A client paid, but nobody knows who
Twenty Zelles a week arrive under a husband's name, a wife's or a company's. Without matching each one to the house you cleaned, unpaid balances become guesswork.
Florida · Broward and Boca Raton
Bookkeeping for Fort Lauderdale small businesses, in Portuguese, English or Spanish
The schedule is full of houses, boats or job sites, Zelle keeps coming in, and you still cannot tell which client is worth it.
GS Brasil is a Portuguese speaking bookkeeper for small businesses in Fort Lauderdale, Pompano Beach, Deerfield Beach and Boca Raton, working remotely from Florida in Portuguese, English and Spanish. We keep QuickBooks Online current: every Zelle, check and card payment matched to the right client, bank and card reconciliation, W-9 tracking for contractors, and a monthly close with a P&L and Balance Sheet. That is the routine cleaning companies, remodelers, marine services and restaurants in the area need to see what they really keep.
Taxes are not part of the service. GS Brasil organizes the numbers and your CPA handles the filings.
Warning signs
What usually holds businesses back here
Crew paid with no W-9
A helper started on Monday and got paid on Friday, no form. In January your CPA asks for 1099-NEC details and nobody has them.
A strong season followed by a tight one
Marine work, seasonal homes and remodeling have strong and slow months. Without a monthly close, peak season cash is spent before the slow months arrive.
What is different in this area
From Boca Raton to Fort Lauderdale, the books look like a service business
The Pompano Beach, Deerfield Beach, Boca Raton and Fort Lauderdale corridor has a large Brazilian community, and much of it runs service businesses: cleaning, construction and remodeling, boats and restaurants. These businesses have many clients, small and frequent payments, and crews that change. The books need to keep up.
Residential and commercial cleaning
A cleaning company may have dozens of recurring clients, each paying a different way: Zelle, check, card. Bookkeeping starts with every client set up in QuickBooks and every payment matched to that client. Then the receivables report shows who is late, not a list of unnamed deposits.
The crew is the biggest cost. Contractors need a W-9 before the first payment. The 1099-NEC is due January 31, and the threshold went from 600 dollars for payments through 2025 to 2,000 dollars starting in 2026, always to be confirmed with your CPA. Whether someone should be 1099 or W-2 is a call for your CPA or an attorney, not the bookkeeper. Employers with W-2 staff also pay Florida reemployment tax. The books show, person by person, how much was paid and how.
Travel and supplies count too. Gas, tolls, vehicle costs and cleaning products, each in its own category, show whether a far away client still pays off.
Marine services and marinas
Boat maintenance, detailing and repair revenue rises and falls with the season, and hurricane season, June 1 to November 30, weighs on the calendar. On a work order, parts and labor should be split so you can see where the margin is. A deposit paid by the owner before the job is money owed in service, not that month's income.
Remodeling, construction and restaurants
In remodeling, what matters is margin per job, with subcontractors and materials booked to the right project. Details are on construction bookkeeping in Florida. In restaurants, the focus is food cost and the daily cash close. In both, sales tax in Broward reaches 7%, the state's 6% plus the county surtax, and not every service is taxable. That classification and the return stay with your CPA. The books keep what was collected separate.
How it starts
How the work starts in a service business
Remote service, video meetings and a direct line to Gustavo.
01
Clients
Build the client list and how each one pays
We set up recurring clients in QuickBooks with the agreed price and payment method. That is what lets us match each Zelle or check to the house, boat or job.
02
Crew
Review who got paid and with which paperwork
We list every payment to individuals this year, flag who has a W-9 and who is missing, and show what was paid by Zelle or check versus card or payment platform.
03
Cleanup
Fix the months that fell behind
Bank and card reconciliation, duplicates removed, uncategorized cleared. If the backlog is large, the work follows the catch-up bookkeeping format.
04
Routine
Monthly close with margin by service line
Each month you get a P&L and Balance Sheet, with revenue and cost split by service line: residential, commercial, post-construction cleaning, boat maintenance.
What you get
Deliverables for service businesses in Broward and Boca
Receivables by client
Who paid, who is late and for how long, without opening the banking app.
W-9 tracking and totals per contractor
Your contractor list with paperwork, payment method and yearly total, ready for your CPA to prepare the 1099-NEC forms.
Margin by service line
Residential versus commercial cleaning, maintenance versus boat repair. You see which service carries the company.
Travel and supply costs
Gas, vehicles, tolls and supplies in their own categories, to see the real cost of serving each area.
Customer deposits kept apart
Advance payments from boat owners or remodeling clients recorded as work owed until the job is done.
Cash read month by month
A monthly close that shows how much peak season needs to set aside for slow months and hurricane season.
The line with your CPA.
GS Brasil does not issue 1099s as a tax service, does not decide whether workers are 1099 or W-2, and does not file sales tax or income tax returns. That belongs to your CPA. We deliver organized W-9s, totals paid per person and reconciled books, which usually makes his work faster, with less back and forth.
Frequently asked
Questions from Broward and Boca business owners
Do you work with businesses in Pompano Beach, Deerfield Beach and Boca Raton?
Yes. We work remotely from Florida, so the city makes no difference. There is no physical office in the area. Meetings are by video and you talk directly with Gustavo in Portuguese, English or Spanish.
My cleaning company gets paid mostly by Zelle. Is that a problem?
Not if each Zelle is matched to a client. The bank only shows the sender's name, which often differs from the client on file. During the first cleanup we build that mapping with you, and from then on it is routine.
Do I need to send 1099s to the cleaners who work with me?
It depends on how they work, how much they were paid and how, and your CPA makes that call. For payments starting in 2026 the 1099-NEC threshold is 2,000 dollars. Payments made by card or payment platform are usually reported by the platform. We hand him the list ready to decide. See bookkeeping for 1099 contractors.
My marine service business has very uneven months. How do I track that?
With a monthly close compared against the same month last year, not the prior month. With parts split from labor, you see whether a drop is volume or margin. For weekly cash projection there is Financial Support Premium.
Which plan fits a small cleaning company?
In most cases, Strategic Bookkeeping Basic: reconciliation, categorization, receivables, monthly close and a package for your CPA. Pricing is quoted based on transaction volume. Send a message about where your business is today.
Keep reading
Related pages
Bookkeeping in Florida
Portuguese speaking bookkeeping for Florida businesses.
Miami
Import, foreign exchange, card sales and real estate, books kept current.
Construction bookkeeping in Florida
Hurricanes, draws, retainage and subcontractors in your job cash.
1099 bookkeeping
W-9s, contractor totals and a 1099 package for your CPA.
Catch-up bookkeeping
When the books are months behind, with or without QuickBooks.
Strategic Bookkeeping Basic
The monthly routine that keeps the books current.
First step
Start with the first conversation
Twenty minutes, no commitment, to understand where your company is and point the way.