Live events & performance
Books and taxes for festival producers.
Early-bird passes sold a year out, vendor booth fees, a headliner deposit, and camping add-ons that trickle in all spring. Gus sorts each apart, an accountant checks every transaction, and you get one number a month.
- From $197 a month
- An accountant on every transaction
- Cancel whenever
February cleared $24,500. Early-bird pass sales are strong, and I am holding that money against the June festival, not counting it as February income.
- Ticket Tomato, early-bird payoutTicket sales
- Vendor booth depositsVendor and exhibitor fees
- Wire, headliner depositTalent deposits
- Site rental, fairgroundsSite and land rental
- Fencing and barricade rentalSite infrastructure
Why your books are different
A festival's books go wrong in the same handful of places.
A generalist sees a string of deposits over many months landing before one big weekend. Your festival is early-bird passes sold a year out, a headliner deposit paid in installments, and a site full of rented infrastructure that only exists for three days. When the books do not track it against the right festival, nothing about the season adds up.
-
1
Early-bird ticket money gets counted the day it lands
A pass sold in October for a June festival is not October's income, it is a deposit against a show that has not happened yet. Counted right away, a slow off-season month looks strong for the wrong reason.
What we doHolds ticket revenue against the festival date it is for, so early sales do not distort the months before the event. -
2
A headliner's deposit and final payment land in different months
Talent often gets a signing deposit months before the festival and the balance the week of, sometimes by wire, sometimes in cash backstage. Split across the calendar, the full cost of booking that act is hard to see.
What we doKeeps every part of a talent payout tied to the same festival, so the full guarantee shows up together. -
3
Vendor and exhibitor fees collected months early look like general revenue
A food truck or craft vendor who pays a booth fee in the winter for a summer festival has really paid a deposit against that event, not made a donation to this month's operating cash.
What we doHolds vendor and exhibitor fees against the festival they are for, so the books reflect what the event actually earned, not when the checks arrived. -
4
Site infrastructure looks like one big undifferentiated cost
Fencing, generators, portable toilets, and staging rented for a single weekend can get lumped into one line, so it is impossible to see which part of the site build is eating the budget.
What we doKeeps site infrastructure broken into its own categories, so fencing, power, and staging each show their real cost. -
5
One number for the whole festival hides which day made money
A two- or three-day festival that reports one lump total cannot show whether Saturday's headliner carried the weekend or Sunday quietly lost money.
What we doTags ticket sales and costs to the festival they belong to, so you get a real settlement for the event as a whole and can compare year over year.
Your categories
The categories Gus keeps for a festival.
Set up once for how a festival makes money and where it goes. You never pick a category. He does, and an accountant checks it.
Money in
- Ticket salesEarly-bird, general admission, and VIP tiers sold through Ticket Tomato or See Tickets.
- Vendor and exhibitor feesBooth fees from food trucks, craft vendors, and sponsors' activation tents.
- SponsorshipsBrand money for a stage name, a banner, or a sampling activation.
- Camping and add-onsOn-site camping passes, parking, and merchandise bundles.
- Concessions cutThe festival's share of food and drink sales on site.
Money out
- Talent deposits and guaranteesSigning deposits and final payments to headliners and support acts.
- Site and land rentalFairground, farm, or fairgrounds rental for the festival dates.
- Site infrastructureFencing, generators, portable toilets, and staging.
- Production and stage crewSound, lighting, and load-in and load-out labor.
- Security and medical staffingCrowd security, EMTs, and a first aid tent.
- MarketingSocial ads, influencer trades, and printed lineup posters.
- Permits and insuranceAssembly permits and the event's liability coverage.
- Ticketing app feesWhat Ticket Tomato or See Tickets keeps before payout.
What we watch for you
- Per-festival settlement
What the event actually cleared once talent, site, and crew are paid, not just the year total.
- Advance sales rate
How much of next year's festival is already funded by early-bird passes before the lineup drops.
- Vendor coverage
How much booth and sponsor money covers site costs before a single ticket sells.
- The set-aside
What you will owe, tracked every month, so tax season is a number already known.
Ask Gus
Things festival producers 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.
Because it is not this month's money yet. I hold ticket sales against the festival date, so it counts toward June's numbers, not this quarter's.
Yes. Both pieces get tied to the same festival, so the full guarantee shows up together against that one event.
That is worth a real look before we book it either way, since a trade deal is not straightforward cash income. I sent the details to the accountant to sort out the right treatment.
The tax side
The tax side of producing a festival.
Most of what goes wrong here is timing across a long lead-up: money collected months early, talent paid in pieces, and vendors who need a 1099 they never expected.
What your return has to get right
Your accountant signs it, so it gets done right the first time.
- Contractor 1099s for talent and crewAn artist, sound engineer, or stagehand paid $2,000 or more over the year outside payroll gets a 1099-NEC by January 31. Gus tracks it across the full run-up to the festival.
- Matching advance sales to the right festival yearTicket and booth money collected months before the event belongs to that festival's numbers, not the calendar month it landed. Getting the timing right keeps each year's settlement honest.
- 1099-K from ticketing apps and payment processorsA ticketing app issues a 1099-K once an account crosses $20,000 and 200 transactions in a year. All ticket and booth income is taxable whether or not that form arrives.
- Section 179 for owned staging and infrastructureStages, fencing, and generators the business owns outright, rather than rents each year, can usually be written off up to $2,560,000 in the year bought, with bonus depreciation at 100 percent for property acquired after January 19, 2025.
Deductions festival producers miss
Your bookkeeper knows what to look for in your statements. You never have to.
- Fencing and barricade rental
- Generator fuel and rental
- Portable toilet rental
- First aid and EMT staffing
- Site security staffing
- Ticketing app fees
- Assembly and land use permits
- Trash and sanitation removal
- Signage and wayfinding printing
- Radio and headset rentals
- Talent contract legal review
- Merchant card processing fees
- Golf cart and site vehicle rental
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 festival's year, kept every month.
The festival itself is a single weekend, but the money moves for a year around it. Gus keeps the whole run-up in view. 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 talent and crew 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
Post-festival check
With the event behind you, Gus lays out the real settlement number and what you will owe on it.
- October
Next year's plan
Early-bird sales are usually opening again. Gus looks at what worked, what next year's budget should assume, and anything 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 festival producers. 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 festival producers ask first.
Ticket sales for next year start before this year's festival even happens. How is that handled?
Gus holds advance sales against the festival date they belong to, so overlapping sales windows do not get counted as the wrong year's income.
We use several ticketing apps for different tiers. Is that a problem?
No. Gus works from your bank deposits and keeps every tier and app in the ticket sales category, so it does not matter how many apps you run through.
How do vendor and food truck booth fees get taxed?
They are ordinary business income, booked to the festival they were paid for. Gus keeps them separate from ticket sales so you can see what the vendor side actually brings in.
Do we owe 1099s for a headliner we only book once?
If you pay them $2,000 or more in the year and they are not on payroll, yes, by January 31, even for a single festival date.
Our festival is nonprofit-adjacent and partly grant-funded. Does that change things?
It can. Grant money often comes with its own reporting rules, and Gus keeps it in its own category from the deposit forward so it is easy to document, while the accountant confirms anything nonprofit-specific.
Our books are a mess from a chaotic run-up. Can Gus sort it out after the fact?
Yes. Send the bank statements and settlement sheets you have, and Gus sorts them against the right festival year. Most producers 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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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