Cannabis, hemp & botanicals
Books and taxes for cannabis cultivators.
Grow room utilities, nutrients, trim labor, and wholesale sales to a processor or dispensary. Your own bookkeeper keeps the harvest costed correctly all year, an accountant checks every transaction, and you get one number a month.
- From $197 a month
- An accountant on every transaction
- Cancel whenever
September made $17,000 off the fall harvest. The trim labor for that run got kept in cost of goods sold, not payroll, since it went straight into the product that sold.
- Leaflink wholesale payoutWholesale flower sales
- Biomass sale to processorBiomass sales
- Grow nutrient orderCultivation inputs
- Harvest trim crew payrollTrim labor
- Metrc plant tag feesCompliance software
Why your books are different
A grow's books live and die on how the harvest gets costed.
A cultivator spends months paying for light, nutrients, and labor before a single gram is sold. A generalist books those costs the day they happen. A grow needs them held until the crop they paid for actually sells, or every month looks wrong.
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1
Costs get expensed before the crop sells
Nutrients, clones, and grow room electricity for a crop that will not sell for another two months still hit the bank this month. Expensed right away, a heavy planting month looks like a loss and the harvest month looks unusually strong.
What we doHolds cultivation costs against the batch they belong to until it sells, so a planting month and a harvest month both read honestly. -
2
Only the crop's real cost survives the return
A rule called Section 280E disallows most ordinary deductions for a plant-touching cannabis business. For a cultivator, that means what the crop actually cost to grow is the deduction that matters, while rent on the grow space and most other costs generally are not.
What we doSeparates true cultivation cost, light, nutrients, trim labor, from everything else, and flags it clearly for the accountant. -
3
A crop loss never gets logged
Mold, a failed lab test, or a light burn that ruins part of a room is a real cost even though nothing sold. Left untracked, the true cost of what the room actually produced never lines up with what Metrc says was grown.
What we doLogs destroyed and failed plants against the batch, so cost of goods sold reflects what the room really produced. -
4
Trim labor gets buried in plain payroll
A trim crew paid hourly during harvest looks like ordinary wages. Folded into general payroll, an owner cannot see what a pound of finished flower actually cost to produce that month.
What we doKeeps trim and harvest labor tied to the batch it worked on, so the real cost per pound stays visible. -
5
Biomass sold to a processor gets missed
Trim and small buds sold off to an extraction processor are a separate sale from finished flower, often at a very different price per pound. Lumped into one wholesale number, the room's actual mix of income disappears.
What we doKeeps biomass sales in their own line, separate from flower, so both prices stay visible month to month.
Your categories
The categories Gus keeps for a cultivation license.
Set up once for how the room sells and what it takes to grow. You never pick a category, he does, and an accountant checks it.
Money in
- Wholesale flower salesFinished, cured flower sold to a dispensary or distributor, often through Leaflink.
- Biomass salesTrim and small buds sold to a processor for extraction.
- Clone and seed salesStarts sold to other licensed growers, where allowed.
- Contract grow feesA room grown under contract for another license holder's brand.
Money out
- Cultivation inputsNutrients, growing media, and clones or seed stock.
- Grow room utilitiesElectricity and water for lights, HVAC, and irrigation.
- Trim and harvest laborCrew paid to trim and process the crop as it comes down.
- Cultivation license feesState license and renewal costs tied to plant count.
- Seed-to-sale tracking feesMetrc plant tags and reporting fees for every plant in the room.
- Lab testingRequired potency and contaminant testing before a batch can sell.
- Security and monitoringCameras and alarm monitoring required for a licensed grow.
What we watch for you
- Cost per pound
What a pound of finished flower actually cost to grow, tracked batch by batch.
- Crop loss rate
How much of what was planted never made it to a sale, tracked against total plant count.
- Flower versus biomass mix
How much of the harvest sold as finished flower against biomass, since the prices differ a lot.
- License fees owed
What is sitting as a liability until the state gets paid.
Ask Gus
Things cultivators 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.
It does. I logged the destroyed plants against that batch, so what the room actually produced, and what it cost, both show up right.
Those costs are held against that batch until it sells, not expensed the day you paid for nutrients and clones. August was a planting month, not a loss.
Your accountant works from books built around cost of goods sold all year. For an unusual 280E question, they may bring in added cannabis tax expertise beyond the subscription.
The tax side
The tax side of a licensed grow.
Nearly everything here comes down to what the crop actually cost to produce, and when that cost gets counted.
What your return has to get right
Your accountant signs it, so it gets done right the first time.
- Section 280E and cultivation costA federal rule disallows most ordinary deductions for a plant-touching cannabis business, leaving what the crop cost to grow as the deduction that survives. Light, nutrients, and trim labor tied to the batch matter far more here than rent or marketing.
- Inventory held until the crop sellsNutrients, clones, and labor for a crop still in the room are inventory, not an expense, until that batch actually sells. A cultivator carrying plants at year end needs an honest count of what is still in the room.
- Equipment depreciation for grow roomsLights, HVAC systems, and irrigation equipment can usually be written off through Section 179 expensing, up to $2,560,000, or 100 percent bonus depreciation for property placed in service after January 19, 2025.
- Employee or contractor for trim crewsA trim crew working the hours and room the grow sets is usually an employee for tax purposes, even if paid a flat rate per pound trimmed, not a contractor.
Deductions cannabis cultivators miss
Your bookkeeper knows what to look for in your statements. You never have to.
- Nutrients and growing media
- Clone and seed stock
- Grow room electricity
- Trim and harvest labor
- Required batch lab testing
- Plant tag and tracking fees
- Irrigation and water treatment
- Crop loss and destroyed plants
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 grow year, kept every month.
A crop takes months to become a sale. Your team keeps the books current through every one of them, not just at harvest. 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 trim crew's 1099 or payroll status gets confirmed, and a monthly set-aside is planned around the coming harvest schedule.
- April
Filed. Done.
Your return is filed and signed, with cultivation cost documented the way this business needs, while spring planting keeps the rooms full.
- July
Halfway check
Where the grow stands, what it will owe, and how the summer's rooms are costing out against last year's numbers.
- October
Before the fall harvest
As the year's biggest harvest comes down, Gus looks at any equipment worth buying and anything worth doing before December closes the books.
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 cannabis cultivators. 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 cultivators ask first.
Why does a planting month look worse on paper than a harvest month?
Because the costs of a new crop, clones, nutrients, and room time, get held until that batch actually sells rather than counted the day they were paid. A heavy planting month and a strong harvest month both end up reading honestly instead of one looking artificially bad.
Can Gus track more than one grow room or license separately?
Yes. Each room or license can be kept as its own batch of costs and sales, so you can see which one is actually producing at the cost you expect instead of one number blending them all together.
We sell both finished flower and biomass. Does that complicate things?
No, it just means two categories instead of one. Flower sold through a distributor and biomass sold to a processor get tracked separately, since the price per pound is so different between them.
Does the subscription include help with a 280E dispute with the state or federal government?
No. It keeps your cultivation costs and cost of goods sold accurate all year and gets your return filed by an accountant. A real 280E dispute usually needs added, specialized cannabis tax help beyond a monthly subscription.
Our last bookkeeper never separated trim labor from regular payroll. Can that be fixed?
Yes. Send what you have, even a year of tangled records. Gus sorts trim and harvest labor out from general wages, and most owners can see their real cost per pound within a couple of weeks.
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 cannabis, hemp & botanicals
We keep books for the business next door too.
- Cannabis delivery services
- Cannabis processors & manufacturers
- Head shops
- Hemp farms
- Hemp-derived THC shops
- Hydroponic & grow supply shops
- Kratom & botanical shops
- Cannabis dispensaries
- Functional mushroom brands
- Hemp & CBD brands
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