Creative & production services
Books and taxes for motion graphics and animation studios.
A style frame approval deposit, a freelance character animator, a cloud render bill that spikes before delivery, and a character license a client wants to reuse. 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 $12,300. The explainer video for Coastal Insurance hit its final delivery milestone, so that deposit finally moved into real income.
- Coastal Insurance finalProject milestones
- Nimbus Health style framesStyle frame deposits
- P. Salgado character animatorFreelance animators
- Render farm cloud hoursRender and rendering costs
- Cinema 4D subscriptionSoftware
Why your books are different
Motion graphics studio books go wrong at the style frame and the render bill.
A generalist sees deposits and a software bill. Your business is style frame approvals, freelance animators brought in per project, render costs that spike right before delivery, and character licenses clients want to reuse. When the books blend those, you cannot tell which projects actually paid for the hours they took.
-
1
A style frame deposit is not the whole project's income
A client approves style frames and pays half of a $12,000 animated explainer before the actual animation starts. Booked as income that month, the storyboard-heavy early stage looks great and the animation-heavy final stage looks thin.
What we doHolds the deposit until the matching milestone ships, so income lands with the animation that actually earned it. -
2
A freelance animator is not a software cost
Bringing in a character animator or a compositor for one project means paying them across a few invoices that can land next to your Cinema 4D and After Effects bills.
What we doKeeps freelance animator payments in their own line and tracks what you have paid each contractor toward the 1099 threshold. -
3
A render farm spike looks like a random overage
Cloud rendering costs are near zero most weeks and then spike hard the week before a big delivery, which can make one month look like it had a runaway expense problem.
What we doKeeps render costs tied to the project that caused them, so a spike reads as a normal part of finishing a job, not a mystery. -
4
Character and asset licensing gets missed at renewal
A client who wants to reuse an animated mascot or a custom character in a second campcampaign owes an extended usage fee, and it is easy to let that slide if there is no line tracking what was originally licensed.
What we doTracks licensing terms by project so extended reuse gets billed and counted correctly. -
5
A new workstation purchase gets buried as a supply
A render-capable workstation with extra GPUs can run into the thousands, and filed as a supply purchase it wrecks the month and misses the equipment write-off.
What we doFlags workstation purchases the day they show up, logs them as equipment, and gets the accountant's call on how to write them off.
Your categories
The categories Gus keeps for a motion graphics studio.
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
- Style frame depositsHeld until the matching animation milestone ships.
- Project milestonesStoryboard, animation, and final delivery, billed and counted as each ships.
- Extended usage and licensing feesWhen a client wants to reuse a character or asset beyond the original agreement.
- Rush delivery feesCharged for a faster turnaround than the standard timeline.
Money out
- Freelance animators and compositorsContractors brought in for character animation, rigging, or compositing.
- Render costsCloud render farm hours tied to a specific project's delivery.
- SoftwareCinema 4D, After Effects, and plugin licenses.
- Stock assetsSound effects, music, and stock motion elements licensed for client work.
- Workstation and hardwareGPUs, monitors, and render-capable computers, logged so they get written off right.
- Portfolio and reel hostingSite hosting and showcase tools for finished work.
What we watch for you
- Project margin
What a project brought in against animator and render costs, so you know which jobs are worth taking.
- Animator spend
What you pay freelance animators against total income, tracked toward 1099 season.
- Render cost per project
What rendering actually costs on a delivery, worth knowing before quoting a similar job.
- The set-aside
What you will owe on project income, tracked every month so April holds no surprise.
Ask Gus
Things motion graphics studio 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.
Usually it can. I logged it as equipment, not supplies, and flagged it so the accountant makes the call with your whole year in view.
Yes, since it crossed $2,000. I have been tracking every payment to him, so the form is ready by January 31.
It all ties to the Coastal Insurance final delivery. Cloud render hours pile up right before a deadline, and I keep it tagged to that project so it does not look like a random overage.
The tax side
The tax side of a motion graphics studio.
Most of what goes wrong here is equipment filed as supplies and freelancers paid without a running 1099 total.
What your return has to get right
Your accountant signs it, so it gets done right the first time.
- Workstations and rendering hardwareBusiness equipment can usually be written off the year you buy it, with 100 percent bonus depreciation for property acquired after January 19, 2025, covering most render workstations.
- Freelance animator 1099sAny animator, compositor, or rigger not on payroll who you paid $2,000 or more in 2026 gets a 1099-NEC by January 31. Gus keeps the list all year.
- The pass-through deductionMost owner-operated animation studios can take up to 20 percent of business profit off their taxable income when project and render costs are tracked cleanly all year.
- Self-employment tax for solo animatorsA one-person studio pays 15.3 percent self-employment tax on top of income tax, so the set-aside has to cover both, even in a heavy render month.
Deductions motion graphics and animation studios miss
Your bookkeeper knows what to look for in your statements. You never have to.
- Render-capable workstations
- Cinema 4D and After Effects licenses
- Cloud render farm costs
- Freelance animator fees
- Stock sound effects and music
- External drives and cloud backup
- Portfolio and reel hosting
- Continuing education courses
- Monitor and GPU upgrades
- Studio or home office share
- Demo reel production
- Design 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 motion graphics studio year, kept every month.
Deliveries come in bursts tied to client launches. Your team keeps you ahead of both the season and the return. 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 animator 1099 list is ready, and you get a monthly set-aside so April is already handled.
- April
Filed. Done.
Your return is filed and signed, no scrambling for last year's project invoices. The set-aside covered it since January, so the bill is not a surprise.
- July
Halfway check
Where you stand, what you will owe, and whether summer project volume changed the number.
- October
Before year end
Clients push launch videos before year-end budgets close. Gus looks at equipment you might buy 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 motion graphics and animation studios. 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 motion graphics studio owners ask first.
My render costs spike right before every deadline. Will that mess up my monthly number?
No. Gus ties render costs to the animation project that caused them, so a spike before a delivery reads as normal, not a mystery expense.
Can Gus keep my freelance animators separate from my software bills?
Yes. Freelance animator and compositor payments stay in their own line, tracked by contractor toward the 1099 threshold.
Do I write off a new workstation all at once?
Often you can. Workstations and rendering hardware can usually be deducted in the year you buy them, and sometimes spreading the cost out is the better call. Gus flags the purchase and the accountant decides with your whole year in view.
A client wants to reuse a character I built for a second campaign. Does that change the books?
It usually means an extended usage fee. Gus tracks licensing terms by project so a reuse gets billed and counted correctly.
My books are a year behind. Is that a problem?
No. Send what you have, even mid-project. Gus sorts render costs and animator payments into the right lines, 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