DTC brands
Books and taxes for hair care brands.
A salon's opening order, a marketplace listing that undercuts your own network, a travel-size bottle, and a free gift with purchase. 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
February came in at $10,500. A new salon's opening order was almost half of retail sales, so I flagged it as a one-time event, not a trend.
- Shopify Payments payoutSite sales
- Salon account payoutSalon wholesale sales
- Formulation Lab Co invoiceContract manufacturing
- Travel-size packaging orderPackaging
- Meta adsAdvertising
Why your books are different
A hair care brand's books go wrong around two prices and one product.
A generalist sees deposits and bills. Your business is a professional price for salons and a retail price for everyone else, a gray market listing that undercuts both, and a travel size that splits one formula's cost in two. When the books do not know that, channels blur together.
-
1
Professional and retail prices are two different businesses in one
Selling the same shampoo to a salon at a professional wholesale price and to a customer at full retail price means one product carries two different price points, and if both get lumped into one sales category, you cannot tell whether the salon channel is actually worth the discount.
What we doKeeps professional salon sales separate from retail sales, so each channel's real value is visible. -
2
Unauthorized resellers on marketplaces undercut the brand's own pricing
A salon-exclusive line sometimes ends up resold on a marketplace at a discount by someone who was never authorized to sell it, and if that gray market activity is not flagged, it can quietly erode what your authorized salons are willing to keep ordering.
What we doFlags marketplace sales at prices well below your authorized network, so you know when gray market resale might be undercutting your salons. -
3
A salon's opening order is bigger than any single reorder
A new salon account often places a large opening order to stock a full line, and if that single order is treated the same as an average steady account, it can make onboarding one new salon look like a huge, unrepeatable month.
What we doFlags a large opening order as a one-time event tied to a new account, so growth from new salons reads clearly against ongoing reorders. -
4
Travel and sample sizes split one formula's cost across two products
Making a travel-size version of a full-size shampoo splits one production cost across two package sizes, and if the smaller size is not tracked as its own item, the full-size product's true cost per unit gets distorted.
What we doKeeps travel-size and sample production in their own cost line, so the full-size product's real margin stays clear. -
5
A gift-with-purchase item is a marketing cost, not a free add-on
Including a free travel-size conditioner with a full-size shampoo order is a common promotion, and if the cost of that free item is not pulled out of inventory as a marketing expense, gift-with-purchase promotions look like they cost nothing when they clearly do.
What we doBooks gift-with-purchase items as a promotion cost, out of inventory, so a free gift shows up as the real cost it is.
Your categories
The categories Gus keeps for a hair care brand.
Set up once for how you sell and what you spend. You never pick a category. He does, and an accountant checks it.
Money in
- Site salesFull-price and promo retail orders through your own storefront.
- Salon wholesale salesProfessional pricing to salon accounts, kept apart from retail.
- Subscription salesRecurring replenishment orders, if you run one.
- Marketplace salesAmazon or a similar site, flagged for gray market pricing.
Money out
- Contract manufacturingThe lab or facility that formulates and fills each batch.
- PackagingFull-size and travel-size bottles, caps, and labels.
- AdvertisingMeta and Google ad spend driving traffic to the site.
- Sample and gift costsTravel sizes given away as promotions, out of inventory.
- Fulfillment3PL pick, pack, and ship fees.
- Card and marketplace feesWhat processors and marketplaces keep before you get paid.
What we watch for you
- Professional vs retail split
Salon sales against direct retail, so you know which channel is actually carrying the business.
- Gray market marketplace price
Unauthorized listings priced below your network, flagged before it undercuts your salons.
- New salon opening orders
Large first-time orders flagged apart from steady reorders, so growth reads clearly.
- The set-aside
What you will owe, tracked from actual sales, not a one-time opening order.
Ask Gus
Things hair care brand 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.
That order is real, but I flag it as a one-time event tied to a new account, so it does not get confused with steady reorder growth.
That looks like gray market resale from outside your authorized network. I flag marketplace prices well below your network so you can look into where it is coming from.
Yes. I pull that travel size out of inventory as a promotion cost, so a free gift shows up as the real cost it is instead of looking free.
The tax side
The tax side of a hair care brand.
Most of what goes wrong here is channel and timing. A salon opening order read as a trend, a free gift never pulled from inventory, and a set-aside nobody started until the return was due.
What your return has to get right
Your accountant signs it, so it gets done right the first time.
- Inventory and cost of goodsYou deduct the cost of what sold, not what is sitting on a shelf. A finished batch waiting to ship to salons or customers is an asset until it does, not a write-off the day the invoice is paid.
- 1099-K from marketplaces and processorsShopify Payments and any marketplace you sell through report your volume to the IRS once you cross $20,000 and 200 transactions in a year. Salon wholesale sales are taxable the same way, form or no form.
- 1099-NEC for contractorsA freelance formulator, photographer, or educator paid $2,000 or more in a year who is not on payroll gets a 1099-NEC by January 31.
- The pass-through deductionUp to 20 percent of qualified business income can come off before tax, phasing down for single filers above $201,750 and joint filers above $403,500. The number only comes out right when salon and retail sales were kept separate all year.
Deductions hair care brands miss
Your bookkeeper knows what to look for in your statements. You never have to.
- Contract manufacturing
- Full-size and travel-size packaging
- Meta and Google ad spend
- Salon education materials
- Product photography
- 3PL fulfillment fees
- Salon expo booth fees
- Card and marketplace fees
- Trademark and brand registration
- Sample and gift-with-purchase costs
- Product liability insurance
- Shopify and subscription app fees
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 hair care brand's year, kept every month.
Salon accounts sign on year round, and travel-size promotions run whenever the calendar calls for a gift. Your team is on the books every month, not only at renewal time. Every month in between, your bookkeeper closes the books and speaks up the moment something looks off.
- January
New salon accounts
New salon accounts often sign on for the year, right as last year's return needs to get moving. Gus flags opening orders and keeps the set-aside running.
- April
Return signed and filed
The business return is filed and signed, salon and retail sales both accounted for. The set-aside has been running since January, so April holds no surprise.
- July
Midyear salon check
A common time to check whether salon accounts are reordering steadily and whether gift-with-purchase promotions are paying for themselves.
- October
Holiday sets built
Holiday gift sets and travel-size bundles get built and priced. Gus looks at packaging costs before the rush.
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 hair care brands. 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 hair care brand owners ask first.
A new salon placed a huge opening order. Does that mean business is booming?
That order is real, but Gus flags it as a one-time event tied to a new account, so it does not get confused with steady reorder growth.
I saw our salon-exclusive shampoo listed way below our price on a marketplace. What's going on?
That looks like gray market resale from outside your authorized network. Gus flags marketplace prices well below your network so you can look into where it is coming from.
We include a free travel-size conditioner with some orders. Does that cost anything?
Yes. Gus pulls that travel size out of inventory as a promotion cost, so a free gift shows up as the real cost it is instead of looking free.
Do salon sales and retail sales get mixed together in my books?
No. Professional salon sales are kept separate from retail sales, so you can see whether each channel is actually worth the pricing you give it.
We make a travel size of our best-selling shampoo. Does that change the cost of the full-size bottle?
It can if it is not tracked separately, which is why Gus keeps travel-size and sample production in its own cost line, so your full-size product's real margin stays clear.
My books are behind because we just launched a salon-exclusive line.
Send your bank statements and salon account records. Gus sorts through the new line and most owners know where they stand within 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