Tax season for most contractors goes something like this: your CPA calls in February asking for documents. You spend three weeks digging through bank statements, shoebox receipts, and a QuickBooks file that hasn’t been reconciled since October. Your CPA finds problems. You owe more than you expected. There’s a penalty for the quarterly estimate you forgot to pay. And the whole thing costs twice as much as it should because your CPA had to fix your books before they could file your return.
We’re here to make that stop happening.
Tax Prep That Starts With Clean Books
Good tax preparation doesn’t start in February. It starts with having clean, accurate books all year long. When your monthly financials are right, year-end close takes days instead of weeks. Your CPA gets a file they can actually work with. And your tax liability doesn’t come as a surprise.
If you’re using our monthly accounting service, your books are already closed and reconciled every month. When tax season hits, we prepare a complete year-end close and deliver tax-ready financials to you or your CPA. No scramble. No backlog. No ugly surprises.
If you’re not on monthly service but need tax prep, we can handle that too. We’ll catch up your books, close the year, and prepare your return. Just know that starting from a backlog always takes more time and costs more than maintaining clean books throughout the year.
Year-Round Tax Planning
The real value of contractor-specific tax work isn’t in filing the return. It’s in the planning that happens all year long so you’re not handing the government money you didn’t need to.
Entity structure optimization. S-corp vs. C-corp vs. sole proprietorship. The right structure depends on your revenue, your owner compensation, your equipment assets, and your growth plans. We review your situation and make sure your entity structure is actually saving you money.
Equipment depreciation strategy. Section 179. Bonus depreciation. Cost segregation on real property. Timing your equipment purchases to maximize the tax benefit is one of the biggest levers contractors have. We help you plan those purchases with tax impact in mind.
Quarterly estimated payments. Construction income is seasonal. A plumber might do 40% of their revenue between May and September. Quarterly estimates should reflect that reality, not be a flat 25% each quarter that leaves you short in Q4 or overpaying all year.
QBI deduction planning. The Qualified Business Income deduction is significant for most contractors, but the rules are complicated and the phase-outs catch people off guard. We make sure you’re structured to capture the full deduction when you qualify.
Retirement planning. SEP-IRAs, Solo 401(k)s, defined benefit plans for higher-earning contractors. These reduce taxable income today and build something for later. We’ll help you figure out which vehicle makes sense for your situation.
Works With Your Existing CPA
If you already have a CPA you like, we’re not trying to replace them. We prepare your books and year-end financials so your CPA can do what they do best without spending half their time cleaning up your records first. Your CPA gets a clean file, and you stop paying them to do bookkeeping work at CPA rates.
If you don’t have a CPA, or your current one doesn’t understand construction, we handle the full tax engagement: planning, preparation, and filing.
What Contractors Typically Miss
In our experience, the deductions and strategies that most contractors miss include: proper depreciation on vehicles and equipment, the home office deduction for contractors who run operations from home, fuel and mileage tracking that would hold up in an audit, cell phone and tool deductions that get lumped into personal expenses, and retirement contributions timed for maximum tax benefit.
None of these are exotic strategies. They’re standard deductions that get missed because the books aren’t set up to capture them, or because nobody’s paying attention to tax planning between January and December.
Stop Dreading Tax Season
Let us look at your current setup. We’ll tell you where you stand, what you’re likely missing, and what the next 12 months of tax planning should look like.