Funeral, memorial & aftercare
Books and taxes for private cemeteries.
Plot sales, opening and closing fees, columbarium niches, and the perpetual care share that has to move out of every sale. Your own bookkeeper stays on the books all year, and you get one number a month.
- From $197 a month
- An accountant on every transaction
- Cancel whenever
May made $17,800. The perpetual care share on this month's plot sales moved out the same day, so it never sat in the operating account.
- Plot sale, Section DPlot sales
- Opening and closing feesOpening and closing
- Perpetual care transferPerpetual care fund
- Toro mower serviceGrounds equipment
- Grounds crew payrollGrounds crew wages
Why your books are different
A private cemetery's books go wrong in the same few places.
A generalist sees cash coming in for plots. Your business owes a required share of every sale to a fund it cannot spend, plus labor for opening a grave that is easy to bury inside the sale price. When the books miss that, you cannot tell if the fund is covered or the crew is paid for.
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1
The perpetual care share gets spent by accident
State law usually requires a set share of every plot sale to move into a perpetual care fund. If that money sits in the same account as day-to-day cash, it is easy to spend without meaning to, and hard to know if the fund is where it should be.
What we doBooks the perpetual care share as a transfer out the day the sale is recorded, so it never reads as spendable operating cash. -
2
Opening and closing costs get buried in the plot price
A $3,200 plot sale that includes opening and closing gets booked as one number. You cannot tell if the labor and equipment time for the opening actually gets covered or if the plot alone is carrying it.
What we doSplits opening and closing fees from the plot sale itself, so each shows what it actually brings in against its cost. -
3
A backhoe or grounds equipment buy wrecks the month
A backhoe, mower, or grounds truck can cost more than several months of plot sales combined. Filed as a regular expense, it makes a good month look like a loss.
What we doLogs equipment purchases as fixed assets the day they happen and gets the accountant's call on how much to write off this year. -
4
Monument setting fees from outside companies get missed
A monument dealer pays your cemetery a fee to set a headstone on your grounds. That income sometimes never makes it into a category and gets lost in a general deposits line.
What we doKeeps monument setting fees as their own income line, so nothing paid to you goes uncounted.
Your categories
The categories Gus keeps for a private cemetery.
Set up once for how the cemetery gets paid and what it spends. You never pick a category. He does, and an accountant checks it.
Money in
- Plot salesGround burial spaces sold by section.
- Opening and closing feesLabor and equipment time for a burial, billed apart from the plot itself.
- Columbarium niche salesAbove-ground cremation niches sold individually.
- Monument setting feesFees charged to outside monument dealers to set stones on cemetery grounds.
- Vault salesBurial vaults sold alongside a plot.
Money out
- Perpetual care fundThe required share of every plot sale, moved out the same day it is recorded.
- Grounds crew wagesMowing, planting, and general upkeep of the grounds.
- Grounds equipmentMowers, a backhoe, and small equipment repair, often from a supplier like Toro.
- Fencing and road upkeepRoads, curbing, and fence repair across the grounds.
- Records and mapping softwareThe system that tracks who is buried where and what is still available.
- Liability insuranceGeneral liability coverage for the grounds and burial operations.
What we watch for you
- Perpetual care funded share
Whether the required contribution has actually moved to the fund this month.
- Plots sold
How many plots and niches sold this month, tracked from the books, not memory.
- Opening and closing margin
What the fee brings in against crew and equipment time.
- The set-aside
What plot and niche sales owe in taxes, set apart from the perpetual care share, so April is already covered.
Ask Gus
Things cemetery 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.
That share is set by your state, not by me. I keep a running total of what has moved to the fund so you and the accountant can check it against the requirement.
Usually the whole purchase. I filed the backhoe as equipment rather than a supply cost, and the accountant sets how much comes off this year.
It gets its own line, monument setting fees, separate from plot sales. It is real income and it should not disappear into general deposits.
The tax side
The tax side of running a private cemetery.
Most of what trips up a cemetery is separating fund money from operating money, and treating equipment and interest income the right way.
What your return has to get right
Your accountant signs it, so it gets done right the first time.
- Perpetual care trust interest is usually taxableThe contribution itself usually is not the cemetery's own income, but interest and earnings the fund generates are often taxable in their own right. The accountant tracks this apart from operating profit.
- Grounds equipment can usually be written off this yearA backhoe, mower, or grounds truck can often be expensed the year you buy it. Bonus depreciation is back to 100 percent for property acquired after January 19, 2025.
- Contract grounds labor needs a 1099A contractor hired for mowing, grave opening, or seasonal grounds work paid $2,000 or more in 2026 who is not on payroll gets a 1099-NEC by January 31.
- The pass-through deductionMost owner-operated cemeteries can take up to 20 percent of business profit off taxable income. It comes out right when the books are right all year.
Deductions private cemeteries miss
Your bookkeeper knows what to look for in your statements. You never have to.
- Mower and backhoe fuel
- Grounds equipment repair
- Fencing and road repair
- Records and mapping software
- Liability insurance
- Uniforms for grounds crew
- Office and phone service
- Seasonal planting and mulch
- Small tools for the crew
- Continuing education
- Accounting and legal fees
- Signage and directories
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 cemetery year, kept every month.
Plots sell and graves open on their own schedule all year. Your team stays on the books, and on top of the fund, every month. 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 1099 list for grounds contractors is ready, and a monthly set-aside is planned so April is already handled.
- April
Return signed
The accountant files and signs your cemetery's return. Because the set-aside has been building since January, the bill holds no surprise.
- July
Halfway check
Where you stand, what you will owe, and whether the perpetual care fund is tracking where it should.
- October
Before winter
A look at equipment worth buying and grounds repairs worth doing before the ground gets harder to work.
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 private cemeteries. 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 private cemetery owners ask first.
Can Gus track what we owe the perpetual care fund?
Yes. He keeps a running total of what has moved into the fund from plot sales, so you always know where it stands. He does not hold or invest the fund itself.
Do you split opening and closing fees from the plot sale?
Yes. Each gets its own line, so you can see whether the opening fee actually covers crew and equipment time, apart from what the ground itself sold for.
Our grave opening contractor works for us most weeks. Does that change anything?
It may mean he looks more like an employee than a contractor. Gus flags that pattern so you can settle it before it becomes a habit, and keeps the 1099 total either way.
Where does income from outside monument companies go?
Fees you charge monument dealers to set stones on your grounds get their own income line, so that money is counted and not lost in general deposits.
We use mapping software to track available plots. Do we have to change anything?
No. Keep using it the way you do. Gus works from your bank statement, and when a deposit is unclear he asks you once and remembers the answer.
Our books are a year behind. Can you catch up?
Send whatever bank and plot sale records you have. Gus works through the backlog and the accountant checks it, usually 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.
More in funeral, memorial & aftercare
We keep books for the business next door too.
- Casket & urn retailers
- Celebration-of-life planners
- Crematories
- Death doulas & end-of-life planners
- Estate cleanout companies
- Funeral removal & transport services
- Green & natural burial grounds
- Independent funeral homes
- Memorial jewelry & keepsake makers
- Monument & headstone dealers
- Preneed insurance agents
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