Waste, recycling & environmental services
Books and taxes for oilfield service companies.
Produced water hauled by the barrel, a disposal well fee paid on every load, standby time when a rig runs late, and roads that chew through tires fast. Your bookkeeper keeps it straight, an accountant checks every transaction, and you get one number a month.
- From $197 a month
- An accountant on every transaction
- Cancel whenever
December cleared $18,000. Standby pay for two rigs running behind schedule came in this month, so I kept that apart from the per-barrel hauling total.
- Operator hauling settlementPer-barrel hauling
- Standby time paymentStandby fees
- Saltwater disposal well feeDisposal fees
- Truck tire replacementFleet maintenance
- ELD compliance serviceCompliance software
Why your books are different
Oilfield hauling books go wrong in the same few places.
A generalist sees deposits and a fuel bill. Your business gets paid by the barrel, pays a disposal well by the barrel to get rid of it, and sometimes gets paid to sit and wait when a rig runs behind. Blend all of that and you cannot tell what a load actually earned you.
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1
Hauling revenue and disposal fees get blended
You get paid per barrel to haul produced water, then pay a disposal well its own per-barrel fee to take it. Lumped into one cost line, you cannot see your real margin per barrel hauled.
What we doKeeps hauling revenue and disposal well fees in separate lines, so your true per-barrel margin is always visible. -
2
Standby pay disappears into hauling revenue
Getting paid to wait when a rig runs behind schedule is real income, but it is not hauling work. Blended into one revenue line, you lose track of how much of the month came from actually moving water versus just waiting.
What we doKeeps standby and demurrage pay in its own line, so you can see how much of the month was hauling and how much was waiting. -
3
Rough roads wreck the truck maintenance line
Oilfield roads chew through tires and suspension parts far faster than highway driving, and a normal maintenance budget does not account for it. Blended with ordinary vehicle costs, a heavy repair month looks like a crisis instead of the cost of the work.
What we doTracks fleet maintenance against barrels hauled, so a heavy repair month reads as the real cost of rough roads, not a mystery. -
4
A spill remediation job gets lost inside hauling income
An occasional remediation or tank cleaning job pays differently than routine hauling, and mixed into the same revenue line, you cannot tell whether that specialized work is actually worth taking on.
What we doKeeps remediation and specialty job income apart from routine hauling, so you can see what that work is really worth.
Your categories
The categories Gus keeps for an oilfield service company.
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
- Per-barrel hauling feesProduced water and saltwater hauled for operators, billed by the barrel.
- Standby and demurrage payPaid time when a rig delays a scheduled haul.
- Remediation and tank cleaningSpecialty jobs billed apart from routine hauling.
- Disposal facility feesWhat operators pay if you also run a disposal well site.
Money out
- Disposal well feesPer-barrel charges paid to a third-party saltwater disposal well.
- Fleet fuel and maintenanceFuel, tires, and repairs for vacuum trucks on rough oilfield roads.
- Driver wagesPay for CDL drivers with hazmat endorsements running the routes.
- Environmental and spill liability insuranceCoverage specific to hauling and handling oilfield fluids.
- DOT and ELD complianceLogging and compliance costs for the fleet.
What we watch for you
- Margin per barrel
Hauling revenue against disposal fees and fuel, so you know what each barrel actually nets.
- Standby share
How much of the month's income came from waiting versus actually hauling.
- Maintenance per mile
What rough oilfield roads are actually costing the fleet, tracked against barrels hauled.
- The set-aside
What you will owe as drilling activity swings, tracked every month so April is never a scramble.
Ask Gus
Things oilfield service 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.
It sits in its own line. Standby pay shows up as standby, so you can see how much of the month was actual hauling versus waiting on a rig.
Not on its own. I track maintenance against barrels hauled, so a rough month on bad roads reads as the real cost of the work, not a crisis.
No. It sits apart from routine hauling income, so you can see exactly what that job was worth on its own.
The tax side
The tax side of an oilfield service company.
Most of what goes wrong here is blending. Hauling and disposal fees mixed together, and standby pay lost inside ordinary revenue.
What your return has to get right
Your accountant signs it, so it gets done right the first time.
- Vacuum trucks and heavy equipmentA vacuum truck or disposal equipment can usually be written off the year you buy it. Bonus depreciation is 100 percent for property acquired after January 19, 2025. Whether to take it all now depends on the year you are having.
- Driver worker classificationA driver running your truck on your route and schedule is almost always an employee, even if paid per load rather than an hourly wage.
- Quarterly estimated taxWith income that swings on drilling activity, taxes are due April 15, June 15, September 15, and January 15, rather than one bill in April.
- The pass-through deductionMost owner-operated oilfield service companies can take up to 20 percent of business profit off their taxable income. It comes out right when the books are right all year.
Deductions oilfield service companies miss
Your bookkeeper knows what to look for in your statements. You never have to.
- Vacuum truck fuel and repairs
- Truck tires for rough roads
- Environmental liability insurance
- DOT and ELD compliance costs
- Driver hazmat endorsement fees
- Safety gear and PPE
- Vehicle registration and permits
- Phone for dispatch and routing
- Uniforms for drivers
- Water testing for compliance
- Business licenses and permits
- Truck washing and decontamination
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
An oilfield service year, kept every month.
Drilling activity moves with oil prices, not the calendar. 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 haul year
Last year's return gets started and you get a monthly set-aside, so April is already handled no matter how drilling activity swings.
- April
That's filed
Signed and sent in, no matter how drilling activity swung this year. The set-aside had already covered what was owed.
- July
Midyear haul check
Where you stand, what you will owe, and whether summer drilling activity changed the number.
- October
Before winter drilling season
Operators often push to finish jobs before winter weather slows drilling. Gus looks at equipment you might need 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 oilfield service companies. 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 oilfield service owners ask first.
Can Gus keep hauling revenue separate from what we pay the disposal well?
Yes. Each sits in its own line, so your real margin per barrel is always visible.
Does standby pay count the same as hauling income?
No. It sits in its own line, so you can see how much of the month was actual hauling versus waiting on a rig.
Rough lease roads chew up our trucks. Does that get blamed on a bad month?
It should not. Gus tracks maintenance against barrels hauled, so a heavy repair month reads as the real cost of rough roads.
Do I write off a new vacuum truck all at once?
Often you can. Equipment bought for the fleet can usually be deducted in the year you buy it, and sometimes spreading it out is the better call. Gus flags the purchase and the accountant decides with your whole year in view.
Our hauling income and disposal fees have always been lumped together. Can that get sorted out now?
Yes. Hand over the bank statements you have, however tangled the hauling and disposal fees are. Gus works through the backlog, the accountant checks it, and you will know where you 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.
More in waste, recycling & environmental services
We keep books for the business next door too.
- Air quality & mold inspectors
- Composting services
- Dirt & fill brokers
- Hazardous waste haulers
- Independent residential trash haulers
- Medical waste disposal
- Phase I environmental site assessment firms
- Recycling centers
- Scrap metal recyclers
- Stormwater compliance services
- Tire recycling
- Used cooking oil collection
- Water testing labs
- Wetland & environmental permitting consultants
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