Creators, coaches & info products

Books and taxes for digital product sellers.

Templates and presets sold on Gumroad, Etsy, and your own site, a Black Friday bundle that outsells the rest of the year, and a marketplace fee taken before you ever see the money. Your own bookkeeper sorts all of it, an accountant checks every transaction, and you get one number a month.

Book a call What we handle
  • From $197 a month
  • An accountant on every transaction
  • Cancel whenever
NovemberExample month
$16,800
what you made

November came in at $16,800. The Black Friday bundle made up more than half of it, so I flagged it as a one-time spike, not the new normal.

  • Gumroad payoutDigital product sales
  • Etsy payout, net of feesDigital product sales
  • Canva Pro renewalDesign software
  • Refund batch, Black Friday bundleRefunds
  • Meta ads, bundle promotionMarketing
Money in$22,000
Money out$5,200
Set aside for taxes$4,200
An example month. Yours will have your numbers.

Why your books are different

A digital product seller's books go wrong in a few specific spots.

A generalist sees a payout and calls it revenue. Yours already has a marketplace fee taken out before it lands, a seasonal bundle that skews the whole year, and license upgrades that are easy to mix up with the base product sale.

  1. 1

    Marketplace payouts are already net of fees

    Gumroad and Etsy both keep a cut before the payout ever reaches the bank, so if the fee is not accounted for, the books either understate real sales or double count a fee that already came out.

    What we doBooks each payout at what it actually is, revenue net of the marketplace's cut, so nothing gets double counted or missed.
  2. 2

    A Black Friday bundle skews the whole year

    A seller who does $3,000 most months can do $20,000 in a Black Friday week, and without flagging that as a seasonal spike, every other month of the year looks like a disappointment by comparison.

    What we doFlags seasonal bundle sales as their own event, so the rest of the year can be judged on its own terms instead of against a holiday spike.
  3. 3

    Refunds on a bundle land weeks after the sale

    A wave of refund requests trickles in for two or three weeks after a big promotion closes, and if they are not tied back to that promotion, the following month looks like sales collapsed when it is really refund cleanup.

    What we doBooks each refund against the sale or promotion it came from, so the real number a launch kept is clear, not confused with a slow month after.
  4. 4

    Commercial license upgrades blur with the base sale

    A buyer who pays extra for a commercial-use license on top of the base template purchase creates two different sale types that look identical in a bank deposit, making it hard to see which pricing tier actually drives revenue.

    What we doKeeps base sales and license upgrades in view together but distinguishable, so you can see what buyers actually pay for.

Your categories

The categories Gus keeps for a digital product business.

Set up once for how the business gets paid and what it spends on. You never pick a category. He does, and an accountant checks it.

Money in

  • Digital product salesTemplates, presets, and planners sold through Gumroad, Etsy, or a direct site.
  • Bundle and promotion salesSeasonal bundles and limited-time offers, tracked apart from regular sales.
  • License upgradesCommercial-use or extended license add-ons.
  • Affiliate incomeCommissions earned when others promote the products.

Money out

  • Design softwareCanva Pro, Adobe, Lightroom, and any tool used to build products.
  • Marketplace feesWhat Gumroad, Etsy, or Creative Market keeps from each sale.
  • MarketingPaid promotion for launches and seasonal bundles.
  • RefundsMoney returned to buyers, tracked against the sale it came from.
  • Stock assetsFonts, mockups, and stock images used to build products.

What we watch for you

  • Seasonal share

    How much of the year's income came from one bundle push, so the rest of the year is judged fairly.

  • Refund rate

    What share of a promotion's sales come back as refunds.

  • Marketplace fee cost

    How much Gumroad or Etsy keeps against what you actually earn per sale.

  • The set-aside

    What will be owed, tracked every month, so a big bundle month does not turn into a surprise bill.

Ask Gus

Things digital product sellers 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.

My Etsy payout is way less than what my sales page showed. Is that a mistake?

No, that is Etsy's fee already taken out. I book the payout as what actually landed, so nothing gets double counted.

My Black Friday bundle made more than the rest of the year combined. Is that a problem for taxes?

Not a problem, just something to flag. I keep it as a seasonal spike so the rest of the year is not judged against a holiday week.

Should I switch from Gumroad to selling directly off my own site?

That is above my pay grade. I can show you what each marketplace actually costs you in fees, and the accountant can help you think through the switch.

The tax side

The tax side of running a digital product business.

Most of what trips people up here is fees already taken out before the money lands, and a seasonal spike that throws off the rest of the year's picture.

What your return has to get right

Your accountant signs it, so it gets done right the first time.

  • Form 1099-K from marketplacesGumroad, Etsy, and similar sites send a 1099-K once you cross $20,000 and 200 transactions in a year. Sales are taxable whether or not a form arrives.
  • Self-employment taxA seller not on payroll owes 15.3 percent in self-employment tax on top of income tax, up to the Social Security wage base of $184,500.
  • Digital product sales taxSome states charge sales tax on digital downloads. Whether it applies, and whether Gumroad or Etsy already collects it, depends on the state, so the accountant checks it.
  • The pass-through deductionMost digital product businesses can take up to 20 percent of profit off their taxable income. Above $201,750 single or $403,500 joint, the accountant checks how much applies.

Deductions digital product sellers miss

Your bookkeeper knows what to look for in your statements. You never have to.

  • Canva Pro or Adobe subscription
  • Stock photos and mockups
  • Fonts and design assets
  • Marketplace listing fees
  • Paid ads for launches
  • Website hosting
  • Payment processor fees
  • Business phone and internet
  • Business liability insurance
  • Accounting and legal fees

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 digital product business's year, kept every month.

Sales spike around holidays and go quiet the rest of the year, but the books stay closed every month regardless. Every month in between, your bookkeeper closes the books and speaks up the moment something looks off.

  1. January

    Plan the sales calendar

    Last year's return gets started, the affiliate 1099 list is finalized, and a monthly set-aside is planned ahead of the year's first sales push.

  2. April

    Filed before the next bundle

    The return is filed and signed, with nothing owed as a surprise, since a share of every sale since January has been set aside.

  3. July

    Catalog pace check

    Where the business stands, what it will owe, and whether a summer sale changed the number.

  4. October

    Before the Black Friday bundle

    The biggest sales push of the year is coming. Gus looks at last year's numbers and anything worth doing before December.

What you get

Starts at$197a month

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 digital product sellers. 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 digital product sellers ask first.

Do I owe sales tax on templates sold to buyers in other states?

It depends on the state and whether Gumroad or Etsy already collected it for you. Gus keeps sales visible by source so the accountant can sort out what, if anything, is still owed.

I sell the same product on three different sites. Can Gus track them separately?

Yes. He tracks sales and fees by site so you can see which one actually earns the most after fees, not just before.

My Black Friday bundle brought in a huge refund wave afterward. How does that get handled?

Each refund gets tied back to that bundle, so the real number it kept is clear instead of making the following month look like a crash.

I sell both personal-use and commercial-use licenses for the same template. Does that complicate things?

Not for Gus. Both count as product sales, and he keeps enough detail that you can see how license upgrades are performing if you want to.

My sales have never been tracked beyond what Gumroad shows me. Can Gus start from there?

Yes. Send the payout and bank statements you have. Gus sorts them by product and site, the accountant checks it, and most sellers know where they stand 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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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