Childcare & youth programs
Books and taxes for drop-in and hourly childcare.
Hourly card swipes, punch-card packages, a staffing schedule that changes by the hour, and slow afternoons next to packed Saturdays. Gus sorts 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
December made $4,600. Saturday hours ran double staff to cover holiday shopping traffic, so I flagged that spike in wages instead of letting it look like a normal week.
- Square hourly chargesHourly childcare fees
- Punch card bundle salesPrepaid packages
- QuickBooks payroll runHourly staff wages
- Amazon Business toysToys and play equipment
- Mall common area feeFacility rent
Why your books are different
Drop-in childcare books go wrong because nothing about the schedule is fixed.
A generalist bookkeeper expects steady weekly tuition. Your income swings by the hour and by the day of the week, and your staffing has to swing right along with it. Gus builds the books around that instead of forcing it into a flat monthly grid.
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1
Punch cards get counted as income too early
A parent who buys a 10-hour punch card in November might not use those hours until February, so booking the full sale as November income overstates that month and understates whenever the hours actually get used.
What we doHolds punch-card and package sales as money collected in advance and counts them as income as the hours are actually used. -
2
Staffing swings by the hour, not the week
A Saturday afternoon might need three staff on the floor while a Tuesday morning needs one, and a single weekly payroll number hides whether your busiest hours are actually covering their own staffing cost.
What we doFlags wage spikes tied to high-traffic hours when your schedule shows them, so busy shifts can be weighed against what they bring in. -
3
Hourly rate changes get lost in the deposit total
A peak-hour rate, a member discount, and a walk-in rate can all land in the same daily batch from your card reader, making it hard to tell which pricing tier is actually driving revenue.
What we doKeeps hourly fees and package sales in separate lines so the pricing mix behind a busy day does not get lost in one deposit total. -
4
A slow weekday afternoon looks like trouble
A drop-in business has real dead hours built into its model, and a bookkeeper who does not know your traffic pattern can read a quiet Tuesday as a sign something is wrong.
What we doTracks the shape of your typical week, so a normal quiet stretch reads as expected rather than a warning sign.
Your categories
The categories Gus keeps for a drop-in childcare business.
Set up once for hourly rates and punch cards instead of flat monthly tuition. You never pick a category. He does, and an accountant checks it.
Money in
- Hourly childcare feesWalk-in charges taken through Square or a similar card reader.
- Prepaid packagesPunch cards and bundled hours, held until they're used.
- Membership feesDiscounted-rate memberships for regular users, billed monthly.
- Birthday and event add-onsExtra fees for special events booked alongside regular hours.
Money out
- Hourly staff wagesPay for staff scheduled by the hour rather than a fixed shift.
- Payroll taxes and workers compThe cost of keeping on-call staff on payroll rather than contract.
- Toys and play equipmentAmazon Business orders and other play material replaced often.
- Facility rentMall, shopping center, or storefront space, including common area fees.
- Cleaning and sanitizing suppliesRestocked often given constant turnover of kids in care.
- Background checks and certificationsFingerprinting and CPR and First Aid renewal for on-call staff.
- Liability insuranceCoverage that reflects a constantly rotating group of children.
What we watch for you
- Labor share by hour
Staff wages against hourly income for your busiest windows. It tells you which hours are worth staffing up for.
- Package hours outstanding
Prepaid hours sold but not yet used. Worth knowing so it is never mistaken for spendable profit.
- Peak-hour revenue
How much of a month comes from your busiest hours versus quiet stretches.
- The set-aside
What you will owe in taxes, tracked every month, so April is a number you already knew.
Ask Gus
Things drop-in childcare 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.
Not yet. I hold punch-card sales as money collected in advance and count it as income as the hours actually get used, so it doesn't inflate one month and hide the next.
No, that's the normal shape of a drop-in business. I track your weekly pattern, so a quiet Tuesday reads as expected instead of a warning sign.
When your schedule shows the extra hours, I flag them, so weekend staffing gets weighed against the weekend income it supports, not blended into a flat weekly average.
The tax side
The tax side of a drop-in childcare business.
Most of what trips up this trade is timing package sales correctly and keeping on-call staff on the right side of employee status.
What your return has to get right
Your accountant signs it, so it gets done right the first time.
- On-call staff are still employeesA worker scheduled by the hour under your direction to meet a licensed ratio is an employee, not a contractor, even if the hours change week to week.
- Prepaid packages and revenue timingMoney collected for a punch card or bundle of hours is not fully earned until the hours are used. Keeping that timing straight matters for an accurate year-end number.
- Contractor 1099sAn occasional specialist not on payroll who is paid $2,000 or more in 2026 gets a 1099-NEC by January 31.
- The pass-through deductionMost owner-operators can deduct up to 20 percent of business profit before it is taxed, which comes out right when hourly fees and package sales are booked to the right months all year.
Deductions drop-in and hourly childcare businesses miss
Your bookkeeper knows what to look for in your statements. You never have to.
- Toys and play equipment
- Cleaning and sanitizing supplies
- Background check and fingerprinting fees
- CPR and First Aid renewal
- Liability insurance
- State licensing fees
- Card reader and scheduling software fees
- Mall or shopping center common area fees
- Staff continuing education hours
- Marketing to local parent groups
- Furniture replacement for high-turnover use
- Phone and tablet for check-in
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 drop-in childcare year, kept every month.
Your hours change by the day. Your taxes come on a schedule. 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 year
Last year's return gets started, the specialist 1099 list is ready, and you get a monthly set-aside so April is already handled.
- April
Filed. Done.
Your return is filed and signed. No surprise bill, because the set-aside has been running since January.
- July
Halfway check
Where you stand for the year, and whether summer foot traffic changed what you will owe.
- October
Before the holiday rush
A look at equipment worth buying and staffing worth planning before shopping-season traffic picks up in November and 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 drop-in and hourly childcare businesses. 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 drop-in childcare owners ask first.
We sell hourly packages that don't get used right away. How does that get booked?
Gus holds package sales as money collected in advance and counts it as income once the hours are actually used, so a big sale month does not overstate itself.
Our staffing changes every week depending on foot traffic. Can Gus keep up?
Yes. When your schedule shows the hours worked, Gus keeps wages tied to it, so busy shifts can be read against the income they cover.
Some weeks are packed and some are dead. Is that going to look bad in the books?
No. Gus tracks the shape of your typical week, so quiet stretches read as the normal pattern of a drop-in business rather than a problem.
We take walk-in cash sometimes. Does that need to be recorded differently?
It gets booked the same as any other hourly fee. Tell Gus about cash payments when the card reader doesn't show the full picture, and he'll include it.
We run inside a shopping center and pay a common area fee. Where does that go?
It sits under facility rent, alongside your base rent, so you can see the full cost of the space in one place.
Our books are a mess from switching card processors mid-year. Can Gus untangle that?
Yes. Send statements from both systems, even if they overlap. Gus sorts them out and the accountant works from what actually happened.
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 childcare & youth programs
We keep books for the business next door too.
- Baby & toddler classes (music, sensory)
- Babysitting agencies
- Before & after school programs
- In-home family daycares
- Overnight summer camps
- Parents' night out programs
- Specialty camps (STEM, arts, sports)
- Summer day camps
- Tutoring-plus-childcare hybrids
- Kids birthday party venues
- Kids gyms & play programs
- Nanny agencies
- Childcare & daycare centers
- Preschools
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