0%
Gross commission reconciled — not just the net after your brokerage split — with per-deal cost tracking, referral 1099s, and S-Corp payroll set up correctly. Clean books that scale with your production volume and stay ready for your CPA.
Free intro call. Instant estimate in about two minutes. No pressure, no spam.
We're a bookkeeping firm in Austin, Texas built for real estate agents, team leads, and land developers. We handle gross commission reconciliation, per-deal cost tracking, referral 1099 compliance, and S-Corp payroll — so you know your true profit per transaction and your books are always ready for your CPA.
Agents don't run on the net deposit — they run on gross commission, deal-level cost control, and tax structure. Recording commissions wrong, missing referral 1099s, or running S-Corp payroll incorrectly is where agents lose money quietly and find out at tax time.
Agent splits and brokerage margin, in view.
Accurate categorization of commission income, brokerage splits, marketing costs, TC fees, dues, MLS subscriptions, and all operating expenses. Full monthly close with P&L and balance sheet — so you know where the money went and which month was actually your best. See all services
Every closing reconciled — gross commission income recorded as revenue, brokerage split expensed separately, and net deposit matched to your bank statement. Your income statement reflects your true production volume, not just what hit your account after the split.
Each deal tracked as its own project in QuickBooks — photography, staging, marketing spend, transaction coordinator fees, and any other direct costs allocated to that transaction. At close you see gross commission, split, direct costs, and true net profit. Replicate the winners. Fix the losers.
Referral payments of $600 or more to individuals outside a brokerage-to-brokerage arrangement generally require a 1099-MISC. We track referral payments from the first check, collect W-9s before payment, and file by January 31 — so you're never scrambling in January or facing IRS backup withholding requirements.
If your CPA has elected S-Corp status, we set up payroll in Gusto with a documented reasonable compensation salary, run payroll correctly, and record owner distributions separately from salary. Quarterly payroll tax filings reconciled. Your CPA reviews annually — we handle the ongoing execution.
We produce the quarterly income summaries your CPA needs to calculate estimated tax payments — so you're never caught short in April. Commission-heavy income with irregular closings makes quarterly estimates critical; we give your CPA the clean numbers they need to get them right.
Commission income by month, gross vs net production, marketing cost per deal, year-to-date vs prior year comparison, and cash flow forecast — updated monthly so you're managing your business with real numbers, not memory of your last closing.
Tax filings, S-Corp elections, and legal matters — coordinated with your CPA or attorney. Turnkey CFO does not provide tax or legal advice; we keep your books filing-ready and support the process end to end.
The day-to-day realities most bookkeepers have never touched. We have.
The net deposit is not your revenue — it's revenue minus what the brokerage took. Recording only the net understates gross income, distorts your S-Corp reasonable compensation baseline, and makes benchmarking impossible. Gross commission belongs in revenue; the brokerage split belongs in commission expense. This distinction matters to your CPA, your lender, and the IRS.
You can't improve what you can't see — and "marketing expense" is not visibility. Photography, staging, drone shots, digital ads, mailers, TC fees, and showing expenses all vary by deal. Lumping them as overhead hides the deals that cost $3,000 to close vs the ones that cost $800. Job costing by transaction lets you price more aggressively on the right listings and stop subsidizing the wrong ones.
Referral agents you pay directly likely need a 1099-MISC — not a handshake and a wire. Pay a referral fee directly to an individual agent (outside a brokerage-to-brokerage arrangement) of $600 or more in a year and you generally have a 1099-MISC filing obligation. W-9 required at first payment. Missing 1099s trigger potential IRS backup withholding — 24% withheld from referral checks until resolved.
Earnest money you hold is never your income — until it's forfeited to you. Held in a trust account, it belongs to the buyer or seller pending closing conditions. It's not your cash, not your revenue, and should not appear in your operating bank account or P&L. If it's forfeited to you under the contract, that's income — but only then. We set up your accounts so trust funds never pollute your operating statements.
The IRS requires S-Corp owners who work in the business to take a "reasonable salary." An S-Corp election creates payroll tax savings only if you pay yourself reasonably — the IRS actively audits S-Corps with minimal or no salary and reclassifies distributions as wages, creating back payroll taxes and penalties. We set up Gusto payroll, document your salary rationale in the books, and keep distributions correctly segregated from compensation.
The home office deduction is real — but it requires clean documentation to survive audit. Use a dedicated, exclusive space in your home for business and the deduction can reduce taxable income meaningfully. Your CPA claims it; we document the annual expenses (rent or mortgage interest, utilities, repairs) in a format that supports the deduction if questioned. Clean records make a legitimate deduction defensible.
Buying raw land, subdividing it into lots, and selling with seller financing is a different accounting animal than a resale commission. We track the parts that actually decide whether a project made money.
A subdivision's total cost has to be spread across every lot — or your profit per lot is a guess. Land purchase price plus survey, engineering, roads, utilities, and entitlement costs are capitalized and allocated across the lots in the tract. When a lot sells, its share of cost is recognized against the sale, so you see real gross margin on every lot and every phase — not just cash in the door.
Low down, low monthly means you're the bank — and the books have to reflect that. Each financed lot becomes a note receivable. We track principal balances by buyer, split every payment into principal and interest, recognize interest income correctly, and keep an amortization view so you always know what's outstanding, what's current, and what's at risk. Defaults and payoffs handled cleanly.
Money spent improving raw land isn't an expense the day you spend it. Surveying, road work, utility runs, legal, and entitlement costs are capitalized into the project while it's under development, then matched to lot sales as they close. That keeps your P&L honest — no false losses during the build phase, no overstated profit once lots start selling.
Every tract and every entity stands on its own set of numbers. We keep each development — and each project LLC — on its own clean books, with profitability, capital deployed, and timeline visible at a glance. When investors or partners want a financial picture, the report is ready, not reconstructed the night before the call.
Commission income by month, gross vs net production, and marketing cost per deal — updated monthly so you manage your business with real numbers, not memory of your last closing.
"I finally understand my true profit per deal after all marketing costs. Turns out two of my 'best' months were barely break-even after photography, staging, and TC fees. Turnkey CFO showed me exactly where to cut and where to push volume."
Two "best" months were barely break-even once per-deal costs were allocated — now visible before the next listing.
We learn your brokerage structure, production volume, entity type, referral relationships, and where the books are currently breaking down — so we set up right the first time.
Gross commission income, brokerage split expense, per-deal project codes, referral agent tracking, and S-Corp payroll structure — all built before we touch a transaction.
Full monthly close with a per-deal profit summary, quarterly income summary for estimated tax support, and a dashboard showing your true production metrics — not just what hit your bank.
Get your instant estimate, then book a 15-minute call to talk through fit and scope. No pressure, no sales pitch.