Youth & adult sports training
Books and taxes for soccer training academies.
Fall and spring season fees, tryout charges, turf field rentals, and a bulk uniform order from your team dealer. 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
September came in at $17,000. The fall uniform order from your team dealer got tied to the season fees meant to cover it, not booked as one big expense.
- GotSport payoutSeason fees
- Tryout fees, AugustTryout fees
- Turf field rentalField and facility rental
- Adidas team dealer orderUniforms and gear
- Referee assigning feesGame officials
Why your books are different
A soccer academy's books go wrong in the same handful of spots.
A generalist sees deposits and bills. Your business runs two full seasons a year, rents turf by the hour, and pays referees separately from coaches. When the books do not know that, you cannot tell which team, or which season, is actually paying for itself.
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1
Fall and spring fees land before the season starts
A family pays $1,200 in July for a fall season that runs August through November. Booked as July income, that month looks huge and September and October look empty, even though the training is happening all through the fall.
What we doSpreads season fees across the months the season actually runs, so each month reflects the training given that month. -
2
Tryout fees get mixed with season commitment fees
A $40 tryout fee in June is a different kind of money than a $1,200 season commitment in July, but both land in the account around the same time and often get treated as the same thing.
What we doKeeps tryout fees separate from season fees, so you can see how many players tried out versus how many actually signed on. -
3
Turf rental gets treated as one flat facility cost
A club that does not own its own fields rents turf time by the hour, often from a local sports complex, at different rates for practice versus game days. Lumped into one rent line, it is hard to know whether a team's field costs match what its fees bring in.
What we doKeeps field rental costs tied to the season they support, so a team's field time can be checked against its fees. -
4
Referee pay gets folded into coach pay
A club that runs its own in-house games pays referees separately from the coaching staff, often through an assigning service. Blended together, coaching cost and officiating cost both look wrong.
What we doKeeps referee and official pay on its own line, apart from coach pay, so each can be checked against the season's revenue. -
5
A bulk uniform order lands as one big expense
A preseason order for fourteen teams' worth of kits from a team dealer like Nike or adidas can run tens of thousands of dollars, paid up front and meant to be covered by each family's season fee.
What we doTies the uniform order to the season fees meant to cover it, so the order does not make one month look like a loss.
Your categories
The categories Gus keeps for a soccer training academy.
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
- Season feesFall and spring commitment fees, tracked to the season they cover.
- Tryout feesSmall fees charged before a season commitment is made.
- Camp and clinic feesSummer camps and school-break clinics run outside the regular season.
- Showcase and tournament feesTravel team tournament entry, tracked apart from regular season fees.
- Uniform and gear salesWhat families pay toward their team's kit order.
Money out
- Coach paySalaried and per-session coaching staff, kept apart from your own draw.
- Game officialsReferee and assigning service fees for in-house games.
- Field and facility rentalTurf and field time rented by the hour or the season.
- Uniforms and gearBulk kit orders from a team dealer, tied to the season they cover.
- Travel costsHotels, vans, and fuel for showcase and tournament weekends.
- InsuranceParticipant accident and general liability coverage.
- Registration and team softwareGotSport or SportsEngine fees for rosters, schedules, and payments.
What we watch for you
- Season fill rate
How many tryout players actually convert into season commitments.
- Field cost per team
What each team's rented field time actually costs against its fees.
- Coach pay share
Coaching cost against season revenue, so pay scales stay sustainable.
- The set-aside
What both seasons' fees actually owe in taxes, tracked monthly so nothing piles up by April.
Ask Gus
Things soccer academy 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.
It is. I spread the season fees across August through November so each month shows the training happening that month, not just when families paid.
I tied it to the season fees meant to cover it, so it does not make this month look like a loss. Whether to write off the whole order now is a call for the accountant.
Usually no, if the assigning service pays them and issues their own tax forms. I keep those fees on their own line so they never get mixed in with coach pay.
The tax side
The tax side of a soccer training academy.
Most of what goes wrong here is timing and mixing revenue types. Season fees booked too early, tryout money tangled with commitments, and referees confused with coaching payroll.
What your return has to get right
Your accountant signs it, so it gets done right the first time.
- Coach worker classificationA coach who works your set practice schedule and uses your fields is usually an employee, not a contractor, even part time. Paying every coach on a 1099 to skip payroll is a common and costly shortcut.
- Contractor 1099s for guest cliniciansA visiting clinician or a guest coach for a single camp, paid $2,000 or more in 2026 and not on payroll, gets a 1099-NEC by January 31.
- Sales tax on uniform salesKits and gear sold to families are usually taxable, even where training and season fees are not. This varies by state, so Gus keeps uniform sales in their own line to make the split easy.
- The pass-through deductionMost owner-operators can take up to 20 percent of business profit off their taxable income. It comes out right when season fees are booked to the right months.
Deductions soccer training academies miss
Your bookkeeper knows what to look for in your statements. You never have to.
- Training balls and cones
- Goals and field marking paint
- Referee and assignor fees
- Team dealer uniform samples
- GotSport registration fees
- Website and scheduling software
- First aid and training room supplies
- Liability and accident insurance
- Coaching license and clinic fees
- Video and film review tools
- Tournament and showcase listing fees
- Storage for balls and equipment
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 soccer academy's year, kept every month.
Two full seasons a year keep the fields busy. 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 year
Last year's return gets started, the coaching staff 1099 list is ready, and a monthly set-aside is running before spring tryouts begin.
- April
Filed. Done.
Your return is filed and signed, right as spring season tryouts begin.
- July
Halfway check
Where you stand, what you will owe, and whether summer camps and fall tryout fees changed the number.
- October
Before spring planning
Before spring registration opens, Gus looks at equipment and uniform orders worth planning for 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 soccer training academies. 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 soccer academy owners ask first.
Can Gus track fall and spring fees as two separate seasons?
Yes. He books each season's fees against the months that season runs, so a family paying in July does not make August look thin and November look padded.
We run registration through a club management app. Do I have to change anything?
No, nothing about how you register families needs to change. Gus reads your bank statement directly, and if a deposit is ambiguous he checks with you once, then remembers it going forward.
Our travel teams pay separate tournament fees. Does that change the books?
It changes where the money goes, not what you do. Gus keeps tournament fees and their travel costs apart from regular season fees, so a travel weekend can be checked against what it actually costs.
Do we owe sales tax on our uniform orders?
Usually yes, even where season and training fees are not taxed. Rules vary by state, so Gus keeps uniform sales separate to make handing that off to the accountant easy.
Our books are a season behind. Can that be fixed?
It can. Pull together whatever statements you have, even if it means going back a full season. Gus works through the pile and gets the club a real number to plan around.
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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We keep books for the business next door too.
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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