Cannabis, hemp & botanicals
Books and taxes for hemp and CBD brands.
Shopify payouts, wholesale orders to natural food stores, subscription boxes, and the lab testing every batch needs. Your own bookkeeper keeps it sorted, an accountant checks every transaction, and you get one number a month.
- From $197 a month
- An accountant on every transaction
- Cancel whenever
November made $15,000, the biggest month of the year so far. The new payment processor's reserve holdback got logged separately so it doesn't look like money that simply vanished.
- Shopify payoutEcommerce sales
- Faire wholesale payoutWholesale sales
- Contract manufacturer invoiceProduct manufacturing
- Certificate of analysis, batch 14Lab testing
- Meta ads spendMarketing
Why your books are different
A hemp brand's books have to survive its own payment processors.
A hemp or CBD brand sells a federally legal product, but a lot of banks and card networks still treat it like a risk category. That shows up in the books as reserves, holdbacks, and account closures a typical retail brand never deals with.
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1
A reserve looks like a missing sale
A payment processor willing to work with hemp brands often holds back a percentage of each batch of sales for weeks, in case of a chargeback. Booked as a straight deposit, the reserve looks like money that simply disappeared.
What we doBooks the full sale and the held-back reserve separately, so nothing looks missing while it is sitting in the processor's hands. -
2
A certificate of analysis is a real cost
Every batch of tincture, gummies, or topical needs third-party lab testing to prove its potency and confirm it stays under the legal hemp THC threshold. Treated as a minor supply cost, it does not show up as what it really is, the cost of being allowed to sell that batch at all.
What we doKeeps certificate of analysis and lab testing costs tied to the batch they cleared, so the real cost of each product line stays visible. -
3
A closed merchant account disrupts a month
Card processors sometimes drop hemp and CBD merchants with little notice, forcing a scramble to a backup processor mid-month. Sales still happened, but two different payout schedules land in the bank at once and confuse the real month.
What we doTracks sales by the day they happened, not just the day a payout lands, so a processor switch does not distort the month. -
4
Wholesale and direct sales get lumped in
A Faire order to a boutique and a Shopify order from a customer carry very different margins once wholesale discounts and shipping are counted. Blended into one sales number, an owner cannot tell which channel is actually worth growing.
What we doKeeps ecommerce, wholesale, and subscription sales in separate categories, so each channel's real margin is visible. -
5
Chargebacks get buried in the deposit
A return, a chargeback dispute, or a subscription cancellation refund reduces a later payout instead of showing up on its own. Left untracked, it looks like a slow sales week instead of what it actually is.
What we doKeeps refunds and chargebacks in their own line, so a slow-looking payout is not mistaken for a slow sales week.
Your categories
The categories Gus keeps for a hemp or CBD brand.
Set up once for how the brand sells and what a batch actually costs. You never pick a category, he does, and an accountant checks it.
Money in
- Ecommerce salesShopify, WooCommerce, or a similar storefront's direct-to-consumer orders.
- Wholesale salesOrders through Faire or direct accounts with natural food and specialty stores.
- Subscription salesRecurring auto-ship orders for tinctures, gummies, or topicals.
- Marketplace salesOrders through a marketplace that allows compliant hemp products.
Money out
- Product manufacturingA contract manufacturer or co-packer producing the brand's formulas.
- Lab testingCertificate of analysis testing required on every batch before it ships.
- Packaging and labelsBottles, jars, and labels that meet hemp labeling requirements.
- MarketingAds, influencer partnerships, and email marketing tools.
- Payment processing feesWhat a hemp-friendly processor keeps, including any reserve holdback.
- Fulfillment and shippingWarehousing, pick and pack, and carrier costs for direct orders.
What we watch for you
- Reserve held back
Money sitting with the payment processor that has not paid out yet.
- Cost per batch
Manufacturing and lab testing cost against what a batch actually sold for.
- Channel margin
Ecommerce, wholesale, and subscription sales, since their margins differ a lot.
- Chargeback rate
How much of sales come back as a return or dispute, tracked apart from slow sales.
Ask Gus
Things hemp and CBD 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.
Nowhere. I booked the full sale and kept the held-back reserve as its own line, so you can see it is sitting with the processor, not gone.
Yes. I keep certificate of analysis costs tied to the batch they cleared, so you can see what each product line actually costs to get to market.
No. I track sales by the day they happened, not by payout date, so a mid-month processor switch does not throw off the real number.
The tax side
The tax side of a hemp or CBD brand.
This is a federally legal product, and the tax rules follow ordinary business rules, not the ones a plant-touching cannabis business deals with.
What your return has to get right
Your accountant signs it, so it gets done right the first time.
- Ordinary deductions apply hereA hemp or CBD brand is not subject to the rule that strips deductions from plant-touching cannabis businesses. Manufacturing, marketing, and shipping costs are deductible the way they would be for any other consumer product brand.
- Cost of goods sold and inventoryFinished tinctures, gummies, and topicals sitting in a warehouse are inventory until sold, not an expense the day they were made or bought from a manufacturer.
- The pass-through deductionMost owner-operators structured as a pass-through entity can take up to 20 percent of qualified business income off their taxable income, with limits starting above $201,750 single or $403,500 joint.
- Contractor 1099s for outside helpA formulator, photographer, or marketing contractor paid $2,000 or more in 2026, who is not on payroll, gets a 1099-NEC by January 31, and Gus keeps that list ready all year.
Deductions hemp and CBD brands miss
Your bookkeeper knows what to look for in your statements. You never have to.
- Contract manufacturing fees
- Certificate of analysis testing
- Compliant packaging and labels
- Ad spend and influencer fees
- Payment processing fees
- Reserve or holdback fees
- Fulfillment and shipping costs
- Recurring order software fees
- Product samples and photography
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 hemp brand's year, kept every month.
Orders come in every day, holiday season busiest of all. Your team keeps the books current all year, not just at tax time. 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 contractors is ready, and a monthly set-aside is planned around the coming year's launches.
- April
Filed. Done.
Your return is filed and signed, with channel margins and batch costs documented clearly, while spring wholesale orders start picking up.
- July
Halfway check
Where the brand stands, what it will owe, and whether the spring launch changed the number the accountant is watching.
- October
Before the November surge
Before the year's biggest sales month, Gus looks at any inventory or equipment worth buying and anything worth doing before December closes out.
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 hemp and CBD 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 hemp and CBD brand owners ask first.
Is a hemp or CBD brand taxed the same as a cannabis dispensary?
No. A federally compliant hemp brand is not subject to the rule that strips deductions from plant-touching cannabis businesses. Manufacturing, marketing, and shipping are deductible the way they would be for any consumer product brand.
Our payment processor keeps changing. Does that mess up the books?
No. Gus tracks sales by the day they happened rather than by when a payout lands, so switching processors mid-month does not distort the real number for that month, no matter how many payout schedules land in the same week.
Do lab testing fees count toward what our product actually costs?
Yes. Certificate of analysis testing gets kept as a cost tied to the batch it cleared, so you can see the real cost of getting a product line to market, not just its ingredients.
We sell through Shopify, Faire, and a subscription box. Can that all live in one place?
Yes. Each channel gets its own category, so you can see which one actually carries a decent margin instead of one blended number covering for the others, month after month.
Does Gus deal with FDA labeling rules for our products?
No. Gus keeps the books and flags costs tied to compliance testing, but labeling and marketing claim rules are outside a bookkeeping and tax subscription. That is worth checking with someone who specializes in it.
Our last bookkeeper never separated wholesale from direct sales. Can that be fixed?
Yes. Send what you have, even a tangled year of records. Gus sorts it by channel, and most owners can see their real margins within a couple of weeks instead of months of guessing.
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 cannabis, hemp & botanicals
We keep books for the business next door too.
- Cannabis cultivators
- Cannabis delivery services
- Cannabis processors & manufacturers
- Head shops
- Hemp farms
- Hemp-derived THC shops
- Hydroponic & grow supply shops
- Kratom & botanical shops
- Cannabis dispensaries
- Functional mushroom brands
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