Let me tell you about Jamie. She runs a thriving mobile dog grooming biz and was killing it—booked solid, clients raving, tails wagging. But when tax season came around, Jamie nearly fainted into a pile of corgi fluff. Why?
Venmo.
Turns out, Jamie had been collecting about 40% of her payments through Venmo—and not once did she track them in her bookkeeping. “It’s just Venmo,” she said. “I thought it didn’t count.”
Bless.
Venmo definitely counts. So does Cash App, Zelle, and that random PayPal payment your aunt sent when she hired you to organize her spice cabinet. If it hits your business account (or even your personal one for business), it’s income. And the IRS isn’t going to ignore it just because it didn’t come through a fancy point-of-sale system. Will be spend entire week reconstructing her year of income using Venmo screenshots, text messages, and the occasional dog emoji. And while we did eventually sort it out, Jamie now refers to that week as “The Financial Furry Frenzy of ’24.”
Countess Tips: Don’t Be Jamie
Here’s how to keep your own Venmo-villain origin story out of your ledger:
- Create a separate business profile on Venmo or your preferred app (yes, you can!). It makes everything cleaner and easier to track.
- Log every payment—no matter how “casual”—into your bookkeeping software or spreadsheet, just like any other income.
- Download transaction history monthly (trust me, scrolling through 800 payments labeled with a dog emojii is a special kind of torture).
- Note what the payment was for—especially if it’s bundled with tips, travel reimbursements, or personal stuff.
- Remember that income is income. Just because it’s digital doesn’t mean it disappears from your taxes.
Bookkeeping doesn’t have to be a mystery—but ignoring payment apps is the fastest way to turn your books into a crime scene. Keep it clean, keep it counted, and keep those paws (and profits) in order.
