Handyman taxes, done by people who know the work
You fix what other people cannot. Nobody ever handed you the tax rules that come with it. We handle the return, the Schedule C, and the quarterly payments, in English or Spanish.
Nothing is due today. Personal returns start at $250.
A handyman's return looks simple until you sit down with it. Your money comes in several different ways, some with a Form 1099-NEC and some in cash, and your truck, your tools, and often a corner of your garage are all part of the business. Track those right during the year and the return is straightforward. Miss them and you end up paying tax on money you already spent on a job.
What handyman services can usually deduct
Ordinary and necessary costs of your work. Rules and dollar limits change year to year, so we confirm every one of these against the current year when we prepare your return.
Tools you buy for the truck
Drills, impact drivers, reciprocating saws, blades and bits, hole saws, levels, stud finders, pipe wrenches, caulk guns, drywall knives, tile nippers. The batteries and chargers too.
Smaller hand tools can often be deducted in the year you buy them. A larger purchase like a compressor, a generator, or a tile saw may have to be written off over several years, though first year expensing elections can apply if you qualify and have the business profit to absorb them. Keep the receipt, not just the card charge.
Your truck or van
You can deduct either the IRS standard mileage rate for that year times your business miles, or the actual cost of gas, oil, tires, repairs, insurance, registration, and depreciation for the business share of use.
The drive from your house to your first job and home from the last one is generally commuting, and commuting is not deductible. That can change if your home qualifies as your principal place of business, and travel to a temporary work site can be treated differently, so let us look at your actual pattern. Also, if you ever want the option of using the standard mileage rate on a vehicle, you generally have to choose it the first year you put that vehicle to work.
Job materials and supplies
Caulk, screws, anchors, wire nuts, PVC fittings, joint compound, grout, sandpaper, paint, weatherstripping, shims, and everything else that leaves the truck and stays at the customer's house.
When you bill a customer for materials, that reimbursement is income and the material is an expense. Report both. Do not subtract one from the other and report the difference, because it makes your gross receipts look wrong next to the forms the IRS already has.
Ladders, racks, and van setup
Extension and step ladders, ladder racks, shelving and drawer systems, job boxes, a locking tool chest, a utility trailer and its tag and registration.
A full van build out or a trailer is treated as equipment and is often written off over several years, though a first year expensing election may apply. Note the date you put it into service, because that is where the write off starts.
Safety gear
Steel toe boots, cut resistant gloves, safety glasses, hard hat, knee pads, hearing protection, respirator and replacement cartridges, fall harness, first aid kit for the truck.
Protective gear counts. Regular clothing does not, even if you only ever wear it on jobs, because jeans and t-shirts are suitable for everyday wear. Shirts printed with your business name are a separate question worth asking us about.
Licenses, permits, and bonds
City or county occupational license, contractor or handyman registration, permit fees you pull for a job, surety bond premiums, and certification renewals such as the EPA lead safe renovator certification.
A permit fee you pay and then bill back to the homeowner is income and expense, same as materials. Fines and penalties paid to a government, including one for working without a permit, are generally not deductible.
Insurance on the work
General liability, tool and equipment coverage for what gets stolen out of the truck, commercial auto on the work vehicle, and workers compensation if you carry it.
Only the business share of a policy that also covers personal use belongs on the business return. Your own health insurance does not go on Schedule C at all. If you qualify, it is claimed as an adjustment to income on your personal return instead, and there are conditions, including a limit tied to your business profit and whether you could join a plan through an employer or a spouse's employer.
Dump fees and rented equipment
Transfer station and landfill charges, dumpster or bag service, hauling out old cabinets, a water heater, or torn out drywall. Plus anything you rent for a day: jackhammer, scaffold, drain auger, floor sander, wet saw.
Rental receipts from the big box store often get mixed in with material receipts on the same account statement. Pull the account history for the year instead of hunting for paper.
Getting the phone to ring
Lead fees from Angi, Thumbtack, or Nextdoor, Google and Facebook ads, yard signs, door hangers, business cards, your website and domain, and lettering or a wrap on the truck.
The lettering on your truck is advertising and it is deductible. It does not turn the drive to the job into a deductible trip. Those are two separate rules, and it is worth keeping them separate in your head.
Phone, apps, and getting paid
The business share of your cell phone bill, scheduling and invoicing apps, estimating software, bookkeeping software, cloud storage for before and after job photos, the card reader and its processing fees.
Only the business use portion of a phone you also use personally is deductible. And money that reaches you through Zelle, Venmo, or Cash App is income whether or not any form ever shows up for it.
Space at home you use for the business
A room, or a separate structure such as a garage or shed, that you use only for the business: storing tools and materials, loading the truck, writing estimates, and sending invoices. If it qualifies, you deduct a share of rent or mortgage interest, property tax, insurance, and utilities, or you can use the IRS simplified option instead.
The exclusive and regular use rule is strict. A garage where the family car parks and the kids' bikes live does not qualify, and simply storing tools somewhere does not create the deduction on its own. The deduction is also capped by the profit of the business, so it cannot create a loss. If a space does qualify, it can change whether your drive from home to the first stop counts as business mileage, so it is worth getting right.
Helpers and subcontractors
A day laborer on a two person job, or a licensed electrician or plumber you bring in on work you pulled. What you pay them is deductible.
Get a signed Form W-9 before you write the first check. If you pay an unincorporated helper more than the IRS reporting threshold for the year, you owe them a Form 1099-NEC. And if you set their hours, supply their tools, and direct how the work gets done, they may legally be an employee, which is a payroll question, not a 1099 question.
A one person handyman business reports on Schedule C, and that stays appropriate for a long time. An S corporation election can reduce self employment tax once profit is consistently high, but it also requires paying yourself reasonable wages through real payroll all year and filing a separate business return, and those costs are real. Whether it helps depends on your actual numbers, so we run the comparison first and file the paperwork second.
What to bring us
You do not need all of it to start. Send what you have and your checklist shows what is still open.
- Any Form 1099-NEC or 1099-K you received, including from property managers, general contractors, Angi, Thumbtack, or your card processor
- Your total income for the year including cash, checks, Zelle, Venmo, and Cash App, whether that is an invoice list, an app export, or bank deposits
- Bank and credit card statements for the year, including personal cards you put job materials on
- Your account history from Home Depot, Lowe's, or the supply house, which usually captures materials and rentals in one place
- A list of tools and equipment bought during the year with dates and prices, plus receipts for anything sizable
- Mileage log or app export, total miles on the truck for the year, and the date you first started using that vehicle for work
- Vehicle details: year, make, model, loan or lease paperwork, and totals for insurance, repairs, and registration
- Receipts for licenses, permits, bonds, and insurance policies
- Signed W-9s and the amount paid to every helper or subcontractor
- If you use space at home: square footage of that space, square footage of the whole home, and the year's rent or mortgage interest, property tax, insurance, and utilities
What trips people up
Counting every mile from the driveway as a business mile
Log the date, the address, the purpose, and the miles for each trip. The first and last trip of the day may be commuting depending on whether your home qualifies as your principal place of business. Log it all and let us sort out which miles survive.
Writing off your own lunch between jobs
A sandwich you eat alone in the truck is not a business meal. A meal where you are actually talking work with a customer, a sub, or a supplier can be partly deductible. Write the name and the reason on the receipt in the parking lot, because you will not remember it in March.
Reporting only the jobs that came with a form
Report the whole year, cash included, then take every tool, mile, and material you are entitled to. Your reported income is also the figure a lender generally looks at when you want to finance a truck or buy a house.
Trying to deduct an invoice the customer never paid
If you use the cash method, meaning you report income when the money actually reaches you, you never picked that unpaid invoice up as income, so there is nothing to write off. What you actually lost was your time and the materials, and the materials are already deducted.
Calling a regular helper a subcontractor because that is how it has always been done
Get the W-9 before the first payment, and let us look at who controls the schedule, the tools, and the method before the year closes. Fixing worker classification early is cheaper than fixing it after a state notice arrives.
What it costs
Our published list, the same one everyone sees. Prices marked "from" are starting points, and your exact number is confirmed in writing before any work begins.
$0 is due today. You pay when you sign, or you can have your fee come out of your refund, so it can be $0 out of pocket.
Questions we get from your trade
Most of my customers pay me in cash. Do I really have to report it?+
Yes. Income is income regardless of how it arrives. The upside is that reporting all of it is exactly what lets you deduct the tools, the truck, the materials, and the dump fees against it, and your reported income is the figure a lender generally looks at when you want to finance a work truck or a house.
Do I need an LLC?+
An LLC is a state filing about liability, and whether it protects you is a legal question rather than a tax one. On the tax side it does not change much by itself: a single member LLC still reports on Schedule C by default. Do not form one expecting the tax bill to move on its own.
I use the same truck for work and for my family. Can I still deduct it?+
Yes, the business share of it. That is why the mileage log matters. Whether the standard mileage rate or actual expenses gives you the better result depends on the age of the truck, what you paid for it, and how hard you run it, and we compare both.
Do I pay anything during the year, or just at filing time?+
Nobody withholds tax from a customer's check, so self employed people generally make estimated payments during the year, federal and state where your state has an income tax. On top of income tax you owe self employment tax on your net profit once your earnings reach the level the IRS sets, reported on Schedule SE, and that is the part that catches people in their first strong year. We work out the quarterly number with you so it is not a surprise later.
Do I have to charge sales tax on the materials I install?+
That depends on your state, and states genuinely disagree on this. Some treat labor and materials differently, some treat a repair differently from an improvement, and some ask you to pay tax at the supply house instead of collecting it. Tell us where you work and we check the rule that applies to you.
I have not filed in a couple of years. Can you still help?+
Yes. Bring whatever you have, even if it is a shoebox and some bank statements. We look at which years are actually open, file them in order starting with the oldest, and handle the notices as they come. We cannot promise any particular result on penalties or balances, but getting the returns filed is the step that has to happen before anything else can be worked out.
Let us take the tax part off your plate.
Tell us what you need and see your price. A real person on your team replies within one business day.