Travel agencies & tour operators
Books and taxes for student and educational travel companies.
Family installment payments, a school district purchase order, and fundraising money raised by a student and credited toward their balance. Your own bookkeeper stays on it all year, an accountant checks every transaction, and you get one number a month.
- From $197 a month
- An accountant on every transaction
- Cancel whenever
November netted $10,000. The Washington DC trip's fundraising deposits came in through the school, so I kept those tagged to each student instead of counting them as ordinary sales.
- Family deposits, DC tripFamily and student deposits
- Lincoln Middle PO paymentSchool district payments
- Rome tour wholesale depositWholesale tour costs
- Chaperone background checksStaff background checks
- Student withdrawal refundFamily refunds
Why your books are different
A student travel company's books go wrong between the family and the school.
One trip can be paid for three different ways: a family's monthly installment, a school district purchase order, and fundraising money raised by the student and deposited on their behalf. Treated as one pot of sales, you cannot tell what actually funds a trip or who still owes before the bus leaves.
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1
Fundraising money is not really your revenue
A student's candy sale or car wash money gets deposited into your account to go toward their trip balance, and if it is booked as a normal sale, it inflates your income with money that was really raised by and credited to one family.
What we doTracks fundraising deposits against the student they belong to, so that money reduces what the family still owes instead of showing up as extra revenue. -
2
Chaperone seats are a required cost, not a freebie
Schools require a set chaperone-to-student ratio, and those seats cost the same to run as any other, whether or not the chaperone pays full price. Priced without that cost built in, a trip can look profitable on paper and lose money once every required seat is counted.
What we doBuilds chaperone seat costs into the per-student cost of the trip, so the real margin accounts for every seat that has to go. -
3
School purchase orders pay on their own schedule
A district that pays by purchase order can take thirty to sixty days to actually pay after the trip is invoiced, while family payments and wholesale tour costs keep moving on their own timeline in the meantime.
What we doTracks purchase order income separately so a slow-paying district does not look like a trip lost money before the payment even arrives. -
4
A withdrawal close to departure triggers a real cost
A family who withdraws a student close to departure often forfeits part of their deposit under school policy, but the trip still has to cover the wholesale seat and hotel room that student was holding, whether they go or not.
What we doBooks the forfeited deposit and the seat cost against that trip, so a late withdrawal shows its real effect on the trip's numbers. -
5
Background check and safety costs get buried in general expenses
Running background checks and safety training for every staff member who travels with minors is a real, recurring cost, and left unlabeled it blends into general overhead instead of showing what it actually costs to keep a trip compliant.
What we doKeeps background check and safety costs in their own line, so you can see what it costs to travel with students, trip by trip.
Your categories
The categories Gus keeps for a student travel company.
Set up once for how family payments, school POs, and fundraising move. You never sort a deposit. Gus does, and an accountant checks every one.
Money in
- Family and student depositsIndividual payments toward a student's trip balance.
- School district paymentsPurchase order payments from the school for the trip as a whole.
- Fundraising depositsMoney raised by a student and credited toward their balance.
- Chaperone and staff paymentsWhat traveling staff pay toward their own seat, if anything.
- Travel insurance commissionsWhat the insurer pays when a family buys trip protection.
Money out
- Wholesale tour costsThe rate paid to the tour operator or wholesaler running the trip.
- Staff background checksRequired screening for every adult traveling with students.
- Family refundsWithdrawal refunds, net of any deposit a family forfeits under policy.
- Chaperone seat costsThe wholesale cost of required chaperone seats, built into pricing.
- Insurance for minorsCoverage sized for traveling with students.
- Booking and manifest softwareWhatever tracks rosters, payments, and who still owes.
- Marketing to schoolsPresentations, mailers, and travel fair costs aimed at teachers and districts.
- Card processing feesWhat the processor keeps on family installment payments.
What we watch for you
- Margin per trip
What a trip actually nets once wholesale costs and chaperone seats are counted.
- Family balances outstanding
Who still owes against the withdrawal deadline, so a shortfall does not surprise you before departure.
- PO payment lag
How long school districts are taking to pay after the trip is invoiced.
- The set-aside
What you will owe, tracked every month, so a busy trip season does not end in a scramble come April.
Ask Gus
Things student travel companies 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 credit it against that student's balance instead of booking it as a sale, so it reduces what the family owes rather than inflating our revenue.
It should not. I track PO income separately so a slow-paying district does not make a trip look worse than it actually is.
I book it against that trip along with the seat cost it still owes, so the numbers reflect what actually happened, not just a canceled booking.
The tax side
The tax side of a student travel company's business.
Most of what matters here is keeping fundraising money, school payments, and required chaperone costs from blurring together.
What your return has to get right
Your accountant signs it, so it gets done right the first time.
- Fundraising money is not company incomeMoney a student raises and that gets credited toward their trip balance is usually not your revenue, it reduces what the family owes. Booking it as a sale overstates income for the year.
- Chaperone seats as a real costA required chaperone seat costs the same to deliver as any other, and building that cost into pricing, rather than treating it as free, keeps the return reflecting real profit per trip.
- 1099s for contracted tour staffA tour guide or contracted staff member paid $2,000 or more in 2026 for a trip, and not on payroll, gets a 1099-NEC by January 31.
- The pass-through deductionMost owner-operators can take up to 20 percent of business profit off their taxable income, which comes out right when fundraising, school payments, and trip costs are booked correctly all year.
Deductions student and educational travel companies miss
Your bookkeeper knows what to look for in your statements. You never have to.
- Staff background checks
- Insurance for minor travelers
- Wholesale tour deposits
- Booking and manifest software
- School travel fair fees
- Presentation materials for teachers
- Trade show travel
- Continuing education courses
- Website hosting
- Mileage to school meetings
- Home office square footage
- 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 student travel company's year, kept every month.
Enrollment builds through the school year toward spring departures, and taxes come on their own 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 school year
Last year's return gets started, the 1099 list for contracted tour staff is finalized, and spring trip enrollment ramps up at schools.
- April
Filed as spring trips run
Your return is filed and signed as spring break trips run and next year's fall enrollment planning begins.
- July
Midyear enrollment check
Where you stand, what you will owe, and whether this year's trips covered their wholesale costs and required chaperone seats.
- October
Enrollment season
Fall is when families start committing to next spring's trips, so Gus looks at what last year's margin per trip actually was before pricing the next one.
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 student and educational travel 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 student and educational travel companies ask first.
A student's fundraising money lands in our account. Is that our revenue?
No. Gus credits it against that student's balance instead of counting it as a sale, so it reduces what the family owes rather than inflating your income.
The school district pays by purchase order forty-five days after the trip. Does that hurt the numbers?
It should not. Gus tracks purchase order income separately from family payments, so a slow-paying district does not make a trip look like a loss before it is actually paid.
We are required to bring one free chaperone for every ten students. How does Gus price that in?
He builds the chaperone seat's real cost into what each paying student's seat needs to cover, so the trip's margin reflects every seat that has to go, not just the ones that pay full price.
A family withdrew close to departure and forfeited part of their deposit. What happens in the books?
Gus books the forfeited amount and the seat cost still owed against that trip, so the numbers show what actually happened instead of just a canceled booking disappearing.
My books are behind from a busy trip season. Can you still take this on?
Yes. Send whatever bank statements and school or wholesaler paperwork you have. Gus sorts it out, 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