Hair & grooming
Books and taxes for hair salons.
Color tickets, blowouts, retail shampoo sales, and a mix of commission stylists and booth renters under one roof. 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
August came in at $18,000. Two stylists moved from commission to booth rent this month, so I split their pay into its own line before it muddied the rest.
- Vagaro payoutService tickets
- Front desk retail salesRetail sales
- Chair rent, J. AlvarezBooth rent income
- CosmoProf orderBackbar product
- Commission payout, payrollStylist commissions
Why your books are different
A hair salon's books go wrong in the same few places.
A generalist sees deposits and payroll. Your business is commission stylists, booth renters, retail shelves, and color that gets used on clients or sold in a bottle. When the books cannot tell those apart, you cannot see which chair is actually paying its way.
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1
Commission and booth rent in one pile
A commission stylist is your employee. A stylist who rents her chair runs her own business and just pays you rent. Run both through one payroll line and you cannot tell who actually works for you at tax time.
What we doKeeps booth rent collected and commission paid out in their own lines, so the difference stays clear all year. -
2
Backbar and retail share one receipt
The same CosmoProf order might carry color used behind the chair and shampoo sold at the counter. Lump them together and you lose the real cost of running retail versus running services.
What we doSplits product used on clients from product bought to resell, so retail shows its own honest numbers. -
3
Gift cards counted as income too soon
A $150 gift card sold in December is cash in the door, but the haircut has not happened yet. Book it as income that day and December looks better than it was while the redemption month looks worse.
What we doTracks gift card sales as money held until redeemed, not income the day it is sold. -
4
Cash tips go missing
Card tips land automatically through Vagaro or Square. Cash slipped to a colorist after a good balayage rarely gets written down anywhere, though it is taxable the moment it is earned.
What we doAsks about cash tip income when the deposits do not tell the whole story and records it like any other pay. -
5
A stylist paid like a contractor who works like an employee
A commission stylist who works your schedule, uses your station and product, and cannot book clients on the side looks like an employee no matter what her paycheck says.
What we doFlags anyone paid outside payroll whose work looks like an employee's, so it gets fixed before it becomes expensive.
Your categories
The categories Gus keeps for a hair salon.
Set up once for how your chairs get paid and what the shop spends. You never pick a category. He does, and an accountant checks it.
Money in
- Service ticketsCuts, color, balayage, and keratin, booked and paid through Vagaro or Booksy.
- Retail salesShampoo, conditioner, and styling product sold at the front desk.
- Booth rent incomeChair rent from any stylist who leases rather than works commission.
- Gift card salesHeld as a liability until the card gets redeemed for a service.
- Membership packagesMonthly blowout or treatment plans paid up front.
Money out
- Backbar productColor, developer, and treatment product used behind the chair.
- Retail inventoryProduct bought to resell, kept apart from what gets used in service.
- Stylist commissionsPercentage payouts through payroll, kept separate from booth rent.
- Booking softwareVagaro or Booksy subscription and the card processing fees on every ticket.
- License and continuing educationState board renewal and required hours for the owner and staff.
- Salon rent and utilitiesThe lease, water, and power for a shop that runs shampoo bowls all day.
- MarketingSocial media ads and lead fees from booking marketplaces.
What we watch for you
- Retail attach rate
Share of tickets with a product sale added. It says whether retail is pulling its weight.
- Commission share
Payouts against what came in. When it creeps up, a schedule or pricing look is due.
- Backbar cost per ticket
What color and product actually cost to deliver a service, apart from retail.
- The set-aside
What you will owe, tracked every month, so tax season is a number you already knew.
Ask Gus
Things hair salon 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.
Her pay stops running through payroll and her rent becomes income to you instead. I already split it out this month so nothing gets mixed up.
Gift cards count as income when they get redeemed, not when they are sold. I am holding that money as a liability until then, so the month reads true.
If you pay her $2,000 or more this year and she is not on payroll, she gets a 1099-NEC by January 31. I keep that list running all year.
The tax side
The tax side of running a hair salon.
Most of what goes wrong here is who counts as an employee and when money actually gets earned. Getting both right keeps April simple.
What your return has to get right
Your accountant signs it, so it gets done right the first time.
- Commission stylist or contractorA stylist who works your hours, your station, and your product is usually an employee even if you pay her a straight commission. Getting this wrong is the costliest mistake an owner in this trade can make.
- The no tax on tips deductionThrough 2028, stylists and colorists who earn tips can deduct up to $25,000 of that tip income from federal tax. Tips still owe Social Security and Medicare tax either way.
- Section 179 on salon equipmentNew styling chairs, dryers, or shampoo bowls can usually be written off the year you buy them, with 100 percent bonus depreciation on equipment bought after January 19, 2025.
- The pass-through deductionMost salon owners can take up to 20 percent of business profit off their taxable income. It comes out right when the books are right all year.
Deductions hair salons miss
Your bookkeeper knows what to look for in your statements. You never have to.
- Shears and clippers
- Color and developer
- Barbicide and sanitation supplies
- Continuing education hours
- License renewal fees
- Booking software subscription
- Card processing fees
- Retail inventory purchased
- Towels and capes
- Salon rent and utilities
- Social media ads
- Styling chairs and dryers
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 salon year, kept every month.
Prom season, holiday parties, and a January lull each change what the shop owes. Your team keeps you ahead of the calendar. 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 any fill-in stylists 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
Halfway check
Where you stand, what you will owe, and whether prom and wedding season changed the number.
- October
Ahead of November bookings
Gus looks at any equipment worth buying and moves worth making before the busiest stretch of the year hits in November.
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 salons. 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 salon owners ask first.
I have both commission stylists and booth renters. Can Gus handle both?
Yes. Commission pay runs through payroll and gets its own line. Booth rent comes in as income to the salon. Gus keeps them apart so you always know which is which.
Do I need to track retail separately from the product I use on clients?
It helps a lot. Gus splits backbar product from retail inventory as it comes in, so you can see what retail actually costs to sell against what it brings in.
My stylists get cash tips sometimes. Does that matter?
It does. Cash tips are taxable the moment they are earned, even if they never touch a card reader. Gus asks about them when the bank statement does not tell the whole story.
We run monthly memberships for blowouts. How does that get booked?
Money from a package gets held until the visits are used, not counted the day it is sold, so a strong sign-up month does not make a slow service month look better than it was.
My books are a mess from switching booking software last year. Is that a problem?
No. Send the bank statements you have. Gus sorts them, an accountant checks them, and most owners 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.
More in hair & grooming
We keep books for the business next door too.
- Braiding salons
- Curly hair specialists
- Kids hair salons
- Mobile barbers & stylists
- Natural hair salons
- Trichologists & hair loss consultants
- Wig & hair replacement studios
- Blowout bars
- Hair extension specialists
- Independent booth-renting stylists
- Men's grooming lounges
- Salon suite operators
- Scalp micropigmentation studios
- Barbershops
- Medical tattoo & areola restoration artists
- Beauty schools & cosmetology academies
- Freelance makeup artists
- Independent nail techs
- Lash & brow training academies
- Permanent makeup artists
- Piercing studios
- Spray tan studios & mobile tanning
- Tanning salons
- Tattoo shops
- Teeth whitening studios
- Brow studios & microblading
- Day spas
- Esthetician & facial studios
- Lash extension studios
- Nail salons
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