Auto repair & maintenance
Books and taxes for transmission shops.
Remanufactured units, core charges, tow-ins, and warranty claims that pay out months later. Gus sorts 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 $15,000. The core credit on that remanufactured unit from Jasper came back, so I netted it against the parts line instead of counting it as extra income.
- Jasper core creditParts and materials
- Wisetack payoutFinanced rebuilds
- Jasper reman unit purchaseParts and materials
- Tow referral feeTow fees
- Shop rent, SeptemberRent and utilities
Why your books are different
Transmission shop books go wrong around cores and warranty.
A transmission job is one of the biggest tickets you write, and it usually means a remanufactured unit with a core charge, a tow-in, and a warranty that has to hold up for a year or more. A generalist bookkeeper sees one big parts bill and one big sale, and misses everything in between that actually decides whether the job made money.
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1
Core charges swing hundreds of dollars
A remanufactured transmission from a rebuilder like Jasper or ATK often carries a core charge of several hundred dollars, refunded once your old unit ships back. Booked as pure income or a flat cost, the real price of the swap disappears.
What we doNets the core charge and its refund against the same job, so the swap shows its real cost, not a number that swings with the core. -
2
A rebuild isn't a same-day parts run
A transmission rebuild or replacement can take days, with a core deposit paid up front and the final bill settled once the car leaves. Booked the day cash moves, a job that spans two months looks like it belongs to neither one.
What we doTracks a rebuild job from deposit to final bill, so the month it's actually finished is the month it shows as income. -
3
Warranty comebacks earn nothing new
A transmission warranty typically runs a year or more, and when a rebuilt unit fails inside that window, your shop redoes the labor for free. Left inside ordinary labor cost, comebacks quietly erode margin on your highest-ticket work.
What we doFlags no-charge warranty redo labor separately, so you can see how much of a month's work earned nothing new. -
4
Tow-ins get billed differently job to job
Half your cars arrive on a hook because they can't be driven with a blown transmission, and the tow fee sometimes gets billed to the customer, sometimes eaten by the shop to win the job. Mixed into ordinary expenses, you lose track of which jobs actually cost you a tow.
What we doKeeps tow fees on their own line, whether billed through or absorbed, so you know what winning the tow-in customer really costs. -
5
Financed rebuilds pay out short
When a customer finances a $3,800 transmission job through Wisetack, the payout lands lower than the invoice, with the difference kept as a fee. Booked at the amount that lands, your real prices and your real costs both come out wrong.
What we doBooks the full job as money in and the financing company's cut as its own fee, so your numbers stay honest.
Your categories
The categories Gus keeps for a transmission shop.
Set up once for rebuilds, cores, and warranty work, you never pick a category, an accountant checks every one.
Money in
- Repair ordersDiagnostics, rebuilds, and replacements, run through the counter.
- Financed rebuildsWisetack or Sunbit payouts, with the fee booked apart from the sale.
- Warranty claimsPayouts from a warranty administrator on covered failures.
- Core creditsRefunds from rebuilders like Jasper or ATK for returned cores.
Money out
- Remanufactured unitsPurchases from rebuilders like Jasper or ATK, net of core charges.
- Tech wages and commissionFlat-rate pay kept apart from straight hourly wages.
- Tow feesFees paid to tow operators to bring in disabled vehicles.
- EquipmentLifts and transmission jacks, logged so they get written off right.
- Shop suppliesFluid, gaskets, and shop rags, kept apart from remanufactured units.
- InsuranceGaragekeepers and general liability coverage.
What we watch for you
- Core charge balance
What's owed back on cores not yet returned, tracked so refunds don't get lost.
- Comeback cost
Labor paid on warranty redo jobs that billed nothing new, worth watching before it eats a month.
- Average job value
What a rebuild or replacement nets after the core and tow, tracked job to job.
- The set-aside
What you will owe, tracked every month, so April is a number you already knew.
Ask Gus
Things transmission shop 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.
That job started in August and finished in September. I booked it in September, when it was actually done, so the month it belongs to shows the real number.
I netted it against what you paid for the reman unit, so it doesn't look like extra income, just the real cost of the swap.
No, and I flagged it that way. It's redo labor with nothing new coming in, so it shows up separate from work that actually earned money.
The tax side
The tax side of a transmission shop.
Most of what goes wrong here is timing on big jobs and cores nobody nets against the unit they belong to.
What your return has to get right
Your accountant signs it, so it gets done right the first time.
- Cores and inventoryA remanufactured unit bought ahead of a job you haven't started yet is inventory, and its cost only counts against income once it's installed, not the day it arrived.
- Lifts and transmission jacksShop equipment like lifts and transmission jacks can usually be written off the year you buy it. Bonus depreciation is back to 100 percent for property bought after January 19, 2025.
- Flat-rate tech classificationA technician who works your schedule and uses your lifts is usually an employee, even paid by the flat-rate hour on a big rebuild job. Getting this wrong gets expensive, so Gus flags it before it becomes routine.
- The pass-through deductionMost owner-operator shops can take up to 20 percent of business profit off their taxable income, and it comes out right when the books are right all year.
Deductions transmission shops miss
Your bookkeeper knows what to look for in your statements. You never have to.
- Transmission fluid and gaskets
- Transmission jack maintenance
- Tow vehicle fuel and repairs
- ASE certification fees
- Diagnostic scan tool fees
- Garagekeepers insurance
- Shop towel service
- Waste fluid disposal fees
- Uniform rental
- Lift recertification
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 transmission shop's year, kept every month.
Big jobs come in unevenly all year. 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 1099 list for machine shops and tow operators is ready, and you get a monthly set-aside so April isn't a surprise.
- April
Filed. Done.
Your return is filed and signed. No surprise bill, because the set-aside has been running since January and matched what the shop actually made.
- July
Halfway check
Where you stand, what you will owe, and whether a run of big rebuild jobs changed the number this year.
- October
Before winter tow-ins
Cold weather brings more disabled vehicles on the hook. Before the rush, Gus looks at equipment worth buying and moves worth making 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 transmission shops. 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 transmission shop owners ask first.
How does Gus handle the core charge on a remanufactured unit?
He nets the core deposit against the refund when your old unit ships back, so the job shows its real cost instead of a number that swings with the core charge.
A rebuild spans two months. Which month does the income count in?
The month the job actually finishes and the car leaves. Gus tracks it from deposit to final bill so it lands in the right month, not split across two.
Do warranty comebacks count as new income?
No. A redo under your own warranty is labor with nothing new coming in, and Gus flags it separately so it doesn't inflate what a month actually earned.
Can Gus handle financed rebuilds?
Yes. He books the full job as money in and the financing company's cut as a fee, so your sales aren't understated and the fee still counts against your taxes.
My books are a mess from doing them myself. Is that a problem?
No. Send the bank statements you have. Gus sorts them, the accountant checks them, and most owners know where they stand inside 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