Personal & lifestyle services
Books and taxes for car buying consultants.
A flat fee to negotiate one client's purchase, a referral payment from a dealer who closed the deal, vehicle history reports pulled for every car considered, and a drive out of state to inspect one before it sells. Your own bookkeeper stays on 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
April brought in $4,300. The dealer referral payment on one client's purchase landed apart from your flat consulting fee, so you can see what each side of a deal actually pays.
- Flat consulting fee, client purchaseClient consulting fees
- Dealer referral paymentDealer referral income
- Carfax and vehicle history reportsVehicle history reports
- Flight, out-of-state inspectionTravel for vehicle inspections
- Auction access membershipAuction and marketplace access
Why your books are different
Car buying consultant books go wrong in the same four places.
A generalist sees deposits and bills. Your business mixes a flat fee charged to the client, a separate referral payment sometimes paid by the dealer who closes the sale, per-vehicle report costs, and real travel when a car worth buying is not in your own city. When the books do not know that, the monthly number is a guess.
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1
Dealer referral payments get mixed with client fees
Some dealers pay a referral or finder's fee when your client buys through them, and that money comes from a different source than the fee your client pays you directly, so lumped together you cannot tell how much of your income depends on dealer relationships.
What we doKeeps dealer referral income in its own line, apart from client consulting fees, so you can see both clearly. -
2
Vehicle history report costs get lost in general expenses
Pulling a Carfax or similar report on every car a client considers is a real per-search cost that adds up across several vehicles for one client, and buried in general spending it is hard to see if your fee actually covers it.
What we doKeeps vehicle history report costs in their own line so you can see whether pricing covers what the search itself costs. -
3
Out-of-state inspection travel gets treated like a routine trip
Flying or driving to inspect a specific vehicle before a client commits to it is a real cost tied to that one deal, not a general business trip, and if it is not tied back to the client project, it is hard to know if a far-away find was worth the trip.
What we doKeeps inspection travel tied to the client deal it belongs to, so you can see what a purchase actually nets after the cost of getting there. -
4
A slow month gets mistaken for a problem
Car buying is inherently lumpy work, since one client might take weeks to find the right vehicle while another closes in days, and a quiet month next to a busy one can look like something has gone wrong when it has not.
What we doTracks income against your own pattern of deal timing, so a quiet month reads as normal, not a warning sign.
Your categories
The categories Gus keeps for a car buying consulting business.
Set up once for how clients and dealers pay you. You never pick a category. He does, and an accountant checks it.
Money in
- Client consulting feesFlat or hourly fees charged directly to the client.
- Dealer referral incomeReferral or finder's fees paid by a dealer when a client buys through them.
- Auction access servicesFees for helping a client access dealer-only auctions.
- Inspection and appraisal feesStandalone fees for inspecting a specific vehicle.
Money out
- Vehicle history reportsCarfax and similar reports pulled for vehicles under consideration.
- Travel for vehicle inspectionsMileage, flights, or lodging to inspect a specific car.
- Auction and marketplace accessMembership or access fees for dealer auctions.
- Marketing and websiteWebsite hosting and advertising for new clients.
- Business insuranceLiability coverage for consulting work.
What we watch for you
- Dealer referral share
How much of revenue is dealer referral payments versus direct client fees. It shows how dependent income is on dealer relationships.
- Report cost per deal
Vehicle history report spending against deals closed. It shows whether your fee actually covers the search costs.
- Travel cost per deal
What it costs to inspect a car out of town against what the deal is worth. It shows if a far-away find is worth the trip.
- The set-aside
What you will owe come tax time, tracked monthly, so April is not a guessing game.
Ask Gus
Things car buying consultants 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.
Referral payments made up a bit less than a third of revenue this month. I keep them separate so you can watch how much you depend on dealer relationships.
After the flight cost, that deal still netted a solid margin. I keep travel tied to the specific deal so you can see that clearly next time.
Not based on your history. Deal timing is lumpy in this work, and a quiet month next to a busy one is normal for you.
The tax side
The tax side of a car buying consulting business.
Most of what goes wrong here is what counts as which kind of income and untracked travel. Referral fees mixed with client fees, 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.
- Self-employment tax on deal incomeFor a car buying consulting business, self-employment tax runs 15.3 percent on top of regular income tax when the owner is not paid through payroll, up to the Social Security wage base of $184,500.
- Mileage for inspectionsDriving to inspect a vehicle for a client can be deducted at 72.5 cents a mile from January through June 2026 and 76 cents a mile from July through December 2026.
- Form 1099-NEC from dealer partnersA dealer who pays you $2,000 or more in referral fees in 2026 should send you a 1099-NEC, and that income counts whether or not the form arrives.
- The business profit deductionMost owner-operators can take up to 20 percent of business profit off their taxable income. It comes out right only when the books are kept right all year.
Deductions car buying consultants miss
Your bookkeeper knows what to look for in your statements. You never have to.
- Vehicle history report fees
- Travel for vehicle inspections
- Auction and marketplace access fees
- Website and marketing
- Business liability insurance
- Phone and data for client coordination
- Home office space for research
- Continuing education on vehicle markets
- Professional association dues
- Business cards and materials
- Parking and tolls for inspections
- Vehicle appraisal tools or subscriptions
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 car buying consultant's year, kept every month.
Deal timing is lumpy and driven by what clients are shopping for, not the calendar. Your team keeps you ahead of both the workload and the tax deadlines. Every month in between, your bookkeeper closes the books and speaks up the moment something looks off.
- January
Get the year moving
For a car buying consulting business, last year's return gets started in January, and a monthly set-aside means April is already handled.
- April
The filing is done
For a car buying consulting business, the return is filed and signed in April, with no surprise bill since the set-aside has been running since January.
- July
Halfway look-in
Where you stand, what you will owe, and whether deal volume changed the number.
- October
Before year-end model changeovers
Dealers often clear out current-year inventory before new models arrive. Gus looks at any 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 car buying consultants. 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 car buying consultants ask first.
Can Gus keep dealer referral fees separate from what clients pay me?
Yes. Dealer referral income is kept in its own line, apart from client consulting fees, so you can see how much of your business depends on dealer relationships.
Are vehicle history reports deductible even if the client does not buy that car?
Yes, reports pulled while helping a client search are a legitimate business cost. Gus keeps them in their own line so you can see if your fee covers that cost.
Is my flight to inspect a car out of state deductible?
Yes, travel tied to a specific client deal is a real business expense. Gus keeps it tied to that deal so you can see the real margin after travel costs.
My income is inconsistent month to month. Is that a problem?
No. Car deals close on their own timeline, so Gus tracks your income against your own pattern rather than comparing one month to the next.
My books are behind from focusing on active client searches. Is that fixable?
It is fixable, and common. Send the statements you have and Gus sorts through the gap, with the accountant checking it, typically 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