A painting company sells labor. Paint is a small share of the job, the crew is the rest, and the only number that decides whether a job made money is hours worked against hours bid. Most painting books do not track that number at all. They track deposits and paint store receipts and hope.
Zero Tax keeps the books for painting contractors. Labor is tracked to the job. Painters are classified the way Florida will classify them. Bookkeeping, tax preparation, and planning come on one flat monthly fee.
A painting job is won or lost on crew hours. If the books show only the deposit and the final payment, the owner learns a job lost money after the truck is already on the next one. We connect time tracking to the job so every job closes with hours bid, hours worked, and the margin that resulted.
You pay sales tax on paint at the store because you are the final buyer on a job painted into a building. Some painting invoices then add tax on the materials line, charging the customer a second time. We fix the invoice template.
A painter who works your jobs, your hours, with your sprayer, is an employee in Florida’s eyes. Painting is a construction trade, so coverage is required from the first employee. We sort this out before the season, not after the audit letter.
Every job closes with three numbers: hours bid, hours worked, and the margin left. A job that runs 25 percent over on hours can lose a quarter of its profit while the invoice looks fine.
Example: An exterior repaint is sold at $9,000 (made-up figures). The bid carries 120 crew hours and $1,100 of paint and sundries. Crew time costs $32 an hour once payroll tax, workers’ comp and insurance are added. As bid, the job leaves $4,060. The crew takes 150 hours. The job leaves $3,100. That $960 gap stays invisible unless hours are coded to the job.
The monthly close lists every finished job this way. After a season, the owner knows the real hours for a ranch-house exterior, a two-story interior, or a commercial repaint, and bids the next one from fact.
Painters run Jobber, Housecall Pro, PaintScout, or DripJobs. The estimate tools are good at bidding hours and bad at reporting them afterward. We connect time tracking to QuickBooks Online, map jobs to income and labor accounts, and close each job with its real margin. Deposits are held as customer credits until the job starts.
Read our guides to Builder Prime and Buildertrend with QuickBooks Online.
Paint, primer, caulk, and tape used on a job are taxed when you buy them. The customer pays no tax on a painting contract. Paint sold to a customer to use themselves is a retail sale and is taxed on the invoice.
Painting is a construction trade. Workers’ compensation starts at the first employee. A painter on a 1099 who works only your jobs, on your schedule, is an employee in the state’s eyes.
The county tangible property return is due April 1. The first $25,000 of equipment value is exempt once the first return is filed.
Sprayers, lifts, and pressure washers go on the tangible return. The van does not.
A work van over 6,000 pounds is outside the passenger-car depreciation caps. A spray rig or lift bought after January 19, 2025 qualifies for 100 percent bonus depreciation. Whether to take it all now is a planning call.
Florida has no personal income tax. For a painting company owner, the S corporation math is federal: payroll tax saved against a reasonable salary and the cost of running payroll. We run it with your numbers first.
Painting margins hide in two places. Paint and sundries belong to the job, not to a shop supplies account, or every bid looks more profitable than it was. Prep crews and finish crews cost different amounts per hour, so labor has to be coded by crew. With both fixed, interior and exterior work show their own margins, and pricing stops being a guess.
Greg Neilsen, our tax expert, holds a law degree and a master’s in tax law (LLM). He reviews every return before it is filed.
The books, payroll, and filings run through our team in the Tampa office. The person who closes your month is the person who answers your question. We answer or call back within 24 hours.
More: every trade we serve, remodelers and general contractors, roofing companies, and our services.
One call tells us both whether this fits. Tell us about the painting business: trucks, crews, payroll, and what the books look like today. You leave knowing what Zero Tax would handle and what the flat monthly fee would be. Bookkeeping, tax preparation, and planning come on one number, starting at $750 a month, in writing before any work starts.
Hours worked against hours bid, per job, with paint and supplies added. That report is part of every monthly close for a painting client.
No. You pay it on the paint when you buy it. Charging it again on the invoice is the most common error we see on painting tickets.
Only if they run their own painting business: their own tools, their own customers, their own coverage. A painter who works only for you is an employee, and Florida checks.
In an S corporation, a reasonable salary set from what the business actually earns, with the rest taken as distributions. We set it from the real profit, in writing, and adjust it as the business grows.
Usually, yes. Equipment bought after January 19, 2025 qualifies for 100 percent bonus depreciation. Whether you should take it all now depends on this year’s profit and next year’s. That is a planning call, and it is included in the fee.
Start with your loaded crew cost per hour: the wage plus payroll tax, workers’ comp and insurance. Multiply by the hours your past jobs of the same type actually took. Add paint and sundries, then the margin you need. Our monthly job report gives you the real hours.
One free 15-minute call with Greg. Bring your questions. Leave knowing what Zero Tax would handle for your business and what it would cost.
Book a free 15-minute callNo pressure, no obligation. Just clarity.
