Honest answers, up front

Pricing is fixed and quoted before any work begins — never an hourly surprise. Each service has a clear starting point, and bundling several together costs less than buying them separately. You can see starting prices on our pricing pages, or get a number for your specific situation on a free call.

The published prices are starting points. After a short call, your exact fee is put in writing — and that’s what you pay. It doesn’t move unless the scope changes, and a scope change is always quoted and approved first.

Yes. The all-in-one plan costs less than buying bookkeeping, tax, and advisory separately. We don’t stack endless discounts; the price is fair to begin with.

No long lock-ins. Monthly services run month to month, and you can leave anytime with your accounts intact. We keep clients by being useful, not by contract.

If the work isn’t right, we make it right. We keep clients by being useful, not by locking them into a contract.

A bookkeeper records what already happened; a CPA tells you what to do next and signs your return. Fairlight does both, so you get clean books and the judgment on top — from one firm.

Owner-run companies across many industries — service and trades businesses, e-commerce sellers, agencies, professional practices, and more. If you have revenue, payroll, or a tax return, we can run it. We also handle personal and cross-border family taxes.

It gives you senior financial leadership part-time: a rolling cash forecast, the numbers that matter each month, scenario and pricing decisions, and someone in the room for the big calls — without a full-time CFO salary.

Yes. We run payroll and file the payroll taxes, priced simply and separately so it’s never buried inside a bundle. See the pricing pages for details.

No. We work in the software you already use, such as QuickBooks or Xero.

Your federal return plus one state or province, e-filed, prepared and reviewed, with a walkthrough before anything is filed. Add-ons — extra states, K-1s, rentals, or cross-border forms — are quoted up front, never a surprise.

Yes. We handle routine notices on returns we prepared, and we can review and respond to others. If you’re behind or facing an exam, we scope it and quote it before any work begins.

Yes. Multi-state and part-year returns are common — especially for remote teams and people who moved during the year. Each extra state is a small, quoted add-on.

If you owe enough, the IRS and CRA expect payments through the year, not just at filing. We compute your estimates from real numbers and send you the vouchers, so April has no surprise bill.

Yes. Cross-border is the work this firm was built around. The team holds CPA credentials in both the United States and Canada, which is why both sides of a cross-border return are handled in one place instead of across two firms that never compare notes.

Both. Cross-border is our specialty because few firms can file both countries under one roof, but most of our work is everyday bookkeeping, business and personal tax, payroll, and CFO support for growing businesses.

Usually yes. U.S. citizens and green-card holders generally file a U.S. return no matter where they live, and you’ll typically also file where you reside. We prepare both sides together so they line up, and apply the treaty and foreign tax credits so the same income isn’t taxed twice.

Almost never, when it’s done right. The U.S.–Canada tax treaty and foreign tax credits exist to prevent double taxation. The key is preparing both returns together so the credits actually match up — which is exactly what handling both sides under one roof lets us do.

They’re foreign-account and foreign-asset disclosures: FBAR and FATCA (Form 8938) on the U.S. side, Form T1135 on the Canadian side. If your accounts or assets across the border are over certain thresholds, one or more may apply. We flag what you need and file it with your return; the penalties for missing these are steep, so it’s a common reason people come to us.

Canada applies a departure tax (a deemed disposition) when you leave, and the U.S. has its own rules on the way in and out. Timing and elections matter a great deal here, so a short call — or a cross-border assessment — maps your specific move before anything is filed.

All 50 U.S. states and across Canada. Fairlight is remote-first, and everything runs through a secure client portal, so where you’re based doesn’t matter.

We handle the move. After a short call we request your prior books and returns, reconcile what’s there, and pick up the next cycle. Most clients are fully onboarded within a week or two, with no gap in coverage.

Yes. Catch-up bookkeeping and back-year returns are common first projects. We get you current, fix what needs fixing, and keep you on schedule from there — with the scope and price quoted before any work begins.

Not much to begin: a short call, then access to your prior books and last returns (we request them) and your accounting login. We map the rest in one onboarding checklist, sent once.

Most clients are fully live within a week or two: the call, then one secure checklist, then your first close, draft return, or forecast — with no gap in coverage. See How it works.

Book a free consultation. We’ll tell you honestly what your situation needs and what it doesn’t, then send a fixed-price proposal before any work begins. There’s no payment until after the call.

Everything moves through an encrypted client portal, not email attachments. Your documents and messages stay in one secure place, and access is limited to your team.

A free call, then one secure place for your documents and messaging. You send each thing once; we handle the work and answer questions within one business day. See How it works.

You get a reply within one business day, year-round — not a ticket queue, and not only during tax season.