Accounting for Contractors.
Bookkeeping and tax filing for trades and home-service contractors, handled by an IRS Enrolled Agent. 100% virtual, so you never lose a day on the job to a meeting.
A Trades Business Doesn’t Fit Generic Books.
Are your books built for a contractor, or for an office?
Most bookkeeping is set up for a business with a desk, a laptop and steady monthly income. Yours has trucks, tools, crews and jobs that pay on their own schedule.
When those get lumped into a few generic categories, the deductions don’t disappear. They just never get claimed. And the numbers you’d use to price your next job are wrong.
We do bookkeeping and tax filing together, by the same person. The way your books are built during the year decides what you owe in April.
Six Things Contractor Books Have to Get Right.
These aren’t loopholes. They’re ordinary rules that get missed when nobody looks at a trades business specifically.
Your Truck
There are two ways to write off a work vehicle. One is a flat rate per mile. The other is what you really spend on gas, tires, repairs and insurance.
A truck that hauls tools and materials all day often does better on actual costs. We run both before picking one.
Your Tools and Equipment
Tools and equipment aren’t supplies. Smaller purchases can often be written off the year you buy them. Larger ones can too, under a rule called Section 179.
California caps that write-off well below the federal limit. So a big purchase can come off your federal return in one year and your state return over several. Your books have to track both.
Your Crew
This is the expensive one.
In California, a job worth $1,000 or more in labor and materials needs a contractor’s license. Under Labor Code 2750.5, a worker doing licensed work without his own license isn’t a sub. He’s an employee, whatever the two of you agreed.
If you paid him on a 1099, the back taxes and penalties land on you. We tell you which workers are which and file the 1099s for your real subs. We don’t run payroll.
Your Deposits
On cash-basis books, money counts as income the day it hits your account. Cash basis means income counts when you’re paid and expenses count when you pay them.
So a deposit in December is income this year, even if the job starts in March. We plan around that before year end, not after.
Your Jobs
Revenue tells you how much came in. It doesn’t tell you which jobs paid.
We track income and costs by job, and by type of work, like service calls versus installs. Then you can see where you make money and price the next job on real numbers.
Your Field Software
Jobber, Housecall Pro and ServiceTitan pay you in batches. One deposit can cover a dozen jobs, minus card fees.
That deposit will never match a single invoice. We match every payout back to the jobs inside it, every month, and book the fees as the expense they are.
Key Takeaway: All six are decided in your bookkeeping, months before anyone opens a tax return. That’s why we do both.
Want the full list of write-offs? Read Contractor Tax Deductions: What You Can Write Off. Or take the 3-minute Write-Off Diagnostic to see which write-offs you might be missing.
Built for the Trades.
Every trade has its own version of these problems. See how we handle yours:
Don’t see your trade? We also work with roofers, and with most other licensed home-service businesses on cash-basis books. Book a call and ask.
One Person, Both Jobs.
Monthly Bookkeeping
Cash basis, in QuickBooks Online. Reconciled every month and set up for a contractor: by job, by truck, by crew.
Bookkeeping for contractors → Already behind? Start with a catch-up → New to QuickBooks? Start with setup →Tax Filing
Sole proprietor and S-corp returns, priced per return. No monthly plan required. Multi-state if you work outside California.
See tax prep pricing →The Part In Between
Entity setup, 1099s for your subs, quarterly estimated tax numbers, and a straight answer before you buy the next truck.
Priced Up Front.
Monthly bookkeeping for a contracting business starts at $500. Tax returns are priced per return and start at $700 for a sole proprietor.
You can see the full bookkeeping plans or get a tax prep estimate in under two minutes. No call required for either.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do you work with sole proprietors or only S-corps?
Both. We prepare sole proprietor and S-corp returns. If you’re wondering whether an S-corp makes sense for you, our free Tax Savings Calculator gives you a first estimate.
Do you work with general contractors and construction companies?
We’re built for trades and home-service contractors on cash-basis books. Larger general contractors that need percentage-of-completion accounting or work-in-progress schedules for bonding are better served by a firm that specializes in construction.
I already have a bookkeeper. Do I have to switch?
No. Plenty of contractors come to us for tax filing only. If your books come in clean, we’ll tell you.
Do you run payroll?
No. We tell you whether a worker should be on payroll or paid as a sub, and we file the 1099s for your subs. Payroll processing itself is not something we do.
What software do you use?
QuickBooks Online for the books. We work alongside the field software you already run, like Jobber, Housecall Pro or ServiceTitan.
Do you work with contractors anywhere in the U.S.?
Yes. We’re 100% virtual. Everything happens by phone, video, email and a secure portal.
Running a contracting business year round? Monthly bookkeeping keeps your books tax-ready and your numbers current, starting at $500 a month.
See Bookkeeping Pricing →Let's Talk.
At Civita Tax Solutions, we help home service business owners save money on taxes with all-in-one accounting. We handle your bookkeeping, advisory, and tax filing. You focus on the business. We handle the finances.
Every contractor’s books are different. A quick conversation tells us if we’re the right fit.
Book a Free Consultation