Waste, recycling & environmental services
Books and taxes for hazardous waste haulers.
A manifest for every drum, a disposal facility fee on every load, waste characterization testing before a job even starts, and a storage clock that does not stop. Your bookkeeper keeps it straight, an accountant checks every transaction, and you get one number a month.
- From $197 a month
- An accountant on every transaction
- Cancel whenever
September cleared $17,000. Two manifests carried an emergency spill response call, so I kept that apart from your routine scheduled hauling.
- Generator contract haulingManifest hauling fees
- Emergency spill response callEmergency response fees
- Disposal facility invoiceDisposal facility fees
- Waste characterization testProfiling fees
- Hazmat certification renewalCompliance training
Why your books are different
Hazardous waste hauling books go wrong in the same few places.
A generalist sees deposits and an insurance bill. Your business bills a generator per manifest, pays a disposal facility its own fee to take the waste, and sometimes tests a load before you even know how to classify it. Blend all of that and you cannot tell what a single manifest actually earned you.
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1
Hauling fees and disposal fees get blended
You bill a generator for hauling a manifest, then pay a disposal facility its own fee to actually take the waste. Lumped into one cost line, you cannot see your real margin on a given load.
What we doKeeps hauling revenue and disposal facility fees in separate lines, so your true margin per manifest is always visible. -
2
Waste characterization testing hides inside hauling fees
Testing a load to determine how it must be classified and disposed of is a distinct service with its own cost, but it often lands in the same revenue and expense line as the hauling itself.
What we doKeeps characterization and profiling fees apart from hauling income, so you can see what that add-on service is actually worth. -
3
Emergency spill calls get averaged into routine hauling
An emergency response call pays differently, and comes with different urgency, than a scheduled pickup. Blended into ordinary hauling revenue, you lose track of how much of the month came from planned work versus an emergency.
What we doKeeps emergency response income on its own line, so you can see what that work is really worth apart from routine hauling. -
4
Manifest and compliance costs disappear into admin
Manifest tracking and compliance recordkeeping are a real, heavily regulated cost of this business, not generic overhead, but they often get buried in a general admin expense line.
What we doKeeps manifest and compliance recordkeeping costs in their own line, so the real cost of staying compliant is visible. -
5
Waste sitting in storage awaiting disposal carries real time pressure
Hazardous waste generally cannot sit in storage past a limited window before the site needs its own storage permit, so a backlog is not just a cash flow question, it is a real compliance deadline.
What we doFlags aging waste awaiting disposal by how long it has been on hand, so a storage deadline never sneaks up unnoticed.
Your categories
The categories Gus keeps for a hazardous waste hauling business.
Set up once for how you get paid and what you spend. You never pick a category. He does, and an accountant checks it.
Money in
- Manifest hauling feesBilled to generator clients per manifest or per drum hauled.
- Waste characterization feesLab testing to classify a load before it is hauled.
- Emergency spill response feesCall-out work billed apart from scheduled hauling.
- Long-term generator contractsRecurring billing with industrial and commercial generator accounts.
Money out
- Disposal facility feesWhat a permitted treatment and disposal facility charges to take the waste.
- Manifest and compliance recordkeepingTracking and documentation required for every regulated load.
- Specialized trucks and containersDOT-certified drums, over-pack containers, and transport equipment.
- Environmental and pollution liability insuranceCoverage specific to hauling and handling hazardous materials.
- Hazmat certification and trainingRequired credentials for drivers handling regulated waste.
What we watch for you
- Margin per manifest
Hauling revenue against disposal facility fees, so you know what each load actually nets.
- Characterization fee value
Whether testing and classifying loads is worth what it costs to do.
- Waste on hand by age
How long collected waste has been sitting, so a storage deadline never sneaks up.
- The set-aside
What you will owe across hauling and emergency response income, tracked every month so April is never a scramble.
Ask Gus
Things hazardous waste hauler 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.
Not the way I book it. Emergency response income sits in its own line, so it reads as one unusual call, not ordinary hauling growth.
That is tracked as its own number. Disposal facility fees sit apart from hauling revenue, so your real margin per manifest is always visible.
It can be. Waste generally cannot sit past a limited window before it needs its own storage permit. I flag aging waste by how long it has been on hand so that deadline never sneaks up.
The tax side
The tax side of a hazardous waste hauling business.
Most of what goes wrong here is blending and timing. Hauling and disposal fees mixed together, and compliance costs lost inside general admin.
What your return has to get right
Your accountant signs it, so it gets done right the first time.
- Specialized transport equipmentTransport trailers, over-pack containers, and specialized hauling equipment can usually be written off the year you buy them. Bonus depreciation is 100 percent for property acquired after January 19, 2025.
- Driver worker classificationA driver running your truck on your route and schedule is almost always an employee, even if paid per manifest rather than an hourly wage.
- Contractor 1099sAn independent hauler or emergency response subcontractor paid $2,000 or more in 2026 who is not on payroll gets a 1099-NEC by January 31.
- The pass-through deductionMost owner-operated hazardous waste hauling businesses 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 hazardous waste haulers miss
Your bookkeeper knows what to look for in your statements. You never have to.
- Disposal facility fees
- Manifest recordkeeping fees
- DOT-certified drums and containers
- Hazmat certification and training
- Environmental liability insurance
- PPE and spill response equipment
- Truck fuel and maintenance
- Vehicle registration and inspection
- State hazardous waste transporter permits
- Phone for dispatch
- Uniforms and safety gear
- Waste characterization lab 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 hazardous waste hauling year, kept every month.
Generators produce regulated waste all year, and an emergency call can happen any week. Your taxes come on a schedule. Your team keeps you ahead of both. Every month in between, your bookkeeper closes the books and speaks up the moment something looks off.
- January
Plan the compliance year
Last year's return gets started and you get a monthly set-aside, so April is already handled no matter how generator contracts swing this year.
- April
Filed early
The return goes out signed, ahead of schedule. Between hauling and emergency calls, the set-aside already had it covered.
- July
Midyear regulatory check
Where you stand, what you will owe, and whether generator contract volume changed the number.
- October
Before year-end manifests
Generators often clear out waste before year end. Gus looks at what that means for the number 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 hazardous waste haulers. 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 hazardous waste hauler owners ask first.
Can Gus keep hauling revenue separate from disposal facility fees?
Yes. Each sits in its own line, so your real margin per manifest is always visible.
Does waste characterization testing get billed differently than hauling?
Yes. It sits apart from hauling income, so you can see what that testing work is actually worth.
An emergency spill call paid a lot more than usual. Does that mess up the numbers?
No. Emergency response income sits in its own line, so it reads as one unusual call, not ordinary hauling growth.
We have drums that have been sitting a while waiting on disposal. Does Gus track that?
Yes. Waste on hand is flagged by how long it has been sitting, so a storage deadline never sneaks up unnoticed.
My books have never separated hauling from disposal fees. Is that fixable?
Yes. Turn over whatever bank statements you have, however tangled hauling and disposal costs have gotten. Gus works through the backlog, the accountant checks it, and you will know where you 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.
More in waste, recycling & environmental services
We keep books for the business next door too.
- Air quality & mold inspectors
- Composting services
- Dirt & fill brokers
- Independent residential trash haulers
- Medical waste disposal
- Oilfield service companies
- Phase I environmental site assessment firms
- Recycling centers
- Scrap metal recyclers
- Stormwater compliance services
- Tire recycling
- Used cooking oil collection
- Water testing labs
- Wetland & environmental permitting consultants
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