Childcare & youth programs
Books and taxes for babysitting agencies.
Last-minute bookings, a roster of sitters paid by the job, weekend and holiday surges, and a client fee that covers both the sitter's pay and yours. 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
December made $4,300. New Year's Eve alone booked out five sitters at once, so I flagged that night's wages separately instead of blending it into a normal weekend.
- Client booking chargeBooking fees
- Holiday party bookingsEvent bookings
- Sitter payrollSitter wages
- Checkr background checkSitter screening
- Facebook parent group adMarketing
Why your books are different
A babysitting agency's books go wrong when the client's payment isn't split correctly.
A generalist bookkeeper sees a client charge and books it whole. Your fee covers the sitter's hourly pay and your booking margin in the same charge, and your busiest nights need three or four sitters working at once. Gus keeps that split clean.
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1
Sitter wages and your margin blend into one number
A client's $200 charge for a Saturday night might be $150 in sitter pay and $50 in your fee, and if the whole amount lands as agency revenue, you cannot see your actual margin per booking.
What we doSplits sitter wages from your booking fee, so your real earnings per job are visible, not buried in the full client charge. -
2
Holiday and event nights spike staffing costs
New Year's Eve, wedding season, and big holiday parties can need four or five sitters working the same night, and lumped into a regular week, that spike makes a normal week look expensive by comparison.
What we doFlags event-driven staffing surges so a holiday weekend is read as a one-time spike, not a new normal cost. -
3
Last-minute cancellations and no-shows go untracked
A family who books a sitter and cancels last minute, or a sitter who no-shows a job, creates a mismatch between what was expected and what actually got paid, and it is easy to lose track of who owed what.
What we doKeeps a record of cancellation fees and no-show adjustments so the month reflects what actually happened, not just what was booked. -
4
Background check costs get spread thin across the roster
Running a background check on every sitter before adding them to your roster is a real cost per hire, and folded into general expenses, you lose sight of what it costs to build out your sitter pool.
What we doKeeps sitter screening costs in their own line so you can see what it costs to grow and vet your roster.
Your categories
The categories Gus keeps for a babysitting agency.
Set up once to split the client charge from what actually reaches you. You never pick a category. He does, and an accountant checks it.
Money in
- Booking feesYour margin on a standard date-night or hourly booking.
- Event bookingsWeddings, holiday parties, and multi-sitter jobs booked in advance.
- Membership feesAny monthly fee families pay for priority booking access.
- Cancellation feesCharges kept when a family cancels a booking too late.
Money out
- Sitter wagesPer-job pay to sitters on your roster, kept apart from your booking fee.
- Payroll taxes and workers compThe cost of keeping roster sitters on payroll rather than 1099.
- Sitter screeningCheckr or similar background check services for every new sitter.
- MarketingFacebook parent groups, local ads, and referral bonuses.
- Booking software and dispatch toolsThe app or system used to match sitters with jobs.
- Liability insuranceCoverage for sitters placed in a family's home.
What we watch for you
- Margin per booking
Your booking fee against the full client charge. It shows whether your rate structure is keeping pace with sitter pay.
- Roster utilization
How many of your sitters are getting booked regularly versus sitting idle on the roster.
- Event-night cost spikes
Staffing cost on holiday and event nights against a normal week, so a big weekend doesn't look like a new baseline.
- The set-aside
What you will owe in taxes, tracked every month, so April is a number you already knew.
Ask Gus
Things babysitting agency 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.
No, only your $50 booking fee is your revenue. I kept the $150 sitter pay in its own line, so your actual margin on that job is clear.
I flagged that night as an event spike, so it reads as a one-time surge tied to the holiday, not a jump in your normal weekly staffing cost.
I book the sitter's pay as a real cost and any cancellation fee you charged the family as income, so the month shows what actually happened on that job.
The tax side
The tax side of a babysitting agency.
Most of what matters here is keeping sitter pay honest about employee status and separating your fee from the sitter's wages for good record keeping.
What your return has to get right
Your accountant signs it, so it gets done right the first time.
- Roster sitters are usually employeesA sitter you dispatch to jobs, set rates for, and can discipline or remove from the roster is generally an employee, not a contractor, even if she only works occasionally.
- Your booking fee is your revenueOnly the margin you keep on a client's payment is agency income. Sitter wages that pass through your account for payroll are a cost, not revenue, when tracked correctly.
- Contractor 1099s for occasional helpA sitter or coordinator genuinely working as an independent contractor who is paid $2,000 or more in 2026 gets a 1099-NEC by January 31.
- The pass-through deductionMost owner-operators can deduct up to 20 percent of business profit before it is taxed, which comes out right when booking fees and sitter wages are kept separate all year.
Deductions babysitting agencies miss
Your bookkeeper knows what to look for in your statements. You never have to.
- Background check fees
- Liability insurance
- Booking and dispatch software
- Marketing and parent-group ads
- Sitter training or orientation materials
- Phone and app costs for coordinating jobs
- Payroll processing fees
- Uniforms or agency-branded items for sitters
- Referral bonuses paid to existing sitters
- Mileage for coordinator site visits
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
A babysitting agency's year, kept every month.
Your busiest nights follow the calendar of holidays and parties. Your taxes come on their own 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
Plan the year
Last year's return gets started, any contractor 1099s are ready, and you get a monthly set-aside so April is already handled.
- April
Filed. Done.
Your return is filed and signed. No surprise bill, because the set-aside has been running since January.
- July
Halfway check
Where you stand for the year, including how summer wedding season and date-night demand changed what you will owe.
- October
Before the holiday surge
A look at roster growth and marketing worth doing before the holiday party season books up in November and 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 babysitting agencies. 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 babysitting agency owners ask first.
Our sitters get paid per job, not a set schedule. Does that change how the books work?
No. Gus books sitter wages as they are paid out and keeps them separate from your booking fee, so your real margin per job stays clear no matter how the schedule varies.
How do you handle a client's payment when part of it goes straight to the sitter?
Gus splits the client's payment into your booking fee, which counts as your revenue, and the sitter's wages, which count as a cost, instead of booking the whole amount as your income.
We had a huge spike in bookings over the holidays. Will that throw off our numbers?
No. Gus flags event-driven surges like holiday weekends so they read as a one-time spike tied to the season, not a change in your normal operating cost.
Are our sitters employees or contractors?
A sitter you dispatch, set rates for, and can remove from the roster is usually an employee. Gus flags any sitter whose situation looks different so the accountant can weigh in.
We charge a cancellation fee when a family cancels last minute. How does that get tracked?
Gus books the cancellation fee as income and any pay you still owe the sitter as a cost, so a late cancellation shows up honestly in the month it happened.
Our records are scattered between an app and a spreadsheet. Can Gus work with both?
Yes. Send whatever records you have from either source, even if they overlap. Gus sorts them out and the accountant works from what actually happened.
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.
More in childcare & youth programs
We keep books for the business next door too.
- Baby & toddler classes (music, sensory)
- Before & after school programs
- Drop-in & hourly childcare
- In-home family daycares
- Overnight summer camps
- Parents' night out programs
- Specialty camps (STEM, arts, sports)
- Summer day camps
- Tutoring-plus-childcare hybrids
- Kids birthday party venues
- Kids gyms & play programs
- Nanny agencies
- Childcare & daycare centers
- Preschools
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