Funeral, memorial & aftercare
Books and taxes for estate cleanout companies.
Flat-fee cleanout jobs, hourly labor, dump and landfill costs, and the scrap or resale money that comes out of a job. Your own bookkeeper stays on the books all year, and you get one number a month.
- From $197 a month
- An accountant on every transaction
- Cancel whenever
August made $17,000. The scrap metal payout from the Wentworth cleanout got logged as its own income, not netted against the dump fee.
- Wentworth estate cleanoutCleanout job fees
- Scrap metal payoutResale and scrap income
- County landfill feesDump and disposal fees
- Dumpster rental feeEquipment rental
- Crew day laborCrew wages
Why your books are different
An estate cleanout company's books go wrong in the same few places.
A generalist sees a job fee and a dump receipt. Your business also sells scrap and salvageable items off a job, pays dump fees that swing wildly from house to house, and sometimes pays a crew in cash. When the books blend all that together, you cannot tell what a job actually made you.
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1
Scrap and resale income gets netted out of costs instead of counted
Selling scrap metal or furniture salvaged from a cleanout is real income, but owners often just subtract it from the dump fee in their head instead of recording it. That understates what the business actually brought in.
What we doBooks resale and scrap payouts as their own income line, separate from the dump fee they might offset. -
2
Dump fees get buried in a general supplies line
One house might cost $80 in dump fees and the next $600, depending on what is left behind. Folded into a generic supplies category, you cannot tell if a job's price actually covered its real disposal cost.
What we doKeeps dump and disposal fees in their own category so job cost is visible job by job, not averaged away. -
3
Cash-paid crew blends into regular payroll
A crew member paid cash for a single day of hauling looks like an odd mix with the rest of payroll if it is not recorded the same week it happens.
What we doLogs cash-paid crew labor as it happens and keeps a running total toward any 1099 owed at year end. -
4
A deposit for a job not yet started counts as income too soon
A family books a cleanout two weeks out and pays a deposit to hold the date. Counted as earned income the day it lands, the month looks stronger than the work actually completed.
What we doKeeps deposits in their own category until the job is finished, so income lines up with completed work.
Your categories
The categories Gus keeps for an estate cleanout company.
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
- Cleanout job feesFlat-fee or hourly billing for a full estate cleanout.
- Resale and scrap incomeMoney from scrap metal, salvaged furniture, or items resold from a job.
- Estate sale referral feesFees earned for referring a family to an auction house or estate sale company.
- Storage feesCharges for holding items in storage while a family decides what to keep.
Money out
- Dump and disposal feesLandfill and transfer station fees, which vary a lot job to job.
- Equipment rentalDumpsters, trailers, and hauling equipment rented for a job.
- Crew wagesDay labor and regular crew pay, kept apart from cash-paid help.
- Hazmat disposalSpecial disposal for medications, paint, and chemicals found in a home.
- Vehicles and fuelTrucks and trailers used to haul items to the dump or storage.
- Liability insuranceGeneral liability coverage for work done inside a family's home.
What we watch for you
- Dump fee per job
What disposal actually cost against what the job was priced at.
- Job margin
What a cleanout job brings in above its true cost, once dump fees and labor are counted.
- Resale and scrap income
How much salvage and scrap add to a month, tracked as its own number.
- The set-aside
What job income owes in taxes, built up job by job so April never comes as a surprise bill.
Ask Gus
Things estate cleanout 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.
Yes. It gets its own line, resale and scrap income, so it is counted honestly instead of just offsetting the dump fee in your head.
Not yet, usually. I keep it as a deposit until the job is done, so your income lines up with the work you have actually finished.
Yes, worth logging the same week it happens. If someone earns $2,000 or more this year and is not on payroll, they get a 1099-NEC, and I keep the running total.
The tax side
The tax side of an estate cleanout business.
Most of what matters here is counting scrap and resale income honestly, keeping dump fees visible by job, and knowing whose deduction a donation actually is.
What your return has to get right
Your accountant signs it, so it gets done right the first time.
- Trucks and equipment can usually be written off this yearA truck, trailer, or hauling equipment can often be expensed the year you buy it. Bonus depreciation is back to 100 percent for property acquired after January 19, 2025.
- Cash-paid crew still needs a 1099A crew member paid $2,000 or more in 2026 in cash who is not on payroll gets a 1099-NEC by January 31, the same as anyone paid by check.
- A donation receipt usually belongs to the family, not youWhen you drop off donated items on a family's behalf, the tax deduction for that donation usually belongs to the estate, since the items were never the business's own property.
- The pass-through deductionMost owner-operated cleanout businesses can take up to 20 percent of business profit off taxable income. It comes out right when the books are right all year.
Deductions estate cleanout companies miss
Your bookkeeper knows what to look for in your statements. You never have to.
- Dump and landfill fees
- Dumpster rental
- Truck fuel and repairs
- Hazmat disposal fees
- Crew uniforms and gloves
- Liability insurance
- Storage unit rental
- Moving straps and dollies
- Lead fees and advertising
- Cell phone for quotes
- Safety equipment
- Vehicle insurance
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
An estate cleanout year, kept every month.
Calls come whenever a family is ready, on no fixed schedule. Your team keeps the books current all year, so tax time is never a scramble. 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 crew and contract help is ready, and a monthly set-aside is planned so April is already handled.
- April
Return signed
The accountant files and signs your return. The monthly set-aside has been building since January, so the bill holds no surprise.
- July
Halfway check
Where you stand, what you will owe, and whether dump fees or resale income shifted the number.
- October
Before year end
A look at equipment worth buying and moves worth making 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 estate cleanout companies. 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 estate cleanout owners ask first.
Can Gus track dump fees separately for each job?
Yes. Disposal costs get their own category, so you can see whether a job's price actually covered what it cost to clear the house.
We sometimes sell items we find during a cleanout. Where does that money go?
It gets booked as resale and scrap income, its own line, so it is counted honestly instead of just being subtracted from the dump fee.
Do we get a tax deduction for items we drop off at Goodwill for a family?
Usually not. Those items belong to the family's estate, not your business, so the donation deduction typically belongs to them, not you.
Some of our crew get paid cash for a single job. Does that complicate things?
It does not complicate your books, but it does mean tracking who was paid what, so the 1099 total is right if anyone crosses $2,000 for the year.
We hold items in storage while a family decides what to keep. Does that change the books?
Storage fees get their own line, separate from the cleanout job itself, so both are visible as what they are.
Our books are a mess from a busy season. Can you catch up?
Send whatever bank and dump receipt records you have. Gus works through the backlog and the accountant checks it, usually 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.
More in funeral, memorial & aftercare
We keep books for the business next door too.
- Casket & urn retailers
- Celebration-of-life planners
- Crematories
- Death doulas & end-of-life planners
- 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