{"id":93937,"title":"Central – Accounting, Taxes \u0026 R\u0026D Tax Credits + Payroll, Benefits \u0026 State Compliance","tagline":"Your entire back-office in one platform. ","body":"\\~70% of every company’s expenses are related to people.\n\nBut today’s HR/payroll and accounting systems are separate. This leads to lost context, and founders end up with more work by having to answer the same questions repeatedly.\n\n**Central now solves this by consolidating your entire back-office:** accounting, taxes, R\u0026D tax credits plus payroll, benefits, and state compliance.\n\n200+ YC companies have already made the switch to using Central for everything, including Wordware, Bitesight, Offstream, 1849 Bio and Undermind.\n\n**Learn more and get started for free at [centralhq.com](http://centralhq.com)**\n\n![uploaded image](/media/?type=post\u0026id=93937\u0026key=user_uploads/206328/caf3dadd-ad64-468b-9f5a-1cb92df3ec60)\n\n---\n\n—\n\n# **Why Central for accounting, taxes \u0026 R\u0026D credits:**\n\n1. **One platform for your entire back-office**\n   * Onboard once and never answer the same question again across vendors\n   * Accurate closed books every month\n   * Federal, state, and local franchise tax filings\n   * Unlimited 1099s for all contractors\n   * Complete R\u0026D study \u0026 instant redemption to payroll\n   * Includes Central payroll, benefits, and state compliance\n2. **Talk to your financials in Slack**\n   * Query your burn, runway, revenue, etc.\n   * Find docs like P\u0026L, balance sheet, etc\n   * Get answers to common financial questions\n3. **Bookkeeping built for fundraising**\n   * Better categorization with more company context\n   * Proper revenue recognition \u0026 asset depreciation\n   * Financial summary every month to share with investors\n   * Get custom diligence docs \u0026 reports fast\n4. **Dedicated startup CPA in Slack**\n   * One point of contact who understands your business\n   * Message them anytime in Slack\n   * Catch mistakes before they happen.\n5. **White-glove migration / set up in 15 mins**\n   * Run on QuickBooks or Puzzle (you own your account)\n   * Just add us as an admin\n   * Historical review and clean up\n\n![uploaded image](/media/?type=post\u0026id=93937\u0026key=user_uploads/206328/126c04e8-f424-4519-84f7-fe3a3ffd8c76)\n\n—\n\n# **Comes with payroll, health insurance and state compliance:**\n\nMore info here - [centralhq.com](http://centralhq.com)\n\n1. **Payroll**\n   * Pay US employees\n   * Pay global contractors in 200+ countries\n   * Unlimited pay runs, one-off payments, reimbursements, etc.\n2. **Compliance in 50 US states**\n   * State foreign qualifications and registered agent (required to do business)\n   * State payroll registrations (required to run payroll)\n   * Workers' compensation insurance (required when you have 1 employee)\n   * Government mail handling and past fine resolution\n3. **Benefits**\n   * Access to a licensed health insurance broker\n   * Medical, dental, vision, life, disability insurance\n   * Guidance to pick the right plans \u0026 save money\n   * 401(k)\n4. **HR \u0026 team management**\n   * Offer letters, CIIAA, and other docs\n   * I-9 employment verification\n   * Onboarding, off-boarding, severance, etc\n5. **Central AI Agent in Slack**\n   * Find and edit anything like salaries or addresses\n   * Start workflows like hiring or firing\n   * Retrieve docs like paystubs or certificate of incorporation\n6. **24/7 human support \u0026 experts (Slack \u0026 email)**\n7. **White-glove migration \u0026 setup (takes 15 mins)**\n\n![uploaded image](/media/?type=post\u0026id=93937\u0026key=user_uploads/206328/23007f01-fa46-4733-b62f-e40644eb38cf)\n\n—\n\n# **Get started for free - [centralhq.com](http://centralhq.com)**\n\n* **First 50 companies (limited offer)** - Free payroll, benefits, state compliance (free period based on team size, needs and batch). Add-on accounting, taxes \u0026 R\u0026D credits ([see pricing](https://centralhq.com/pricing))\n* **YC F25 -** Everything above + free accounting (ends when you raise post-YC or after 6 months)\n* One quick call to see demo \u0026 setup everything. Migrating? We do all the work.\n* No annual contracts. Cancel anytime.","slug":"OR7-central-accounting-taxes-r-d-tax-credits-payroll-benefits-state-compliance","created_at":"2025-09-18T19:49:49.798Z","updated_at":"2026-05-25T01:12:22.388Z","total_vote_count":25,"url":"https://www.ycombinator.com/launches/OR7-central-accounting-taxes-r-d-tax-credits-payroll-benefits-state-compliance","share_image_url":"https://www.ycombinator.com/media/?type=post\u0026id=93937\u0026key=user_uploads/206328/9d6abd96-e3ae-4f08-a731-762586730e15","company":{"id":29327,"name":"Central","slug":"central","url":"https://centralhq.com","logo":"https://bookface-images.s3.amazonaws.com/small_logos/3fd82ba2859916808ff0e5edd50e4947e539c317.png","batch":"Summer 2024","industry":"B2B","tags":["Fintech","B2B","HR Tech","Payroll","AI"],"search_path":"https://bookface.ycombinator.com/company/29327"}}