Equipment & specialty rentals
Books and taxes for heavy equipment rental companies.
Excavator and skid steer rentals, damage waiver fees, financed machine purchases, and hour-meter maintenance costs. Gus keeps every machine's real cost 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 came in at $38,500. The skid steer loan payment jumped because you paid down principal early, so I kept that separate from the regular financing line.
- Excavator rental, weeklyHeavy machine rentals
- Waiver fee, excavator rentalDamage waivers
- Equipment loan payment, skid steerFleet financing
- Hydraulic hose and filter orderRepairs and maintenance
- Flatbed delivery truck fuelDelivery and hauling
Why your books are different
Heavy equipment books go wrong in the same four places.
A generalist sees deposits and bills. Your business is machines that cost more than most houses, hour meters that decide when repairs are due, damage waivers instead of insurance claims, and loan payments on nearly everything you own. When the books do not know that, profit per machine disappears.
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1
Financing payments look like plain expenses
A loan payment on an excavator is part principal and part interest, but booked as one lump equipment expense, you lose track of how much of the machine you actually own and how much interest is really costing you.
What we doSplits financing payments into principal and interest with the accountant's help, so the real cost of owning each machine is visible. -
2
Damage waiver income gets mixed with rental fees
A damage waiver fee is meant to cover normal wear without a claim against the renter, but lumped in with the base rental rate, you cannot tell if the waiver fee is actually covering the repairs it is supposed to.
What we doKeeps damage waiver income in its own line so it can be checked against what repairs actually cost across the fleet. -
3
Maintenance by hour meter gets buried in one repair line
A machine due for service at five hundred hours costs differently than one due for a full hydraulic rebuild, but if every repair bill lands in one category, you cannot see which machine is becoming a money pit.
What we doKeeps repair and maintenance costs visible month to month so a pattern on one machine shows up before it becomes a surprise. -
4
A machine purchase reads like a single bad month
A used excavator bought for eighty thousand dollars in cash wrecks that month's profit on paper if it is filed as a straight expense, when it is really a depreciable asset that pays for itself over years.
What we doFlags a machine purchase the day it shows up, logs it as equipment, and routes the depreciation decision to the accountant. -
5
Delivery and hauling costs disappear into fuel
Flatbed hauling to and from a job site is a real cost of doing business with heavy equipment, but if it is not tracked apart from general truck fuel, you cannot see whether delivery fees actually cover what it costs to haul a machine.
What we doKeeps delivery and hauling costs in their own line so delivery pricing can be checked against what it really costs.
Your categories
The categories Gus keeps for a heavy equipment rental yard.
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
- Heavy machine rentalsDaily, weekly, and monthly rates for excavators, skid steers, and backhoes.
- Damage waiversThe fee that covers normal wear without a claim.
- Delivery and pickup feesFlatbed hauling charged separately from the machine rate.
- Operated rentalsJobs where you send a machine with your own operator.
- Attachment rentalsBuckets, augers, and hammers rented alongside the base machine.
Money out
- Fleet financingLoan and lease payments for excavators, skid steers, and forklifts.
- Repairs and maintenanceHydraulic hoses, filters, undercarriage work, and hour-meter servicing.
- Delivery and haulingFlatbed trucks, fuel, and driver wages for getting machines to a site.
- InsuranceFleet coverage and liability for machines working on someone else's site.
- Rental yard rent and utilitiesLot rent, lighting, and security for the machine yard.
- Software and dispatchRental management software such as Texada for scheduling and invoicing.
- Marketing and bidsContractor bid sites and local trade show presence.
What we watch for you
- Financing cost
Interest paid across the fleet against what machines bring in. Worth knowing before financing another one.
- Damage waiver margin
Waiver income against what the fleet actually costs to repair each month. It shows if the fee still holds up.
- Machine repair trend
Repair spend by category over time. A rising pattern flags a machine worth replacing, not repairing again.
- The set-aside
What you will owe in taxes, tracked month by month against the fleet's real profit, so filing season is not a scramble.
Ask Gus
Things heavy equipment 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.
Often you can. I logged it as equipment, not a straight expense, and flagged it so the accountant makes the call with your whole year in view.
A big hydraulic repair on the skid steer landed this month. I kept it in its own line so you can see it was one machine's bill, not a drop in rentals.
They are counted as regular income, same as the rental rate. I keep them in their own category so you can see whether they are actually covering the repairs they are meant for.
The tax side
The tax side of a heavy equipment rental business.
Most of what goes wrong here is a machine purchase filed as an expense instead of equipment, and financing payments that are not split into principal and interest.
What your return has to get right
Your accountant signs it, so it gets done right the first time.
- Depreciating the machine fleetExcavators, skid steers, and forklifts are usually depreciable equipment. Section 179 expensing up to $2,560,000 and 100 percent bonus depreciation for property acquired after January 19, 2025 are often available, and the accountant decides the timing on a machine used for rental to others.
- Loan interest versus principalOnly the interest portion of a machine loan payment is a deductible expense each year. The principal reduces what you owe on the machine, not your taxable income, and Gus keeps the two apart.
- Operator classificationAn operator you send out with a machine, working your schedule with your equipment, usually counts as an employee rather than a contractor, no matter how the pay is arranged.
- Contractor 1099sA fill-in mechanic or delivery driver not on payroll gets a 1099-NEC if paid $2,000 or more in 2026, due January 31.
Deductions heavy equipment rental companies miss
Your bookkeeper knows what to look for in your statements. You never have to.
- Hydraulic hoses and filters
- Undercarriage and track repairs
- Flatbed hauling fuel
- Fleet financing interest
- Rental yard lot rent
- Attachment repairs
- Dispatch and rental software
- Machine insurance
- Contractor bid site fees
- Operator uniforms and PPE
- Delivery truck maintenance
- Security and yard lighting
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 heavy equipment rental year, kept every month.
Job sites open and close on their own schedule. Your taxes come on a fixed one. 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 year
Last year's return gets started, the 1099 list for any fill-in operators or mechanics is ready, and you get a monthly set-aside so filing season 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 the summer construction push changed the number.
- October
Before the fall push
Contractors race to finish before winter in a lot of regions. Gus looks at machine purchases and moves worth making 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 heavy equipment rental companies. 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 heavy equipment owners ask first.
I finance most of my fleet. How does Gus handle loan payments?
He splits each payment into principal and interest with the accountant's help. Only the interest is a deductible expense, and keeping them apart keeps your real cost of ownership visible.
Do damage waiver fees get taxed differently than rental income?
No, both are business income and taxed the same way. Gus keeps them in separate categories so you can see whether waiver fees actually cover what repairs cost.
Can I write off a machine the same year I buy it?
Often yes. Heavy equipment can usually be written off in the year you buy it, though sometimes spreading it out is the better call for your year. The accountant decides with your whole year in view.
I send operators out with some machines. Does that change how they get paid?
It should stay through payroll in most cases. An operator running your machine on your schedule usually counts as an employee, and Gus flags that pattern before it becomes a costly habit.
My books are behind because I switched from spreadsheets to Texada this year. Is that a problem?
No. Send the bank statements you have from before the switch. Gus sorts them, the 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 equipment & specialty rentals
We keep books for the business next door too.
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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