Print, sign & promo
Books and taxes for sign companies.
Monument sign deposits, lit sign maintenance contracts, permit fees, and a bucket truck that spends half its life on a job site. 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
June came in at $17,400. The new CNC router is in there as fabrication equipment, not a shop repair, since it runs every letter and panel you cut.
- Deposit, Riverside Plaza signJob deposits
- Service contract, Miller's DinerMaintenance contracts
- Grimco vinyl and substrateMaterials
- Bucket truck leaseInstall equipment
- City electrical permitPermits
Why your books are different
Sign company books go wrong in the same four places.
A generalist sees deposits and bills. Your business is a fabrication shop, an install crew with a bucket truck, illumination parts, and permits you sometimes front for the client. When the books do not know that, a job can look done long before it actually pays.
-
1
A monument sign deposit looks like the whole sale
A customer puts half down on a $20,000 monument sign, but the job is not installed and finished for another two months. Booked as full income at the deposit, the job's real profit never shows up when it actually happens.
What we doHolds the deposit as a liability until the sign is installed, then books the income against what that job actually cost to build and put up. -
2
Illumination parts hide inside materials
LED modules and transformers get lumped in with acrylic and vinyl, so you cannot tell what a lit sign actually costs to build compared to a flat, unlit one.
What we doKeeps illumination parts in their own line so you can see what lighting really adds to a job's cost. -
3
Permit fees paid for the client get lost
A city electrical or sign permit fee fronted for a customer and billed back later gets mixed in with your own materials cost, making a job look more expensive than it is until the reimbursement lands.
What we doKeeps client-billable permit fees apart from your own costs, so a job's real margin is clear before and after it gets billed back. -
4
The bucket truck looks like a plain vehicle expense
A bucket truck or lift bought for install jobs often gets coded the same as a delivery van, missing that it is production equipment tied directly to the install side of the business.
What we doLogs the bucket truck and lift as install equipment, separate from ordinary vehicles, so it gets tracked and written off the right way. -
5
Fabrication labor blurs with install labor
Techs who build letters and panels in the shop and crews who climb a lift to hang them get paid from the same wage line, so you cannot see whether the shop floor or the install crew is where labor cost is really going.
What we doKeeps fabrication wages and install wages in separate lines so you can see where labor cost actually sits.
Your categories
The categories Gus keeps for a sign company.
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
- Custom sign depositsThe down payment collected before fabrication starts on a job.
- Progress and completion paymentsThe balance due once a sign is finished and installed.
- Maintenance contractsLit sign service and relamping for restaurants and retail chains.
- Permit fee reimbursementsClient-billable permit costs paid back to you.
- Small vinyl and banner ordersWalk-in and rush storefront window graphics.
Money out
- Sign materialsAluminum, acrylic, and substrate from suppliers like Grimco.
- Illumination partsLED modules, transformers, and neon components.
- Vinyl and paintFace vinyl, laminate, and paint for panels and letters.
- Install equipmentBucket truck, lift rental, ladders, and harnesses.
- Subcontracted electriciansWiring and hookup work on illuminated signs.
- Permit feesCity and county sign and electrical permits.
- Shop rentFabrication space, including material storage.
- Liability and equipment insuranceCoverage for overhead work and lift use.
What we watch for you
- Materials cost ratio
Aluminum, acrylic, and illumination parts against sales, so a supplier price jump gets caught early.
- Job margin by type
Lit signs, flat vinyl jobs, and monument builds priced and costed separately, so you know which jobs are worth chasing.
- Deposit backlog
What has been paid down but not yet installed, so a busy month of deposits is not mistaken for a busy month of income.
- The set-aside
What you will owe on this year's jobs, tracked monthly so tax season is not a surprise.
Ask Gus
Things sign company 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.
Usually it can. I logged it as install equipment, not a plain vehicle, and flagged it so the accountant makes the call with your whole year in view.
You are three months in and only the deposit has landed. Once the balance comes in at install, the job will show what it really made.
However you handle it, I keep it separate from your own materials cost, so if you bill it back later, the job's real profit stays clear.
The tax side
The tax side of a sign company.
Most of what goes wrong here is a deposit booked too early and equipment filed the wrong way. Both get fixed by keeping the books straight all year.
What your return has to get right
Your accountant signs it, so it gets done right the first time.
- Signage materials and cost of goodsAluminum, acrylic, and illumination parts sitting in the shop count as inventory, not an immediate write-off. It becomes a deduction as cost of goods sold once it is used on a job.
- Equipment on fabrication and install gearA CNC router, plasma cutter, or bucket truck usually counts as business equipment that can often be written off the year it is bought. Section 179 covers up to $2,560,000, and bonus depreciation is 100 percent for property bought after January 19, 2025.
- Worker classification for install crewsA crew that uses the company truck, tools, and schedule to hang signs is usually made up of employees, even if paid by the job.
- Contractor 1099sA freelance electrician or install sub who is not on payroll and is paid $2,000 or more in 2026 gets a 1099-NEC by January 31.
Deductions sign companies miss
Your bookkeeper knows what to look for in your statements. You never have to.
- Acrylic and aluminum sheet stock
- LED modules and transformers
- Vinyl and laminate
- Bucket truck or lift rental
- Ladder and harness gear
- Router and plasma cutter maintenance
- City and electrical permit fees
- Liability insurance for installs
- Shop rent and fabrication space
- Design and layout software
- Company vehicle wraps
- Card processing 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 sign company year, kept every month.
Rebrands and lit sign repairs come whenever a customer needs them. 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 fabrication year
Last year's return gets started, the install sub's 1099 is ready, and you get a monthly set-aside so April is already handled.
- April
Signed and filed
Your return is filed and signed, with monument sign deposits already booked against the jobs they belonged to instead of the month they landed.
- July
Midyear look
Where you stand, what you will owe, and whether that summer run of retail rebrand jobs changed the number.
- October
Before year-end pushes
Retail chains often push rebrand and monument sign jobs through before budgets expire. Gus looks at any fabrication or install 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 sign companies. 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 sign company owners ask first.
Can Gus handle a deposit on a big monument sign job?
Yes. He holds the deposit until the sign is installed and finished, then books the income against what the job actually cost, so the month it lands is not thrown off.
Do lit sign maintenance contracts get booked differently than one-time jobs?
Yes. Service and relamping contracts get their own category, separate from custom fabrication jobs, so you can see how much steady income the maintenance side brings in.
My crew installs signs and also builds them in the shop. Does that matter for the books?
It does. Gus keeps shop labor and install labor in separate lines so you can see whether fabrication or installation is where your labor cost is really going.
Should I write off my bucket truck all at once?
Often you can. Equipment bought for the business usually can be deducted the year you buy it, though sometimes spreading it out is the better call. Gus flags the purchase and the accountant decides with your whole year in view.
The city charged us a permit fee we are billing back to the client. How does that work?
Gus keeps that fee separate from your own materials cost from the start, so when the reimbursement comes in, the job's real profit is already clear.
Our books haven't been touched since last winter. Can Gus still help?
Yes. Send whatever bank statements you have. Gus sorts them in order, an accountant checks them, 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