Zoho BooksU.S.-compliant solar accounting.
Sales tax across 50 states. ITC cost segregation that survives an IRS audit. AIA-style progress invoices for commercial work. 1099-NEC generation for your subs in January. QuickBooks migrated cleanly in week one. This is what U.S. solar accounting looks like on Zoho Books.
From deal-won to year-end financials, all five stages.
Solar accounting isn't generic accounting. Progress billing on long installs, ITC eligibility splits, multi-state sales tax, subcontractor 1099s, and GAAP-clean financials at year-end. Here's how Books handles each.
CRM closes the deal. Books opens the project.
The moment a contract is signed in CRM, Books spins up a project, a customer record and a job-cost bucket. Estimated revenue, estimated cost, ITC eligibility flag and state-of-install all pre-tag, so margin tracking starts on day zero, not day ninety.
AIA-style milestone invoices, sent automatically.
Residential or commercial, solar billing is rarely one invoice. Books generates AIA-formatted progress invoices keyed off your install milestones, deposit at signing, draw at install complete, balance at PTO. Retainage tracked separately for commercial projects.
50-state sales tax, calculated and remitted.
California taxes residential solar differently than commercial. Florida exempts it. Texas exempts panels but not labor. Avalara handles every jurisdiction at the line-item level, Books just asks the question and Avalara answers. Monthly returns auto-file for the states where you owe.
January closes the year. Books closes the 1099 stack.
Subcontractor electricians, roofers, designers, every vendor paid $600+ in non-employee comp needs a 1099-NEC. Books tracks W-9s on file, flags missing TINs, and bulk-generates 1099-NEC and 1096 PDFs on January 2. E-file directly to the IRS through the integration.
P&L, balance sheet, cash flow, IRS- and bank-ready.
Year-end financials drop in Books in GAAP-aligned format your CPA will accept without re-keying. ITC-eligible costs reconciled separately. Commercial project margins, residential project margins, O&M revenue, and crew utilization all visible on one owner dashboard.
Zoho Books subscription, in plain USD.
Books is priced per *organization* per month, not per user (additional users beyond plan limits are inexpensive). Below is Zoho's published 2026 U.S. list rate, billed annually. As an Authorized Partner we apply a 15-20% partner discount automatically.
Avalara AvaTax is billed by Avalara directly (typical solar installer: $79-$300/mo depending on transaction volume). We handle the integration setup at no additional cost in Books Standard and above.
Three fixed-price ways to migrate to Zoho Books.
Migrating books mid-year is painful when done badly. We do it cleanly, historical data preserved, chart of accounts mapped, opening balances reconciled to the penny. Fixed price in USD, defined timeline.
Solar QuickStart
Replace the spreadsheets. Stop the bleeding in 2 weeks.
- Development75 hrs
- Project management20 hrs
- Training & user manuals15 hrs
- Hypercare (post go-live)30 hrs
- Meetings & reviews10 hrs
- WordPress forms + Meta/Google lead capture
- Zoho CRM · Leads, Accounts, Deals (residential + commercial)
- Zoho Books · COA, invoices, payments, tax
- 2 Analytics dashboards
- Recorded training videos + user manuals
- 15-day hypercare after go-live
Solar LaunchPro
Full sales + ops + service engine for a 10-crew business.
- Development230 hrs
- Project management40 hrs
- Online training sessions10 hrs
- Hypercare (post go-live)50 hrs
- Meetings & reviews20 hrs
- 20-stage Residential Deal Blueprint
- Quotation workflow + Zoho Sign e-signature
- Zoho Inventory + QR dispatch + serial tracking
- Zoho FSM · site visits, install work orders
- AMC engine + Zoho Desk (basic SLA)
- WhatsApp Business API + Zoho Social
- WordPress site build (5–10 pages)
- 4 Analytics dashboards
- 2 online training sessions (10 hours)
- 30-day hypercare
Solar Enterprise Suite
For EPCs, commercial/industrial & multi-office distributors.
- Development550 hrs
- Project management70 hrs
- Online training20 hrs
- Hypercare (post go-live)70 hrs
- Meetings & reviews40 hrs
- 21-stage C&I Blueprint (>100kW)
- Native iOS + Android field app (your brand)
- Zoho People + Payroll + Expense (HR full stack)
- 8+ Analytics dashboards (executive + ops)
- Data migration from legacy systems
- Custom REST API development
- 3 online training sessions
- 60-day hypercare + 3-month AMC (100 hrs support · not development)
Six things a generic bookkeeper won't configure.
50-state sales tax automation
Avalara AvaTax or TaxJar wired into every invoice. Origin-vs-destination sourcing handled per state. Solar exemption rules baked in for FL, AZ residential, NJ, NY. Nexus thresholds monitored, we ping you when you're close.
ITC cost segregation
The IRS only cares about ITC-eligible costs. Books separates panels, inverters, batteries, and balance-of-system from non-eligible items like roof repair, tree trimming, and main service panel upgrades. Clean documentation for any audit.
1099-NEC bulk generation
Every vendor flagged for W-9 collection on first payment. January 2 fires the bulk 1099-NEC generator, 38 subs done in 90 seconds. IRS e-file in one click. CP2100 mismatch warnings before you submit, not after.
AIA-style progress billing
G702 (Application for Payment) and G703 (Continuation Sheet) templates pre-built. Schedule-of-values broken down by panels, inverters, racking, labor. Retainage held back automatically. Lien waivers tied to each draw.
QuickBooks migration, clean
200+ QuickBooks Online migrations completed for U.S. solar companies. Three years of history, every transaction, every reconciled bank balance. Beginning balances reconcile to the penny, your CPA won't even notice the switch.
Multi-entity consolidation
Run the parent C-corp, the install LLC, and the financing entity as three separate organizations in Books, then roll up to a consolidated P&L and balance sheet for ownership. Inter-company transactions auto-eliminated.
Solar accountants will recognize what we configure.
Solar chart of accounts, day one
A generic Books setup gives you "Sales Income." We give you Residential Cash, Residential Loan, Residential PPA, Commercial Direct, O&M Recurring, SREC Revenue, Referral Revenue and Warranty Income, each tied to the right tax treatment.
QuickBooks migration done 200+ times
QuickBooks is sticky. We know how it breaks on the way out, what to map carefully, what to drop. Most clients are fully migrated in under three weeks with zero ledger gaps.
Avalara wired correctly the first time
Solar sales-tax misclassification is a $40K audit waiting to happen. We've configured Avalara for solar companies in 14 states, exemption certificates, origin sourcing, labor-vs-materials splits, done right.
Glendale, CA-based, U.S. tax-literate team
Your implementer knows the difference between an EIN and an SSN, what a CP2100 letter looks like, and why Form 5695 matters to your customer. No offshore guesswork.
The honest FAQ.
How does QuickBooks migration actually work?
Does it handle sales tax across multiple states?
What's the audit trail like? My CPA cares.
Will 1099-NEC actually go out on time in January?
Can we run two entities (LLC and S-corp) in one Books?
What about ongoing CPA / bookkeeping?
See your solar pipeline on Zoho, in 30 minutes.
Walk through your current sales-to-PTO flow with one of our solar implementation leads. You will leave the call with a fixed-price quote in USD and a defined go-live date.