Music, art & performing arts businesses
Books and taxes for piano tuners and technicians.
House call tunings, bigger regulation and voicing jobs, a school contract that pays every fall, and miles logged from one house to the next all week. 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 came in at $5,800. Two schools paid their fall tuning contracts early, so I kept that apart from your regular house calls.
- Zelle, house callTuning house calls
- Lincoln Elementary contractSchool and church contracts
- Schaff Piano SupplyParts and tools
- Shell, truck fuelMileage and vehicle
- PTG membership renewalCertification and dues
Why your books are different
Piano tuner books go wrong in the same few places.
A generalist sees a service business and stops there. Piano tuners drive to a different house every day, invoice parts and labor on the same ticket, and often hold a school or church contract that pays on its own schedule. When mileage and parts get lost in one lump, the books do not show what the work actually costs.
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1
Mileage gets forgotten until April
A technician driving to fifteen houses a week racks up real vehicle cost, but without a running log, the deduction gets guessed at or missed entirely when the return is filed.
What we doKeeps a running note of vehicle use from your fuel and maintenance spending, so mileage is not a once-a-year guess. -
2
Parts and labor get billed as one number
A regulation job that includes new hammers and felt gets invoiced as a flat $450, so you cannot tell how much of that was parts cost and how much was your actual labor.
What we doSplits parts from labor on the books, even when one ticket covers both, so you can see what a job really earns. -
3
A school contract paid in August covers a whole year
A district pays for fall tuning of forty pianos in one lump check in August, but the tunings happen across the school year. Counted as August income alone, later months show nothing for work you are still owed to do.
What we doRecognizes contract income as the tunings happen, not just when the check clears, so each month reflects the work actually done. -
4
An appraisal job looks like a regular tuning
Appraising a piano for insurance or an estate is a different kind of work than a tuning, usually billed differently and worth tracking on its own.
What we doKeeps appraisal income in its own category so you can see which services are worth advertising more.
Your categories
The categories Gus keeps for a piano tuning business.
Set up once for how you get paid and what keeps you on the road. You never pick a category. He does, and an accountant checks it.
Money in
- Tuning house callsStandard tunings paid by Zelle, check, or cash at the piano.
- Regulation and voicing jobsBigger repair work, billed separate from a routine tuning.
- School and church contractsRecurring institutional work, often paid in one check for a season.
- AppraisalsInsurance or estate appraisal work, a different service than tuning.
Money out
- Parts and toolsHammers, felt, strings, and tuning tools from Schaff or a similar supplier.
- Mileage and vehicleFuel, maintenance, and insurance for the vehicle you drive to house calls.
- Certification and duesPiano Technicians Guild membership and continuing education.
- MarketingA website, local ads, and referral cards for new customers.
- Phone and schedulingA phone line and scheduling app for booking house calls.
What we watch for you
- Mileage per visit
Cost of driving to each house call, to see if a service area is worth the drive.
- Contract share
How much of the year's income comes from school or church contracts versus one-off calls.
- Parts cost ratio
What parts cost against what a repair job bills, to see if pricing keeps up with supplier costs.
- The set-aside
What you will owe in taxes, tracked every month, so April is a number you already knew.
Ask Gus
Things piano technicians 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.
I am spreading it across the months you actually do the tunings, so each month shows the work that really happened, not just when the check landed.
Usually yes. I keep a running note from your fuel spending, and the accountant applies the mileage rate to your total business miles at year end.
Yes, all of it counts. Just tell me the amount and I will book it the same as any other tuning payment.
The tax side
The tax side of a piano tuning business.
Most of what goes wrong here is mileage nobody tracked and contract income counted in the wrong month. Both are easy to fix with the books kept right all year.
What your return has to get right
Your accountant signs it, so it gets done right the first time.
- Business mileageThe standard mileage rate is 72.5 cents a mile from January through June 2026 and 76 cents from July through December 2026, for miles driven between house calls.
- Self-employment taxProfit from a tuning business run as a sole proprietor owes 15.3 percent self-employment tax on top of income tax.
- Tools and equipmentTuning tools and larger equipment can usually be written off the year you buy them, up to the yearly Section 179 limit.
- The pass-through deductionMost owner-operators 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 piano tuners and technicians miss
Your bookkeeper knows what to look for in your statements. You never have to.
- Tuning tools and forks
- Felt, hammers, and strings
- Vehicle mileage or expenses
- PTG membership dues
- Continuing education classes
- Business cards and a website
- Phone and scheduling app
- Liability insurance
- Piano care products sold to clients
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 piano tuning year, kept every month.
House calls happen every week of the year, and school contracts land on their own calendar. 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
The route gets planned
Last year's return gets started, and you get a monthly set-aside so April is already handled.
- April
Filed, no surprises
Your return is filed and signed. No surprise bill, because every house call since January has been feeding the set-aside.
- July
Midyear mileage check
Where you stand, what you will owe, and whether summer house calls kept pace with last year.
- October
Before the holiday season
Piano sales and gifting often bring a wave of tunings before the holidays. Gus looks at whether new tools are 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 piano tuners and technicians. 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 piano technicians ask first.
How do you track mileage if I do not keep a paper log?
Gus works from your fuel and vehicle spending to build a running picture of business use, and the accountant applies the mileage rate at year end. A log is still the safest backup if you can keep one.
I get paid by check, Zelle, and cash. Does that complicate things?
No. Gus reads whatever you send, whether it is a bank statement or a note about a cash job, and books each one the same way.
How does a multi-piano school contract get handled differently from a house call?
It is booked as income across the months the tunings actually happen, instead of all at once when the check arrives, so your monthly number reflects real work done.
Do I need a separate business bank account?
It helps, but is not required. Gus can work from a personal account used for the business, though a separate account makes everything cleaner.
Can I deduct a new tuning lever or hammer kit?
Usually yes, the same year you buy it. Gus logs the purchase and flags it so the accountant confirms the write-off.
My records from last year are a mess. Can you still help?
Yes. Send what you have, even if it is incomplete. Gus sorts it, the accountant checks it, and most people know where they stand inside 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