Security & life safety
Books and taxes for alarm monitoring companies.
Monthly monitoring fees, a new install with a hardware markup, a central station bill, and the odd false alarm fee. Gus sorts all of it, an accountant checks every transaction, and you get one number a month.
- From $197 a month
- An accountant on every transaction
- Cancel whenever
May came in at $12,600. Fourteen new accounts signed on through Alarm.com, so I logged their first month as new monitoring revenue, not a bump in the existing base.
- Alarm.com dealer billingMonitoring revenue
- New system install, Hargrove residenceInstallation billing
- Central station monitoring feeCentral station cost
- ADI Global equipment orderEquipment and hardware
- City false alarm fee, two accountsFalse alarm fees
Why your books are different
Alarm monitoring books go wrong in the same four places.
A generalist sees monthly deposits and a hardware bill. Your business is recurring monitoring revenue that has to stay separate from one-time installs, a central station that bills you no matter how the month goes, and false alarm fees that quietly eat into a customer's contract value. When the books do not know that, you cannot see how healthy the recurring base really is.
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1
New installs blur into recurring revenue
A new system install brings in a big one-time payment the same month the account starts its small monthly fee, and if both land in one bucket, your recurring monthly revenue number looks bigger than it really is.
What we doBooks installation billing separately from monitoring revenue, so your true recurring monthly revenue is never inflated by a one-time sale. -
2
Central station cost is treated like a bill, not a per-account cost
The fee you pay a third-party UL-listed monitoring center scales with your account count, but paid like a flat monthly bill it hides whether your monitoring price actually covers that cost as you grow.
What we doKeeps central station cost against total monitoring revenue, so you can see the real margin per account. -
3
False alarm fees eat into a customer's contract quietly
A city or county false alarm fee for a chronic account can run for months, and if it is not tracked against that specific customer, it just looks like a random cost with no clear cause.
What we doKeeps false alarm fees in their own line and flags accounts where they show up again and again. -
4
Leased equipment gets filed the same as owned equipment
Panels and hardware provided under a lease-to-own or dealer financing program are not a straightforward purchase, and filed the wrong way, the write-off and the ongoing payment both come out wrong.
What we doFlags leased and financed equipment separately from outright purchases, so the accountant applies the right treatment.
Your categories
The categories Gus keeps for an alarm monitoring company.
Set up once for how you bill and what you spend. You never pick a category. He does, and an accountant checks it.
Money in
- Monitoring revenueThe recurring monthly fee for every account on the system.
- Installation billingOne-time fees for a new alarm or camera install.
- Service and repair callsFees for fixing an existing customer's system.
- Equipment upgrade salesPanel, sensor, or camera upgrades sold to existing accounts.
Money out
- Central station costThe fee paid to the third-party UL-listed monitoring center.
- Equipment and hardwarePanels, sensors, and cameras bought from a distributor like ADI or Anixter.
- Installer and technician wagesPay for staff who install and service accounts.
- False alarm feesCity or county fees tied to specific accounts.
- Dealer billing softwareAlarm.com or ipDATATEL fees for account management and billing.
- Vehicle costs for service trucksFuel, maintenance, and insurance for the install and service fleet.
What we watch for you
- Recurring monthly revenue
Monitoring fees alone, without one-time installs mixed in. The real health of the business.
- Central station cost per account
Monitoring cost against account count. Shows whether your price still covers the cost as you grow.
- False alarm fee frequency
How often the same account triggers a fee. Repeat offenders may need a service visit, not just a bill.
- The set-aside
What you will owe on monitoring and install income, tracked monthly so April is already covered.
Ask Gus
Things alarm monitoring owners ask Gus.
Text him like you would text anybody. He answers in plain English, and when a question is above his pay grade, an accountant looks and gets back to you.
Fourteen new installs landed the same month. I split the install fees from monitoring revenue, so your real recurring number grew, just not by as much as the total made it look.
That account has hit three fees this year. I flagged it so you or the accountant can decide whether it is worth a service call before the city fee climbs further.
Not quite the same as buying them outright. I flagged the financed batch separately so the accountant applies the right treatment when the return is prepared.
The tax side
The tax side of an alarm monitoring company.
Most of what goes wrong here is timing between one-time sales and recurring revenue, and how financed equipment gets treated. Get those right and the rest is straightforward.
What your return has to get right
Your accountant signs it, so it gets done right the first time.
- Equipment depreciation for panels and hardwareAlarm panels, cameras, and access control hardware bought outright can often be written off in the year you buy them. Bonus depreciation is back to 100 percent for property acquired after January 19, 2025.
- Financed and leased equipmentHardware provided through a dealer financing or lease-to-own program is treated differently than an outright purchase. Gus flags it so the accountant applies the right rule.
- Contractor 1099sAnyone not on payroll who you paid $2,000 or more in 2026, such as a subcontracted installer, gets a 1099-NEC by January 31. Gus keeps the list all year.
- The pass-through deductionMost owner-operators can take up to 20 percent of business profit off their taxable income. It comes out right when recurring revenue and one-time install income are tracked apart all year.
Deductions alarm monitoring companies miss
Your bookkeeper knows what to look for in your statements. You never have to.
- Central station monitoring fees
- Panels, sensors, and cameras
- Dealer billing software fees
- Service vehicle fuel and repairs
- Installer tools and equipment
- Liability insurance
- State alarm contractor licensing
- False alarm fee disputes and administrative costs
- Phone and tablet for dispatch
- GPS fleet tracking for service trucks
- Uniforms for install technicians
- Continuing education for technicians
General information about 2026 federal rules, not advice for your business. Your accountant looks at your actual numbers before anything gets filed.
All year, not just April
An alarm monitoring year, kept every month.
Accounts get monitored every day of the year. Your taxes come on a schedule. Your team keeps you ahead of both. Every month in between, your bookkeeper closes the books and speaks up the moment something looks off.
- January
Accounts planned for the year
Last year's return gets started, the 1099 list for subcontracted installers is ready, and you get a monthly set-aside so April is already handled.
- April
Filed while accounts stay monitored
Your return is filed and signed. No surprise bill, since monitoring revenue has been tracked apart from installs all year.
- July
A midyear revenue check
Where you stand, what you will owe, and how the recurring revenue base has grown so far.
- October
Before year-end contracts renew
Many accounts renew around year-end. Gus looks at equipment worth buying and moves worth making before December.
What you get
What you pay depends on what your business needs, and it does not move after that, busy season or slow. No hourly bills, no surprise invoices, no setup fee.
Book a call- Monthly bookkeeping
Every transaction sorted into categories set up for alarm monitoring companies. You never categorize a thing.
- An accountant checks every transaction
Real review, every month, before your books close. Not a spot check.
- Your business tax return, filed
Prepared, reviewed, and signed by that same accountant every year.
- The monthly number
What you made, what you spent, what to set aside for taxes.
- Your own bookkeeper
A real person assigned to your business, in the app whenever you need them. No hold music.
- On your books all year
Every month, not just in April. Your team speaks up whenever something is worth your attention.
- Cancel any time
No contract. No cancellation call. Your books are yours.
Straight answers
Questions alarm monitoring owners ask first.
Can Gus separate new install revenue from monthly monitoring fees?
Yes. He books installation billing on its own line, so your recurring monthly revenue number reflects only what the accounts actually pay to stay monitored.
I bill through Alarm.com. Do I have to change anything?
No. Keep billing the way you do. Gus works from your bank statement, and when a deposit is unclear he asks you once and remembers the answer.
How does Gus handle equipment I finance through a dealer program?
He flags financed or leased equipment separately from outright purchases, so the accountant applies the right treatment instead of writing it off the wrong way.
Do false alarm fees count as a deductible cost?
Usually yes, as an ordinary cost of doing business. Gus keeps them on their own line so you can also see which accounts are racking them up.
My books are a few months behind. Is that a problem?
No. Send whatever statements you have. Gus works through them, separates recurring monitoring fees from install revenue, and most owners know where they stand inside a week.
Is a real accountant checking my books?
Yes. You get your own bookkeeper, Gus does the first pass on every transaction, and an accountant checks every one before your month closes. That same accountant prepares, signs, and files your business return. Goatkeeper is not a CPA firm, and we never pretend a person looked when they did not.
What does it cost, and can I cancel?
It starts at $197 a month, depending on what your business needs. No setup fee, no hourly bills, no contract. Cancel any time from the app, and your books go with you.
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What makes a bookkeeper worth paying for Every business we keep books for
Book a call
Pick a time. That's the whole signup.
Fifteen minutes with a real person on our team. They look at where your books are, tell you straight what it takes to get caught up, and get you set up on the spot if it fits.
- $197 a month to start
- An accountant on every transaction
- Cancel whenever