Home, hobby & lifestyle retail
Books and taxes for gift shops.
Register sales, an online shop, consignment from local makers, and a Faire order that lands weeks after you paid for it. Your own bookkeeper 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
November came in at $9,300. Three local makers had their best consignment month yet, so I split their share out before it hit your revenue line.
- Register batch, Saturday rushIn-store sales
- Etsy shop payoutOnline sales
- Faire order, gift wrap coWholesale inventory
- Consignment payout, J. ReyesMaker payouts
- Uline packaging suppliesPackaging and shipping
Why your books are different
A gift shop's books go wrong the same handful of ways.
A generalist bookkeeper sees deposits and a pile of receipts. Your shop has consignment makers, a Faire order that lands a month after you paid a deposit, and a register that rings up ten different price points a day. When the books do not know the difference, your real margin stays a guess.
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1
Consignment gets counted as your sale
A local potter's mugs sell on your shelf, but 40 percent of that sale belongs to her, not you. Booked as a straight sale, your revenue looks bigger than it is and her payout looks like a random expense.
What we doSplits the maker's cut out as a payout the day it happens, so your real revenue and her records both stay clean. -
2
Faire deposits and later payments get tangled
A wholesale order on Faire can bill a deposit now and the rest on delivery weeks later. Booked as one lump sum, it looks like a single bad week instead of two smaller, ordinary ones.
What we doTracks each Faire order across both charges so a single big buy does not wreck one month's picture. -
3
Gift wrap and packaging blend into general supplies
Boxes, tissue paper, and ribbon add up fast around the holidays and get lost in a catch-all supplies line, so you cannot see how much wrapping actually costs per sale.
What we doKeeps packaging in its own line so the holiday cost is visible instead of buried. -
4
A slow week looks worse than a display refresh actually was
Buying new fixtures or a seasonal display case shows up as one big hit in the week you paid for it, even though it will earn its keep over years, not days.
What we doFlags fixture and display purchases as equipment instead of a supply cost, so one buy does not sink the month.
Your categories
The categories Gus keeps for a gift shop.
Set up once for how you sell and what you carry. You never pick a category. He does, and an accountant checks it.
Money in
- In-store salesRegister batches from Square or Clover, cash and card.
- Online salesYour own site, Etsy, or both, kept apart from the register.
- Consignment salesThe full sale price, before the maker's split comes out.
- Gift card redemptionsCounted when the card is spent, not when it is sold.
- Wholesale ordersIf other small shops buy from you in bulk.
Money out
- Wholesale inventoryFaire orders, gift trade show buys, and direct supplier invoices.
- Maker payoutsWhat consigning makers are owed, kept apart from your own margin.
- Packaging and shippingBoxes, tissue, ribbon, and postage.
- Store rent and utilitiesThe lease, power, and water for the storefront.
- Card processing feesWhat Square, Clover, or your gateway keeps on every sale.
- Fixtures and displaysShelving, tables, and seasonal display buys, logged as equipment.
- Local advertisingLocal paper, sponsorships, and paid social aimed at nearby shoppers.
What we watch for you
- Consignment share
How much of your sales are really the makers'. Useful before you take on more consigned lines.
- Channel mix
Register versus online versus wholesale, so you know where your real customers are.
- Gift card float
Cards sold but not yet redeemed. Worth knowing before a big holiday push.
- The set-aside
What you will owe on the year's gift sales, tracked monthly, so tax season is never a surprise.
Ask Gus
Things gift shop 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, I keep her split separate from your own sales every month, so that number is ready whenever she asks.
Usually not. Faire often splits a deposit from the balance due at delivery. I booked both as one order so it reads as what it really was.
If you pay any one of them $2,000 or more this year, yes, by January 31. I track each maker's running total so the list is ready.
The tax side
The tax side of running a gift shop.
Most of what trips up a gift shop is timing and splits: consignment, a wholesale deposit, and a fixture buy that should not all land in one week's number.
What your return has to get right
Your accountant signs it, so it gets done right the first time.
- Cost of goods soldWhat you paid for the inventory you actually sold this year reduces your taxable income, not what is still sitting on the shelf. Gus tracks purchases as inventory, not a flat expense.
- Consignment payouts as 1099 workA maker you pay $2,000 or more in a year, and who is not on your payroll, gets a 1099-NEC by January 31. Gus keeps a running total on every consigning maker.
- Sales tax collectedSales tax is the state's money the moment a customer pays it, not the shop's. Gus flags it separately so it never gets spent by mistake.
- Marketplace reportingEtsy and similar marketplaces report a shop's payment volume to the IRS on Form 1099-K once it crosses $20,000 and 200 transactions in 2026. All of it is taxable whether or not a form arrives.
Deductions gift shops miss
Your bookkeeper knows what to look for in your statements. You never have to.
- Faire membership fees
- Gift wrap and ribbon
- Shipping boxes and postage
- Card processing fees
- Display shelving
- Local paper ads
- Storefront signage
- Business insurance
- Trade show travel
- POS software subscription
- Storage for overflow stock
- Cleaning supplies
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 gift shop's year, kept every month.
The holidays carry most of the year, but the books stay open every month, not only in December. 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 maker 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 building since the holiday rush wound down in January.
- July
Halfway check
Where you stand, what you will owe, and whether summer wedding and gift traffic changed the picture.
- October
Before the rush
Fixtures, seasonal inventory, and any equipment worth buying before the holiday order gets placed and December fills the shelves.
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 gift shops. 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 gift shop owners ask first.
Can Gus handle consignment from local makers?
Yes. He splits each sale into your revenue and the maker's payout as it happens, so your numbers stay honest and each maker's records are ready if they ask.
I sell on Etsy and in the store. Does that complicate things?
No. Gus keeps register sales and Etsy sales in their own lines so you can see which one is really carrying the shop, without you doing anything differently.
My biggest Faire order this year hit right before the holidays. Will that wreck my numbers?
It should not. Gus tracks wholesale inventory buys separately from ordinary expenses so a big seasonal order does not make one month look far worse than it is.
Do I need to track gift cards differently?
Yes, and Gus does it automatically. A gift card sale is cash held for later, not revenue yet. It counts as a sale when the customer actually redeems it.
My books are a mess from the holiday rush. Can you still help?
Send what you have. Gus sorts through register batches, consignment splits, and wholesale orders, and the bookkeeper cleans up whatever is behind.
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