Youth & adult sports training
Books and taxes for batting cage businesses.
Prepaid token cards, birthday party packages, team practice rentals, and a few bats and gloves sold at the counter. 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
June came in at $7,200. Party bookings carried the month, so I split out the pizza and goody bags from the cage time you actually sold.
- Clover payoutToken cards and walk-ins
- Party deposit, SaturdayBirthday parties
- First Pitch parts orderMachines and equipment
- Cimarron Sports nettingFacility upkeep
- Electric billUtilities
Why your books are different
A batting cage's books go wrong in the same few spots.
A generalist sees deposits and bills. Your business is prepaid token cards, party packages that bundle food with cage time, and team rentals that pay differently than a walk-in family. When the books do not know that, the monthly number lies to you.
-
1
Token cards get spent months after they're sold
A family buys a $75 token card in June and swipes it down through August. Booked as income the day it's sold, July and August look thin even though customers are still using cage time you already got paid for.
What we doTracks token card sales against what's actually redeemed, so income lands closer to when the swings happen. -
2
Birthday parties bundle three different things into one price
A $350 party package includes an hour of cage time, pizza and drinks, and a staff member running the party. Booked as one lump sum, you cannot see whether the cage time, the food, or the labor is actually where the margin is.
What we doSplits party packages into cage time, concessions, and staff time, so you can see what a party actually nets. -
3
Team practice rentals get mixed in with walk-in swipes
A travel team renting two cages every Tuesday for the season pays a set weekly rate, while a family swiping a token card pays per pitch. Deposited into the same bucket, you cannot tell which is filling your slow afternoon hours.
What we doKeeps team block rentals separate from walk-in and party income so each can be checked against how much floor time it uses. -
4
Bat and glove sales get lumped in with cage time
A bat sold at the counter is taxed differently in most states than the cage time itself. Rung up together, it is hard to know what is owed on merchandise versus service.
What we doKeeps retail sales in their own category, separate from cage and party income, so merchandise stays easy to account for. -
5
Machine repairs get treated as one steady cost
Pitching machine wheels, belts, and arms wear out on a schedule, but a full retrofit of a cage's netting and flooring is a much bigger one-time cost. Filed the same way, a retrofit year looks like a disaster instead of an investment.
What we doFlags a large facility retrofit as its own item instead of burying it in routine machine upkeep.
Your categories
The categories Gus keeps for a batting cage business.
Set up once for how you get paid and what you spend. You never pick a category. He does, and an accountant checks it.
Money in
- Token cards and walk-insPrepaid swipe cards and single-visit cage time.
- Birthday partiesPackage bookings, tracked apart from routine cage time.
- Team practice rentalsWeekly blocks booked by local travel teams.
- Retail salesBats, gloves, and gear sold at the counter.
Money out
- Front desk staffPart-time counter and party staff, kept apart from your own draw.
- Machines and equipmentPitching machine parts, balls, and replacement arms.
- Facility upkeepNetting, turf, and flooring for the cages.
- Party suppliesPizza, drinks, and goody bags for party packages.
- Facility rent or mortgageThe warehouse or bay space you operate in.
- UtilitiesElectric and water, higher with machines and lighting running all day.
- InsuranceGeneral liability coverage for a facility with moving equipment.
What we watch for you
- Token redemption rate
How much of what you sold on cards has actually been swiped and used.
- Party margin
What a party nets once food and staff time are pulled out of the package price.
- Off-peak rentals
How much slow-afternoon time is filled by team practice blocks.
- The set-aside
What the season's token sales and parties actually owe, tracked monthly so April holds no surprises.
Ask Gus
Things batting cage 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.
Cards get spent over weeks, sometimes months. I'm tracking what's sold against what's actually redeemed, so the number reflects swings taken, not just cards bought.
Usually yes, even where cage time itself is not taxed. I keep retail sales in their own line so that part is easy to hand to the accountant.
I logged it as a facility improvement, not routine upkeep, and flagged it so the accountant makes the depreciation call with your whole year in view.
The tax side
The tax side of a batting cage business.
Most of what goes wrong here is timing and mixing revenue types. Token cards booked too early, party packages lumped together, and retail sales tangled up with cage time.
What your return has to get right
Your accountant signs it, so it gets done right the first time.
- Facility improvements and equipmentA full cage retrofit, new netting systems, or a batch of pitching machines can usually be written off in the year you pay for it. Bonus depreciation is 100 percent, permanent, for property acquired after January 19, 2025.
- Sales tax on retail versus cage timeBats, gloves, and gear sold at the counter are usually taxable, while cage time and lessons often are not. This varies by state, so Gus keeps retail sales separate to make the split easy.
- Part-time staff on payrollFront desk and party staff working set hours are almost always employees, not contractors, even part time.
- The pass-through deductionMost owner-operators can take up to 20 percent of business profit off their taxable income. It comes out right when token card and party income are tracked to the right month.
Deductions batting cage businesses miss
Your bookkeeper knows what to look for in your statements. You never have to.
- Pitching machine belts and arms
- Replacement baseballs and softballs
- Cage netting and flooring
- Party room supplies
- Token or card system fees
- Point of sale software
- Facility lighting repairs
- Uniforms with your logo
- Liability insurance
- Website and booking software
- First aid supplies
- Storage for retail inventory
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 batting cage's year, kept every month.
Summer and party season keep the cages loud. 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
Plan the year
Last year's return gets started, the staff and contractor list is ready, and you get a monthly set-aside so April is already handled.
- April
Filed. Done.
Your return is filed and signed, right as spring team rentals start picking up.
- July
Halfway check
Where you stand, what you will owe, and whether summer party season changed the number.
- October
Before the slow season
Before the cooler months, Gus looks at any facility upkeep worth doing and equipment worth buying 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 batting cage businesses. 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 batting cage owners ask first.
Can Gus track token cards separately from party packages?
Yes. He keeps prepaid cards, walk-in swipes, and party bookings in their own lines, so you can see which one is actually filling the building.
We run parties on a booking app. Do I have to change anything?
No. Whatever app you use to book parties stays exactly as it is. Gus pulls from your bank statement, and the one time a deposit needs an explanation, he asks and holds onto the answer for next time.
My front desk staff are part time. Does that change the books?
It changes how they're paid, not what you do. Part-time staff working set hours are usually employees, and Gus keeps their pay visible against the hours the building is open.
Do I write off a full cage retrofit all at once?
Frequently, yes. A facility improvement like new netting and flooring is usually eligible to be deducted the year you pay for it. Gus tags it as a facility improvement and lets the accountant decide what makes sense for your year.
I've done the books myself since we opened and it's a mess. Fixable?
It is. Load up whatever statements you have, no matter how far back. Gus works through them in order and gets you an honest picture of where the business stands.
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 youth & adult sports training
We keep books for the business next door too.
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- Prenatal & postnatal fitness
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