized for island businesses that never need to meet in person — time zones and all.
Hawaii's General Excise Tax works nothing like a mainland sales tax. We track your GET liability throughout the year and keep your books ready for periodic filings and the annual G-49 reconciliation.
No hourly billing surprises. You pay one flat rate each month based on your transaction volume — and you always know exactly what you're getting.
We don't just hand you a spreadsheet. We deliver clean, readable financial reports each month with plain-language summaries so you can make decisions — not just file paperwork.
Your CPA will thank you. Our books are consistently maintained at a level that makes tax season faster, cheaper, and less stressful for everyone involved.
We earn your business every month. There are no lock-in agreements — just great service that makes you want to stay. Cancel anytime if it's not working.
"Running a tour company on Oʻahu, my books were always a mess — and I never felt confident about my GET. Tides got me completely caught up, set everything up in QuickBooks, and now I get a clean report every month plus my excise tax tracked all year. Best money I spend."
No — we serve businesses nationally. But we work with companies across Hawaii and understand the islands' business climate, from Oʻahu's tourism and government sector to the Big Island's agriculture, Maui's hospitality economy, and Kauaʻi's small-business community.
Yes. Hawaii has no sales tax — instead, businesses owe General Excise Tax (GET) on gross income (roughly 4% statewide, 4.5% on Oʻahu with the county surcharge). We track your GET liability throughout the year, keep your books ready for periodic filings, and organize everything for your annual G-49 reconciliation so nothing slips through the cracks.
Everything is handled through QuickBooks Online and Puzzle.io — giving you real-time dashboards and an instant snapshot of your books at any time. You connect your bank and credit card accounts, and we handle the rest. Monthly reports and communication happen via email and a dedicated client portal, so island time zones are never a barrier.
That's what our Catch-Up Bookkeeping service is for. We work backward through however many months you're behind, clean everything up, reconcile your GET, and get you to a current and accurate starting point before beginning regular monthly service.
Absolutely. We provide your CPA with clean, organized books and can share access directly through QuickBooks. Many of our clients find their tax prep bills drop significantly after working with us because their books are already clean and their GET is reconciled.
We serve all industries, but have particularly deep experience with tourism and hospitality, contractors, restaurants, real estate and vacation rentals, retail, and healthcare — all major sectors across Hawaii's island economy.
Pricing is based on your monthly transaction volume, starting at $395/month for small businesses. We offer a free consultation to assess your needs and give you an exact quote — no obligation, no pressure.
Yes — because we're 100% remote, we serve businesses across all four counties and every island. Whether you're in Honolulu, Hilo, Kahului, or Līhuʻe, we can handle your books.
Schedule a free 15-minute consultation. No pressure, no commitments — just a clear picture of where your books stand, your GET included, and how we can help.
No setup fees · Cancel anytime · First month guaranteed
Official government resources for registering, filing, and staying compliant. Tides handles your books; these help with the rest.