Accounting for San Diego Plumbers.
Bookkeeping and tax filing for plumbing contractors, handled by an IRS Enrolled Agent. 100% virtual, so you never leave a job site for a meeting.
Your Books Were Not Built for a Plumbing Company.
Are you paying tax on money your truck already spent?
Most bookkeepers treat a plumbing company like any other small business. Money in, money out, done.
That works fine for a consultant with a laptop. It does not work for you.
You run a service vehicle. You carry tools worth more than most people's cars. You bill a 2am callout differently than a scheduled repipe. You pay helpers who may or may not be employees. Every one of those is a place where the wrong entry costs you money in April.
We do bookkeeping and tax filing together, for one reason. The way your books get built in January decides what you owe next April. Split those two jobs across two people and the deductions fall in the gap.
Six Places Plumbing Companies Leave Money on the Table.
None of these are loopholes. They are ordinary rules that get missed when nobody is looking at your business specifically.
Your Truck
You can write off your truck two ways. One is a flat rate per mile. The other is what you really spend on gas, tires, repairs, and insurance.
Most preparers pick the mileage rate. Why? It is less work.
Your truck is heavy and it drinks fuel. Actual costs often save you more. But the year you pick sets the rules going forward, so we run both first.
Your Tools
A jetter, a camera, and a locator are not office supplies. They are equipment, and equipment has its own rules.
Small tools can often be written off the same year you buy them. Big ones can too, under a rule called Section 179.
Either way it only works if the purchase was booked right. Miss that and the write-off is gone before your return is started.
Your Helper
This is the expensive one.
California has a rule most owners never hear about. Labor Code 2750.5 says that to be a real subcontractor on licensed work, the person has to hold the license himself.
Your helper does not have a C-36. So he is not a sub. He is an employee, whatever the two of you agreed.
Why does that matter? If you paid him on a 1099, the back taxes and penalties land on you.
We tell you which one he is, and we file the 1099s for your licensed subs. We do not run payroll.
Emergency Work vs Scheduled Work
A 2am callout and a scheduled water heater install are not the same business.
One pays well and you cannot plan it. The other pays less and you can. Put both in one bucket called revenue and you cannot tell which one is feeding you.
We split them. Then you can decide whether to take more night calls or fewer.
Your Field Software
Jobber, Housecall Pro, and ServiceTitan pay you in batches. One deposit covers six jobs, minus fees.
That deposit will never match an invoice. So it gets forced, or dumped in a bucket called uncategorized. By December nobody knows what is real.
We match every deposit back to the jobs inside it, every month.
When to Become an S Corp
An S corp is a tax status, not a new business. It can cut the 15.3% self-employment tax you pay on your own earnings.
It is not free. It adds a return, payroll, and paperwork. Under a certain profit, it costs more than it saves.
There is a number where it starts to pay off. We tell you yours before you spend anything.
Key Takeaway: Four of those six are decided in your bookkeeping, months before anyone opens a tax return. That is why we do both.
One Person, Both Jobs.
Monthly Bookkeeping
Cash basis, in QuickBooks Online. Reconciled every month, categorized for a plumbing company, not a generic one.
See bookkeeping plans →Tax Filing
Your return, priced per return. No monthly plan required. Multi-state if you work outside California.
See tax prep pricing →The Part In Between
Entity setup, 1099 filing for your subs, and a straight answer when you are about to buy a truck.
Priced Up Front.
Monthly bookkeeping for a plumbing company starts at $650. 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 one-truck shops or only bigger companies?
Both. A one-truck operation and a six-truck company need different things, and the monthly plans scale accordingly. The bookkeeping is the same quality either way.
I already have a bookkeeper. Do I have to switch?
No. Plenty of plumbers come to us for tax filing only, and keep the bookkeeper they have. If the books arrive clean, we say so.
Do you run payroll?
No. We tell you whether a helper should be W-2 or 1099, and we file the 1099s for your subs. Payroll processing itself is not something we do.
Can you fix a prior year?
Every return we prepare includes a review of your prior year for missed deductions or errors. If we find something worth amending, we will tell you what it is worth before you decide.
Do you work with plumbers outside San Diego?
We are 100% virtual, so location is not a limit. San Diego is where most of our clients are.
Do I need to come to an office?
There is no office. Everything happens by phone, video call, email, and a secure portal. You will not lose a billable morning to a meeting.
Running a plumbing business year round? Monthly bookkeeping keeps your books tax ready and your numbers current, starting at $650 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 plumbing company's books are different. A quick conversation tells us if we are the right fit.
Book a Free Consultation