Tattoo studio bookkeeping: splits, deposits, and records per piece

The split decides whose revenue it is

Most studios run one of two models. Under a percentage split, the client's payment is collected at the desk, the artist's share is paid out, and the studio's revenue is its percentage — the artist's share is never studio income, it is money held for the artist. Under chair rent, artists collect their own money and the studio's only revenue is the weekly rent, which carries HST as a taxable supply. Either way, each resident artist is a separate business responsible for their own income, expenses, and GST/HST registration past the $30,000 small-supplier threshold.

The mechanics matter at the desk: when split-model payments run through one terminal, the artist shares accumulate in a payable-to-artists liability, and weekly settlement statements show each artist their gross, the split, and any supply charges. Guest artists get the same statement treatment, and where fees are paid to unincorporated artists, T4A reporting is on the year-end checklist rather than an afterthought.

Deposits sit as liabilities until the needle moves

Booking deposits are the studio's other pile of money that is not income yet. A deposit is a client liability when taken; it becomes revenue only when it is applied against a session or forfeited under your no-show policy. Multi-session custom work stretches this over months — the standard practice of holding the deposit and applying it to the final session means a busy studio can be sitting on a meaningful liability balance that a cash-basis view would call profit.

Flash versus custom: two pricing records

Flash and custom work produce different paper. Flash is a posted price for a single sitting — the record is simple, but flash events and walk-in days are cash-heavy and need a same-day count sheet. Custom work is quoted by the hour or by the piece across multiple sessions, so the record is a running file per piece: the quote, deposit, each session's hours and charge, and the final settlement where the deposit lands. That per-piece trail is what lets you answer, months later, why a client's card was charged what it was — and it is what supports the revenue number if CRA ever asks how a cash-heavy studio's income was built.

Cash, HST, and the studio close

Tattooing is a taxable service, and the industry's cash habits are exactly why studio books need visible discipline: numbered receipts or POS tickets for every sitting, deposits to the bank intact, and a daily close where booked sessions reconcile to money in. Consumables — needles, ink caps, gloves, barrier film — are single-use by health regulation, so supply spend tracks session volume closely; a supply line growing faster than session revenue is a question worth asking early. Aftercare and merch sales run as a small retail stream with their own margin. The month-end routine that pulls it together is on our bookkeeping services page, and for artists taking US guest spots or convention bookings, the withholding and W-8BEN side lives in our tattoo cross-border tax guide.