Childcare & youth programs
Books and taxes for nanny agencies.
Placement fees, candidate background checks, replacement guarantees, and a payment from a family that is not all yours to keep. 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
August made $12,600. The Johnson family's payment included the nanny's first two weeks of pay, so I only counted our placement fee as your revenue and booked the rest as a pass-through.
- Placement fee, Johnson familyPlacement fees
- Sterling background checkCandidate screening
- Placement fee, Ruiz familyPlacement fees
- Care.com job postingCandidate sourcing
- Liability insuranceInsurance
Why your books are different
A nanny agency's books go wrong when a family's payment gets treated as all yours.
A generalist bookkeeper sees a deposit from a family and books it as revenue. Your business earns a placement fee, not the nanny's paycheck that sometimes passes through your account on the way to her. Gus keeps that line clear from the start.
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1
Pass-through pay gets counted as agency revenue
When a family pays you and you forward part of it to the nanny for her first weeks of work, booking the whole deposit as your income overstates what the agency actually earned, which is only the placement fee.
What we doSeparates the pass-through pay to the nanny from your placement fee, so your real revenue is the fee, not the full amount that moved through your account. -
2
Screening costs get lost inside general expenses
Background checks, reference verification, and candidate sourcing fees add up per placement, and buried in general expenses, you cannot see what it actually costs to fill one family's search.
What we doKeeps candidate screening and sourcing costs in their own line so you can see the real cost behind each placement. -
3
A replacement guarantee refund gets missed
If a placed nanny leaves within your guarantee window and you refund or discount the family's fee, that refund needs to reduce the right month's revenue, not disappear into a general adjustment.
What we doTracks guarantee refunds against the placement they relate to, so revenue for that family reflects what you actually kept. -
4
Household employer questions get pointed at the agency
Once a family hires a nanny directly, that family often becomes a household employer with its own tax and payroll obligations, and families sometimes expect the agency to handle that.
What we doFlags when a placement likely makes a family a household employer, so you can point them to the right help without taking on their payroll.
Your categories
The categories Gus keeps for a nanny agency.
Set up once to separate your fee from what passes through your account. You never pick a category. He does, and an accountant checks it.
Money in
- Placement feesYour actual earned revenue for matching a family with a nanny.
- Ongoing service feesAny monthly retainer or check-in fee charged after a placement is made.
- Application and registration feesSmall upfront fees families pay to start a search.
- Pass-through nanny payMoney that moves through your account to the nanny, not counted as your income.
Money out
- Candidate screeningBackground checks and reference verification, such as Sterling reports.
- Candidate sourcingJob postings on Care.com and similar sites to attract nanny candidates.
- Marketing and referralsAds and referral bonuses aimed at bringing in new families.
- Liability insuranceCoverage for the agency's placement and advisory work.
- Software and CRM feesTools used to track families, candidates, and placements.
- Office and administrative costsPhone, internet, and any shared workspace costs.
What we watch for you
- Fee per placement
Your actual placement fee against total money moved for that family. It shows your real margin on each match.
- Screening cost per candidate
Background check and sourcing costs against candidates placed. It tells you when sourcing is getting more expensive.
- Guarantee refunds
How much of a month's fees came back out on replacement guarantees.
- The set-aside
What you will owe in taxes, tracked every month, so April is a number you already knew.
Ask Gus
Things nanny agency 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. I booked $1,400 as your placement fee and the rest as pass-through pay to the nanny, so your real revenue for that match is accurate.
I tie the refund back to that family's original placement fee, so the month shows what you actually kept, not the original full amount.
That's outside what the agency itself does, since the family becomes the nanny's employer. I flag it when it comes up so you can point the family to the right help.
The tax side
The tax side of running a nanny agency.
Most of what matters here is keeping your placement fee separate from money that only passes through your account, and staying clear of the family's household employer obligations.
What your return has to get right
Your accountant signs it, so it gets done right the first time.
- Placement fee is your taxable revenueOnly the fee you earn for matching a family with a nanny counts as your business income. Money that moves through your account to the nanny is not your revenue and should not be taxed as such.
- Household employer status is the family's, not yoursOnce a family hires a nanny directly, the family can become a household employer with its own payroll tax obligations. The agency's placement fee income is separate from that.
- Self-employment tax for owner-operatorsAn owner who takes profit directly instead of running it through payroll owes self-employment tax of 15.3 percent on top of regular income tax, up to the Social Security wage base of $184,500.
- The pass-through deductionMost owner-operators can deduct up to 20 percent of business profit before it is taxed, which comes out right when placement fees are booked separately from pass-through pay all year.
Deductions nanny agencies miss
Your bookkeeper knows what to look for in your statements. You never have to.
- Background check fees
- Candidate sourcing and job postings
- Reference verification services
- Liability insurance
- CRM or placement tracking software
- Marketing and referral bonuses
- Phone and internet used for the business
- Mileage for family and candidate meetings
- Professional association dues
- Continuing education on employment law basics
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 nanny agency's year, kept every month.
Placements happen whenever a family calls. 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 year
Last year's return gets started and you get a monthly set-aside so April 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 for the year, including how the summer nanny search season changed what you will owe.
- October
Before the fall search season
A look at moves worth making before December, ahead of the fall push when families often start searching for a new school-year nanny.
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 nanny agencies. 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 nanny agency owners ask first.
A family's payment includes the nanny's first paycheck. Does all of that count as our income?
No. Only your placement fee is your revenue. Gus books the rest as pass-through pay to the nanny, so your real income for that match is accurate.
Do we need to worry about the nanny's payroll taxes once she's placed?
That responsibility usually sits with the hiring family as her employer, not the agency. Gus flags it when a placement comes up so you can point families to the right help.
We offer a 90-day replacement guarantee. How do refunds get tracked?
Gus ties any guarantee refund back to that family's original fee, so the month reflects what you actually kept rather than the original amount collected.
Our income is lumpy since placements don't happen on a set schedule. Is that a problem?
No. Gus tracks placements as they happen rather than expecting a steady monthly pattern, so a slow month between searches reads correctly.
Can Gus tell us if a candidate search is costing more than it should?
Yes. He keeps screening and sourcing costs in their own line, separate from other expenses, so you can see the real cost behind filling each family's search.
We're behind on separating old deposits from pass-through pay. Can Gus untangle that?
Yes. Send the bank statements you have, even from past months. Gus sorts out what was your fee and what was pass-through, and the accountant works from what is actually there.
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 childcare & youth programs
We keep books for the business next door too.
- Baby & toddler classes (music, sensory)
- Babysitting agencies
- Before & after school programs
- Drop-in & hourly childcare
- In-home family daycares
- Overnight summer camps
- Parents' night out programs
- Specialty camps (STEM, arts, sports)
- Summer day camps
- Tutoring-plus-childcare hybrids
- Kids birthday party venues
- Kids gyms & play programs
- Childcare & daycare centers
- Preschools
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