Beauty & Wellness Bookkeeping in Ireland: Track Tax and Price Treatments Properly

Turn a Busy Diary into a Profitable Business

A fully booked diary can look like business success.

But after paying for products, rent, equipment, insurance, laundry, booking software, card fees, staff, training and tax, how much of that money do you actually keep?

This is one of the biggest challenges facing beauty and wellness business owners. Revenue may be coming in every day, but without a clear view of costs, tax and profit, it can still be difficult to know whether the business is genuinely performing well.

70Lives Business Finance Tracker helps beauty and wellness professionals replace financial guesswork with practical, up-to-date information.

This beauty and wellness bookkeeping app built in Ireland gives Irish sole traders and small limited companies a clearer way to track income, manage expenses, calculate pricing, monitor tax and understand what is available to take home.

A Finance App That Reflects How Beauty and Wellness Businesses Actually Work

Most general bookkeeping systems were not designed around appointments, treatments, products and service providers.

A salon does not just receive “income.” It may receive payments for:

• Hair colouring and styling

• BIAB, gel and acrylic nail services

• Lash and brow treatments

• Massage and wellness appointments

• Waxing and beauty treatments

• Product sales

• Packages, deposits and prepaid services

• Services delivered by different members of staff

  
  

70Lives allows these sales to be recorded in a way that provides meaningful business information, rather than leaving the owner with a list of unexplained bank transactions.

Sales can be entered manually, added using voice input, captured from supporting documents or imported from a spreadsheet. Client, service and staff information can also be attached where relevant.

This makes it easier to identify which services are generating revenue, which treatments are most popular and where the business may need to review its pricing or costs.

Know What You Earn—and What You Actually Keep

Income is only one part of the picture.

A beauty or wellness business may appear busy and successful while its profit margin is gradually being reduced by operating costs.

Common expenses include:

• Colour, toner and treatment stock

• Gels, acrylics and nail products

• Oils, wax and skincare products

• Gloves, cotton pads and disposables

• Towels and laundry

• Rent, chair rental or room hire

• Booking and salon management software

• Card-processing fees

• Insurance

• Equipment and replacement tools

• Repairs and maintenance

• Training and professional development

• Advertising and social media costs

• Staff wages and employer costs

  
  

Individually, some of these purchases may appear small. Across a month or year, however, they can have a substantial effect on profit.

70Lives helps owners record these costs as they arise. Receipts can be scanned or uploaded while the purchase is still fresh, instead of being left in a bag, drawer or email inbox until tax time.

This creates a more accurate financial picture and reduces the risk of forgetting legitimate business expenses.

See Your Business Position Before the End of the Year

Many small business owners do not receive a clear update on their finances until their accounts or tax return are being prepared. By then, the information is historical.

70Lives gives beauty and wellness professionals an ongoing view of business performance, including:

• Total income

• Total expenses

• Net profit

• Adjusted net profit

• Largest expense categories

• Most popular services

• Estimated tax set-aside

• VAT position

• Available take-home pay

• Progress towards business profit goals

  
  

This allows owners to recognise problems earlier.

For example, the app may show that sales have increased but take-home pay has not. It may reveal that product costs have risen, staff costs are absorbing more of the service price or a heavily booked treatment is producing a weaker margin than expected.

That information gives the owner an opportunity to respond before the issue becomes more serious.

Track Receipts Without Creating More Administration

Receipt management is often one of the most frustrating parts of running a small business.

Beauty and wellness professionals are usually focused on clients during the working day. When appointments finish, receipt entry and bookkeeping can easily be postponed.

70Lives makes the process faster by allowing receipts to be scanned or uploaded directly into the app.

This helps owners:

• Capture expenses before receipts are lost

• Keep supporting documents with the relevant records

• Reduce the end-of-year paperwork backlog

• Give their accountant access to better-organised information

• Maintain a clearer view of current business spending

  
  

The objective is not to turn a beauty professional into a bookkeeper. It is to make essential financial record-keeping fit more naturally into the working day.

Monitor VAT Before the Return Is Due

VAT can create a significant cash-flow problem when the money collected is treated as available business income.

When VAT setting is enabled in app, 70Lives separates transactions into net and VAT amounts. VAT-registered businesses can monitor:

• VAT charged on sales

• VAT paid on eligible purchases

• The current estimated net VAT position

  
  

This gives the owner an earlier indication of how much may need to be paid to Revenue, rather than discovering the amount only when the VAT return is prepared.

The information remains an estimate and should be reviewed and confirmed before filing, particularly where different VAT treatments, exemptions or restrictions may apply. However, having a visible running position can make it much easier to set money aside and manage cash flow responsibly.

Stop Pricing Treatments Based Only on Nearby Competitors

One of the most important features within 70Lives is its service pricing calculator.

Many beauty and wellness professionals choose prices by looking at nearby salons, copying competitors or adding a small increase to an old price list.

The problem is that another business may have completely different costs.

It may pay lower rent, use cheaper products, employ staff on different terms or operate from home. It may also be underpricing its own services.

A sustainable treatment price should consider:

• Product and consumable costs

• Treatment duration

• Preparation and cleaning time

• Product wastage

• Rent or room costs

• General business overheads

• Owner labour

• Staff labour

• Employer taxes and employment costs

• VAT

• The desired level of profit

  
  

70Lives brings these factors together to calculate a suggested price based on the business’s own figures.

Real life examples how 70Lives helps

Pricing a BIAB Nail Service

A nail technician can include the cost of base products, gel, files, disposables, appointment time, cleaning time, overheads and desired profit.

The calculation may show that a popular treatment is generating less profit than expected—particularly when appointment overruns, removals or nail art are not being charged appropriately.

Pricing a Massage Treatment

A massage therapist can account for oils, laundry, room hire, booking fees, treatment time and time required to prepare the space between clients.

A €60 appointment is not €60 of earnings when all of those costs are considered.

Pricing Salon Services Delivered by Staff

A salon owner can include hourly wages, employer payroll costs, holiday pay and other staff-related expenses.

This helps establish the minimum price required for a service to remain viable after labour is paid. A service may appear profitable before wages are included but deliver a very weak return once the full cost of providing it is calculated.

Separate Business Profit from Owner Pay

For many sole traders, the business bank balance and personal income can begin to feel like the same thing.

However, money in the bank may still be needed for VAT, tax, stock purchases, rent, wages or other upcoming costs.

The 70Lives budget planner helps owners distinguish between:

• Business revenue

• Operating costs

• Tax provisions

• Profit targets

• Owner labour

• Available take-home pay

  
  

This distinction is particularly important for owner-operated businesses.

The owner’s working time has value. A business is not truly profitable simply because the owner does not include their own labour when calculating the cost of a service.

Where the owner performs treatments, those hours can be incorporated into pricing calculations. Where staff deliver services, staff labour and employer costs can form part of the minimum pricing floor.

This creates a more realistic view of what each service must earn.

Understand Which Services Are Driving the Business

Busy does not always mean profitable, and popular does not always mean commercially strong.

A treatment may generate frequent bookings but require expensive products, excessive time or substantial rework. Another service may appear less frequently in the diary but generate a much stronger margin.

By recording useful service information, 70Lives can help business owners examine:

• Which services generate the most income

• Which treatments are booked most often

• Whether product costs are increasing

• How staff performance contributes to revenue

• Which areas may require a price review

• Whether the business is progressing towards its profit target

  
  

70Lives business analytics gives owners better evidence for decisions about pricing, promotions, service menus, opening hours and staff allocation.

Give Your Accountant Access to Better Records

70Lives does not replace the professional judgement of an accountant or tax adviser.

It helps create a better working relationship between the business owner and their accountant.

Accountants can be invited into the app to:

• Review uploaded receipts

• Check income and expense records

• Edit information where necessary

• Access supporting documentation

• Export reports for further review

  
  

The business owner remains informed throughout the year, while the accountant gains access to more organised records.

Instead of waiting blindly for an annual bookkeeping update, the owner can monitor the direction of the business and discuss potential issues with their accountant earlier.

Built for Sole Traders and Small Limited Companies

The financial needs of a self-employed nail technician may differ from those of a limited company operating a salon with employees.

70Lives supports both sole traders and small limited companies, helping them monitor the figures that matter to their structure.

For a sole trader, this may include:

• Business profit

• Estimated income tax

• VAT

• Allowable expenses

• Owner take-home pay

• Profit goals

For a small limited company, it may also include:

• Company profit

• Estimated corporation tax

• Payroll and staff costs

• VAT

• Director or owner withdrawals

• Staff and service profitability

  
  

This makes the app suitable for businesses as they grow—from a solo treatment provider working from home or renting a room to a salon employing a small team.

Who Is 70Lives Designed For?

70Lives can support a broad range of beauty and wellness professionals, including:

• Nail technicians

• Hair stylists

• Barbers

• Lash artists

• Brow specialists

• Makeup artists

• Beauty therapists

• Massage therapists

• Holistic and wellness practitioners

• Mobile beauty professionals

• Room and chair renters

• Independent salon owners

• Small salon and wellness companies

The app is designed around the financial reality of appointment-based and treatment-based work.

From a Full Diary to a Stronger Business

A busy diary is an achievement—but it should also produce a sustainable income.

Without clear financial information, it is easy to confuse sales with profit, underestimate tax, overlook expenses or continue offering services at prices that no longer work.

70Lives helps beauty and wellness business owners understand:

• What the business is earning

• What it is spending

• What it may owe in VAT and tax

• Which services are performing well

• Whether current prices cover the real cost of delivery

• What may genuinely be available to take home

  
  

It gives sole traders and small limited companies a practical way to stay closer to their finances without relying on complicated accounting software or waiting until the end of the year. Your diary shows how busy you are. 70Lives helps you understand how profitable you are.

First and only beauty and wellness bookkeeping app built in Ireland.

Start Using 70Lives

Move away from spreadsheets, scattered receipts and financial guesswork.

Use 70Lives to track your income and expenses, monitor tax and VAT, calculate sustainable service prices and see more clearly what your beauty or wellness business is producing.

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