For a seller who collects sales tax in more than one state, the best setup is a general ledger, QuickBooks Online or Xero, with A2X or Link My Books posting each marketplace payout so that tax collected is separated from revenue. A seller who has not yet formed the business should start one step earlier, with the entity, the EIN and a separate business account, and ZenBusiness Money Pro at $30 per month (as of 2026-10-06) is one way to have bookkeeping handled for you from the start. No tool on this list decides where tax is owed, so nexus questions go to each state's tax agency.
What does multi-state sales tax add to e-commerce bookkeeping?
A seller who ships to customers in several states can end up with several sets of rules. Each state sets its own thresholds, rates and filing schedules, and those rules change. This page does not cover nexus rules for individual states, and a seller with sales in more than one state should check each state's own tax agency.
For the books, the practical problem is separation. Sales tax collected from customers is not revenue, so it has to sit in a liability account until it is remitted. When a marketplace or payment processor deposits one net payout, the tax, the fees and the refunds all arrive bundled with the sales. The ledger has to split them again, by state where the tax is owed to more than one.
That is why the settlement connectors matter here as much as they do for fees and refunds. A connector that posts gross sales, tax, fees and refunds as separate lines gives the seller the figures needed for each return. Whether a specific tool maps tax by state is not published in the figures used for this page, so confirm it with the vendor before relying on it.
How long do sales tax records have to be kept?
The California Department of Tax and Fee Administration's Publication 116 says to retain sales and use tax records for at least 4 years. If the seller is being audited, all records covering the audit period should be kept until the audit is complete. Retention periods in other states are not covered here.
Federal rules sit alongside the state ones. The Internal Revenue Service sets the general period for business records at 3 years. That applies unless one of three exceptions does: under-reporting income by more than 25% of the gross income shown on the return (6 years), not filing a return at all (indefinitely), or filing a fraudulent return (indefinitely).
The same IRS guidance gives 7 years for a claim for a loss from worthless securities or a bad debt deduction, and at least 4 years for employment tax records, counted from the later of the date the tax becomes due or is paid. For sellers with employees, the U.S. Department of Labor's Fact Sheet 21 says payroll records, collective bargaining agreements, and sales and purchase records must be kept for at least three years, with time cards and wage-related supporting records kept for 2 years.
IRS Publication 583 lists the documents that support the books. Gross receipts are supported by items such as cash register tapes, bank deposit slips, receipt books, invoices and credit card charge slips. Purchases and inventory are supported by canceled checks, cash register tape receipts, credit card sales slips and invoices. A marketplace settlement report is not named on those lists, so keeping the matching bank deposit slips and invoices with it is the safer approach.
Which tools help with sales tax records?
The tools below are listed alphabetically. The order is not a ranking. Prices are as of 2026-10-06 from each provider's pricing page, and promotional rates are labelled as such.
A2X
A2X is a settlement connector, not a ledger, so it needs QuickBooks Online or Xero underneath it. It starts at $29 per month per sales channel, with Walmart from $79 per month. It suits sellers who want each payout posted as a clean summary, which keeps collected tax out of revenue. How it handles tax by state is not published in the figures used here.
Bench
Bench is a bookkeeping service rather than software. Bookkeeping Light is $199 per month, Bookkeeping is $399 per month, and Bookkeeping + Tax is $649 per month. A fractional bookkeeper is $55 per hour plus a $1,200 onboarding fee. Whether any plan covers multi-state sales tax records is not published here, so ask before signing up.
Link My Books
Link My Books is the other settlement connector in this comparison, aimed at online sellers. It is priced by order volume and channel count through a calculator, with no flat published tier, so no figure can be quoted here. It suits sellers who would rather price their own volume than accept a per-channel rate.
QuickBooks Online
QuickBooks Online has a Free plan at $0, then Simple Start at $38 per month, Essentials at $85, Plus at $140 and Advanced at $340. The 50% offer for 3 months is promotional and not the ongoing price. It is the most common ledger and easy to hand to an accountant, and it is the usual partner for a connector.
Wave
Wave's Starter plan is free, and Pro is $19 per month or $190 per year. The introductory rate of $9.50 per month for 3 months on Pro is promotional. Card processing is 2.9% + $0.60, the receipts add-on is $8 per month, and payroll starts at $25 per month. It suits a very small seller with one state and low volume, with the caveat that multi-state tax handling is not documented here.
Xero
Xero's plans are Early at $27 per month, Growing at $59 per month and Established at $97 per month. The 80% discount for 3 months is promotional and not the ongoing price. It is a strong ledger for sellers who prefer its layout, and like QuickBooks Online it is typically paired with a connector for marketplace payouts.
Zoho Books
Zoho Books has a Free plan at $0, limited to under $50K in annual revenue. Paid plans are Standard at $20 per month, Professional at $50, Premium at $70, Elite at $150 and Ultimate at $275. It suits sellers who want a lower-priced ledger and are willing to verify how its tax features work across states.
ZenBusiness Money Pro
ZenBusiness Money Pro is $30 per month, according to ZenBusiness's own site, and is sold as an add-on alongside formation. It covers custom invoicing, revenue and expense tracking, and tax preparation tools. It is a service, not accounting software, so it should not be compared feature by feature with a ledger. Whether it handles multi-state sales tax is not published, so that is a question to ask directly.
How do the options compare?
Providers are listed alphabetically, not by preference. Figures are monthly as of 2026-10-06.
| Provider | Type | Published starting price | Multi-state sales tax detail |
|---|---|---|---|
| A2X | Settlement connector | $29 per channel | Not published |
| Bench | Bookkeeping service | $199 | Not published |
| Link My Books | Settlement connector | Not published | Not published |
| QuickBooks Online | Ledger | $0 (Free), $38 (Simple Start) | Not published |
| Wave | Ledger | $0 (Starter) | Not published |
| Xero | Ledger | $27 | Not published |
| ZenBusiness Money Pro | Bookkeeping service | $30 | Not published |
| Zoho Books | Ledger | $0 (Free), $20 (Standard) | Not published |
Why does a separate business account matter for tax records?
Tax collected from customers has to be traceable, and that is much harder when business and personal money mix. IRS Publication 583 says one of the first things to do when starting a business is open a business checking account and keep it separate from the personal one. It adds that the account should be used for business purposes only, with the source of deposits and the type of expense indicated.
A seller who has not yet formed an entity or separated accounts should fix that before choosing a tool. ZenBusiness handles the entity and EIN steps and offers a free accounting consultation to customers who form with it. It no longer offers business banking, so the account itself has to come from a bank. For tax at volume across several states, a ledger with a connector is the stronger fit, and the state agencies remain the authority on what is owed.
How should a seller choose?
Start with where the sales go. A seller with customers in one state, or only in California, has a much simpler record-keeping job than one with sales in many, and the retention period for each state's tax records has to be checked separately.
Then decide who does the work. An owner who will keep the books pairs a ledger with a connector. An owner who wants to hand it off looks at a service such as Bench or ZenBusiness Money Pro, after confirming how sales tax is handled.
Finally, budget on ongoing prices. QuickBooks Online, Wave and Xero all lead with a 3-month discount, and the plan prices above are the figures that matter after it ends.
Sources
- California Department of Tax and Fee Administration, "Publication 116, Retaining Records"
- Internal Revenue Service, "How Long Should I Keep Records?"
- U.S. Department of Labor, "Fact Sheet #21: Recordkeeping Requirements under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)"
- Internal Revenue Service, "Publication 583, Starting a Business and Keeping Records"
This is general information rather than legal, tax or accounting advice, and requirements vary and change.