Tax help for roofing contractors
You bid it, buy the material, pay the crew, and haul off the tear-off. We take care of the return that comes out of all of it, in English or Spanish.
Nothing is due today. Personal returns start at $250.
Roofing income does not arrive evenly. A slow stretch followed by a busy storm season can land most of your year in a few months, and that changes both what you owe and when you owe it. On top of that you are buying material by the square, paying crews who may or may not be your employees, and running trucks and equipment that the tax rules treat differently from each other.
What roofers 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.
Roofing material and supplies
Shingles, tile, underlayment, ice and water shield, drip edge, flashing, pipe boots, ridge vent, coil nails, sealant, and roof coatings all come off against the jobs they went on. Keep the supply house invoice with the job name on it.
Material you buy and stack in the yard for future jobs may not be deductible the day you pay for it. Which rule applies depends on your accounting method and how you track jobs, so tell us how you handle both.
Tear-off and disposal
Roll off container rental, landfill and tipping fees, dump trailer runs, tarps, and the magnetic sweeper you roll over the lawn when the job is done.
Keep the dump or scale ticket, not just the card charge. A bank line that shows a landfill name and nothing else is thin support if the return is ever questioned.
Fall protection and safety gear
Harnesses, lanyards, roof anchors, lifelines, guardrail and toe board material, hard hats, safety glasses, gloves, knee pads, and safety toe boots.
Safety gear counts because it is protective and not suitable for wearing off the job. Plain jeans, t-shirts, and ordinary boots are not deductible even if you only ever wear them to work.
Tools and equipment
Coil nailers, compressors and hoses, ladders and ladder hoists, conveyors, tile saws, seamers and brakes for metal panel, torch kits, kettles and mops, and the racks and boxes on the truck.
Smaller tools are often written off in the year you buy them, while larger equipment is normally recovered over time through depreciation. Elections exist that let you take more of the cost up front, and that choice affects later years, so we make it on purpose rather than by default.
Trucks, trailers, and miles
The work truck, dump trailer, boom or conveyor truck, plus fuel, tires, repairs, registration, and commercial auto insurance. For a vehicle you either track actual costs or use the standard mileage rate the IRS sets for that year, and you cannot mix the two methods on the same truck in the same year.
Driving from your house to your own shop is commuting and does not count. Shop to job, job to supply house, job to the dump, and job to job all count. Which method you may use also depends on the vehicle and on how it was depreciated in earlier years, and operating several vehicles at the same time can take the mileage method off the table, so bring the details on every truck.
Crew and subcontractor pay
What you pay tear off crews, installers, and helpers is deductible whether they are on payroll or working as subs. Payroll taxes, workers compensation premiums, and staffing agency invoices come off as well.
Get a signed Form W-9 before the first check and file Form 1099-NEC for subs who are not corporations once their pay for the year passes the reporting threshold in effect for that year. Cash handed out with nothing written down is a deduction you may not be able to support.
Insurance and bonds
General liability, workers compensation, commercial auto, inland marine coverage on tools and trailers, umbrella coverage, and the surety or permit bonds your license requires.
If you are on the cash method, the true up bill after a workers comp audit is deductible in the year you pay it. Your own health insurance premiums are not a Schedule C expense. They are handled in a different place on the return when you qualify, and we put them there.
License, permits, and training
State contractor license and renewals, qualifying agent fees, county permit and inspection fees, lien recording fees, manufacturer certification programs, OSHA and fall protection training, and roofing association dues.
Training that keeps up or sharpens the skills of the business you already run is deductible. Training that qualifies you for a different line of work is not, regardless of who paid for it.
Measurement and job software
Aerial measurement reports, estimating and insurance supplement software, roofing CRM and scheduling tools, proposal and signature apps, and the phone plan the crew runs on.
A drone or a phone used for both work and personal life is deductible only for the business share, and you need something on paper or in an app that shows the split.
Leads and advertising
Truck wraps and door magnets, yard signs, door hangers, canvasser pay, lead marketplace and local services ad fees, storm season mailers, and the sponsorship banner with your company name on it.
Paying or absorbing a homeowner's insurance deductible is not advertising. Some states also prohibit a contractor from doing it at all, so check your state's rule, keep it out of the pitch, and keep it off the books.
Job site and rental costs
Portable toilet rental, lift, telehandler, and crane rental for loading tile, scaffolding, generator fuel, storage yard or lot rent, and water and ice kept on the truck for the crew.
Food you buy for the crew or for a customer meeting falls under the meal rules, and only part of it is deductible. The deductible portion is set by law and has changed over the years, so we apply the one in force for your tax year.
Home office
If you run estimates, scheduling, and paperwork from a space at home, use it regularly and only for the business, and have no other fixed location where you do that work, a share of rent or mortgage interest, utilities, and insurance follows that space.
Exclusive use is strict. A room where the family also watches television does not qualify. Storing shingles or equipment in the garage does not create a deduction on its own for a service contractor, so do not count on the garage. Tell us how the space is actually used and we will test it against the rules.
A roofing business with no separate entity reports on Schedule C, and there is nothing wrong with staying there. Once the business is consistently profitable after paying you and the crew, an S corporation can change how much of that profit is exposed to self employment tax, but it also brings payroll, reasonable wages for the owner, a separate business return, and deadlines that do not move. It is worth running your actual numbers before making the switch rather than after.
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.
- Every Form 1099-NEC and Form 1099-K you received, plus your own record of jobs paid by check, card, or cash
- A year end profit and loss from your accounting software, or twelve months of business bank and card statements
- Year end statements from your roofing supply houses
- Signed Forms W-9 for every sub you paid and a list of what each one was paid during the year
- Payroll reports and any workers compensation audit statement, if you have employees
- Purchase and loan paperwork for any truck, trailer, or equipment you bought or financed, including the date you put it to work
- Mileage log or app export for each truck, with the odometer reading at the start and end of the year
- Permit, inspection, and dump ticket receipts
- Declarations pages for general liability, workers comp, commercial auto, and tool coverage
- A list of jobs invoiced but not collected, and any customer deposits you were still holding at year end
What trips people up
Paying crews in cash with nothing written down
Pay by check or transfer, collect a Form W-9 before the first payment, and file the Form 1099-NEC when it is required. Payments you cannot document are the ones most at risk if the return is ever questioned.
Writing off the whole truck because someone at the supply house said you could
How much of a vehicle you can write off in year one depends on its weight, how much you actually use it for work, and which elections you make. Bring the purchase paperwork and we run it the right way.
Trying to deduct the customer who never paid
If you report income when the money comes in, that invoice was never counted as income, so there is nothing to write off. What you actually lost was the material and the labor, and you already deducted both.
Counting every mile the truck turns
House to your own shop is commuting. Shop to job, job to supply house, job to the dump, and job to job are business miles. A mileage app sorts this out while you drive instead of in April.
Setting nothing aside during a big storm season
A heavy claim year raises your income tax and your self employment tax at the same time. Quarterly estimated payments keep the following spring from turning into a payment plan and help you avoid an underpayment penalty.
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
I got a Form 1099-NEC from a general contractor and I also took cash jobs. Do I report both?+
Yes. Everything you earned goes on the return whether a form was issued or not. The forms only tell the IRS about part of what came in, and your own records cover the rest.
My crew are subs, not employees. Is that my call?+
Not entirely. Whether someone is an employee or a subcontractor depends on how much control you have over how, when, and where the work gets done. States apply their own workers compensation and licensing tests on top of that, and roofing is a trade they look at closely. We would rather walk through it with you than have it come up in an audit.
I bought a dump trailer in December. Can I deduct it this year?+
The first test is whether the equipment was placed in service, meaning ready and available for use in your business, by the end of the year. Buying it late in December and putting it to work counts. Paying a deposit on something that shows up in February does not. How much of the cost comes off this year, rather than over time, depends on the depreciation elections we make with you.
Do I owe tax on an insurance check for a storm job?+
If the check is payment for work you performed, it is business income like any other job. What matters is the work and the payment, not who wrote the check.
I chased a storm and worked in another state. Does that change my return?+
It can. Some states want a return once you work or register there, and some cities have their own filing. Tell us where you worked and how long, and we will sort out which returns are actually needed.
Should I be putting money into a retirement account?+
A self employed roofer can look at a SEP IRA or a solo 401(k). Contributions can reduce your taxable income for the year, though they do not reduce self employment tax. The limits are set annually and depend on your profit. Once you have employees on payroll, some of these plans require covering them too, which is worth knowing before you pick one.
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.