A solar installer sells a system that can take months to go from the first kitchen-table visit to permission to operate. Money arrives in pieces along the way: a deposit, lender draws, and a final payment after the utility signs off. Sales reps often get paid at signing, long before the panels go up.
Then the rules changed. The federal credit homeowners counted on ended for systems installed after December 31, 2025. Books built for the old pace now leave owners guessing at the numbers that matter.
Greg Neilsen, JD, LLM (Master of Laws in Taxation), reviews our guides. Last reviewed: October 5, 2026.
Each answer is below.
Example: A homeowner signs a $36,000 system on a loan with a 20 percent dealer fee. The lender keeps $7,200 and funds $28,800 in two draws. The books show $36,000 of sales and a $7,200 financing cost, not a $28,800 sale with the fee buried.
Example: A rep signs 12 contracts in March at $1,800 commission each, or $21,600. Three cancel before install. Nine jobs earned $16,200 of commission. The other $5,400 is either recovered from the rep or written off as the cost of three dead deals.
Example: Before 2026, a homeowner buying a $30,000 system could claim a $9,000 federal credit, bringing the net cost to $21,000. For a system installed in 2026, there is no credit. The same quote now asks the customer for $9,000 more, and your close rate shows whether that price still works.
Solar companies design and propose in Aurora Solar or OpenSolar. Many run sales and installs through Enerflo or a CRM like JobNimbus. QuickBooks Online holds the books.
Few of those tools send the whole job to QuickBooks. Lender draws arrive as bank deposits with fees already taken out. We match every draw to its contract, record the dealer fee, and reconcile the job list to the bank every month.
Example: A $28,800 lender funding arrives as a $14,400 first draw at install and a $14,400 final draw at permission to operate. Each deposit clears against the same $36,000 contract, with the $7,200 dealer fee recorded once.
Florida exempts solar energy systems and their components from sales tax. The Florida Solar Energy Center certifies which equipment counts. Panels and inverters on that list carry no Florida sales tax, whether you buy them or the customer does.
Florida also lists solar systems as work on real property. Materials outside the exemption follow the usual contractor rule: you pay tax when you buy them and charge none on a lump-sum contract. Keep supplier invoices split between exempt equipment and taxable material, so the books match the bills.
Solar installation is construction for workers’ compensation. Electrical wiring and roofing are both on Florida’s construction class code list, and a rooftop solar crew does both. Coverage starts with the first employee, and the carrier assigns the code. Door-to-door reps who are employees count toward that coverage too.
Panel lifts, ladders, test meters, and a forklift go on the county tangible property return by April 1. The first $25,000 of value is exempt once the company files its first return.
Install trucks over 6,000 pounds escape the passenger-car depreciation caps. A trailer or forklift acquired after January 19, 2025 qualifies for 100 percent bonus depreciation. Commercial and third-party-owned systems run under separate federal credit rules, which we review project by project.
Florida has no personal income tax. The S corporation decision for a solar owner is federal: self-employment tax against a reasonable salary, run on real numbers.
We close your books monthly with dealer fees, lender draws, and commissions tied to each job. Payroll runs through Gusto. We prepare the company and personal returns, and Greg Neilsen, JD, LLM, reviews every one before it is filed.
Plans start at $750 per month. One flat fee covers bookkeeping, tax planning, and tax consulting on most plans. We quote the fee after we see the books, in writing before work starts. No onboarding fee.
We work from Tampa by phone, email, and video, and we reply within 24 hours. Read our 2026 tax planning guide, or see every trade we serve, including electrical contractors and roofers.
Yes. The residential clean energy credit does not apply to expenditures made after December 31, 2025. An expenditure counts as made when installation is completed, so a system paid for in 2025 but finished in 2026 does not qualify.
No. Florida exempts solar energy systems and their components on the state’s certified list. Other building materials follow the normal contractor rules.
Record the full contract price as the sale and the dealer fee as its own cost. Your sales then match your contracts, lender by lender.
For payments made in 2026, yes, once an unincorporated rep is paid $2,000 or more for the year. Collect a W-9 at hiring. Whether a rep is really a contractor depends on how the rep works, not the form.
Yes. Each one pays you differently and on a different timeline. Separate lines show which kind of deal actually makes money now that the homeowner credit is gone.
This page is educational and is not tax or legal advice for your situation. Rules change, and the right move depends on your numbers. Talk to a tax professional before you act.
Greg Neilsen, JD, LLM (Master of Laws in Taxation), reviews our guides. Last reviewed: October 5, 2026.
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