FOR COACHES
Eleven coaches running six-figure practices went silent at one question. It was costing the host $14,300 a year.
Eleven coaches sat around a farm table in the Catskills for our September mastermind kickoff, the kind of retreat where everyone tracks macros and nobody tracks mileage. Someone asked the table point-blank, wait, what is a tax write-off, actually, and a room generating a combined seven figures a year went completely quiet.
Book Free ReviewPhoenix · September 1, 2026 · 6 min read
One dinner. One question. One number.
11
coaches who could not define a write-off
“I've been coaching for six years and I genuinely thought write-offs were something you dealt with once a year, in a panic, in March. Amadae found $14,300 in deductions I was already entitled to and had never claimed, in the same week I found out my retreat travel counted too.”
Retreat host · Business coach, $310,000 signature program
The Story
A write-off is simply a business expense the IRS lets you subtract from taxable income before the bill is calculated. It is not a dollar-for-dollar discount on what you owe. Nobody at that table would say out loud that they coach clients through six-figure transformations, run cohorts through Kajabi, collect on Stripe and PayPal, and still could not name what counts in their own business. There is a specific, quiet shame in that.
The Problem
The pain sounded identical from person to person. I know I am missing write-offs but I do not know where to start. My accountant just files my return. I have no idea if my program is even profitable once I count Kajabi fees, my certification renewal, and the twelve subscriptions I forgot I was paying for. The host runs a $310,000 signature program through three launches a year and had not had her books properly reviewed in four years. If you assume an accountant would have caught it, hers did not.
$14,300
in deductions the retreat host was entitled to and had never claimed, in one year
Amadae review of one coaching practice, August 2025
What We Tried
Every coach at the table had tried something. TurboTax during a slow week in January. A generalist CPA who treats a coaching business like a hobby with a W-2 attached. A chaotic Google Drive folder of screenshots labeled maybe deductible. None of it answered the actual question, and none of it could say whether the program was profitable after platform fees.
What the usual fixes answered
Sound familiar? A 30-minute call tells you exactly where you stand.
Book Free ReviewFree 30-minute review. No pitch deck.
The Discovery
The IRS standard is that a business expense must be ordinary and necessary for your trade. Ordinary means common in your field. Necessary means helpful and appropriate, not indispensable. That single standard, correctly applied, surfaced $14,300 the host had never claimed: her certification renewal, her home office, business meals with prospective clients, her Kajabi, Zoom, and Calendly stack, and a portion of the very retreat she flew to. A write-off does not erase the bill. It shrinks the income the bill is calculated on, and for lumpy launch income that compounds fast.
What a $10,000 write-off actually does
Illustrative. A write-off shrinks taxable income, not the bill dollar for dollar.
The FixAMADAE
Amadae connects to Kajabi, Stripe, and PayPal and categorizes every transaction as it lands, flagging what qualifies under the ordinary-and-necessary standard instead of leaving it to a January guessing game. Quarterly estimates are calculated from real launch income, which matters more for coaches than almost anyone because a launch week can bring $60,000 and the next six weeks $4,000. Past a certain revenue point, real accountants walk through whether an S-corp actually saves money once payroll and reasonable compensation are counted, all for one flat monthly price.
Who answers the question
| TurboTax | Generalist CPA | Amadae | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kajabi, Stripe, PayPal in one ledger | |||
| Write-offs flagged as they happen | |||
| Program profit after platform fees | |||
| Quarterlies from lumpy launch income | Extra fee | ||
| S-corp math with reasonable compensation | Extra fee | ||
| Year-end returns filed | DIY |
The Proof
Her results were not unique. A separate review of a coaching practice built around a single $340,000 signature offer found the same pattern: strong revenue, no structure underneath it. Both had been treating write-offs as something you deal with once a year, in a panic, in March.
“I've been coaching for six years and I genuinely thought write-offs were something you dealt with once a year, in a panic, in March. Amadae found $14,300 in deductions I was already entitled to and had never claimed, in the same week I found out my retreat travel counted too.”
Retreat host
Business coach, $310,000 signature program
$14,300 in unclaimed deductions found
Why NowAMADAE
September is when coaches reset: new cohort, new launch calendar, new energy. It is also the moment to fix the part of the business you have been avoiding since January, before Q4 launch income arrives in the same lumpy, unpredictable way it always does. The review is free, there is no long-term contract, and most coaches find their first set of missed deductions inside the first session.
$60K then $4K
a launch week and the six weeks after it. The IRS still expects the quarterly on time.
Typical launch-based coaching income, from the practices reviewed
11
coaches who could not define a write-off
$14,300
the host had never claimed, in one year
4 years
since her books were properly reviewed
12
subscriptions she had forgotten she paid for
One client, with permission. Your numbers will differ.
Books, payroll, and taxes from real accountants, for one flat monthly price starting at $249.
No long-term contract. Cancel any time. The intro call is free.
Plans from
$249/mo
If you make $40K - $69K. Flat, no hourly bills.
Straight answers
The ordinary-and-necessary standard has no revenue floor. A coach earning $60,000 and one earning $600,000 leave money on the table the same way, just at different scales.
Filing a return and building a tax strategy are not the same job, and most generalist CPAs only do the first. The host had one for four years and still had $14,300 unclaimed.
The opposite. Under-documented, guessed-at deductions draw attention. A system that tracks the paper trail as transactions happen is what protects you.
Built for coaches running their business through Kajabi, Stripe, and PayPal who are done guessing what a write-off is and done finding out what they owe after the money is spent. Free review, no contract.
Book Free Review
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A coach's $212K launch week looked like proof she'd made it, until the real math on business and taxes showed she'd already spent profit she never had.