Michigan Has
Automotive, Manufacturing,
and a Tax Structure
Most Accountants
Get Wrong.
From Detroit's Tier 2 auto suppliers to Grand Rapids' furniture manufacturers to Ann Arbor's tech corridor — Michigan businesses operate in one of the most complex multi-state tax environments in the Midwest. The Michigan-Ohio reciprocity agreement alone creates payroll compliance issues that most bookkeepers miss.
Detroit · Grand Rapids · Ann Arbor · Lansing · Kalamazoo · Flint · Troy · Sterling Heights
Bookkeeping
Job-cost accounting, WIP schedules, and monthly close for Michigan manufacturers and contractors.
Payroll
Michigan withholding, SUI, multi-state payroll for OH/IN/WI border employees, and union compliance.
Controller
Month-end close, cost accounting, SBA lender packages, and financial reporting for growing Michigan businesses.
CFO
Cash flow forecasting, Michigan Business Tax planning, exit strategy, and capital raise support.
The whole financial picture
From clean books to CFO strategy — one connected team
Whether your Michigan business needs day-to-day bookkeeping, proactive tax planning, reliable monthly reporting, or fractional CFOstrategy, we handle it as one connected system — not a bookkeeper, a tax preparer, and an advisor who never talk to each other. We meet you where you are and grow with you.
Bookkeeping
Clean, current books
Tax
Proactive planning & filing
Controller
Reliable reporting
CFO
Strategy & forecasting
And all of it delivered remotely. A Michigan business gets the full range of our services — and the same depth as a local firm — without anyone ever needing to come into an office. About 80% of our clients run the whole relationship this way.
Quick answer
What are Michigan's business tax rates?
Michigan keeps it clean and flat: a 4.25% flat individual income tax, a flat 6% corporate income tax on C-corporations, and a flat 6% sales tax with no local add-ons. Pass-through owners can use the Flow-Through Entity (FTE) tax, Michigan's PTET, to work around the federal SALT cap. Watch the personal property tax on business equipment — there are small-business and manufacturer exemptions, but you have to claim them.
Real Situations.
Real Financial Impact.
The Fabrication Shop That Couldn't Get a Line of Credit
Picture a metal fabrication shop in Sterling Heights — $380K in annual revenue, profitable by any measure, with a steady book of Tier 2 automotive work. The owner goes to the bank for a $75K line of credit to cover materials between invoices. Denied.
The reason wasn't the business. It was the books. Personal vehicle payments, home office expenses, and family cell phone bills were all running through the business account. The P&L showed a business that looked like it was barely breaking even — because the numbers weren't separated.
This is one of the most common situations we see with small manufacturers and fabricators in the Metro Detroit corridor. The business is real. The profitability is real. The financial picture just doesn't reflect it yet.
What This Unlocks
“A cheaper bookkeeper records what happens. A good one understands what it means — and makes sure the financial picture reflects the actual health of the business.”
The Books Looked Fine.
They Weren't.
What We Found
A common pattern: a business has been on a cheaper bookkeeping service for years. On the surface the books look okay — monthly reconciliations are happening, the accounts balance. But review them in detail and two problems show up again and again.
First: owner contributions to the business get coded as revenue. That means the owner pays income tax on money they already paid tax on personally — essentially getting double-taxed on their own capital contributions.
Second: equipment purchases — a CNC machine, a work truck, a trailer — get coded as owner contributions instead of fixed assets. That means no depreciation deductions, and thousands of dollars in legitimate write-offs simply vanish.
What It Costs
Left uncorrected, mistakes like these can have an owner writing a large check to the IRS they don't actually owe — accepted as the cost of doing business, when it's really just a bookkeeping error.
When the books are corrected and returns amended, that liability can drop sharply. Equipment depreciation creates write-offs that weren't there before, and properly reclassified owner contributions stop generating phantom income.
“The cheaper option cost more in the end — not because of what they charged, but because of what they missed.”
From $600K to $3.2M —
Without the Owner Running Every Shift
Here's what a Grand Rapids powder coating company at $600K in revenue typically looks like — and what the path to $3.2M looks like when the financial systems keep pace with the growth.
Clean Books
- Separate personal from business
- Job costing by customer/program
- Monthly P&L that's actually readable
- Bank line of credit approved
Owner knows which jobs are profitable. Stops quoting unprofitable work.
Controller Systems
- Weekly cash flow reporting
- Accounts receivable aging tracked
- Equipment depreciation scheduled
- SBA lender package ready
Owner hires a shop manager. Stops running every shift personally.
CFO-Level Planning
- 3-year revenue and margin forecast
- Equipment financing modeled
- Multi-state nexus reviewed
- Exit strategy documented
$3.2M revenue. Owner takes two weeks off every summer.
This isn't a guarantee — it's a framework. The businesses that scale are the ones where the financial infrastructure keeps pace with the revenue. The ones that stall are the ones where the owner is still doing everything because nobody built the systems to let them step back.
When the Offer Comes,
You Have 3 Weeks or 9 Months.
Michigan's manufacturing and automotive supply chain has seen significant consolidation over the past decade. Private equity-backed rollups are actively acquiring Tier 2 and Tier 3 suppliers, fabricators, and specialty manufacturers across the state.
When a buyer reaches out, the due diligence process starts immediately. If the books are clean and auditable, that process takes 3–6 weeks. If they're not, it takes 6–9 months — and many deals fall apart during that window.
What acquisition-ready books look like:
- 3 years of clean, reconciled financials
- P&L by business segment or product line
- No personal expenses in the business
- Fixed asset schedule with depreciation
- Clear owner compensation vs. distributions
What Michigan Business Owners
Need to Know
Michigan Business Tax at a Glance
No brackets — pass-through income taxed at this rate
C-corporations
No local sales tax to track
Flow-Through Entity tax available
Michigan keeps it clean — flat personal, corporate, and sales rates, with no local sales tax.
Metro Detroit
Detroit, Troy, Sterling Heights, Dearborn, Auburn Hills, Southfield
Automotive supply chain, manufacturing, professional services, real estate
Grand Rapids / West Michigan
Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Holland, Muskegon, Battle Creek
Furniture manufacturing, food processing, healthcare, construction
Ann Arbor / Washtenaw County
Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti, Saline, Chelsea
Technology, life sciences, professional services, university-adjacent businesses
Lansing / Mid-Michigan
Lansing, East Lansing, Flint, Saginaw, Bay City
Government contractors, manufacturing, healthcare, professional services
Northern Michigan
Traverse City, Petoskey, Cadillac, Alpena
Hospitality, tourism, construction, agriculture
Upper Peninsula
Marquette, Sault Ste. Marie, Iron Mountain, Houghton
Mining, forestry, healthcare, tourism
Bookkeeping & Payroll for Michigan Businesses
Michigan manufacturing and construction businesses need bookkeeping that understands job costing, WIP schedules, and the Michigan-Ohio payroll reciprocity agreement. We build your books around the way your business actually operates — not a generic chart of accounts.
Payroll in Michigan means Michigan withholding, SUI, and — for businesses along the I-75 and I-94 corridors — managing employees who live in Ohio or Indiana. We handle the compliance so you don't have to.
Bookkeeping Services →Controller & CFO Services for Michigan Businesses
At $1M–$5M in revenue, Michigan manufacturers and contractors need more than bookkeeping — they need financial infrastructure. Controller-level work means monthly close, cost accounting by product line or job, and reporting that tells you where you're actually making money.
CFO-level work means cash flow forecasting, banking relationships, equipment financing strategy, and — for businesses thinking about a sale — building the financial foundation that makes a deal possible.
Controller Services →What is the Michigan Business Tax and how does it affect my business?
Michigan replaced the old Single Business Tax with the Michigan Business Tax (MBT) in 2008, and then largely replaced the MBT with the Corporate Income Tax (CIT) in 2012. Most pass-through entities (S-corps, LLCs, partnerships) are subject to the Michigan Individual Income Tax at 4.25%. However, certain businesses may still have MBT liability depending on their structure. The complexity is in the details — we review your entity structure and make sure you're on the right tax track.
We have employees in Michigan and Ohio. How does that work for payroll?
Michigan and Ohio have a reciprocity agreement, which means employees who live in one state and work in the other only pay income tax to their state of residence. That simplifies payroll — but you still need to register correctly in both states, handle SUI in the state where work is performed, and make sure your payroll system is set up to apply the reciprocity correctly. We handle this regularly for businesses along the I-75 and I-94 corridors.
I run a manufacturing company in Grand Rapids. Do I need a Controller or a CFO?
At $500K–$2M revenue, you probably need Controller-level work: clean books, job costing by product line or customer, and monthly reporting that tells you where you're actually making money. At $2M–$5M+, you start needing CFO-level thinking: cash flow forecasting, banking relationships, pricing strategy, and planning for what comes next. We can start at the Controller level and scale up as you grow — you don't have to hire both at once.
What does job costing look like for a Michigan auto supplier?
For Tier 2 and Tier 3 auto suppliers, job costing means tracking direct labor, direct materials, and overhead by part number or customer program. The goal is to know your true cost per unit — not just your total cost — so you can price accurately, identify which programs are profitable, and have the data you need when a customer asks for a cost breakdown. We build this in your accounting system so it runs automatically, not as a manual spreadsheet exercise.
We're thinking about selling the business in the next 3–5 years. What should we be doing now?
Start with clean, auditable financials. Buyers and their accountants will want 3 years of clean books, a clear P&L by business segment, and no personal expenses mixed into the business. If you're a pass-through entity, we'll also model the tax impact of different deal structures (asset sale vs. stock sale) so you know what you're actually netting. The businesses that sell quickly and at full value are the ones where the financial house was in order before the process started.
Who You’re Actually Working With
Two founders who’ve sat on both sides of your financials
You aren’t handed off to a junior bookkeeper. You work directly with the people whose names are on the door — and their backgrounds are exactly the ones a growing business needs in its corner.
Carrie Anderson
Co-Founder · The Lender’s Eye
A former commercial banker and underwriter who personally reviewed 300+ business loans. She knows exactly how a bank reads your financials to decide what you can borrow — because she used to be the one reading them. That’s why our clients’ books come out lender-ready, not just tax-ready.
Jason Anderson
Co-Founder · The Operator’s Eye
A big-firm-trained accountant with a lifelong passion for processes, efficiency, and Six Sigma— made practical, not academic. He builds the job costing, tax strategy, and systems that let a company actually see where its money goes and scale without the wheels coming off.
Both spent years in the oil & gas industry, and both design financial systems from a whole-company view— not just an accounting lens. You get a firm that reads your numbers like a lender and builds systems like an operator.
Meet the teamRemote, and better for it
You’re in Michigan. We’re in Montana.Here’s why that’s an advantage.
The best accountant for your business almost certainly isn’t the one with the nearest office. Modern accounting runs on cloud books, a secure portal, screen-share, and video — so the relationship is built on expertise and responsiveness, not drive time. A great remote firm beats an okay local one every single time.
About 80%of even our own local Montana clients run the entire relationship remotely — and never come into the office. Working with Michigan businesses is exactly the same.
Cloud books, always on
Your numbers live in the cloud — you can see them any time, not just at tax season.
Real conversations
Scheduled video reviews and screen-shares where we walk through the numbers together.
Secure document portal
Send and sign everything safely — no dropping off a shoebox of receipts.
Same-day responsiveness
You get faster answers from us by email and call than from most firms down the street.
Start With a Number, Not a Sales Call
Not ready to talk to anyone yet? Fair. See where your Michigan business stands first — each takes just a few minutes and costs nothing.