Books That Keep Up with Your Shop
Professional bookkeeping for boutique, brick-and-mortar, and multi-channel retail shops. Track inventory, true COGS, and sales tax across in-store, Shopify, Amazon, and marketplaces — without losing a weekend to it.
Expert-managed bookkeeping starting at $69/month. No contracts. Cancel anytime. FREE catch-up bookkeeping included with every new subscription.
Bookkeeping Challenges Facing Retail Shops
Retail Shops face unique financial pain points that generic bookkeepers simply don't understand. Here are the issues we solve every day for businesses like yours:
- Inventory & COGS Confusion. Without accurate inventory accounting, your profit numbers are wrong. Most retail owners discover too late that they've been mispricing items for years.
- Multi-Channel Revenue Mess. In-store sales, Shopify, Amazon, Etsy, and pop-ups all post differently. Reconciling deposits and fees across every channel is a job in itself.
- Sales Tax in Multiple States. Marketplace facilitators handle some of it, but not all. Tracking which channel collected what — and where you owe — is a constant compliance risk.
- Shrinkage & Damaged Goods. Theft, breakage, and return abuse quietly eat margin. Most owners never put a real number on it because their books don't track it.
Profitable Retail Owners Save Thousands with S-Corp Election
Once your shop is consistently netting $70,000+, you're likely overpaying self-employment tax. With S-Corp election, you pay yourself a reasonable retail-owner salary and take additional profit as distributions — keeping more of every dollar your store earns.
- Pay yourself a reasonable owner-operator salary, take profits as distributions
- Reduce or eliminate self-employment tax on distribution income
- We handle payroll, sales tax, and S-Corp compliance in one place
- Free evaluation to determine your potential annual savings
Our team of experienced bookkeepers and tax strategists will evaluate your specific situation and walk you through the S-Corp election process from start to finish — including payroll setup, reasonable compensation analysis, and ongoing compliance.
How GuidedLedger Helps Retail Shops
We combine industry-specific expertise with modern accounting technology to deliver bookkeeping that actually moves your business forward:
- Inventory & COGS Done Right. We set up inventory accounting that ties purchase orders, receipts, and sales together so your gross margin numbers are real, not estimates.
- Multi-Channel Reconciliation. Shopify, Square, Amazon, Etsy, and your POS all reconcile cleanly to the bank. You see channel-level profitability, not just a lump sum.
- Sales Tax Compliance. We track marketplace-collected vs. owner-collected tax, file in the states where you have nexus, and keep you ahead of audit risk.
- Shrinkage & Margin Insights. We surface shrinkage, returns, and discount drag as line items so you can see what's quietly eroding your margin and act on it.
Common Tax Deductions for Retail Shops
Many retail shops miss thousands of dollars in legitimate deductions every year. Our team makes sure every eligible expense is properly tracked and categorized so you keep more of what you earn:
- Cost of goods sold (inventory purchases, freight-in, and supplier fees)
- Rent, utilities, and CAM charges for retail and storage space
- Point-of-sale hardware, payment terminals, and barcode scanners
- E-commerce platform fees (Shopify, Square, Amazon, Etsy, BigCommerce)
- Payment processing and merchant fees
- Packaging, shipping supplies, and outbound shipping costs
- Visual merchandising, display fixtures, and signage
- Marketing, paid ads, influencer collaborations, and email tools
- Staff wages, payroll taxes, and workers compensation insurance
- Business insurance, alarm/security systems, and loss-prevention tools
We review your spending throughout the year, flag deductions you may have missed, and prepare a tax-ready year-end package for your CPA or tax preparer.
What's Included for $69/month
- Monthly bookkeeping & bank reconciliation
- Professional financial statements (P&L, balance sheet, cash flow)
- Transaction categorization tailored to your industry
- Year-end tax-ready books
- QuickBooks or Xero management at wholesale pricing
- Email support & quarterly check-ins
- FREE catch-up bookkeeping when you subscribe
- S-Corp evaluation and tax-savings analysis
What Retail Shops Are Saying
“I never knew my real margin until GuidedLedger fixed our inventory accounting. Turns out one of our top-selling lines was actually losing money once shipping and shrinkage were in. We re-priced and our profit jumped within a quarter.”
*Client name abbreviated for privacy.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do you support Shopify, Square, Amazon, and POS reconciliations?
Yes. We reconcile every payout from Shopify, Square, Amazon, Etsy, and most major POS systems against your bank, splitting out fees, refunds, and taxes so each channel's true profitability is visible.
Can you handle sales tax across multiple states?
Absolutely. We track where you have economic and physical nexus, separate marketplace-collected tax from tax you owe directly, and either file with you or coordinate with our sales tax filing add-on.
How do you track inventory and COGS for a shop?
We set up perpetual or periodic inventory (whichever fits your volume), tie vendor bills and receipts to SKUs, and book COGS as items sell so your gross margin is accurate every month — not just at year-end.
What about shrinkage, damaged goods, and employee discounts?
We book shrinkage, breakage, and employee discounts as separate expense lines so you can actually see what they're costing you and address theft or process issues with data.
When does S-Corp election make sense for a retail shop?
Generally once your shop is consistently netting $70,000+ in owner profit. We run the analysis as part of your free consultation and only recommend it when the savings clearly beat the added payroll and filing cost.
Related Industries We Serve
Don't see your industry? We work with small businesses across every vertical. View all industries we serve or get started with a free consultation.