Bookkeeping for hairdressers and beauty
Salons mix services, retail products, rented chairs and part-time staff. Each income stream needs separating to understand what the business really earns.
- Flat £15 an hour
- No contract
- Qualified UK team
- Pay online in minutes
Bookkeeping for hairdressers and beauty
Your price
3.5 hours at £15
£52.50
Set-up fee£0
ContractNone
Regulated firm
Qualified team
Qualified team
Certified advisor
ProAdvisor- FreeAgentSupported software
- 4.9 out of 5300+ Google reviews
The short answer
What does bookkeeping for hairdressers and beauty involve?
Bookkeeping for hairdressers and beauty means keeping booking system and card reader reports, chair rental invoices, product stock and supplier invoices and the rest of your records accurate and reconciled. At £15 an hour, a typical salon with two chair renters (about 120 transactions a month) needs about 6.5 hours a month, which is around £97.50.
What makes these books different.
Every sector has its own records and rules. These are the ones that matter for hairdressers and beauty.
Employed, self-employed or renting a chair
Each arrangement is recorded differently. Chair rent is income to the salon owner, while an employee brings payroll costs.
Service and retail income
Treatments and product sales have different margins. Splitting them shows where profit comes from.
Deposits and gift vouchers
Money taken before the appointment is a liability until the service is delivered, and vouchers need tracking until redeemed.
Appointment software payouts
Booking systems and card readers pay out net of fees, which have to be reconciled back to takings.
£15
an hour, flat
£97.50
a month for a typical salon with two chair renters
6.5h
of bookkeeping a month, about 120 transactions a month
0
contract, stop whenever you like
Records we keep for you.
- Booking system and card reader reports
- Chair rental invoices
- Product stock and supplier invoices
- Staff pay or commission calculations
- Training and insurance costs
- Cash takings
Rules worth knowing.
VAT threshold
Solo therapists often sit below the £90,000 threshold, while larger salons pass it quickly once chair rental and products are included.
Status of staff
Whether someone is employed or genuinely self-employed affects payroll, National Insurance and holiday pay.
Cash income
All cash takings must be recorded, and HMRC compares declared income to lifestyle and sector norms.
General information, not tax advice. Rules change, so check GOV.UK or ask your accountant. Last reviewed November 2026.
A typical month.
A salon with two chair renters with about 120 transactions a month, running payroll. Here is the time it takes and what it costs.
- Core bookkeeping (101 - 250)6h
- Payroll journals0.5h
Each month
£97.50
Where this sector is most common.
Using ONS business counts for 2026, personal services is the biggest share of local businesses in these places. We serve all of them online.
- Dundee8% of local businesses, 1.8 times the UK share, about 265 firms
- Belfast7% of local businesses, 1.5 times the UK share, about 760 firms
- Sunderland6% of local businesses, 1.5 times the UK share, about 380 firms
- Newcastle upon Tyne6% of local businesses, 1.5 times the UK share, about 570 firms
- Glasgow6% of local businesses, 1.5 times the UK share, about 1,295 firms
- Hull6% of local businesses, 1.4 times the UK share, about 400 firms
Clients say it better than we do.
4.9300+ Google reviews of Accotax
“He took the time to explain every step of the process and made a complex situation much easier to understand.”
Hugo Alvarez
Google review of Accotax
“They take the time to understand how our business works and what our needs are.”
Mael Leboucher
Google review of Accotax
“Very prompt in responding to questions and patient with us even when we seem to be slow.”
Mansur Liman
Google review of Accotax
“The work was completed promptly, my tax return was successfully filed.”
Sergey M
Google review of Accotax
hairdressers and beauty: your questions.
How is chair rental treated?
Rent received from self-employed stylists is business income for the salon owner. The stylists keep their own takings and costs.
Related sectors.
- Restaurants and cafesCash, tips, stock and the VAT rules on hot food for restaurants and cafes.
- Gyms and personal trainersMemberships, direct debits and class income for gyms, studios and trainers.
- Retail shopsTill reconciliation, stock and retail VAT schemes for independent shops.
- Pubs and barsGross profit, stock, machine games duty and cash for pubs and bars.
- Market traders and street foodCash, stock, pitch fees and events for market stalls and street food traders.
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