Hard goods, dealers & local stores
Books and taxes for independent convenience stores.
Register sales, lottery ticket commissions, money order fees, and a nightly cash count that has to match the drawer. 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
June came in at $12,800. Cash sales ran a little short of the register tape for two days, so I flagged the gap for you instead of quietly smoothing it over.
- Nightly cash depositRetail sales
- Lottery commissionLottery commission
- Money order fee incomeMoney order fees
- McLane Company invoiceInventory purchase
- Coca-Cola rebate creditVendor rebates
Why your books are different
Convenience store books go wrong in the same four places.
A generalist sees deposits and vendor bills. Your business is cash that has to be counted and matched every single day, lottery money that is not really the store's, vendor rebates that show up on their own schedule, and shrink that hides in a shelf of thousands of small items. When the books do not know that, the monthly number lies.
-
1
Lottery payouts and sales get mixed with the store's own money
Lottery ticket sales and prize payouts run through the register, but only the store's commission is actually the store's income. Booked as regular retail sales, the numbers overstate what the store earned and understate the cash owed to the lottery.
What we doBooks only the commission as income and keeps lottery cash owed apart from the store's own money, so the daily count matches what it should. -
2
A short cash count gets buried instead of flagged
A register that comes up $40 short one night and $30 over the next often gets rounded away as normal drawer noise, but a pattern of shortages can point to a real problem long before a year-end count reveals it.
What we doFlags cash count discrepancies as they show up, so a pattern gets caught early instead of discovered at year end. -
3
Vendor rebates get lost or dumped into plain sales
Rebates and promotional credits from soda, snack, and tobacco distributors often arrive as a credit on a future invoice or a separate check, with no obvious tie to the purchases that earned them.
What we doBooks vendor rebates as their own line tied to the purchases that earned them, so they do not blend into an ordinary sales month. -
4
Shrink across thousands of small items never gets tracked
Theft, spoilage, and simple miscounts across a shelf of thousands of low-cost items add up fast, but most owners only notice when a year-end count comes up short and cannot say where it went.
What we doFlags inventory adjustments as they show up and asks about anything unusual, instead of letting shrink hide inside cost of goods.
Your categories
The categories Gus keeps for a convenience store.
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
- Retail salesDaily register and card sales across the store.
- Lottery commissionThe store's cut of lottery ticket sales, kept apart from the cash owed to the lottery.
- Money order feesFee income from money orders sold, apart from the face value passed through.
- Vendor rebatesPromotional credits and rebates from beverage, snack, and tobacco distributors.
- ATM commissionFee income from an in-store ATM, where the store offers one.
Money out
- Inventory purchaseSnacks, beverages, tobacco, and grocery items from distributors.
- Store payrollCashiers and overnight staff.
- Rent and utilitiesStore lease, refrigeration power, and lighting.
- Card processing feesWhat the processor kept before the sale hit the bank.
- Security and surveillanceCameras, alarm monitoring, and cash handling equipment.
- Local licensing feesTobacco, lottery, and business license renewals.
- Refrigeration and equipment maintenanceCoolers, fountain machines, and coffee equipment upkeep.
What we watch for you
- Cash count variance
Whether the drawer matches the register tape, tracked so a pattern of shortages gets caught early.
- Gross margin
What is left after inventory cost, so a rebate or promotion is not mistaken for real margin improvement.
- Shrink rate
How much inventory is unaccounted for, tracked so theft or spoilage does not hide inside cost of goods.
- The set-aside
What the store will owe, built up daily alongside the cash count so April is no scramble.
Ask Gus
Things convenience store 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.
No, only your commission is. I keep the rest as money owed to the lottery, so your income and the cash you are holding for them both stay honest.
One night is often just noise, but I flag it either way so a pattern shows up early instead of surprising you at a year-end count.
No, I book it as its own line tied to what you already bought, so it does not read as your store suddenly selling more.
The tax side
The tax side of a convenience store.
Most of what goes wrong here is what counts as income and what counts as cash held for someone else. A lottery payout booked wrong, a rebate mistaken for sales, and a set-aside nobody started until April.
What your return has to get right
Your accountant signs it, so it gets done right the first time.
- Inventory and cost of goods soldWhat was actually paid for the snacks, beverages, and grocery items sold during the year, not just what was spent restocking, is what counts against sales. Shrink and spoilage need a fair count at year end.
- Section 179 on store equipmentCoolers, fountain machines, and security systems can usually be written off in the year you buy them, up to $2,560,000 under Section 179. Bonus depreciation is 100 percent for property bought after January 19, 2025.
- Cash-intensive record keepingA business handling significant daily cash should keep a clean, consistent daily record of sales and deposits. Careful books here make the difference if the return is ever questioned.
- The pass-through deductionMost owner-operators can take up to 20 percent of qualified business income off their taxable income. It only lands right when lottery cash and rebates are sorted correctly all year.
Deductions independent convenience stores miss
Your bookkeeper knows what to look for in your statements. You never have to.
- Security cameras and alarm monitoring
- Refrigeration and equipment maintenance
- Cash handling and counting equipment
- Card processing fees
- Local business and tobacco licensing
- Business liability insurance
- Spoiled or damaged inventory write-offs
- Uniforms for staff
- Point of sale software
- Coffee and fountain machine supplies
- Lighting and signage
- Snow removal and lot upkeep
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 convenience store year, kept every month.
The register runs every day of the year, and the books should too, not just at tax time. 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, licensing renewals are noted, and you get a monthly set-aside so April is already handled.
- April
Filed. Done.
Your return is filed and signed, with nothing owed that the daily set-aside had not already covered.
- July
Halfway check
Where you stand, what you will owe, and whether cash count patterns or shrink need a second look.
- October
Before holiday traffic
Before the holiday foot traffic season, Gus looks at equipment you might buy 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 independent convenience stores. 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 convenience store owners ask first.
How does Gus separate lottery money from our own sales?
He books only the store's commission as income and keeps the rest as money owed to the lottery, so your income and the cash you are holding both stay honest.
Does Gus watch for cash count problems?
He flags variances between what the register tape says and what the drawer counts, so a pattern of shortages gets caught early instead of showing up at a year-end count.
We get rebate credits from our distributors. How does that get booked?
As their own line tied to the purchases that earned them, so a rebate does not read as your store suddenly selling more that month.
Can Gus help with shrink across all our small items?
He flags inventory adjustments as they come up and asks about anything unusual, so shrink does not hide inside cost of goods until a year-end count.
Our books are behind from a busy few months. Is that fixable?
Yes. Send over the bank statements you have, cash counts and all, and Gus sorts through the backlog while the accountant checks his work behind him.
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