Legal

Books and taxes for Social Security disability attorneys.

Fees paid straight from the Social Security Administration out of a client's back pay, cases that can take years to approve, and a caseload of many files each waiting on its own timeline. Gus sorts it, an accountant checks every transaction, and you get one number a month.

Book a call What we handle
  • From $197 a month
  • An accountant on every transaction
  • Cancel whenever
MayExample month
$9,000
what you made

May came in at $9,000. Three cases were approved this month after waiting between two and four years, so I booked each fee as it arrived from the agency rather than guessing at when the work was actually done.

  • SSA fee payment, WhitlockAgency-paid fees
  • SSA fee payment, DeshieldsAgency-paid fees
  • Medical records vendorMedical record costs
  • Hearing transcript requestHearing costs
  • Intake call center serviceMarketing and intake
Money in$21,000
Money out$12,000
Set aside for taxes$1,800
An example month. Yours will have your numbers.

Why your books are different

Disability practice books go wrong in the same few places.

A generalist expects a fee to follow the work by weeks, not years. Your business is fees paid directly by a federal agency out of a client's back pay, a caseload of files each sitting at a different stage of a process that can stretch on for years, and almost nothing collected up front.

  1. 1

    The fee comes from the agency, not the client or an insurer

    Unlike most contingency work, the fee here is paid directly by the Social Security Administration out of the client's approved back pay, under a federal cap set outside the firm's control, so the firm never negotiates or collects the fee itself.

    What we doBooks the agency-paid fee as its own kind of income, distinct from a negotiated settlement or a privately billed fee.
  2. 2

    A case can take years to turn into income

    A claim filed today might not be approved and paid for two, three, or more years, so a firm's income in any given month reflects cases that finally got approved, not the work actually done that month.

    What we doBooks each fee as it lands and never confuses which month a case was filed with the month its fee finally arrived.
  3. 3

    The caseload is many files at many different stages

    With dozens or hundreds of pending cases each waiting on its own hearing date or agency decision, income in a given month is really a handful of files reaching approval at once, which makes a single slow month easy to misread as a business problem.

    What we doTracks income against the size of the pending caseload, not one month's total, so a quiet month reads correctly as normal, not alarming.
  4. 4

    Medical record costs pile up with no guarantee of a fee

    Building a disability case means gathering years of medical records from multiple providers, and that cost gets spent long before it is known whether the case will ever be approved and generate a fee at all.

    What we doKeeps medical record costs in their own line, so the firm can see what building a case actually costs, separate from ordinary overhead.
  5. 5

    No upfront retainer means overhead is carried on faith

    Most clients pay nothing up front, so the firm runs on overhead and staff costs for years before a single case pays out, which makes cash flow planning very different from a firm collecting retainers as it goes.

    What we doTracks the set-aside and overhead against actual cash collected, not the size of the pending caseload, so planning stays grounded in real money.

Your categories

The categories Gus keeps for a disability practice.

Set up once for how fees arrive and what it costs to build a case. You never pick a category. He does, and an accountant checks it.

Money in

  • Agency-paid feesAttorney fees paid directly out of a client's approved back pay.
  • Reconsideration and appeal feesFees tied to a case that required an additional round of appeal.
  • Consultation feesThe rare paid initial meeting, when charged separately.
  • Referral fees receivedFees from attorneys who sent the firm a case.

Money out

  • Medical record costsFees to gather years of records from multiple treating providers.
  • Hearing costsTranscript requests and hearing-related expenses.
  • Staff and paralegal wagesThe people who track hundreds of pending files at different stages.
  • Legal researchDisability-specific research services and general legal databases.
  • Malpractice insuranceAnnual or quarterly professional liability premiums.
  • Marketing and intakeAdvertising and call center costs to keep a large pending caseload full.

What we watch for you

  • Cases approved per month

    How many pending files actually turned into a paid fee this month, since that is what drives income here more than new intake.

  • Average time to approval

    How long cases are taking from filing to a paid fee, worth knowing when planning cash flow years out.

  • Medical record spend

    What it is costing to build cases across the pending caseload.

  • The set-aside

    What the firm will owe, tracked every month even through a quiet stretch, so tax season is a number you already know.

Ask Gus

Things disability attorneys 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.

Three cases got approved this month after years of waiting. How does Gus know what to count as income?

I book each fee the month the agency actually pays it, since that is the only point any of this becomes real income, no matter how long the case sat waiting.

We spent a few hundred dollars gathering records on a case that might get denied. Is that a loss?

I keep it in its own line as a cost of building the case, so you can see what it costs to run the caseload without treating every unresolved file as a loss.

Do I owe our medical records vendor a 1099 this year?

If you paid them $2,000 or more this year and they are not on your payroll, that is a 1099-NEC due January 31, and I have kept a running tally all year.

The tax side

The tax side of a disability practice.

Most of what goes wrong here is expecting income to match effort in a given month, when a fee here can arrive years after the work that earned it.

What your return has to get right

Your accountant signs it, so it gets done right the first time.

  • Agency-paid fees are counted when actually paidA fee paid by the Social Security Administration counts as income the month it is received, which can be years after the case was first filed and has nothing to do with when the underlying work was done.
  • A wave of approvals can hit the deduction ceilingMost owners can deduct up to 20 percent of business profit, but law counts as a specified service trade, so a year when several large fees are approved at once can push taxable income above $201,750 single or $403,500 joint, where the deduction begins to shrink.
  • Contractor 1099s for records vendors and staffA medical records vendor, contract paralegal, or intake specialist paid $2,000 or more in 2026 and not on payroll gets a 1099-NEC by January 31.
  • Quarterly estimated taxes on unpredictable timingAn owner without steady payroll withholding typically owes estimated payments on April 15, June 15, September 15, and January 15, and a batch of approvals landing in one quarter can change what is owed the next.

Deductions Social Security disability attorneys miss

Your bookkeeper knows what to look for in your statements. You never have to.

  • Bar dues and CLE
  • Malpractice insurance
  • Legal research subscriptions
  • Medical record retrieval fees
  • Hearing transcript costs
  • Mileage to hearings
  • E-filing and PACER fees
  • Payment processing fees
  • Office rent and utilities
  • Case management software
  • Advertising and intake call center costs
  • Answering or intake service 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 disability practice year, kept every month.

Cases resolve on the agency's timeline, not the calendar. Gus keeps the set-aside steady through a wave of approvals or a quiet spell. Every month in between, your bookkeeper closes the books and speaks up the moment something looks off.

  1. January

    Plan the year

    Last year's return gets started, the 1099 list for vendors is ready, and a monthly set-aside is planned around cases likely to be approved this year.

  2. April

    Filed, however the approvals fell

    Your return is filed and signed, whether this year brought a wave of approvals or a quiet stretch. No surprise bill, because the set-aside has been running since January.

  3. July

    Halfway check

    Where the firm stands, how many cases have been approved so far, and whether the set-aside still fits.

  4. October

    Before year end

    A look at any equipment or software worth buying before December, and a check on the size of the pending caseload heading into next year.

What you get

Starts at$197a month

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 Social Security disability attorneys. 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 disability attorneys ask first.

How does Gus know when to book a fee if a case took three years?

He books it the month the Social Security Administration actually pays it, since that is the only point the fee becomes real money, regardless of how long the underlying case took to resolve.

We have hundreds of pending cases and almost no monthly control over which get approved. Is that a problem?

No. Gus tracks income against the size of the caseload rather than expecting a steady month, so a batch of approvals or a quiet stretch both read correctly.

Most of our clients pay nothing up front. Does that change how Gus tracks the practice?

It means the set-aside and overhead planning are built around actual cash collected, not the size of the caseload, since the firm is carrying costs for years before most cases pay a fee.

We spend money gathering medical records on cases that sometimes get denied. How does that get tracked?

Those costs are booked as part of building the case, in their own line, so you can see what the caseload actually costs to run without treating every denial as a separate loss.

My income depends entirely on the agency's approval timeline. Does that hurt my taxes?

No. Gus builds the set-aside from fees as the agency actually pays them, so a slow approval stretch or a sudden batch of approvals both get planned around accurately.

Can Gus tell me how much building each case actually costs before it ever pays a fee?

Yes. Medical record costs stay tracked by category, so over time you can see the real cost of building cases against the fees that eventually come in from approvals.

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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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