Software, SaaS & apps

Books and taxes for template and Notion product sellers.

A Gumroad payout after a launch day post went wide, an affiliate's cut already taken out, a bundle sale split across three templates, and a designer paid for a cover image. Your own bookkeeper 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
SeptemberExample month
$12,500
what you made

September made $12,500. A creator with a large following posted about the template pack and sales tripled for four days, so I flagged that stretch as a launch spike rather than a new normal.

  • Gumroad payoutTemplate sales
  • Lemon Squeezy payoutTemplate sales
  • Affiliate payout batchAffiliate commissions
  • Fiverr, cover designContract design
  • BeehiivEmail and marketing tools
Money in$16,400
Money out$3,900
Set aside for taxes$3,000
An example month. Yours will have your numbers.

Why your books are different

Template and Notion product books go wrong around spikes and splits.

A generalist bookkeeper sees a Gumroad payout and calls it revenue. Your sales come in bursts tied to one social post, your affiliates already took their cut before you saw the money, and a bundle sale has to be split across several products. When the books miss that, you cannot tell what is actually selling.

  1. 1

    A single viral post distorts a whole month

    One popular creator sharing your template can multiply sales for a few days, and a month that includes that spike can look nothing like every other month, making it hard to know what a normal week actually looks like.

    What we doFlags a launch or viral spike as its own event, so it reads as a good stretch, not the new baseline for planning.
  2. 2

    Affiliate commissions are already gone before the payout lands

    When an affiliate drives a sale, the marketplace or your own checkout tool pays them their cut automatically, so the deposit you see is smaller than what the customer paid, with no obvious line showing why.

    What we doBooks the full sale as money in and the affiliate's cut as its own cost, so your real sale price stays visible.
  3. 3

    A bundle sale has to be split across products

    Selling three templates together as one bundle at a discount makes it hard to know how much each individual template actually sold, especially when tracking which products are worth updating and promoting.

    What we doNotes bundle sales as their own category, so individual template performance is not lost inside a bundle price.
  4. 4

    Switching checkout tools hides months of sales history

    Moving from Gumroad to Lemon Squeezy, or adding a second sales channel, can scatter sales history across two dashboards with different reporting, making it hard to see the full picture of what actually sold.

    What we doPulls both channels into the same monthly categories, so switching tools does not create a gap in what you can see.

Your categories

The categories Gus keeps for a template or Notion product seller.

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

  • Template salesGumroad, Lemon Squeezy, or a similar checkout tool's payout for individual products.
  • Bundle salesDiscounted multi-template packages, kept apart from individual sales.
  • Notion gallery and marketplace salesSales through the Notion template gallery or a similar curated marketplace.
  • Affiliate and creator partnership incomePayments for featuring another creator's product inside yours.

Money out

  • Affiliate commissionsThe cut paid to creators who drove a sale, kept separate from your own revenue.
  • Contract designFiverr, Upwork, or a direct invoice for covers, mockups, or template layout.
  • Email and marketing toolsConvertKit, Beehiiv, or a similar newsletter and list tool.
  • Checkout and payment feesWhat Gumroad, Lemon Squeezy, or a similar tool kept before you got paid.
  • Stock assets and fontsIcons, images, and fonts used to build and market templates.

What we watch for you

  • Payout trend

    Total money in month over month across every checkout tool, understood against any recent viral spikes.

  • Affiliate cost share

    What affiliates are paid out of every sale dollar, worth watching against how much of your revenue they actually drive.

  • Bundle versus individual sales

    How much of your revenue comes from bundles versus single templates, so you know which products to keep updating.

  • The set-aside

    What you will owe, tracked every month even through a viral spike, so one big week never throws off the number.

Ask Gus

Things template and Notion product sellers 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.

A creator posted about my template and sales tripled for a few days. Should I plan around that number going forward?

No. I flagged it as a spike tied to that one post. Your regular set-aside should be based on the normal weeks, not that stretch.

My affiliate's cut is already taken out before I get the Gumroad payout. How do I know what the real sale price was?

I book the full sale as income and the affiliate's cut as its own cost, so you can see the real price customers paid, not just what landed in your account.

I switched from Gumroad to Lemon Squeezy halfway through the year. Does that break up my sales history?

Not on my end. I pull both into the same monthly categories so you get one clean picture instead of two separate dashboards to compare.

The tax side

The tax side of selling templates and digital products.

Most of what matters here is keeping affiliate payouts and bundle pricing sorted, and remembering that every sale counts even when it comes through a small checkout tool.

What your return has to get right

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

  • 1099-K from checkout toolsGumroad, Lemon Squeezy, and similar tools report payment volume once it crosses $20,000 and 200 transactions in a year, but every dollar earned from template sales is taxable whether or not a form arrives.
  • The pass-through deductionMost solo creators can deduct up to 20 percent of qualified business income before it hits the personal return, as long as income stays under the higher limits.
  • Self-employment tax on creator incomeTemplate sales run through a sole proprietorship or single-member LLC still owe 15.3 percent self-employment tax on top of income tax, even when the money comes through a checkout tool instead of a traditional invoice.
  • 1099-NEC for contract design workA freelance designer paid $2,000 or more in 2026 for covers or template layout, not on payroll, gets a 1099-NEC by January 31. Gus keeps that running total all year.

Deductions template and Notion product sellers miss

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

  • Contract design work
  • Stock images and fonts
  • Checkout and payment fees
  • Email and newsletter tools
  • Affiliate commissions paid
  • Course and community memberships
  • Home office, business share
  • Business phone and internet share
  • Creator conference tickets
  • Business insurance
  • Accounting and legal fees
  • Domain and website hosting

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 template seller's year, kept every month.

Sales spike whenever the right post goes wide, with no set schedule at all. 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.

  1. January

    Plan a normal-week year

    Last year's return gets started, the contract designer 1099 list is finalized, and a monthly set-aside gets planned around a normal, non-spike week.

  2. April

    Filed, spikes and all

    Your return is filed and signed. No surprise bill, because the set-aside built from your checkout payouts has been running since January.

  3. July

    Halfway spike check

    Where you stand, what you will owe, and whether a spring launch or a viral post changed the number enough to matter.

  4. October

    Before the gift season

    A look at any tools or contract help worth buying before December, ahead of the gift-giving season for digital products.

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 template and Notion product sellers. 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 template and Notion product sellers ask first.

My income is unpredictable, some months are huge and some are quiet. How does Gus handle that?

He flags unusual spikes so your set-aside is based on your normal weeks, not the one month a big creator mentioned your product.

I pay affiliates a percentage of every sale they bring in. Is that a deduction?

Yes. Affiliate commissions get booked as a cost against the full sale amount, so your real revenue and the affiliate cost both show up clearly.

I sell the same templates on Gumroad, Lemon Squeezy, and the Notion gallery. Does Gus combine all of that?

Yes, into one monthly picture, while still noting which channel each sale came through so you can see what is working.

I do not have a business entity, I just sell as myself. Can Gus still help?

Yes. Plenty of creators start as a sole proprietor. Gus books it that way, and the accountant tells you if a different structure would help once sales grow.

I bundle several templates together at a discount. Does that complicate my books?

Gus tracks bundle sales as their own category, so a discounted bundle does not make it look like your individual templates dropped in price.

I have never tracked my expenses, just watched the Gumroad balance. Can you start from scratch?

Yes. Send the payout and bank statements you have. Gus sorts through it and the accountant checks it, and most sellers 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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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