Novo is a fintech that offers business banking solutions for U.S.-based solo consultants, independent contractors, and small consulting firms that invoice clients by ACH, card, or wire. Banking services are provided by Middlesex Federal Savings, F.A., Member FDIC. If your engagements end with a digital invoice rather than cash handed over at a job site, the Novo Business Checking Account fits how you actually get paid: $0 monthly fees, no minimum balance, and invoicing built into the same dashboard where your money lands.

The honest tradeoff first: Novo does not accept cash deposits. If a meaningful share of your clients pay in cash, this is the wrong account. Novo is a stronger fit when clients pay by ACH, credit card, wire, or mobile check deposit (subject to current Novo mobile check deposit limits and eligibility).

Best Bank for Consultants: Quick Answer

Novo is a strong choice for U.S.-based consultants who invoice clients by ACH, card, or wire because it has $0 monthly fees, no minimum balance, and built-in invoicing; consultants who need cash deposits or in-person branch service should choose a traditional bank.

Novo charges no monthly fees and requires no minimum balance to open or maintain a business checking account. That matters for consultants because revenue can be uneven, and a slow month between retainers should not trigger a maintenance fee.

Novo Invoices is included with every account, with no per-invoice fee, and lets consultants generate, send, and track invoices and receive ACH or card payments directly into the same checking account. You do not bolt on a second tool or reconcile two dashboards.

Who should look elsewhere:

• Consultants whose clients regularly pay in cash (event-based advisors, some local trades consultants)
• Anyone who needs a branch to notarize documents, issue large cashier's checks, or discuss lending in person
• Firms that need treasury management services on multi-million-dollar balances

For digitally paid consultants, the main question is whether Novo can handle invoicing, payments, expenses, and tax planning in one account.

What Workflows Should a Business Account for Consultants Support?

Consulting income looks different from a retail or restaurant P&L. Five workflows define the week:

Invoicing on the same day a call ends. Sending a Net 15 invoice the hour you close the scope, rather than the next morning, may help shorten time to payment.

Tagging expenses while they are fresh. That $49 Notion charge needs a project tag the day it hits, not the day before your CPA emails about Q3. If you have to log into a separate accounting app to do it, you often will not.

Keeping retainer and project income separate from rent and groceries. A clean business vs personal checking split makes your CPA's reconciliation work easier and gives your accounting a clear paper trail.

Paying subcontractors without a wire fee. If you bring in a researcher for a $400 piece of a project, paying them by ACH avoids wire fees on each transfer.

Setting aside taxes as money comes in. A portion of every client payment belongs to the IRS, not to you. The business checking account should make that easy to enforce.

What Does Novo Offer Consultants?

Here is what the Novo Business Checking Account offers a consulting practice:

• $0 monthly fees and no minimum balance. A slow month does not cost you anything to keep the account open.
• Novo Invoices, included with every account. Create an invoice, email it to your client, the client pays by ACH or card, and the money lands in the same checking account. No per-invoice fee.

• Integrations with Stripe, Shopify, QuickBooks, Xero, and Wise. Connect these tools so payment and bookkeeping records use the same transaction data.
• Novo Reserves. Novo Reserves is a budgeting feature within your Novo Business Checking Account that lets you set aside funds for estimated taxes, software, and contractor payments. All funds remain part of the overall checking balance.
• No incoming wire fees from Novo and no Novo fees on ACH transfers. Sender or intermediary banks may still charge their own fees on incoming wires.
• The limit, said plainly: no cash deposits. If clients regularly hand you cash at events, Novo is the wrong tool. If they pay by check, confirm Novo's current mobile check deposit limits and eligibility before relying on it.

How Does Novo Compare With Traditional Business Bank Accounts?

Most consultants weighing a business account are comparing Novo to a traditional big-bank business checking account or to the personal checking account they have been quietly using for business. A separate business account can make bookkeeping cleaner and help document the separation between personal and business finances; consult a CPA or attorney for your situation.

Chase Business Complete Banking. Chase offers branch and ATM access, but the account carries a monthly service fee unless waiver requirements are met. Consultants who bill digitally may still need a separate invoicing tool, depending on how they bill clients.

Bank of America Business Advantage Fundamentals. Includes branch cash deposit access and a monthly fee on the entry tier that can be waived by meeting balance or activity requirements. Consultants paid by ACH or card may not need branch features for cash deposits.

Your personal checking account. A personal checking account may work at first, but it can make bookkeeping and entity records harder to maintain as consulting income grows.

What Should a Consultant Invoice Include?

A good consultant invoice answers four questions before the client has to ask: who is billing, what was done, how much is owed, and how to pay. Required fields:

• Your business name, address, and EIN (or business ID)
• Client name, address, and contact
• Unique invoice number
• Issue date and due date
• Itemized services with hours, rate, and line total
• Subtotal, taxes (if applicable), and total due
• Accepted payment methods and where to send payment
• Payment terms (Net 15, Net 30, due on receipt) and late fee policy

Write line items that tell a story. "Go-to-market strategy audit, 10 hrs @ $200/hr — $2,000" beats "Consulting services — $2,000." If the invoice is ever disputed or audited, the specific line is your evidence.

Copy-ready consultant invoice template

INVOICE

From:
[Your Business Name, LLC]
[Street Address]
[City, State ZIP]
[Email] | [Phone]
EIN: [XX-XXXXXXX]

Bill To:
[Client Company]
[Attn: Name, Title]
[Street Address]
[City, State ZIP]

Invoice #: 2025-014
Issue Date: [Month DD, YYYY]
Due Date: [Month DD, YYYY] (Net 15)

------------------------------------------------------------
DESCRIPTION                          HOURS   RATE     AMOUNT
------------------------------------------------------------
Go-to-market strategy audit            10    $200    $2,000
Stakeholder interviews (4 sessions)     6    $200    $1,200
Final readout deck + recommendations    4    $200      $800
------------------------------------------------------------
                                          Subtotal:  $4,000
                                       Tax (0%):         $0
                                          TOTAL DUE: $4,000
------------------------------------------------------------

Payment methods:
- ACH (preferred)
- Credit card
- Wire: [routing] / [account]

Terms: Net 15. A 1.5% monthly late fee applies after the due date.

Thank you. Please reference Invoice #2025-014 with payment.

Paste that block into ChatGPT or Claude and ask it to generate a working file. A prompt that works: "Turn this invoice template into a fillable PDF with calculated subtotal, tax, and total fields, plus a Google Sheets version where I enter hours and rate and the line totals and grand total calculate automatically." Use the output as a starting point, then review the formatting, formulas, and payment details before sending the invoice to a client. For a deeper walkthrough of hourly, flat-fee, and retainer billing structures, see our full invoice template for consultants.

Inside Novo, the flow is shorter: open Novo Invoices, fill the fields once, send to the client, accept ACH or card, and watch the payment settle into your checking account without a separate processor.

What Tax Deductions Should Consultants Track?

The categories most independent consultants legitimately deduct:

• Home office. A dedicated space used regularly and exclusively for the business. The IRS offers a simplified method at $5 per square foot up to 300 square feet, capped at $1,500.
• Software subscriptions. Notion, Figma, Zoom, Calendly, your CRM, your project management tool.
• Professional development. Books, courses, conferences, industry memberships.
• Client travel. Flights, lodging, ground transport, and a portion of meals when traveling for client work.
• Contractor payments. Anyone you 1099 — researchers, designers, copy editors. File a 1099-NEC for each contractor you paid $600 or more during the year.
• Business meals. Generally 50% deductible when there is a business purpose and you note who you met with and why.
• Mileage. If you drive to client sites, track miles. Use the IRS standard mileage rate for the tax year you are filing and keep contemporaneous mileage records.

For a category-by-category breakdown with examples, see our full guide to consultants business expenses and tax deductions.

A separate business checking account means you hand your CPA one statement instead of highlighting personal Venmo charges at 11 p.m. on April 14. Use Novo's transaction tags plus QuickBooks or Xero sync to categorize expenses the week they happen, not the quarter they happen.

Setting aside quarterly taxes

Self-employed consultants owe federal income tax plus self-employment tax of 15.3% on net earnings — 12.4% for Social Security (on earnings up to the annual wage base) and 2.9% for Medicare.

Many self-employed consultants use 25–30% of each client payment as a planning reserve for federal income tax and self-employment tax, but the right percentage depends on income, deductions, state taxes, and filing status; consult a tax professional for your situation.

Use Novo Reserves to set aside that money within your Novo Business Checking Account so funds for the April, June, September, and January quarterly payments are already earmarked. Novo Reserves is a budgeting feature within the checking account; the funds do not leave the account. If you want to see how other operators use business sub-accounts to bucket money for taxes and payroll, we have a separate guide on that.

How Do You Open a Novo Account as a Consultant?

Eligibility covers most consulting structures: U.S.-based sole proprietors, single-member LLCs, multi-member LLCs, and most corporations.

What you will need:

• Government-issued photo ID
• EIN (or SSN if you are a sole proprietor without an EIN)
• Formation documents if you have an LLC or corporation (articles of organization, operating agreement)
• Business address

Novo's online application typically takes under 10 minutes, and Novo requires no minimum opening deposit. After approval, your debit card ships, Novo Invoices is available in the dashboard, and you can connect Stripe, Shopify, QuickBooks, Xero, and Wise from the integrations page.

If your consulting practice files as an S-corp, set yourself up on payroll through a provider before you start paying yourself a salary. Novo does not run payroll directly, so S-corp consultants should use a payroll provider and connect the related bookkeeping records to Novo-supported accounting tools where available. The IRS expects "reasonable compensation" for S-corp owner-employees, and clean payroll records are what make that defensible.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Novo a good business banking choice for independent consultants? Yes, if your clients pay by ACH, card, or wire. No, if a meaningful share of your clients pay in cash — Novo does not accept cash deposits.

Does Novo accept cash deposits? No. Novo is a fintech offering business banking solutions and does not support cash deposits at branches or ATMs. Clients can still pay you by ACH, card, wire, or mailed check.

Can consultants send invoices through Novo? Yes. Novo Invoices is included with every account and lets consultants create, send, and track invoices and accept ACH or card payments into the same checking account.

Does Novo charge monthly fees? No. Novo charges no monthly fees and requires no minimum balance to open or maintain a business checking account.

Does Novo integrate with QuickBooks and Stripe? Yes. Novo integrates with QuickBooks, Xero, Stripe, Shopify, and Wise so invoicing, payments, and bookkeeping records use the same transaction data.

How long does it take to open a Novo business checking account? Novo's online application typically takes under 10 minutes, and Novo requires no minimum opening deposit.

Are Novo accounts FDIC insured? Novo is a fintech, not a bank. Banking services are provided by Middlesex Federal Savings, F.A., Member FDIC; eligible deposits are insured up to $250,000 per depositor, per insured bank, for each account ownership category.

What about S-corp consultants who need payroll? Novo does not run payroll directly, so S-corp consultants should use a payroll provider and connect the related bookkeeping records to Novo-supported accounting tools where available.