Personal & lifestyle services
Books and taxes for relocation consultants.
A corporate relocation package invoiced to an employer, a home-finding tour for a transferring family, referral fees from a moving company, and a school search that takes weeks to get right. Your own bookkeeper stays on 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
June brought in $10,700, your busiest month of the summer moving season. The corporate relocation package for one employer's transferring family paid out this month, so I kept it apart from your direct family bookings.
- Corporate relocation package paymentCorporate relocation contracts
- Home-finding tour fee, direct clientDirect family services
- Moving company referral feeReferral income
- Rental car, area orientation toursTravel for client services
- Relocation management softwareScheduling and case management tools
Why your books are different
Relocation consultant books go wrong in the same four places.
A generalist sees deposits and bills. Your business mixes corporate relocation contracts paid on invoice terms, direct family bookings, referral fees from movers and agents, and real travel costs running area tours. When the books do not know that, the monthly number is a guess.
-
1
Corporate relocation packages pay weeks after the work starts
An employer relocating a transferring employee often pays your fee on invoice terms that lag behind when the home search and area tours actually happen, so a busy month of client work can look thin until the invoice clears.
What we doBooks corporate relocation income to the month it is received and flags outstanding invoices so a payment lag does not read as a slow month. -
2
Referral fees get missed as their own income category
A moving company or real estate agent paying you a referral fee for sending business their way is a different kind of income than your service fees, and if it is not tracked separately, you cannot tell how much of your revenue depends on referral relationships.
What we doKeeps referral income in its own line so you can see how much of the business comes from those partnerships. -
3
Corporate and direct family work blur together
A corporate relocation contract prices and pays very differently than an individual family paying for a home-finding tour, and lumped into one revenue line, you cannot see which side of the business is actually growing.
What we doKeeps corporate contracts and direct family services in separate lines so each is visible on its own. -
4
Travel for area tours gets lost in general expenses
Mileage or rental cars for running home-finding and area orientation tours are a real cost of a specific client's relocation, but buried in general spending they make it hard to see if a far-away or long relocation was actually worth taking.
What we doKeeps client travel in its own line so you can see what a relocation contract actually nets after the cost of running it.
Your categories
The categories Gus keeps for a relocation consulting business.
Set up once for how corporate and individual clients pay. You never pick a category. He does, and an accountant checks it.
Money in
- Corporate relocation contractsEmployer-paid packages for transferring employees, invoiced on standard terms.
- Direct family servicesHome-finding tours, school search, and area orientation paid by the family directly.
- Referral incomeFees from moving companies or real estate agents for client referrals.
- Temporary housing coordinationFees for arranging short-term housing during a transition.
Money out
- Travel for client servicesMileage, rental cars, and lodging for running area tours.
- Scheduling and case management toolsSoftware used to track relocation cases and timelines.
- Marketing and referral partnershipsCosts of building relationships with movers and agents.
- Business insuranceLiability coverage for client-facing relocation work.
- Continuing educationCertifications and training in relocation services.
What we watch for you
- Corporate contract share
How much of revenue is corporate packages versus direct family bookings. It shows which side is actually growing.
- Outstanding invoices
Invoiced amounts still unpaid by corporate clients. It keeps a slow-paying invoice from reading as a slow month of actual work.
- Referral income share
How much of revenue comes from mover and agent referrals versus direct client fees. It shows how dependent the business is on those partnerships.
- The set-aside
What you owe so far, tracked every month, so the April bill never surprises you.
Ask Gus
Things relocation consultants 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 invoice is still outstanding at 30 days. I have it flagged, and it will show up in the month it actually pays, not the month you did the work.
Referral income is running about 15 percent of revenue this month. I keep it in its own line so you can watch how much you depend on those partnerships.
Once travel is factored in, your last similar case netted a solid margin after costs. I will have the number ready when you decide.
The tax side
The tax side of a relocation consulting business.
Most of what goes wrong here is timing. Corporate invoices paid late, referral income left untracked, and a set-aside nobody started until April.
What your return has to get right
Your accountant signs it, so it gets done right the first time.
- Self-employment tax on contract feesFor a relocation consulting business, self-employment tax runs 15.3 percent on top of regular income tax when the owner is not paid through payroll, up to the Social Security wage base of $184,500.
- Mileage for area toursDriving to run home-finding and area orientation tours can be deducted at 72.5 cents a mile from January through June 2026 and 76 cents a mile from July through December 2026.
- 1099s for local guidesA local guide or subcontracted consultant helping on a case who is not on payroll gets a 1099-NEC by January 31 if paid $2,000 or more in 2026.
- The qualified income deductionFor a relocation consulting business, the pass-through deduction lets an owner take up to 20 percent of business profit off taxable income, a figure that only comes out right when the books are kept right all year.
Deductions relocation consultants miss
Your bookkeeper knows what to look for in your statements. You never have to.
- Travel and mileage for client tours
- Rental cars for area orientation
- Case management software
- Continuing education and certifications
- Business liability insurance
- Marketing and referral partnership costs
- Phone and data for coordinating moves
- Home office space for planning
- Professional association dues
- Business cards and materials
- Client welcome or orientation packets
- Parking and tolls for area tours
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 relocation consultant's year, kept every month.
Summer brings the heaviest move volume tied to the school year, and corporate transfers happen year round. Your team keeps you ahead of both the season and the tax deadlines. Every month in between, your bookkeeper closes the books and speaks up the moment something looks off.
- January
Map out the year
For a relocation consulting business, last year's return gets started in January, and a monthly set-aside means April is already handled.
- April
Return filed, done
For a relocation consulting business, the return is filed and signed in April, with no surprise bill since the set-aside has been running since January.
- July
Midway through the year
Where you stand, what you will owe, and whether the summer move season changed the number.
- October
Before the corporate budget cycle
Companies often plan next year's relocation budgets in the fourth quarter. Gus looks at any moves worth making 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 relocation consultants. 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 relocation consultants ask first.
My corporate client pays 30 days after the relocation. Does that mess up my books?
No. That income is booked to the month it actually clears, and any invoice still outstanding gets flagged, so a payment delay does not read as a slow month of work.
Can Gus keep referral fees separate from my direct client work?
Yes. Referral income from movers and agents is kept in its own line, apart from your service fees, so you can see how much of the business depends on those partnerships.
Are my mileage and rental car costs for area tours deductible?
Yes, travel for a specific client's relocation is a legitimate business expense. Gus keeps it in its own line so you can see what a case nets after those costs.
Corporate and family work pay so differently. Does Gus separate them?
Yes. Corporate relocation contracts and direct family services are each kept in their own line, so you can see what part of the business is growing.
My books are behind from focusing on active cases. Is that fixable?
That is common. Send whatever bank statements you have and Gus sorts through the backlog, with the accountant checking it, inside about 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