Advisors, lenders & money services
Books and taxes for student loan consultants.
An application assistance fee, a membership for annual recertification reminders, a sign-up wave after federal loan news breaks. Your own bookkeeper sorts it, an accountant checks every transaction, one number a month.
- From $197 a month
- An accountant on every transaction
- Cancel whenever
August made $8,700. Federal loan servicing news drove a wave of new memberships this month, so I flagged that jump apart from the usual pace of sign-ups.
- Application assistance feeApplication fees
- Annual membership batchMembership fees
- Referral fee, loan attorneyReferral fees paid
- Repayment calculator softwareConsulting software
- Refund, canceled membershipRefunds
Why your books are different
A student loan consulting practice's books go wrong in a few particular spots.
A generalist bookkeeper sees a fee deposit and calls the work done. Your fee is not really earned until the paperwork is actually filed, your best clients eventually cancel because the plan finally worked, and a single piece of federal loan news can double sign-ups overnight.
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1
A collected fee is not the same as filed paperwork
A client can pay the application assistance fee weeks before the repayment plan or forgiveness paperwork is actually submitted to the loan servicer, and counting the fee as earned the day it is paid overstates income before the real work is done.
What we doTracks application fees against when the paperwork is actually filed, so income reflects completed work, not just money collected. -
2
Success looks the same as losing a client
A membership client who gets their repayment plan set up or their loans forgiven usually cancels, since they no longer need the service, and if that cancellation is not understood as a good outcome, it can look like the practice is quietly losing business every month.
What we doFlags membership cancellations tied to a completed plan separately from ordinary churn, so the real reason behind the drop is clear. -
3
A single news cycle can double a month's sign-ups
Federal loan servicing changes, a payment pause ending, or a new repayment plan announcement can drive a sudden wave of new memberships that has nothing to do with the practice's marketing that month.
What we doFlags policy-driven sign-up waves apart from the practice's steady pace, so a spike is not mistaken for a permanent jump in demand. -
4
Referral fees to loan attorneys blend into general costs
A fee paid to an attorney for a client with a complicated private loan or bankruptcy-adjacent situation is a real cost of handling that referral, and it usually disappears into general expenses instead of getting tracked against the case it supported.
What we doKeeps attorney referral fees in their own line, so you can see what those relationships cost against the cases they help resolve.
Your categories
The categories Gus keeps for a student loan consulting practice.
Set up once for how the practice earns fees through predictable and unpredictable client waves. You never pick a category. He does, and an accountant checks it.
Money in
- Application assistance feesOne-time fees for helping file repayment or forgiveness paperwork.
- Membership feesOngoing fees for ongoing plan monitoring and recertification reminders.
- Consultation feesStandalone fees for a single review session outside a membership.
- Referral incomeFees received for sending a client to another professional.
Money out
- Consulting softwareRepayment calculators and paperwork tracking tools.
- Referral fees paidFees paid to attorneys handling complex or private loan cases.
- RefundsMoney returned for canceled memberships or unsatisfied clients.
- MarketingAdvertising and lead costs for reaching borrowers.
- Document processingE-signature and secure document handling tools.
- Contract laborA part-time case reviewer or assistant paid outside payroll.
What we watch for you
- Fee to filing lag
How long between a fee being collected and the paperwork actually being filed.
- Success cancellation rate
How many memberships end because a plan actually worked, not because of dissatisfaction.
- Sign-up wave size
How much a policy news cycle drove sign-ups above the usual pace.
- The set-aside
What the practice will owe once refunds and filing timing are accounted for.
Ask Gus
Things student loan 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.
When the paperwork is actually filed, not the day she paid. That way your income reflects completed work, not just money that landed early.
Not the way I track it. That cancellation gets flagged as a success, not ordinary churn, so it does not read as the practice losing business.
I flag that as a policy-driven wave, so it does not get mistaken for a permanent jump in demand when you look at next quarter.
The tax side
The tax side of a student loan consulting practice.
Most of what matters here is timing fees to actual completed work and telling apart the good kind of cancellation from ordinary churn, since the underlying tax rules are otherwise routine.
What your return has to get right
Your accountant signs it, so it gets done right the first time.
- Fees are generally earned when the work is doneAn application assistance fee is typically counted as earned once the paperwork is actually filed, not the day it is collected. The accountant confirms the right timing for the practice's method of accounting.
- Refunds reduce income, not a separate expenseA refund for a canceled membership generally lowers the income it was originally counted as, rather than becoming its own deduction.
- Membership profit and the S corp questionOnce refunds for canceled memberships are subtracted, the practice's real profit is taxed at 15.3 percent for self-employment tax up to the $184,500 wage base for 2026, worth weighing against an S corp election due March 15.
- 1099s for referral partners and contract staffAn attorney paid a referral fee, or a contract case reviewer, gets a 1099-NEC by January 31 if paid $2,000 or more in 2026 and not on payroll.
Deductions student loan consultants miss
Your bookkeeper knows what to look for in your statements. You never have to.
- Repayment calculator software
- Document processing tools
- Marketing and advertising costs
- Referral fees paid out
- Continuing education courses
- Client portal software
- Home office costs
- Professional association dues
- Phone and data plans
- Errors and omissions insurance
- Laptop and office equipment
- Compliance consulting
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 loan consulting practice's year, kept every month.
Recertification deadlines and federal policy news drive activity on their own unpredictable schedule. Your team keeps the practice's own books current through all of it. Every month in between, your bookkeeper closes the books and speaks up the moment something looks off.
- January
Year planned
New sign-ups often follow year-end financial resolutions, 1099s go out for referral partners and contractors, and last year's return gets started.
- April
Filed. Done.
Your return is filed and signed, with fees matched to completed filings all year, so the number due holds no surprises.
- July
Halfway check
Where the practice stands, what it will owe, and whether any policy news this year drove sign-up waves worth understanding.
- October
Before year end
A look at software and marketing worth adjusting before December, and whether membership pricing still fits demand.
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 loan 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 student loan consultants ask first.
A client paid her fee before I actually filed her paperwork. When does that count as income?
When the paperwork is actually filed, not the day she paid. Gus tracks the gap so income reflects completed work, not just money collected early.
My membership cancellations spike whenever clients succeed. Does that hurt my numbers?
No. Gus flags cancellations tied to a completed plan as a success, separate from ordinary churn, so it reads as what it actually is.
Does Gus help clients apply for forgiveness or file their paperwork?
No. Gus and your bookkeeper only keep the practice's own books, what it makes and spends. Filing paperwork and advising clients stays entirely with you.
Sign-ups jump whenever there is federal loan news. Is that a problem for my books?
No, but Gus flags those waves apart from the practice's steady pace, so a news-driven spike is not mistaken for permanent growth.
I pay referral fees to attorneys for complicated cases. How is that tracked?
Each referral relationship gets its own line, so you can see what it costs against the cases it helps resolve.
My books have never separated fee collection dates from filing dates. Can Gus fix that?
Yes. Send the records you have and Gus sorts it out, client by client. Most owners can finally see accurate income 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