Creative & production services
Books and taxes for recruitment marketing agencies.
A career site design retainer, job board ad spend running through your account, a placement bonus tied to a hire, and a freelance content writer on an employer brand campaign. 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
February came in at $12,700. Client job board spend on Indeed and LinkedIn ran through your account this month, but that money is not your revenue, so I kept it as a pass-through cost against your management fee.
- Employer brand retainer, 4 clientsRetainer income
- Placement bonus, senior hirePlacement fee income
- Job board ad spend, IndeedClient job board spend
- R. Fontaine content writingFreelance content writers
- Career site hostingSoftware
Why your books are different
Recruitment marketing agency books go wrong at the job board spend and the placement bonus.
A generalist sees deposits and calls it all revenue. Your business runs client job board budgets through your account for Indeed or LinkedIn, mixes flat retainers with placement bonuses tied to an actual hire, and pays freelance writers for employer brand content. When the books blend those, the top line lies.
-
1
Client job board spend gets counted as agency revenue
When a client hands you $8,000 to run job ads on Indeed or LinkedIn and you keep a management fee, booking the full $8,000 as sales makes the business look far bigger than it is and overstates what is owed at tax time.
What we doBooks your management fee as income and job board spend as a client pass-through cost, so the top line reflects what you actually keep. -
2
Placement bonuses look like routine retainer income
A bonus tied to a client actually hiring someone is a different, less predictable kind of income than a flat monthly retainer, and mixed together it hides how much of your income depends on hiring outcomes you do not fully control.
What we doKeeps placement fee income in its own line, separate from retainer income, so you can see your real recurring floor. -
3
A freelance content writer looks like a software cost
Bringing in a writer for employer brand content or a careers blog means paying invoices that can land next to your career site hosting and job board bills.
What we doKeeps freelance writer payments in their own line and tracks what you have paid each contractor toward the 1099 threshold. -
4
Career site work gets billed the same as ad campaign management
Designing and building a client's careers page is a different kind of project than ongoing job ad management, but if both just say client services, you cannot tell which part of the work actually pays.
What we doKeeps career site design fees separate from ongoing ad management income so you can see which service is worth more per hour. -
5
A slow-paying corporate client hides a real cash gap
Larger corporate clients on 60 or 90 day payment terms mean invoiced work sits unpaid for months, which can make a slow cash month look like a slow work month when it is not.
What we doTracks invoiced income against what has actually cleared the bank, so a slow corporate client shows up as a timing issue, not a slow month.
Your categories
The categories Gus keeps for a recruitment marketing agency.
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
- Retainer incomeOngoing employer brand and job ad management, billed monthly.
- Placement fee incomeBonuses or fees tied to an actual hire, kept apart from flat retainers.
- Career site design feesOne-off design and build projects billed apart from ongoing management.
- Rush feesCharged for a faster turnaround on an urgent hiring campaign.
Money out
- Client job board spendAd dollars placed on Indeed, LinkedIn, or similar, not your revenue.
- Freelance content writersContractors brought in for employer brand and careers content.
- SoftwareCareer site hosting and applicant tracking tools.
- Design and stock assetsPhotography and design elements for employer brand campaigns.
- Analytics and reporting toolsTools used to track job ad performance for client reporting.
What we watch for you
- Real revenue share
Your management fees against total money moved, so job board spend never gets mistaken for your income.
- Retainer floor
Monthly retainer income against total income, the base you can count on before a placement bonus.
- Days to get paid
How long a corporate client sits on a recruitment invoice before it clears.
- The set-aside
What you will owe on your real fees, not client job board spend, tracked monthly ahead of April.
Ask Gus
Things recruitment marketing 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 book your management fee as income and the job board spend as a pass-through cost, so your real revenue stays accurate.
No, I keep placement fee income in its own line, separate from retainers, so you can see how much of your income depends on hiring outcomes versus steady monthly work.
If she is not on payroll and you paid her $2,000 or more in 2026, she gets a 1099-NEC by January 31. I have been tracking her payments as we go.
The tax side
The tax side of a recruitment marketing agency.
Most of what goes wrong here is client ad spend counted as revenue and placement income mixed with retainers.
What your return has to get right
Your accountant signs it, so it gets done right the first time.
- Contractor 1099s for content helpAny writer or freelancer not on payroll paid $2,000 or more in 2026 gets a 1099-NEC by January 31. Gus keeps the running list all year.
- The pass-through deductionMost owner-operated recruitment agencies can take up to 20 percent of business profit off their taxable income when fees are tracked apart from job board spend.
- Equipment and software write-offsComputers, monitors, and career site software can usually be written off the year they are bought.
- Self-employment tax for solo ownersA one-person agency pays 15.3 percent self-employment tax on top of income tax, so the set-aside covers both, calculated only against your real fees, not job board spend.
Deductions recruitment marketing agencies miss
Your bookkeeper knows what to look for in your statements. You never have to.
- Career site hosting and design
- Freelance content writer fees
- Analytics and reporting tools
- Stock photography for campaigns
- Computer and monitor upgrades
- Continuing education courses
- Coworking or home office share
- Payment processor fees
- Client contract tools
- Business association dues
- Marketing and self-promotion
- Accounting and legal fees
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 recruitment marketing agency's year, kept every month.
Hiring cycles and client budgets shift throughout the year. Your books stay current no matter the timing, and the return follows. Every month in between, your bookkeeper closes the books and speaks up the moment something looks off.
- January
New year hiring plans
Last year's return gets started, the writer 1099 list is ready, and clients set new-year hiring and ad budgets.
- April
Filed. Done.
Your return is filed and signed, based on your real management fees, not client job board spend. The set-aside has covered it since January.
- July
Halfway check
Where you stand, what you will owe, and how retainer and placement income have moved since January.
- October
Before year-end hiring pushes
Clients often push to fill roles before year end. Gus looks at software or 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 recruitment marketing 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 recruitment marketing agency owners ask first.
Does client job board spend running through my account count as my taxable income?
Only your management fee counts as income. Gus books the job board spend as a pass-through cost on the client's behalf, so your real revenue and tax bill stay accurate.
My income depends partly on placement bonuses that are unpredictable. Does that confuse the books?
No, Gus keeps placement fee income separate from steady retainers, so you can see clearly how much of your income is reliable versus outcome-based.
I design career sites for some clients and just manage job ads for others. Does that get mixed up?
No, career site design fees and ongoing ad management income stay in separate lines, so you can see which kind of work pays best.
A corporate client is slow to pay on a 90 day term. Will that make my books look wrong?
No, Gus tracks invoiced income against what has actually cleared the bank, so a slow-pay pattern shows up clearly instead of looking like a slow work month.
My books have never separated job board spend from my own fees. Can Gus fix that?
Yes. Send what you have, even a year of job board spend mixed with your own fees. Gus separates the two, and most owners know where they 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.
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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