Business Planning Resources · Workbook
Free Small Business Bookkeeping Planner
Track income, expenses, fees, product costs, profit, and estimated tax set-aside in one beginner-friendly workbook.
Track income, expenses, fees, product costs, profit, and tax set-aside in one simple workbook.
.xlsx · full workbook · opens in Excel or Google Sheets
The Excel workbook is the full planner. The CSV pack and printable monthly review are optional companion files.
Free download. No account required. Email signup is optional.
Best for working through a topic step by step. Use it with the matching calculator, or print it for planning offline.
If your bookkeeping currently lives in a notes app, three browser tabs, and a shoebox of receipts, this is the calmer version. The Small Business Bookkeeping Planner is a free twelve-tab workbook built for people who sell things online — handmade sellers, Etsy and eBay shops, Shopify stores, Amazon FBA sellers, KDP authors, print-on-demand sellers, craft fair regulars, freelancers, and anyone running a side hustle alongside a job.
You enter sales on one tab and expenses on another. The workbook handles the rest: monthly totals, platform fees, product costs, marketing spend, refunds, net profit, profit margin, and a tax set-aside estimate based on a percentage you choose. A simple dashboard shows your best month, your biggest expense category, and how you are tracking against your profit goal.
Works in Excel and in Google Sheets. No macros, no add-ons, no subscription, no sign-up.
What this planner helps you track
- Sales and payouts, one row per order, across every platform you sell on
- Business expenses by category, so you can see where the money actually goes
- Platform fees, listing fees, and payment processing fees month by month
- Product costs and cost of goods sold per item
- Marketing and ads spend, kept separate from product cost
- Refunds, recorded once so they never distort your profit twice
- Net profit and profit margin per month and for the year
- A tax set-aside estimate based on one percentage you set yourself
What is included
Three files, all free and all ungated: the Excel workbook, a CSV pack for people who prefer plain files, and a blank printable monthly review page.
- Start Here tab with plain-language instructions
- Setup tab for your business name, year, goals, and editable category lists
- Income Tracker with 500 pre-formatted rows
- Expense Tracker with 500 pre-formatted rows
- Platform Fees Tracker (detail tab, excluded from totals on purpose)
- Product Costs & COGS tracker (detail tab)
- Marketing & Ads Tracker (detail tab)
- Tax Set-Aside Planner with one column for what you actually set aside
- Monthly Summary with automatic totals
- Dashboard with five simple charts
- Yearly Summary with an at-a-glance block
- Printable Monthly Review — one page, ready to print or save as a PDF
- Ten sample rows showing what goes where, ready to delete
Who it is for
- Etsy and handmade sellers seeing fees against real profit for the first time
- eBay and vintage resellers juggling per-item costs
- Shopify store owners separating ad spend from product cost
- Amazon FBA sellers who want a simple view alongside their reports
- KDP authors logging monthly royalty payouts
- Print-on-demand sellers whose costs sit inside each order
- Craft fair and market sellers combining cash and card takings
- Freelancers and side hustlers who just want to know what to set aside
How to use it each week
- Add each sale to the Income Tracker — one row per order or payout.
- Add every business expense to the Expense Tracker — one row per purchase.
- Record refunds once: either on the original order row, or as an expense row categorised Refunds. Never both.
- Drop receipts into a folder named for the month.
How to use it each month
- Check that everything for the month has been entered.
- Compare your rows against your platform payouts and your bank or card statement.
- Review the Dashboard and the Monthly Summary.
- Fill in Amount Actually Set Aside on the Tax Set-Aside Planner.
- Pick the month on the Printable Monthly Review, answer the three questions, then print or save it.
Important tax and accounting note
This workbook is for planning and simple bookkeeping support only. It is not tax, legal, accounting, or financial advice, and it does not calculate exact federal, state, local, sales, VAT, GST, self-employment, or payroll taxes. The tax set-aside figure is a planning estimate based on the percentage you choose. Always confirm tax rules and reporting requirements with a qualified professional.
Related Guides
Plain-English guides that pair with this resource.
What Is A Good Profit Margin? Complete Small Business Profit Margin Guide
A 2026 profit margin guide — gross vs net vs contribution, what counts as a good margin, healthy benchmarks by industry and platform, formulas, and improvement strategies.
Read guide →Break-Even Analysis Explained
A plain-English guide to break-even analysis for small sellers — fixed vs variable costs, contribution margin, formulas, and worked examples across Etsy, eBay, KDP, Shopify, and handmade.
Read guide →What Is ROI? Complete Return On Investment Guide For Small Businesses (2026)
A practical 2026 ROI guide — formulas, ROAS vs true ROI, marketing/advertising/product/inventory ROI, platform-by-platform examples, benchmarks, mistakes, and worksheets.
Read guide →How To Create A Small Business Budget: Complete Budgeting Guide (2026)
Build a complete small business budget — revenue planning, expense forecasting, cash reserves, taxes, owner pay, growth and marketing budgets, with sample budgets for Etsy, eBay, KDP, Shopify, and FBA.
Read guide →
Related Calculators
Free tools to put this resource into practice.
Net Profit Calculator
Universal net profit and margin after every business cost.
Try calculator →Tax Set-Aside Calculator
Estimate how much to save from each sale for taxes.
Try calculator →Budget Planner Calculator
Map your monthly income and expenses at a glance.
Try calculator →Product Cost Calculator
True cost to make or prepare one product.
Try calculator →
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More worksheets and tools that may help with the same seller task.
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Small Business Budget Planner
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View resource →
Related Guides
- Planning guideBusiness PlanningHow To Create A Small Business Budget: Complete Budgeting Guide (2026)
Build a complete small business budget — revenue planning, expense forecasting, cash reserves, taxes, owner pay, growth and marketing budgets, with sample budgets for Etsy, eBay, KDP, Shopify, and FBA.
- Profit guideBusiness PlanningBusiness Cash Flow Explained
A plain-English cash flow guide for small sellers — cash vs profit, the three categories, why profitable businesses fail, and platform-specific payout timing.
- Profit guideBusiness PlanningHow To Calculate Handmade Business Profit
Work out what your handmade business actually keeps after materials, labor, packaging, shipping, fees, and taxes.
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