A remodeling job takes deposits before it starts, progress payments while it runs, and a final check when the punch list closes. Between those checks sit subcontractors, material orders, change orders, and a client who wants to know where the money went. If the books count every deposit as income, the job looks profitable until it is over and the profit is gone.
Zero Tax keeps the books for remodelers and general contractors. Deposits are held until the work is done. Every job carries its own costs. Subs are tracked inside the books, not beside them. Bookkeeping, tax preparation, and planning come on one flat monthly fee.
A fifty percent deposit on a kitchen is not fifty percent of the profit. It is the client’s money until the work is delivered. When deposits go straight to income, the year-end shows profit on jobs that have not started and the tax bill arrives before the money is earned. We hold deposits as customer liabilities and release them as the job progresses.
Small contractors can choose how long jobs are reported: when the job completes, or as it progresses. The choice changes when income shows up and how much tax is due in a given year. Most remodelers never made the choice; the software made it for them. We make it on purpose, with the numbers in front of us.
Subcontractor payments, their W-9s, their lien waivers, and the retainage held from them live in a spreadsheet nobody reconciles. January arrives and the 1099s are a scramble. We keep the subs inside QuickBooks Online: vendor records, W-9 on file, payments by job, retainage tracked, 1099s ready by the second week of January.
remodelers run Buildertrend, JobTread, CoConstruct, or Houzz Pro. Those tools manage the schedule and the client. QuickBooks Online has to carry the same jobs with the same costs. We map estimates to jobs, progress invoices to draws, and sub payments to job costs, then run a monthly job report: billed, collected, cost to date, and what is left.
Cabinets, tile, drywall, and fixtures installed in a home are taxed when you buy them. The homeowner pays no tax on a lump-sum remodel. Items sold separately and left for the owner to install are retail sales, taxed on the invoice.
Remodeling is a construction trade. Workers’ compensation starts at the first employee. Every sub on your job needs a certificate on file, or their crew counts under your policy.
Contractors under the small-contractor threshold have a choice of methods for long-term contracts. Above it, the choice is made for you. We check the threshold every year.
The April 1 tangible return covers saws, compressors, scaffolding, and the tools in the job trailer. Licensed vehicles stay off it. The first $25,000 is exempt once the first return is filed.
A crew truck over 6,000 pounds is outside the passenger-car depreciation caps. Tools and equipment bought after January 19, 2025 qualify for 100 percent bonus depreciation. We match the timing to the jobs you expect to close.
Florida has no personal income tax. For a general contractor, the S corporation math is federal payroll tax against a reasonable salary. We run it before anyone files.
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, electrical contractors, roofing companies, and our services.
One call tells us both whether this fits. Tell us about the remodeling 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.
As the work is done, or when it completes, depending on the method the business has chosen. Not when the deposit lands. The method is chosen once and applied every year.
It depends on job length, profit timing, and how many jobs straddle a year end. We run both methods against the actual job list before recommending one.
W-9 before the first check. Every payment by job. Retainage in its own account. 1099s run from the books, not from a spreadsheet, in the first week of January.
Which jobs are over-billed, which are under-billed, and where the cash is. It is the one report that stops a busy year from ending with no money in the account.
As a liability, not income. The deposit sits in a customer deposits account until the work is done. It moves to income as the job progresses. That keeps a big deposit month from looking like a big profit month.
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.
