Funeral, memorial & aftercare
Books and taxes for crematories.
Direct cremation fees, wholesale referrals from funeral homes, and urn sales. Your own bookkeeper stays on the books 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
June made $27,000. The retort rebuild from DFW Cremation Equipment is in there as equipment, not a repair.
- Direct cremation feesDirect cremation
- Funeral home referralsWholesale cremation
- Propane refill, retortRetort fuel
- Star Legacy urn orderMerchandise costs
- Medical examiner filing feeCase filing fees
Why your books are different
A crematory's books go wrong in the same handful of spots.
A generalist sees deposits and bills. Your business runs two prices for the same service, a retort that burns fuel by the hour, and urns that carry their own cost. When the books blend those, you cannot tell which side of the business actually pays.
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1
Wholesale and direct fees get mixed together
A funeral home pays your wholesale rate of $650 for a case, while a family who calls you directly pays $2,200 for the same cremation. Lumped into one number, you cannot tell which side of the business is carrying the other.
What we doKeeps wholesale referral fees and direct cremation fees in their own lines, so both rates stay visible. -
2
Retort fuel and repairs hide inside utilities
Propane, retort maintenance, and filter replacement get folded into a general utilities line. That buries the real cost of running each cremation and makes it hard to know if your pricing still covers it.
What we doKeeps retort fuel and upkeep in its own category so cost per cremation stays visible month to month. -
3
Urn sales sit inside the cremation fee
A family buys an urn along with the cremation, and the whole thing gets billed and booked as one number. That hides what the urn actually cost you and what it earned.
What we doSplits urn sales and their cost from the cremation fee, so merchandise margin stands on its own. -
4
A retort rebuild wrecks the monthly number
A retort rebuild or a new unit can run tens of thousands of dollars. Filed as a repair expense in one month, it makes that month look like a loss and hides what the business actually earned.
What we doLogs a retort purchase or rebuild as equipment the day it happens and gets the accountant's call on how much to write off this year.
Your categories
The categories Gus keeps for a crematory.
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
- Direct cremation feesFamilies who call the crematory directly, at your retail rate.
- Wholesale cremation feesCases referred by funeral homes, billed at the contracted wholesale rate.
- Urn salesUrns sold alongside a cremation or on their own.
- Witness cremation feesFamilies who pay to be present, billed as its own line.
Money out
- Retort fuelPropane or natural gas for the retort.
- Retort maintenanceFilters, parts, and service calls from a supplier like DFW Cremation Equipment.
- Merchandise costsUrns from suppliers like Star Legacy or Matthews Cremation.
- Case filing feesMedical examiner and coroner release paperwork fees.
- Vehicles and fuelThe removal van and its upkeep.
- Licensing and permitsCrematory operator licensing and local emissions permits.
What we watch for you
- Cost per cremation
Fuel and retort upkeep against cases run. It tells you if pricing still covers the real cost.
- Wholesale vs direct mix
How much of the month is wholesale referrals versus higher direct fees.
- Urn margin
What urns sell for above their cost, tracked apart from the cremation fee.
- The set-aside
What the retort income owes in taxes, building month by month so the April bill is never a surprise.
Ask Gus
Things crematory 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.
Usually most of it. A retort counts as equipment, not a repair, so I logged the purchase and left the write-off amount to the accountant.
It changes your margin, not your bookkeeping. I keep wholesale and direct fees in their own lines so you can see both clearly.
That is a local permitting question, above what I track. I can tell you if the extra hours change your cost per cremation once you know the answer.
The tax side
The tax side of running a crematory.
Most of what trips up a crematory is separating what it costs to run the retort from what a case actually brings in, and treating equipment and urns the right way.
What your return has to get right
Your accountant signs it, so it gets done right the first time.
- A retort is equipment, not a repairA new or rebuilt retort can usually be written off in the year it is placed in service. Bonus depreciation is back to 100 percent for property acquired after January 19, 2025.
- Urns are inventoryUrns held for sale are inventory. What is sold in a year counts as a cost against that year's urn sales, not written off the day they arrive.
- Contract technicians need a 1099An on-call operator or driver paid $2,000 or more in 2026 who is not on payroll gets a 1099-NEC by January 31.
- The pass-through deductionMost owner-operated crematories can take up to 20 percent of business profit off taxable income. It comes out right when the books are right all year.
Deductions crematories miss
Your bookkeeper knows what to look for in your statements. You never have to.
- Retort propane and fuel
- Retort filters and parts
- Removal van fuel
- Case filing fees
- Crematory operator license
- Emissions permit fees
- Urn display fixtures
- Cell phone for on-call intake
- Uniforms and gloves
- Liability insurance
- Office and answering service
- Continuing education
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 crematory year, kept every month.
Cases come whenever they come, but the retort and the books both run on their own schedule. Your team stays on top of both all year. 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 1099 list for contract technicians is ready, and a monthly set-aside is planned so April is already handled.
- April
Return filed
The accountant files and signs your return. The set-aside built up since January already covers the bill, so nothing about the number is a surprise.
- July
Halfway check
Where you stand, what you will owe, and whether cost per cremation has moved since winter.
- October
Before the busier months
A look at retort upkeep and any equipment worth buying before the colder months bring more cases.
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 crematories. 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 crematory owners ask first.
Do you keep wholesale and direct cremation fees separate?
Yes. Funeral home referrals at your wholesale rate and direct family calls at your retail rate get their own lines, so you can see what each side of the business brings in.
How does Gus handle urn sales?
Urn sales and their cost are split out from the cremation fee itself, so you can see what merchandise contributes on its own, separate from the service.
Can Gus tell me what a cremation actually costs us to run?
He keeps retort fuel and maintenance in their own category, so cost per cremation is a number you can check any month, not a guess.
We use a case management system for intake. Do we have to change anything?
No. Keep running cases the way you do. Gus works from your bank statement, and when a deposit is unclear he asks you once and remembers the answer.
Do medical examiner filing fees count as a real cost?
Yes. They are a normal cost of running a case and get their own line, so they show up as what they are instead of getting lost in office expenses.
My books are behind. Can you catch up?
Send whatever bank statements you have, wholesale and direct. Gus works through the backlog and the accountant checks it, usually 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 funeral, memorial & aftercare
We keep books for the business next door too.
- Casket & urn retailers
- Celebration-of-life planners
- Death doulas & end-of-life planners
- Estate cleanout companies
- Funeral removal & transport services
- Green & natural burial grounds
- Independent funeral homes
- Memorial jewelry & keepsake makers
- Monument & headstone dealers
- Preneed insurance agents
- Private cemeteries
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