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Bookkeeping · Payroll · 1099 · Dashboards | Austin, TX · Nationwide

Bookkeeping built for hair salons.

Booth rental vs employee classification, tip reporting, retail product sales tax, and commission and hourly payroll — handled correctly from day one, so your salon isn't carrying IRS exposure from worker-classification errors or unreported tips. Plus monthly close and a live per-chair dashboard.

Free intro call. Instant estimate in about two minutes. No pressure, no spam.

100%
Client retention
24hr
Max response time
1–20+
Chair operations
Live
Per-chair dashboards
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★★★★★
5.0 from the owners, pastors and founders whose books we rebuilt

People don't usually talk about their bookkeeper like this.

Real notes from real clients, sent after we cleaned up their books. The names and the outcomes are theirs.

★★★★★
"THANK YOU SO MUCH!! I have been looking for a true finance partner like this!"

Three years of books rebuilt clean. Monthly close now lands by day 5.

Lauren
LaurenCEO · The Harbour Company
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★★★★★
"Phenomenal working with Turnkey CFO. Our finances have never been clearer."

Giving trends, fund balances and ministry spend, finally visible to leadership.

Dakota
DakotaHeirloom Church
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★★★★★
"Really encouraging to see everything tied out at the bank and the adjustments all traced. Great work."

A full deep dive on one account, every adjustment traced back to the bank.

Buck
BuckExecutive Pastor · Northpoint Church
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★★★★★
"You have been unbelievably helpful!! THANK YOU."

Multi-fund nonprofit books cleaned up. Monthly close cut from three weeks to under one.

Christy
ChristyExecutive Director · Village of Hope Maui
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★★★★★
"Turnkey handles all of it and I never think about the books. Easiest decision we made."

Full books and reporting, handled end to end.

JT
JTDoxa
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★★★★★
"Multiple companies, and every set of books is clean and current. They just handle it."

An 11-company group closed every month, entity by entity.

A
AustinMojo Coffee
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★★★★★
"Thanks Ricky. You're the best."

A monthly financial dashboard the whole leadership team actually reads.

Tawnya
TawnyaVillage of Hope Maui
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★★★★★
"The budget and dashboard work has changed how our team leads."

A full 2027 budget build and a live dashboard for the whole church.

Brent
BrentEpic Life Church
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★★★★★
"Thank you so much!! This is all great. I really appreciate it!"

Payroll handled end to end, questions answered the same day.

A
AlexandraOwner · Soularis
★★★★★
"Clear, on time, every month. Exactly what we needed."

Monthly P&L and balance sheet, delivered on schedule.

AD
AdamCornerstone Church ATX
Who we are

Turnkey CFO is a bookkeeping firm in Austin, Texas, working with salon owners on the questions that trip up most bookkeepers — booth renters vs employees, tip reporting, retail product tax, commission and hourly payroll, monthly close, and live per-chair dashboards that show whether your chairs are actually profitable. We coordinate with your CPA on tax filings.

Ricky West, founder of Turnkey CFO
Ricky West
Founder, Turnkey CFO
"Salons don't fail on bad haircuts — they get burned by classification and tip-reporting mistakes nobody caught. We catch them first."
See it live

Run your salon on real numbers, not a shoebox.

A live dashboard — not a stack of PDFs — so you can see which chairs, stylists, and services actually make money, updated every month.

  • Revenue per chair & average ticket by service type, so staffing and scheduling decisions run on data
  • Service vs retail margin separated, so you know whether your back bar is making or losing money
  • Payroll-to-revenue and cash flow at a glance, updated monthly
turnkeycfo.com/demo/hairsalon
Turnkey CFO live dashboard preview
Stylist washing a client's hair at a salon
BUILT FOR SALONS

Chairs, commissions, and product margin, reconciled.

Booth rent, payroll, and retail, tracked clean.

What we handle

Everything your salon needs. Nothing it doesn't.

01

Monthly bookkeeping & close

Accurate categorization of service revenue, retail product revenue, booth rental income, supply costs, and payroll. Full monthly close with P&L and balance sheet — separated by revenue stream so you see the real margin of each part of your business. See all services

Core
02

Booth rental vs employee compliance

Booth renters are independent contractors — they set their own prices, use their own products, and control their own schedule. If those conditions aren't met, the IRS may reclassify them as employees, triggering back payroll taxes and penalties. We document the classification correctly from day one and flag any arrangements that create risk.

Salon-specific
03

Tip reporting & payroll

Tips are taxable wages — they belong in W-2 Box 1 and are subject to FICA. We track reported tip income through payroll so withholding and employer FICA are correct each pay period. Large food-and-beverage tip-reporting rules (Form 8027) don't apply to salons, but direct service tips still must be reported through payroll.

Salon-specific
04

Commission & hourly payroll

Commission, hourly, or hybrid payroll for employed stylists — minimum-wage compliance checked per pay period (commission employees must meet minimum wage for all hours in the workweek, even if commissions fall short), overtime calculated correctly, Gusto integration.

Ops
05

Retail product sales tax

Hair-care products sold at retail are taxable in most states; salon services are often exempt or subject to different rates. We separate product and service revenue from day one and reconcile sales tax collections to what you owe — so you're not over- or underremitting.

Ops
06

Bill pay & supply management

Color, supplies, and product-vendor invoices tracked and paid on schedule — so your AP is current and your cost of goods is accurate for retail margin analysis.

Ops
07

Live financial dashboard

Revenue by service type and retail, gross margin per revenue stream, payroll-to-revenue ratio, booth rental income, and cash flow — updated monthly so you run your salon on real numbers. Behind on the books? Catch-up bookkeeping gets you current first.

Most popular
Where salons get tripped up

Deep working knowledge of salon finances.

Worker classification, tip reporting, and retail compliance — the areas where most salon owners unknowingly carry IRS exposure. We know them cold.

Classification

Booth renter classification

True independent contractors — or misclassified employees? The IRS uses behavioral control, financial control, and type-of-relationship tests. A booth renter required to work certain hours, use your products, or follow your service menu may fail — triggering employee reclassification, back FICA, and penalties. We document the classification and flag borderline arrangements before they become audit issues.

Payroll

Tip reporting compliance

Tips are wages — they belong in W-2 Box 1. Stylists are legally required to report tips to their employer monthly. Those tips go into payroll, employer and employee FICA apply, and the amounts appear in W-2 Box 1. Unreported tips create FICA liability for both the stylist and the salon. We build tip reporting into your payroll cycle so it's handled cleanly every period.

Wage & hour

Commission minimum-wage compliance

Commission stylists must still clear minimum wage for every workweek. If a commission employee works 40 hours and earns $250 in commissions in a state with a $15 minimum wage, she's owed $600 — not $250. The shortfall is the salon's obligation. We check every commission payroll against the minimum-wage floor for all hours worked before each payroll run.

Retail

Retail product margin

Is your retail line actually profitable after shrinkage and markups? Retail product revenue carries COGS (wholesale cost), shrinkage, and sales tax collection obligations. Without separating retail from service revenue, you can't tell if your back bar is making or losing money. We track product COGS and retail margin separately so you can price and stock correctly.

Sales tax

Sales tax on services vs products

Products taxable. Services often exempt. Split invoices matter. Most states don't tax personal services (haircuts, color) but do tax tangible personal property (products). Selling a "color service" that bundles products at a single price can trigger tax on the full amount in some states. We separate your revenue correctly and work with your CPA on the right treatment for your state.

Profitability

Per-chair profitability

Which chairs, which stylists, which services drive your margin? Revenue per chair, average ticket by service type, and cost of product per service — tracked monthly in your dashboard so you make staffing, scheduling, and service-menu decisions with real data. Most salon owners have no idea which services are most profitable until they see the numbers broken out.

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Max response time
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Chair operations supported
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To get started
Getting started

Onboarding takes days, not months.

Step 1
Day 1

15-minute intro call

We learn your salon — chair count, booth renters vs employees, retail volume, current software, and where the books are a mess.

Step 2
Days 2 to 5

Books & access review

We connect to QuickBooks, clean historical data, and set up revenue streams and payroll classification around how your salon actually runs.

Step 3
Within 2 weeks

Live visibility

Monthly close, payroll with tip reporting, per-chair dashboard, and compliance workflows running clean — every month.

Questions

Questions salon owners ask us first.

Do you replace our CPA?+
No — we work alongside your CPA. We keep books clean and filing-ready year-round. If you don't have a CPA who understands salons, we can refer one.
We have a mix of booth renters and employed stylists — can you handle both?+
Yes. Mixed setups are common and manageable — they just require separate accounting treatment. Booth renters are tracked as independent contractors with 1099-NEC if they clear $2,000. Employed stylists go through payroll with tip reporting. We set up both correctly from day one.
How do you handle tip reporting?+
Stylists report tips to you on Form 4070 (or equivalent) each pay period. Those tips are added to payroll wages — employer and employee FICA apply, and they appear on W-2 Box 1. We build this into your payroll cycle so it's handled automatically without any extra work from you.
Do I need to collect sales tax on services?+
Most states don't tax personal services like haircuts and color — but a few do, and retail product sales are almost always taxable. The specific rules depend on your state. We separate your revenue correctly and coordinate with your CPA on the right treatment so you're not over- or underremitting.
Can you help with Square, Vagaro, or Mindbody?+
Yes. We integrate your salon software with QuickBooks so revenue, product sales, and tips sync correctly — no double entry. We work with Square, Vagaro, Mindbody, Boulevard, and most other salon management platforms.
Is our data secure?+
Everything lives in QuickBooks Online, Gusto, and Ramp — enterprise-grade platforms with role-scoped access per team member. We maintain professional liability insurance.
Can we cancel?+
Month-to-month, 30-day notice. No multi-year contracts.
How much does this cost?+
Our instant estimate takes about two minutes and gives you a real price range based on your chair count, employee vs renter mix, and transaction volume. Tap any "Instant Estimate" button on the page.
Ready when you are

Ready to clean up your salon books?

Get your instant estimate, then book a 15-minute call. No pressure, no sales pitch.

  • ✓Free 15-minute call, straight answers
  • ✓Instant estimate available before you ever talk to us
  • ✓For tax or legal questions, talk to your CPA or attorney
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