Travel agencies & tour operators
Books and taxes for destination wedding planners.
A resort room block that can trigger an attrition fee, vendor deposits wired abroad a year out, and guest payments passing through your account. Your own bookkeeper stays on it 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 netted $8,000. The Cabo room block came in under the guest minimum, so I logged the attrition fee against that wedding instead of folding it into overhead.
- Guest deposits, Ibarra weddingGuest room block payments
- Planning fee, Delgado weddingPlanning fees
- Cabo resort attrition feeRoom block attrition fees
- Local florist deposit, TulumVendor deposits
- Welcome bag suppliesWelcome bags and favors
Why your books are different
A destination wedding planner's books go wrong at the room block.
A couple pays you a planning fee, their guests pay a hotel directly or through you, and a resort room block can trigger a penalty if not enough rooms fill by the deadline. Treated as one pot of money, you cannot tell what a wedding actually earned you until the attrition fee shows up.
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1
Room block attrition eats the margin
Resorts hold a block of rooms for the wedding guest list, and if not enough guests book by the deadline, the resort charges an attrition fee for the empty rooms. Booked as a normal expense, it looks like the wedding just got more expensive to run, not like a penalty tied to guest turnout.
What we doBooks the attrition fee against the specific wedding it belongs to, so you can see it as a real cost of that guest list, not a mystery charge. -
2
Vendor deposits abroad get paid months before the wedding
A florist or photographer in Tulum or Cabo often wants a deposit locked in a year ahead, in a foreign currency, long before the couple's final payment is due. Booked as a cost the day it is wired, it can make an early month look like a loss on a wedding that has not happened yet.
What we doMatches vendor deposits to the wedding they belong to, so an early payment abroad does not distort what that wedding will actually earn. -
3
Planning fees and pass-through costs blur together
Your planning fee and the guest room payments the resort bills through you land in the same account, and if they are not kept apart, you cannot tell your actual earnings from money that was always headed to the resort.
What we doKeeps your planning fee separate from pass-through guest payments, so the monthly number reflects what you actually earned. -
4
Welcome bags and favors creep past budget
Sunscreen, local snacks, and a printed itinerary card for forty guest rooms add up fast, and without a running total tied to the wedding, welcome bag costs quietly eat into what the wedding was supposed to earn.
What we doKeeps welcome bag and favor costs in their own line against the wedding, so you can see the cost before it becomes a habit. -
5
A postponed wedding scrambles two years of numbers
A couple who postpones a year pushes deposits, vendor payments, and your fee across two tax years, and if the move is not tracked, both years can look wrong.
What we doRe-tags every deposit and payment to the new date, so a postponement does not distort either year's numbers.
Your categories
The categories Gus keeps for a destination wedding planner.
Set up once for how planning fees, guest payments, and vendor deposits move. You never sort a wire. Gus does, and an accountant checks every one.
Money in
- Planning feesWhat the couple pays you directly for coordinating the wedding.
- Guest room block paymentsWhat guests pay toward their own rooms, passed through the resort.
- Vendor referral feesWhat a florist, photographer, or DJ pays for the referral.
- Travel insurance commissionsWhat the insurer pays when a guest buys trip protection through you.
- Rehearsal dinner coordination feesWhat you charge for booking and managing the welcome event.
Money out
- Vendor depositsFlorist, photographer, and officiant deposits paid in advance, often abroad.
- Room block attrition feesPenalties charged when a resort's guest room minimum is not met.
- Welcome bags and favorsSupplies and shipping for guest welcome gifts.
- Site visit costsTravel to preview the resort and meet local vendors before booking.
- Errors and omissions insuranceCoverage sized for wedding-scale bookings.
- Booking and planning softwareTravefy or a similar tool for itineraries and guest lists.
- Wire and currency conversion feesWhat the bank keeps on payments to overseas vendors.
What we watch for you
- Guest fill rate
Rooms booked against the block minimum, before an attrition fee kicks in.
- Planning fee share
How much of each wedding's income is your fee versus pass-through guest money.
- Vendor deposit exposure
What has been paid to vendors for weddings that have not happened yet.
- The set-aside
What you will owe, tracked every month, so wedding season earnings do not turn into an April surprise.
Ask Gus
Things destination wedding planners 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.
I booked it against that wedding specifically, so it shows up as a real cost of that guest list, not something that makes every wedding look worse.
I re-tag them to the new date so both years still make sense. You do not have to touch anything.
Usually not if she is outside the US and not doing work here, but I flagged the payment so the accountant can confirm.
The tax side
The tax side of a destination wedding planner's business.
Most of what matters here is timing and splitting. A deposit paid a year ahead, a planning fee mixed with pass-through money, a postponement that spans two tax years.
What your return has to get right
Your accountant signs it, so it gets done right the first time.
- Vendor deposits paid a year aheadMoney wired to a florist or photographer for a wedding that has not happened yet is usually a cost in the year the wedding actually takes place, not the year the deposit was wired.
- Planning fees versus pass-through paymentsOnly your planning fee and coordination charges are your income. Guest room payments that pass through to the resort are not, and keeping the two apart matters for what the return should show.
- 1099s for domestic vendorsA US-based photographer, florist, or coordinator paid $2,000 or more in 2026 outside of payroll gets a 1099-NEC by January 31. Overseas vendors usually do not.
- The pass-through deductionMost owner-operators can take up to 20 percent of business profit off their taxable income, which comes out right when planning fees are booked apart from guest pass-through money.
Deductions destination wedding travel planners miss
Your bookkeeper knows what to look for in your statements. You never have to.
- Site visit travel
- Errors and omissions insurance
- Welcome bag supplies
- Planning and itinerary software
- Wire transfer fees
- Professional photography for marketing
- Trade show and bridal show fees
- Continuing education courses
- Website hosting
- Mileage to vendor meetings
- Home office square footage
- Phone and internet share
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 destination wedding planner's year, kept every month.
Weddings get booked a year ahead and vendor deposits go out long before the day itself. Your team keeps the picture honest every month in between. Every month in between, your bookkeeper closes the books and speaks up the moment something looks off.
- January
Plan the wedding calendar
Last year's return gets started, the 1099 list for domestic vendors is finalized, and the year's set-aside is planned around the weddings already booked.
- April
Filed before spring weddings run
Your return is filed and signed while spring weddings run and summer bookings collect their deposits.
- July
Midyear booking check
Where you stand, what you will owe, and how this year's room blocks are filling ahead of fall wedding season.
- October
Peak season check
Fall is the busiest run of weddings for many planners, so Gus looks at what the year has earned so far and what is 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 destination wedding travel planners. 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 destination wedding planners ask first.
A resort charged an attrition fee because our block did not fill. Is that just a loss?
It is a real cost, and Gus books it against that specific wedding so you can see it clearly instead of it blending into general expenses across every wedding you run.
Guests pay the resort directly through my portal. Is that my income?
No. Gus keeps guest room payments that pass through to the resort separate from your planning fee, so your actual earnings are not overstated.
A couple postponed their wedding a year. What happens to the deposits I already paid vendors?
Gus re-tags every deposit and payment to the new wedding date, so neither this year's numbers nor next year's get thrown off by the delay.
Do I need to handle sales tax on my planning fee?
That depends on your state and is not something Gus files. He tracks your fee income clearly so your accountant can tell you what, if anything, applies.
I work with vendors in Mexico and the Caribbean. Does that complicate the books?
Gus tracks foreign vendor payments and flags them, and the accountant weighs in on anything that needs special handling. It does not change how you run your business day to day.
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 travel agencies & tour operators
We keep books for the business next door too.
- Adventure travel companies
- Corporate retreat planners
- Cruise specialists
- Destination management companies (DMCs)
- Domestic tour operators
- Faith-based & pilgrimage travel
- Freelance tour guides
- Group travel organizers
- Hunting & fishing trip booking agents
- Sports tournament travel
- Student & educational travel
- Independent travel agents
- Luxury travel advisors
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