Waste, recycling & environmental services
Books and taxes for composting services.
Tipping fees on incoming yard waste, months of curing before a windrow becomes finished compost, and bulk sales measured by the cubic yard. Your bookkeeper keeps it straight, an accountant checks every transaction, and you get one number a month.
- From $197 a month
- An accountant on every transaction
- Cancel whenever
April cleared $14,000. Bagged compost sales to garden centers picked up hard this month, so I kept that apart from the bulk cubic yard sales.
- County yard waste contractTipping fee income
- Bulk compost, landscapersCompost sales
- Grinder blade replacementEquipment maintenance
- Bagging supplies orderPackaging
- Compost quality testTesting fees
Why your books are different
Composting books go wrong in the same few places.
A generalist sees deposits and a fuel bill. Your business takes in yard waste today and sells finished compost months later, in cubic yards instead of tons, to landscapers and garden centers who pay differently than the county does. Blend it and you cannot tell what a windrow actually earned you.
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1
Tipping fees and product sales get blended
Money for accepting yard waste today has nothing to do with money for selling compost that finished curing months ago. Lumped into one revenue line, the month looks unpredictable when really two different clocks are just running at once.
What we doKeeps tipping fee income and finished product sales in separate lines, so each shows its own trend instead of one confusing number. -
2
Tons in do not match cubic yards out
The county pays by the ton for material coming in, but landscapers and garden centers buy finished compost by the cubic yard. Blended into one sales number, you lose the ability to see the true margin on either side.
What we doKeeps ton-based contract income and cubic yard product sales as separate categories, so each unit of measure tells its own story. -
3
The grinder looks like a repair bill
A tub grinder, windrow turner, or trommel screen can run well into six figures. Filed as facility upkeep, it wrecks that month's number and misses a real write off.
What we doFlags a grinder, turner, or screener purchase the day it shows up, logs it as equipment, and gets the accountant's call on how to write it off. -
4
Curing material sitting on the pad goes untracked
Windrows take weeks to months to finish curing into sellable compost. Left untracked, a big intake month can look like a loss while the product it will eventually produce goes unaccounted for until it sells.
What we doKeeps a running sense of material moving through the curing cycle, so an intake month doesn't read as a loss for product still on the way.
Your categories
The categories Gus keeps for a composting operation.
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
- Tipping feesWhat the county, haulers, and landscapers pay to drop off yard waste and food scraps.
- Bulk compost salesFinished compost and soil blends sold to landscapers by the cubic yard.
- Bagged compost salesRetail bags sold to garden centers and nurseries.
- Municipal contract incomeMonthly or per ton payments from a curbside organics program.
Money out
- Grinder and turner maintenanceFuel, blades, and repairs for the equipment processing material.
- Screening equipment upkeepMaintenance on the screen that sifts finished compost from oversized material.
- Bulk haulingTrucks and trailers moving finished compost out to customers.
- Bagging suppliesBags, labels, and pallets for retail compost.
- Facility permits and testingEnvironmental compliance fees and periodic compost quality testing.
What we watch for you
- Tipping versus product income
How much of the month came from accepting material versus selling finished compost.
- Cost per cubic yard
What it costs to turn intake into a sellable yard of finished compost.
- Material in the curing cycle
How much is still turning into product versus already sold.
- The set-aside
What you will owe once the curing cycle turns into sales, tracked every month so April is never a scramble.
Ask Gus
Things composting operators 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. Tipping fee income and product sales sit in separate lines. That leaf load shows up as intake, and it will turn into sales once it finishes curing.
It does not, because the two units stay separate. Contract income stays in tons, product sales stay in cubic yards, and each tells its own story.
Usually it can. I logged it as equipment, not upkeep, and flagged it so the accountant makes the call with your whole year in view.
The tax side
The tax side of a composting operation.
Most of what goes wrong here is timing and units. Tipping fees and product sales on different clocks, and equipment filed like a repair.
What your return has to get right
Your accountant signs it, so it gets done right the first time.
- Grinders, turners, and screensA tub grinder, windrow turner, or trommel screen can usually be written off the year you buy it. Bonus depreciation is 100 percent for property acquired after January 19, 2025. Whether to take it all now depends on the year you are having.
- Yard crew worker classificationAn operator running the grinder or turner on your schedule and your equipment is almost always an employee, not a contractor.
- Quarterly estimated taxWith no employer withholding, taxes are due April 15, June 15, September 15, and January 15. Gus tracks the set-aside monthly so none of those dates come as a surprise.
- The pass-through deductionMost owner-operated composting businesses can take up to 20 percent of business profit off their taxable income. It comes out right when the books are right all year.
Deductions composting services miss
Your bookkeeper knows what to look for in your statements. You never have to.
- Grinder blades and fuel
- Screen mesh replacement
- Truck and trailer maintenance
- Bagging supplies and pallets
- Compost quality testing fees
- Facility permit renewals
- Safety gear and gloves
- Odor and stormwater management
- Uniforms for the yard crew
- Phone for dispatch
- Business insurance
- Scale calibration
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 composting year, kept every month.
Yard waste comes in all year and finishes on its own schedule. Your taxes come on a schedule too. 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 compost year
Last year's return gets started and you get a monthly set-aside, so April is already handled before spring yard waste season ramps up.
- April
Return filed
Signed, filed, and sent in on time. The set-aside covered what was owed, so there is no scramble to find the money in April.
- July
Midyear compost check
Where you stand, what you will owe, and whether spring bagged sales changed the number.
- October
Before the leaf drop-off rush
Fall leaves bring the year's heaviest intake. Gus looks at equipment you might need and anything 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 composting services. 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 composting operators ask first.
Does intake revenue ever get mixed up with what we sell later?
No. Money for accepting yard waste and money for selling finished compost sit in separate lines, so each shows its own trend.
The county pays by the ton and I sell compost by the cubic yard. Does that get confusing?
No. Gus keeps ton-based contract income and cubic yard product sales in their own categories, so each unit tells its own story.
How does Gus handle material that takes months to finish curing?
He keeps a running sense of what is moving through the curing cycle, so a big intake month does not read as a loss for compost still on its way to selling.
Do I write off a new grinder all at once?
Often the full purchase comes off that year, though sometimes stretching it out works out better for your taxes. Gus flags it the day it arrives, and the accountant makes the call with your whole year in view.
My books have never separated tipping fees from product sales. Is that fixable?
Yes. Send over whatever bank records you have, even if intake and sales have always been lumped together. Gus untangles it, the accountant checks the result, and you will know where you stand within 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.
More in waste, recycling & environmental services
We keep books for the business next door too.
- Air quality & mold inspectors
- Dirt & fill brokers
- Hazardous waste haulers
- Independent residential trash haulers
- Medical waste disposal
- Oilfield service companies
- Phase I environmental site assessment firms
- Recycling centers
- Scrap metal recyclers
- Stormwater compliance services
- Tire recycling
- Used cooking oil collection
- Water testing labs
- Wetland & environmental permitting consultants
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