Why landscaping businesses need different books
Busy summers and quiet winters, trucks and trailers and mowers that last for years, fuel on every card, crews that grow and shrink with the season and customers who pay by the visit or by the season. Cash flow is the hard part.
What a bookkeeper for landscaping businesses keeps track of
- Seasonal income and what to keep for winter
- Trucks, trailers and equipment written off over the years
- Fuel and repairs
- Seasonal crew pay
- Sales tax or GST/HST on services and materials
In the US
- Equipment like mowers and trailers can often be written off in the year you buy it.
- Crew you pay as contractors $2,000 or more in 2026 need a 1099-NEC.
- Some states tax landscaping services; most tax plants and materials you sell.
In Canada
- Landscaping and snow removal take GST/HST once you're registered.
- Trucks and equipment are claimed through capital cost allowance (CCA) over the years.
- Seasonal staff need payroll with CPP and EI.
What SumSwift does for landscapers
- Big purchases get one question, "Is this equipment?", so they're written off over the right years
- Depreciation or CCA worked out for each piece of equipment
- A 90-day cash forecast, so you see the quiet months coming
- Payroll worked out each payday, with the deposit file for your bank and the remittance to send
- A mileage log (a CRA logbook in Canada) and the business share of your vehicle worked out for taxes
- Invoices made, emailed and chased in SumSwift, with a pay link your customers can use