Skin, nails & body art
Books and taxes for brow studios and microblading.
Microblading sessions, the free touch-up that comes with them, brow lamination and tinting, and pigment that has to be tracked by batch. 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 $6,200. Wedding season brow bookings picked up, and I kept your touch-up sessions from earlier months out of this month's income since those were already counted.
- GlossGenius payoutMicroblading sessions
- Brow lamination bookingLamination and tint
- Perma Blend pigment orderPigment and needles
- Brow numbing cream orderNumbing supplies
- Brow studio suite rentStudio rent
Why your books are different
Brow studio books go wrong in the same four places.
A generalist sees a booking deposit and a supply invoice. Your business is a microblading price that includes a free touch-up weeks later, pigment that has to be tracked by lot number, and brow lamination that books far more often than the tattoo work. When the books do not know that, your real per-service margin stays hidden.
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1
The bundled touch-up gets counted as new income
A client pays $450 for microblading that includes a touch-up six weeks out. If the touch-up appointment gets rung up as a fresh sale when she returns, the studio's income looks inflated for work already paid for.
What we doFlags touch-up appointments tied to an earlier sale so they do not get counted as new income. -
2
Pigment and needle costs get buried in one supply line
A single Perma Blend order covering pigment, needles, and numbing cream gets logged as one expense, so you cannot see what a microblading session actually costs versus a lamination service.
What we doKeeps pigment and needle costs apart from lamination and tinting supplies, so per-service cost is visible. -
3
A slow microblading month looks worse than it is
Microblading books further out and less often than lamination or tinting, so a month heavy on lower-ticket lamination work can look like a decline even when total bookings are steady.
What we doTracks microblading and lamination revenue separately, so a shift in service mix does not read as a drop in business. -
4
Equipment gets filed as a supply cost
A digital microblading device or a shading machine can cost close to a thousand dollars. Filed as supplies, it eats into one month's numbers instead of being tracked as something the studio owns.
What we doFlags equipment purchases the day they show up, logs them as equipment, and gets the accountant's call on how to write them off.
Your categories
The categories Gus keeps for a brow studio.
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
- Microblading sessionsInitial sessions booked through GlossGenius, touch-ups excluded once paid.
- Lamination and tintBrow lamination, tinting, and henna, booked and paid separately.
- Brow mapping consultsStandalone mapping or design appointments.
- Retail salesBrow gel, growth serum, and aftercare balm.
Money out
- Pigment and needlesPerma Blend and similar pigment, plus microblading needles.
- Numbing suppliesTopical numbing cream and aftercare products.
- Lamination and tint suppliesLamination kits, perm lotion, and tint.
- Studio rentSuite lease or studio space.
- Booking softwareGlossGenius subscription and card processing fees.
- Certification and trainingMicroblading and lamination certification courses.
What we watch for you
- Touch-ups owed
Free touch-ups already paid for but not yet delivered, so the schedule reflects real demand.
- Cost per session
Pigment and needle spend against sessions booked, tracked from your own numbers.
- Service mix
Microblading against lamination and tint, so a shift in what clients book shows up fast.
- The set-aside
What you will owe, tracked every month, so April is a number you already knew.
Ask Gus
Things brow studio 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, that was already paid for with her original session. I flagged it so it does not double-count toward this month's income.
It shows in pigment and needles for this month, but that product gets used over several months of sessions, so I noted it as a stock-up, not a spike in your regular costs.
That depends on whether she works your hours with your tools or runs her own book. That one is above my pay grade, so a real accountant is looking at it.
The tax side
The tax side of a brow studio.
Most of what goes wrong here is timing and labels. Touch-ups double-counted, pigment costs mixed with lamination supplies, and a set-aside nobody started until April.
What your return has to get right
Your accountant signs it, so it gets done right the first time.
- Equipment write-offsA digital microblading device or shading machine can usually be written off the year you buy it. Bonus depreciation is back to 100 percent for property acquired after January 19, 2025.
- Contractor 1099sAnyone not on payroll, like a fill-in artist, gets a 1099-NEC if you pay them $2,000 or more in 2026, due January 31.
- The pass-through deductionMost owner-operators can take up to 20 percent of business profit off their taxable income. It comes out right when the books are right all year.
- Quarterly estimated taxesNothing withholds tax from brow income automatically, so most owners pay estimated taxes April 15, June 15, September 15, and January 15.
Deductions brow studios and microblading artists miss
Your bookkeeper knows what to look for in your statements. You never have to.
- Pigment and microblading needles
- Numbing cream and aftercare balm
- Lamination and tint kits
- Brow mapping tools and stencils
- Digital microblading device
- Certification and training courses
- License renewal and liability insurance
- GlossGenius subscription
- Sanitizing supplies
- Retail display fixtures
- Studio lighting
- Card processing fees
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 brow studio year, kept every month.
Bookings shift with wedding and prom season. 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, 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, what you will owe, and whether spring wedding season shifted your service mix.
- October
Before the holidays
Gus looks at pigment and equipment stock-ups worth making, and any moves worth doing 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 brow studios and microblading artists. 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 brow studio owners ask first.
Can Gus keep bundled touch-ups from inflating my numbers?
Yes. He flags touch-up appointments tied to an earlier microblading sale so they do not get counted as new income when the client returns.
I book microblading and lamination in the same app. Do I have to split anything myself?
No. Gus splits microblading, lamination, and tinting into their own categories from your bank deposits, so you can see how each service line is actually doing.
Does a big pigment order this month hurt my books?
It shows up as a cost this month, but Gus flags a stock-up so it reads correctly. That pigment gets used across many future sessions, not just this one month.
Do I write off a new microblading device all at once?
A digital microblading device can often be deducted in full the year you buy it, though sometimes spreading the cost out works out better on your return. Gus flags the purchase, and the accountant weighs it against your whole year.
My books have never been separated from my personal account. Is that fixable?
Yes. Hand over the statements as they are, mixed together. Gus sorts out what belongs to the brow studio, the accountant reviews it, and most owners see a clear picture 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