Property operations & real assets
Books and taxes for parking lot operators.
Cash from the attendant booth, ParkMobile and SpotHero payouts, monthly permit holders, and the surge pricing on game nights. Gus sorts all of it, and an accountant checks every transaction.
- From $197 a month
- An accountant on every transaction
- Cancel whenever
November came in at $16,900. Three home games pushed event parking well above a normal month, so I kept that surge income on its own line instead of blending it into daily parking.
- Daily cash ticket depositsDaily and hourly parking
- ParkMobile payoutApp-based parking
- Event parking, 3 home gamesEvent surge parking
- Ground lease paymentLot lease
- Attendant payroll, downtown lotAttendant wages
Why your books are different
A parking lot's books have to catch what cash alone would let slip.
A generalist sees a deposit and calls it rent. Your lots take cash at the booth, app payments through three different services, monthly permits, and a surge on event nights that can outearn a whole ordinary week. Blended together, none of it tells you what is actually working.
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1
Cash tickets without a daily reconciliation
An attendant counting cash at the end of a shift and depositing whatever is left creates a gap between tickets issued and cash banked that nobody can see without checking the till against the count every single day.
What we doBooks the daily cash deposit against what the till reports, and flags a shift where the two do not line up so it gets caught close to when it happened. -
2
App commissions hide your real parking revenue
When ParkMobile or SpotHero pays out after keeping their own fee, the deposit that lands in your account is already net of their cut, and booked as-is, your lot's true parking revenue looks smaller than what customers actually paid.
What we doBooks the full amount a customer paid as parking revenue and the app's cut as its own processing fee, so your real revenue and your real cost both show up. -
3
Event surge pricing blends into an ordinary month
Three sold-out event nights can bring in more than three normal weeks of daily parking, and if that surge pricing is not tracked apart from everyday parking, you cannot tell how much of your income actually depends on the event calendar.
What we doKeeps event surge parking on its own line, so you can see exactly how much a busy event schedule is carrying a given month. -
4
Valet tips get mixed into attendant wages
Tips a valet attendant collects directly from customers are not the same as the hourly wage you pay, and blended together in payroll, neither the wage cost nor the tip income is reported the way it needs to be.
What we doKeeps tips reported separately from wages, so payroll stays accurate and any tip-related tax treatment can be applied correctly. -
5
Validation deals with nearby businesses look like ordinary parking income
A restaurant or hotel that validates its customers' parking and reimburses you for it is really a separate contract, not a walk-up parking sale, and lumped together you cannot tell how much of your revenue depends on one business relationship.
What we doBooks validation reimbursements from partner businesses on their own line, apart from walk-up daily parking.
Your categories
The categories Gus keeps for a parking lot operator.
Set up once for how customers pay and what the lots cost to run. You never pick a category. He does, and an accountant checks it.
Money in
- Daily and hourly parkingCash and card sales at the booth or gate.
- App-based parkingParkMobile, SpotHero, and similar app payouts, booked at full customer price.
- Monthly permitsRecurring reserved-space income.
- Event surge parkingPremium pricing on game nights and other events.
- Validation reimbursementsPayments from partner businesses covering their customers' parking.
Money out
- Lot leaseGround lease payments if you do not own the land.
- Attendant wagesPayroll for booth and gate staff, kept apart from tips.
- App and card processing feesWhat ParkMobile, SpotHero, and card networks keep before payout.
- Gate and ticket equipmentMaintenance and repair on entry and payment hardware.
- Striping and pavingLine repainting and surface repairs.
- Security and camerasMonitoring and patrol for the lots.
- Liability insuranceCoverage for vehicle damage and customer claims.
What we watch for you
- Revenue per space
Total parking income divided by spaces available. It shows whether a lot is actually earning its keep.
- Cash-to-count variance
The gap between tickets issued and cash deposited by shift, the earliest sign of a problem at the booth.
- Event day lift
How much event surge parking adds over an ordinary day, useful for deciding what an event is worth pursuing.
- The set-aside
What you will owe, tracked every month, cash tickets and app payouts counted together.
Ask Gus
Things parking lot operators 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.
Probably not wrong, just net of their fee. I book the full amount customers paid as your revenue and their cut as a separate processing cost, so you can see both sides clearly.
I check the daily deposit against what the till reports, so a pattern like that gets flagged instead of disappearing into a month-end total.
Usually, yes, since tips are taxed differently than wages. I keep them on their own line and flagged it for the accountant to check against your specific setup.
The tax side
The tax side of a parking lot operation.
Most of what goes wrong here is cash handling and labels: tickets not matching deposits, app fees netted out, and tips mixed into wages.
What your return has to get right
Your accountant signs it, so it gets done right the first time.
- Paving and equipment depreciate faster than the lotStriping, gates, and ticket equipment are often treated as shorter-lived property that can qualify for 100 percent bonus depreciation when placed in service after January 19, 2025, unlike the land itself.
- Tips reported apart from wagesTips collected by valet or attendant staff are taxed differently than hourly wages, and a deduction on qualifying tip income exists for 2025 through 2028, up to $25,000, for occupations on the Treasury list. The accountant confirms whether your staff's roles qualify.
- Sales tax on parking varies by cityMany cities and counties apply a parking tax or sales tax on parking transactions, and the rate and rules differ by location, so this is confirmed locally rather than assumed.
- Contractor 1099sStriping crews, equipment technicians, and other vendors not on payroll get a 1099-NEC by January 31 if paid $2,000 or more in 2026.
Deductions parking lot operators miss
Your bookkeeper knows what to look for in your statements. You never have to.
- Gate and ticket equipment repairs
- Striping and paving upkeep
- Security cameras and patrol
- Attendant uniforms
- Liability insurance premiums
- Ground lease payments
- App and processing fees
- Signage and lot lighting
- Accounting and legal fees
- Cash handling and armored pickup
- Bank fees
- Snow removal
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 parking lot year, kept every month.
Event calendars and cash counts run on their own schedule all year. 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, the vendor 1099 list is ready, and you get a monthly set-aside so tax season 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, what you will owe, and whether this year's event schedule changed the number.
- October
Before the fall events rush
Right before the fall run of games and events, Gus checks cash-to-count variance and any equipment worth buying 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 parking lot operators. 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 parking lot operators ask first.
Can Gus catch an attendant skimming cash?
Gus flags when the daily cash deposit does not match what the till reports, which surfaces a pattern early. He cannot watch the booth itself, but a repeated shortfall shows up in the books instead of disappearing into a monthly total.
We use three different parking apps. Is that too much for a flat subscription?
No. Gus books each app's payouts at the full customer price with its fee tracked separately, so it does not matter how many services you run, the categories stay the same.
How does event parking affect our taxes differently than daily parking?
It does not change the tax treatment, but keeping it on its own line shows how much of your income depends on the event calendar, which matters for planning, not for how it is taxed.
Do we owe sales tax on parking fees?
Many cities and counties do apply a tax to parking, but the rate and rules are local. Gus flags it and the accountant confirms what applies in your specific city.
Our attendants get cash tips. How does that affect payroll?
Tips are tracked separately from wages since they are taxed differently, and there may be a deduction available depending on the role. Gus flags it and the accountant confirms how it applies to your staff.
Our books have been running out of one account for two lots for years. Can that get separated?
Yes. Send your recent bank statements and Gus will start tagging income and costs by lot going forward, so each one gets its own honest number.
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