Who it’s for
Bookkeeping for Small Businesses
A corner restaurant, a gas station, a cleaning crew or a consultant: KeyLine keeps the books for owner-run small businesses of every kind. Here are four examples, each with what its books handle and a sample month.
We work with registered businesses: an LLC, a corporation, or a sole proprietor with the business set up.
Four examples
What the Books Handle, Business by Business
Choose the one closest to yours. Each shows its five points, then a sample month with every point in its place.
Small Restaurants and Food Marts
A small restaurant and a food mart keep their registers the same way, and a restaurant adds tips and delivery apps.
Register Sales, Taxed and Not
Groceries aren’t taxed in Texas, while soft drinks, candy, ice, beer and wine, tobacco and prepared food are. A restaurant’s ready-to-eat food is taxed, sold to go as well. Food, candy, snack items and soft drinks bought with SNAP benefits aren’t taxed. The register’s department totals go into the books every day, because records that don’t separate untaxed sales from taxed ones leave every sale presumed taxable.
Card Batches and Cash
Card sales arrive as daily deposits, minus fees, and cash goes in with each deposit. The gap between the register and the drawer is tracked as over or short, day by day.
Vendors and Deliveries
Every delivery’s invoice is recorded, whether it was paid by check, by ACH or in cash from the register, so what each vendor is owed, and what the shelves and the kitchen cost, stay right.
Tips
A voluntary tip isn't taxed. Card tips come in with the batches and go out to the staff, so the books keep them apart from sales.
Delivery App Payouts
DoorDash pays out weekly by default. Each delivery app payout is split back into its orders, the app’s charges and any refunds, so sales show at their full amount.
A Sample Month of a Corner Deli and Market’s Books
How we’d record one month, with each of the five things above in its place. Made-up numbers, not a real client.
A deli counter with a small grocery, open six days a week.
| Entry | Amount |
|---|---|
| 1Register Sales, Taxed and Not | |
| Groceries and other untaxed food | $8,600.00 |
| Deli food, drinks, beer and other taxed sales | $21,400.00 |
| Sales tax collected, 8.25 percent as an example | $1,765.50 |
| 2Card Batches and Cash | |
| Paid by card: sales and tax, plus $760 in tips | $24,560.00 |
| Card fees, taken out of the batches | $640.00 |
| 26 card deposits, matched to the bank | $23,920.00 |
| Cash short for the month, across 26 days | $18.00 |
| Cash deposited, after 6 deliveries paid from the drawer and the $18 short | $6,797.50 |
| 3Vendors and Deliveries | |
| 9 vendors, 34 deliveries, invoices recorded | $13,900.00 |
| Of those, 6 deliveries paid in cash from the register | $1,150.00 |
| 4Tips | |
| Card tips, paid out to the counter staff | $760.00 |
| 5Delivery App Payouts | |
| Delivery app orders for the month | $2,900.00 |
| The app’s charges on those orders, taken out | $580.00 |
| 4 weekly DoorDash payouts, matched to the bank | $2,320.00 |
The Month as the Books Show It
- Sales tax collected comes to $1,765.50, held for the state, all from the register’s taxed side.
- The drawer came up $18 short across the month, recorded day by day.
- $760 in card tips went to the staff and never counted as sales.
Gas Station Marts
A mom-and-pop gas station runs a food mart and a fuel business through one drawer, and sells for the Texas Lottery as well.
Mart Sales, Taxed and Not
Groceries aren’t taxed in Texas, while soft drinks, candy, ice, beer and wine, tobacco and prepared food are. The mart’s department totals go into the books every day, because records that don’t separate untaxed sales from taxed ones leave every sale presumed taxable.
Card Batches and One Drawer
Mart card batches and fuel card settlements arrive on their own schedules, minus fees. Cash for both goes through one drawer, so each deposit is split between the mart and the fuel, and over or short is tracked day by day.
Vendors and Deliveries
Every vendor’s delivery is recorded, paid by check, by ACH or in cash from the register, so what each one is owed, and what the shelves cost, stay right.
Fuel Kept Apart From the Mart
Fuel sales, fuel card settlements and fuel loads have their own accounts, so the fuel’s margin and the mart’s margin each stand on their own.
Lottery and Money Orders Pass Through
The Texas Lottery takes what the store owes for each week’s lottery sales from its bank account the next Wednesday, or Thursday after a bank holiday. The store’s own income is its commission, the standard 5 percent of sales. Money orders are held for the money order company too, and the store keeps its fee.
A Sample Month of a Gas Station Mart’s Books
How we’d record one month, with each of the five things above in its place. Made-up numbers, not a real client.
One store with fuel, open every day.
| Entry | Amount |
|---|---|
| 1Mart Sales, Taxed and Not | |
| Groceries and other untaxed food | $14,200.00 |
| Taxed sales: soft drinks, candy, ice, beer and wine, tobacco, hot food | $38,500.00 |
| Sales tax collected, 8.25 percent as an example | $3,176.25 |
| 2Card Batches and One Drawer | |
| Mart sales paid by card, tax included | $42,600.00 |
| Card fees, taken out of the batches | $1,130.00 |
| 22 mart card deposits, matched to the bank | $41,470.00 |
| Cash short for the month, across 30 days | $22.00 |
| 3Vendors and Deliveries | |
| 16 vendors, 58 deliveries, invoices recorded | $36,800.00 |
| Of those, 17 deliveries paid in cash from the register | $3,900.00 |
| 4Fuel Kept Apart From the Mart | |
| Fuel sales, 52,000 gallons | $161,200.00 |
| Fuel paid by card, settled by the fuel network less $2,650 in fees | $148,350.00 |
| Fuel paid in cash, deposited with the mart’s cash but recorded as fuel | $10,200.00 |
| 9 fuel loads, drafted by the supplier | $148,500.00 |
| 5Lottery and Money Orders Pass Through | |
| Lottery sales | $9,600.00 |
| Winning tickets the store cashed, taken off the sweeps | $5,940.00 |
| The store’s commission, 5 percent, its own income | $480.00 |
| 4 weekly lottery sweeps, matched to the Lottery’s statements | $3,180.00 |
| Money orders sold, held for the money order company | $5,400.00 |
| The store’s money order fees, its own income | $64.00 |
The Month as the Books Show It
- Fuel brought in $161,200 against $148,500 in loads and $2,650 in network fees, a margin kept apart from the mart’s.
- The mart’s sales tax, $3,176.25, sits on its own line.
- Of $9,600 in lottery sales, the store’s own income is the $480 commission.
Service Businesses
Cleaning, pest control, repairs and alterations: a service business bills for its work, pays a crew, and keeps its vans and supplies going.
Recurring Customers and Contracts
Regular customers are billed weekly or monthly, and payments through a card app arrive in daily batches. Every payment is traced to the job it pays for.
Which Services Carry Sales Tax
Texas taxes many services and not others. Taxed ones include janitorial and custodial work, pest control, repairs to things like appliances and furniture, laundry and dry cleaning, and locksmith and alarm work. The books keep taxed work and untaxed work apart.
Supplies and Equipment
Supplies are a cost of the work. Equipment is bought or financed, and each loan payment is split into interest and what pays down the loan.
Staff and Contractors
Pay runs through a payroll service. Each contractor is recorded with what they were paid in the year, which your tax preparer needs for any 1099s.
Vehicles and Travel Between Jobs
Fuel, vehicle payments and repairs are kept with the work they serve, so each kind of job shows what it costs to reach.
A Sample Month of an Office Cleaning Company’s Books
How we’d record one month, with each of the five things above in its place. Made-up numbers, not a real client.
The owner and three cleaners, with 14 offices and shops on monthly contracts and one floor job.
| Entry | Amount |
|---|---|
| 1Recurring Customers and Contracts | |
| 14 offices and shops on monthly contracts, invoiced on the 1st, before tax | $7,840.00 |
| Floor stripping and waxing for a dental office, before tax | $600.00 |
| 6 offices paid by card through QuickBooks Payments, less $106.20 in fees | $3,531.00 |
| 7 offices and the dental office paid by ACH or check | $4,892.90 |
| Still owed at month end, tax included: 1 office | $606.20 |
| 2Which Services Carry Sales Tax | |
| Sales tax on the month’s cleaning, 8.25 percent as an example | $696.30 |
| 3Supplies and Equipment | |
| Supplies, 4 runs | $420.00 |
| Floor machine loan payment: $38 interest, $272 toward the loan | $310.00 |
| 4Staff and Contractors | |
| Payroll, 2 biweekly runs through a payroll service | $4,950.00 |
| Carpet cleaning contractor, added to the year’s total | $300.00 |
| 5Vehicles and Travel Between Jobs | |
| Fuel, 9 fill-ups | $380.00 |
| Van payment: $71 interest, $449 toward the loan | $520.00 |
The Month as the Books Show It
- Sales tax on the month’s cleaning comes to $696.30, on its own line.
- One office still owes $606.20, a month’s invoice.
- The two loan payments put $721 toward what’s owed, and only their $109 in interest is an expense.
Professional Services
Consultants, designers, tutors and other professionals bill for their time and know-how, often before the work or after it.
Invoices and What Clients Owe
Each invoice is tracked until it’s paid, so you see who owes what and for how long.
Retainers Held Until Earned
A retainer comes in before the work. The books hold it as owed to the client until the work is done, then count it as earned.
Client Payments and Their Fees
ACH, checks and card payments come in, with card fees split out of each payout, so every invoice closes at its full amount.
Subscriptions and Costs Billed Back
Software, dues and travel are tracked month by month. Anything paid for a client and billed back is tracked until it’s repaid.
Sales Tax Only Where It Applies
Texas taxes the services on its list, and using a computer to do professional work doesn’t make it a taxed data processing service. When a job does include a taxed service, the books keep that line apart on the invoice.
A Sample Month of a Consultant’s Books
How we’d record one month, with each of the five things above in its place. Made-up numbers, not a real client.
One consultant working alone, with six invoices out this month.
| Entry | Amount |
|---|---|
| 1Invoices and What Clients Owe | |
| 6 invoices sent | $14,200.00 |
| Still owed at month end: 1 invoice, 18 days old | $2,600.00 |
| 2Retainers Held Until Earned | |
| A new client’s retainer, held until earned | $3,000.00 |
| Part of the retainer earned by month end | $1,800.00 |
| 3Client Payments and Their Fees | |
| Paid by 3 ACH transfers and 1 check | $7,500.00 |
| 2 card payments through Stripe, $4,100 less $119.20 in fees, in 2 payouts | $3,980.80 |
| 4Subscriptions and Costs Billed Back | |
| 9 software subscriptions on the card | $612.00 |
| Travel paid for a client, billed back on the next invoice | $340.00 |
| 5Sales Tax Only Where It Applies | |
| Sales tax this month: none, since no invoice line was a taxed service | $0.00 |
The Month as the Books Show It
- $2,600 is owed, and $1,200 of the retainer is still held.
- Stripe’s fees, $119.20, are an expense of their own, so both card invoices closed at their full amounts.
These sales tax points come from the Texas Comptroller. This isn’t tax advice: for your own business, read the Comptroller’s pages below or ask your CPA.
- Texas Comptroller, Publication 96-280, Grocery and Convenience Stores, read October 2, 2026
- Texas Comptroller, Rule 3.293, Food; Food Products; Meals; Food Service, read October 1, 2026
- Texas Comptroller, Publication 94-117, Restaurants and the Texas Sales Tax, read September 30, 2026
- Texas Comptroller, Rule 3.337, Gratuities, read October 2, 2026
- Texas Comptroller, Publication 96-259, Taxable Services, read October 1, 2026
The lottery’s weekly sweep and the store’s commission come from the Texas Lottery Commission:
- Texas Lottery Commission, Retailer Guide to Policies and Procedures, read October 2, 2026
- Texas Lottery Commission, Retailer Cash Incentive Program (RCIP) Overview, read October 2, 2026
Book or call
Don’t See Your Kind of Business?
Tell us how it runs, and we’ll say plainly if KeyLine fits.