Personal & lifestyle services

Books and taxes for genealogy researchers.

A flat-fee family history project, an hourly research request, database subscriptions billed every month, and archive and courthouse fees that vary by county. Your own bookkeeper stays on 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
FebruaryExample month
$4,300
what you made

February brought in $4,300. The county courthouse record request fee for a client's project got its own line, since it is a cost that gets passed back into the project price.

  • Family history project depositFlat-fee research projects
  • Hourly research invoiceHourly research work
  • Ancestry and FamilySearch subscriptionsDatabase subscriptions
  • County courthouse record requestArchive and record fees
  • DNA testing kit for client projectClient project supplies
Money in$6,200
Money out$1,900
Set aside for taxes$950
An example month. Yours will have your numbers.

Why your books are different

Genealogy research books go wrong in the same four places.

A generalist sees deposits and bills. Your business is flat-fee family history projects, hourly research on smaller questions, monthly database subscriptions you pay whether or not a project is active, and per-record archive and courthouse fees that vary by county. When the books do not know that, the monthly number is a guess.

  1. 1

    Project deposits get counted before the research is done

    A client who pays a $1,500 deposit for a multi-generation family history project has paid for research that unfolds over weeks or months. Counting the whole deposit as income the day it lands overstates that month.

    What we doKeeps project deposits visible against research actually delivered, so a big deposit does not make one month look bigger than the work done.
  2. 2

    Database subscriptions run whether or not a project is active

    Ancestry, FamilySearch, and other paid databases bill every month regardless of how much research work is happening, and a slow month with the same subscription cost looks worse than it is if that steady cost is not understood as fixed overhead.

    What we doKeeps database subscriptions in their own steady line so a quiet month of client work does not read as a spending problem.
  3. 3

    Archive and courthouse fees get lost in general expenses

    Record requests, courthouse copy fees, and archive access charges vary by county and by project, and if they are not tied to the client project that generated them, it is hard to know if project pricing actually covers those costs.

    What we doKeeps archive and record fees in their own line so you can see whether project pricing covers what records actually cost to pull.
  4. 4

    Flat-fee projects and hourly work blur together

    A flat-fee family history project and an hourly research request for one specific record pay very differently for the time involved, and lumped into one revenue line, you cannot tell which kind of work is actually worth taking.

    What we doKeeps flat-fee projects and hourly research in separate lines so you can see what each kind of work is really worth.

Your categories

The categories Gus keeps for a genealogy research business.

Set up once for how projects and research get paid. You never pick a category. He does, and an accountant checks it.

Money in

  • Flat-fee research projectsMulti-generation family history projects paid as a deposit and final balance.
  • Hourly research workSmaller research questions billed by the hour.
  • DNA and record analysisFees for interpreting DNA test results or specific record findings.
  • Speaking and workshop feesPresentations to genealogy societies or community groups.

Money out

  • Database subscriptionsAncestry, FamilySearch, MyHeritage, and similar research databases.
  • Archive and record feesCourthouse, library, and archive copy and access fees.
  • Client project suppliesDNA test kits and materials bought specifically for a client project.
  • Travel for research tripsMileage or travel to courthouses, cemeteries, and archives.
  • Professional association duesMembership in genealogy professional organizations.

What we watch for you

  • Project versus hourly mix

    How much of revenue is flat-fee projects versus hourly research. It shows which kind of work is worth taking more of.

  • Archive fee coverage

    Record and courthouse fees against project pricing. It shows whether your rates actually cover what records cost to pull.

  • Subscription cost per active project

    Database subscription cost against active client work. It flags when subscriptions are outpacing the projects that use them.

  • The set-aside

    What you owe so far this year, updated monthly, so April is not a guess.

Ask Gus

Things genealogy researchers 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.

This month looks slow but I know I took a deposit for a big project.

That deposit is tied to research still in progress. I keep it visible against the work delivered, so it will not inflate one month over the ones the research actually happens in.

Are my courthouse fees eating into my project margins?

They are running about 8 percent of your typical project price right now. Worth knowing before you quote the next one.

Do my Ancestry and FamilySearch subscriptions count as a business expense even in a slow month?

Yes, they are ongoing costs of doing the work, so they count whether or not a project is active that month.

The tax side

The tax side of a genealogy research business.

Most of what goes wrong here is timing. Project deposits counted too early, subscription costs that run steady, and a set-aside nobody started until April.

What your return has to get right

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

  • Self-employment tax on project feesFor a genealogy research business, self-employment tax runs 15.3 percent on top of regular income tax when the owner is not paid through payroll, up to the Social Security wage base of $184,500.
  • Mileage for archive tripsTravel to courthouses, cemeteries, and archives for a client project can be deducted at 72.5 cents a mile from January through June 2026 and 76 cents a mile from July through December 2026.
  • 1099s for research helpA researcher or translator you bring in to help who is not on payroll gets a 1099-NEC by January 31 if paid $2,000 or more in 2026.
  • The pass-through savingsFor a genealogy research business, the pass-through deduction lets an owner take up to 20 percent of business profit off taxable income, a figure that only comes out right when the books are kept right all year.

Deductions genealogy researchers miss

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

  • Database subscriptions
  • Archive and courthouse fees
  • DNA test kits for client projects
  • Travel to archives and courthouses
  • Professional association dues
  • Continuing education in genealogy
  • Report binding and printing
  • Business insurance
  • Home office space for research
  • Website and marketing
  • Translation services for foreign records
  • Storage for physical research files

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 genealogy researcher's year, kept every month.

Project requests often rise around the holidays and family history milestones, and database subscriptions run steady all year. Your team keeps you ahead of both. Every month in between, your bookkeeper closes the books and speaks up the moment something looks off.

  1. January

    The year begins

    For a genealogy research business, last year's return gets started in January, and a monthly set-aside means April is already handled.

  2. April

    Return filed and signed

    For a genealogy research business, the return is filed and signed in April, with no surprise bill since the set-aside has been running since January.

  3. July

    Six months in

    Where you stand, what you will owe, and whether project volume changed the number.

  4. October

    Before the gift-giving season

    Family history projects are a popular holiday gift request. Gus looks at any moves worth making 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 genealogy researchers. 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 genealogy researchers ask first.

Does a big project deposit make my income look bigger than it is?

Gus keeps project deposits visible against the research actually delivered, so a large upfront payment does not make one month look bigger than the work done.

Are my database subscriptions deductible even when I have no active projects?

Yes, ongoing subscriptions to Ancestry, FamilySearch, or similar databases count as a business cost of staying ready to work, whether or not a project is active that month.

Can Gus tell my flat-fee projects apart from hourly work?

Yes. Flat-fee projects and hourly research are kept in separate lines so you can see what each kind of work is really worth.

Do courthouse and archive fees need to be tracked per project?

Gus keeps them in their own line so you can see whether your project pricing actually covers what records cost to pull, without tracking every receipt yourself.

My books are behind from focusing on research. Is that fixable?

It is fixable. Send the bank statements you have and Gus catches up the backlog, with the accountant checking 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.

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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