Print, sign & promo
Books and taxes for mailing houses and lettershops.
Production fees, list processing charges, rush mail dates, and client postage that runs through your account without ever being yours. 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
November came in at $17,000. Client postage that ran through the account stayed on its own line, so it never touched what you actually made.
- Production fee, county mailingProduction fees
- List processing fee, food bankData processing
- Envelope and insert stockMail supplies
- Inserter lease paymentEquipment lease
- List software subscriptionData processing tools
Why your books are different
Mailing house books go wrong in the same four places.
A generalist sees deposits and bills. Your business runs client postage through your account without it ever being your money, charges for production separately from that postage, and sometimes pays overtime to hit a mail date that cannot move. When the books do not know that, your real earnings disappear.
-
1
Postage moves through the account like it's yours
A client hands you $40,000 to cover postage on a mailing, and you pass that straight to the post office. Booked as income, your revenue looks four times its real size, and you end up owing tax on money that was never yours to keep.
What we doKeeps client postage in its own pass-through line, separate from what you actually earned for running the mailing. -
2
Production fees blur with the postage they ride along with
A single invoice to a client can include both your per-piece production charge and the postage total. Lumped together, your real earned revenue looks huge in a month with a big mailing and thin in a month without one.
What we doSplits your production fee from the postage on the same invoice, so your real income is visible no matter how big the mailing was. -
3
Data processing work disappears into a flat fee
Address correction, duplicate removal, and list cleaning is real billable work, but it often gets folded into one general processing charge, so you cannot see what that service alone is worth to your business.
What we doKeeps data processing fees in their own category so you can see if list work is worth pricing on its own. -
4
Rush mail dates get costed like routine runs
A mailing tied to an unmovable deadline, like a court notice or an election mailing, can mean paying overtime to make the date. If that overtime is not tracked apart from routine labor, you cannot tell if the rush fee you charged actually covered it.
What we doTracks rush labor separately so you can see whether rush mailings are priced to actually cover what they cost. -
5
An inserter rebuild looks like a repair bill
High-volume inserting and sorting equipment needs major rebuilds every so often, and a $14,000 rebuild often gets coded the same as a routine repair, missing a deduction that could usually be taken the year it was paid.
What we doFlags equipment rebuilds and upgrades the day they happen and logs them as equipment, then lets the accountant decide how to write them off.
Your categories
The categories Gus keeps for a mailing house.
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
- Production feesPer-piece charges for inserting, addressing, and sorting.
- Data processing feesList cleaning, address correction, and duplicate removal work.
- Rush and expedited feesWhat clients pay extra to hit a tight mail date.
- Fulfillment and storage feesHolding a client's printed inventory between mailings.
- Postage advancesClient-funded postage that moves straight to the post office, never counted as your income.
Money out
- Postage paid on the client's behalfMatched against the advance the client sent you.
- Envelopes, inserts, and mail suppliesTrays, tubs, labels, and stock for the run.
- Equipment leasesInserters, sorters, and addressing systems.
- Data processing softwareList hygiene and address correction tools.
- Freight to postal facilitiesGetting trays and bins to the drop point.
- Warehouse rentStorage for client inventory awaiting a mailing.
- Bulk mail permit and account feesThe standing accounts that let you mail at a discount.
- Card processing feesOn invoices paid by card instead of check.
What we watch for you
- Production fee margin
What you earn on production and data fees against labor and equipment cost, with postage kept out of the math.
- Data processing share
How much of the month's earnings came from list work versus running the mail itself.
- Rush job share
How much of the month came from rush fees, so you know if the overtime it takes is worth it.
- The set-aside
What you will owe on your earned fees, tracked monthly, with postage never counted in it.
Ask Gus
Things mailing house and lettershop 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. That money passed straight through to the post office. I keep it in its own line so your real income, the production and data fees, is what shows up as what you made.
It should. I am tracking that overtime as a rush cost, separate from routine labor, so you can see if the rush fee you charged actually covered it.
Usually it can. A rebuild that size gets logged as equipment, not a repair, so the accountant can weigh it against your whole year before deciding how to write it off.
The tax side
The tax side of a mailing house.
Most of what goes wrong here is postage that never belonged in your revenue and equipment filed the wrong way. Both get fixed by keeping the books straight all year.
What your return has to get right
Your accountant signs it, so it gets done right the first time.
- Postage is not your incomeClient-funded postage that moves through your account to the post office is a pass-through, not revenue. Counting it as income overstates what your business actually earned and what it owes tax on.
- Equipment write-offs on mailing gearMajor rebuilds and upgrades to inserters, sorters, and addressing systems usually count as business equipment that can often be written off the year they are paid for, similar to a new machine.
- Worker classification for seasonal helpExtra staff brought on for one large mailing who use your equipment and your schedule are usually employees for that stretch, even if it lasts only a few days.
- Contractor 1099sA freelance data processor or seasonal helper who is not on payroll and is paid $2,000 or more in 2026 gets a 1099-NEC by January 31.
Deductions mailing houses and lettershops miss
Your bookkeeper knows what to look for in your statements. You never have to.
- Envelopes and inserts
- Mailing trays, tubs, and labels
- Equipment leases
- Data processing software
- Freight to postal facilities
- Warehouse rent
- Bulk mail permit fees
- Card processing fees
- Data hygiene subscriptions
- Seasonal labor for rush mailings
- Delivery van fuel and upkeep
- Trade association dues
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 mailing house year, kept every month.
Big mailings land whenever a client's calendar demands them. 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 mailing year
Last year's return gets started, the seasonal help and data processor 1099 list is ready, and you get a monthly set-aside so April is already handled.
- April
Filed, postage untouched
Your return is filed and signed, and every dollar of client postage that ran through your account all year stayed out of what you were taxed on.
- July
Midyear standing
Where you stand, what you will owe, and whether spring mailing volume changed the number.
- October
Before the year-end mail rush
Nonprofit giving season and year-end mailings bring the year's heaviest volume. Gus looks at whether the inserter and sorter need service before it hits.
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 mailing houses and lettershops. 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 mailing house owners ask first.
Does postage that runs through my account count as income?
No. Gus keeps client-funded postage in its own pass-through line, separate from what you actually earned running the mailing, so it never inflates your revenue or your tax bill.
Can Gus separate my production fees from data processing fees?
Yes. Production charges and list processing work are kept in their own categories, so you can see how much each side of your business is actually earning.
We paid overtime to hit a same-day deadline. Does that get tracked?
Yes. Rush labor is tracked apart from routine labor, so you can see whether a rush mailing's fee actually covered what it cost to run.
Should I write off a big inserter rebuild all at once?
Often you can. Equipment and major rebuilds bought for the business usually can be deducted the year you pay for them, though sometimes spreading it out is the better call. Gus flags the purchase and the accountant decides with your whole year in view.
I bring on seasonal help for big mailings. Do I need to do anything different?
Mostly no. If they use your equipment and work your schedule, they are usually employees for that stretch, even for a short run. Gus keeps their pay tracked the same as any other payroll.
Our postage and production numbers are tangled up from last year. Can this still get sorted?
Yes. Send the bank statements you have. Gus separates postage from your earned fees as he goes, and most owners know where they 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.
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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