Help
How can we help?
Short answers to what clients ask most. Your own bookkeeper is always a message away if you would rather ask a person.
Getting started
- How Goatkeeper worksYou send last month’s bank statements, your own bookkeeper keeps the books, an accountant checks the work and signs your return, and Gus keeps you posted in between.
- Signing up and signing inThere is no password. Enter your email and we send you a six-digit code, or a link in the same email that signs you straight in.
- How your price worksGoatkeeper starts at $197 a month. Each business is priced on its yearly revenue, and your personal return comes with your first business.
- Agreements and consentsBefore you pay, you sign one agreement, our terms of service, and then the tax information consent. You can read them, and take back a consent, under Agreements in the menu.
- Your business profileYour Business profile holds what goes on your returns: business details, your IRS EIN letter, the people on the returns, your banks and loans, and last year’s returns.
Your books every month
- Sending your statementsSend last month’s statement for every bank account and card by the 5th, as a PDF or CSV, from the Statements tab.
- Adding a bank account or cardAdd a new account right where you send its first statement: choose Add an account, then enter the type, the bank, and the last four digits.
- Connecting your bankConnecting a bank is optional. Once it’s connected, transactions come in on their own and your bookkeeper books them the same way. For now, you connect on the web.
- Answering Needs youNeeds you holds the questions your bookkeeper couldn’t answer from the statement alone. Tap That’s right or Not quite, and the answer is remembered for next time.
- Messaging your teamMessage your bookkeeper any time from the Chat tab. Replies usually come within one business day.
- How a month closesEach month closes by the 10th of the next month, once your statements are in and your questions are answered. Until then it’s in progress and the numbers can still move.
- Your reportsThe Reports tab has your profit and loss and balance sheet for a month, the year to date, or any range you pick. Download either as a PDF or CSV.
Taxes
- Sending your tax documentsAnswer a few yes or no questions under Taxes and you get a list of only the documents you need. Upload each one, or mark I don’t have this.
- Where your return stands, and signing itTaxes shows each return and where it stands, from collecting documents to accepted. You sign the IRS e-file form through a link your accountant sends.
- Estimated quarterly taxesTaxes shows what to send the IRS each quarter and when. You pay it yourself through IRS Direct Pay, or EFTPS for a C corporation, then tap I paid it.
- Form 8821, IRS authorizationForm 8821 lets your team see your IRS records. It doesn’t let anyone change anything, pay anything or sign for you.
Billing and your account
- Billing and paymentsYou pay monthly through Commas, by card or bank. Billing in the menu shows your plan, your price, your next charge and your recent payments.
- CancellingCancel any time from Billing. No call and no fee. You keep read-only access to your books and can download your reports.
- Texts and emailsWe email you when something needs you or a month closes, and text you too if you turned texts on. Change which emails you get from the link at the bottom of any one.
- Referring a businessSend us a business and earn ten percent of what they pay Goatkeeper, every month, for as long as they stay a client.
Security and privacy
- Two-step sign-inTwo-step sign-in adds a six-digit code from an authenticator app on your phone, so a stolen email alone gets nobody into your books.
- Privacy and your dataYour books and documents are encrypted and seen only by the people working on them. We never sell your information, and you can ask for a copy or deletion any time.
Still stuck? Message your team in the app, or email goat@goatkeeper.io. A real person answers.