IRS Tax Relief for Bathroom Remodelers Get Help With 1099 Back Taxes and IRS Audits
Updated
Bathroom work moves fast: a tub-to-shower swap one week, a full gut the next, with a tile setter and a plumber you pay by the job. A stack of small deposits with no tax held back adds up to a balance the IRS will want answered, and we handle that conversation for you.
$2,000
Pay a sub at least this much in 2026 and the IRS expects a 1099-NEC from you by January 31.
How it happens
Why Bathroom Remodelers Fall Into IRS Debt
Plenty of bath companies are an owner, a helper, and a phone. You sell the job, pick up the vanity, tear out the old tub, and still do the books at night, if they get done at all. When the books slide, the quarterly tax payments slide right along with them.
As a sole proprietor you owe self-employment tax of 15.3% on top of income tax, and nothing comes out of a homeowner's check for either one (IRS, self-employment tax). A run of quick jobs can feel like a steady paycheck. It isn't one until the IRS gets its share.
Then there are the subs. Starting with 2026 payments, a tile setter or plumber you pay $2,000 or more for the year needs a 1099-NEC from you by January 31 (IRS, Form 1099-NEC instructions). Skip the form, or pay someone with no W-9 on file, and the IRS can come back to you with penalties and backup withholding.
IRS problems
The IRS Problems Bathroom Remodelers Bring Us
A lot of bath remodelers come to us after the IRS has already written. Others call when they realize they haven't filed since the business took off.
Back Taxes With No Estimates Paid
Quick jobs paid in full at completion feel like wages, but no tax comes out. A year of them leaves income and self-employment tax due at once. We find the true balance and ask the IRS for a monthly plan that fits the work you have booked.
See how we helpUnfiled Years Since Going Out on Your Own
If you left a remodeling company to start your own and stopped filing, the IRS may build substitute returns that don't credit your expenses. We file the real ones with your materials, dump fees, and vehicle costs.
See how we helpAudits That Total Your Bank Deposits
Examiners can add up every deposit across your business and personal accounts and ask you to explain any gap with your return. We match the deposits to jobs, transfers, and loans so the gap is answered with records.
See how we helpMissing 1099s for Tile Setters and Plumbers
For 1099s due in 2027, the penalty for not filing one is $340 per form, and subs who never gave you a W-9 add backup withholding exposure. We sort out what the IRS can actually assess and bring it into your case.
See how we helpFinancing Payouts and Card Deposits
When a lender pays you for a homeowner's loan, or your card processor sends a batch, it's still job income, and card payments land on a 1099-K. If those deposits never made it onto a return, we help you correct it.
See how we helpA Levy Right Before a Materials Run
A bank levy can land the day after a deposit clears, locking up the money for the tile and the shower valve. During the 21-day hold, we file Power of Attorney and request a release tied to a plan.
See how we help
By the numbers
Small Shops That Hire Out the Trade Work
Remodelers sent $24.9 billion of their 2022 revenue to subcontractors, about 19 cents of every dollar, according to the Census Bureau's 2022 Economic Census. In a bathroom, that's usually the tile setter and the plumber, and every payment to them comes with a 1099 decision.
The tile trade itself runs small. Tile and terrazzo contractors averaged fewer than six employees per shop in 2022, and in 2023 the Census counted 669,136 building finishing contractors with no employees at all (Census, nonemployer statistics). Many of the subs you pay are one-person shops like these.
19¢
Of each residential remodeling revenue dollar paid out to subcontractors in 2022, $24.9 billion in all.
Under 6
Average employees per tile and terrazzo contractor in 2022: 59,168 workers across 10,527 shops.
669,136
Building finishing contractors with no employees in 2023, the group that includes tile setters, painters, and flooring installers.
Sources: Census Bureau, 2022 Economic Census: Construction · Census Bureau, Nonemployer Statistics 2023
Your bank account
How an IRS Audit Reads a Bath Remodeler's Bank Deposits
The IRS audit manual tells examiners reviewing a small business return to analyze both business and personal bank accounts, watching for unusual deposits, cash, and personal and business money mixed together (IRM 4.10.4). For a bath remodeler, that means every check, card batch, transfer, and lender payout gets a look.
In a bank deposits analysis, the examiner totals deposits across your accounts, a spouse's included, then subtracts what isn't income, like loan proceeds and transfers between accounts. Whatever is left and missing from your return can be treated as income you didn't report. An unexplained deposit is the expensive kind.
Examiners are also told to review the business websites you control, so your before-and-after gallery is part of the picture. What helps most is tying each deposit to a real job: the invoice, the financing approval, the deposit you gave back to a homeowner who canceled. That's the work we do with you.
How a bank deposits audit moves
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The Exam Letter Arrives
The IRS picks a return and asks for records, bank statements among them.
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Every Account Gets Totaled
Business and personal accounts are added up, and a spouse's can be too.
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Nontaxable Deposits Come Out
Loans, transfers, and returned checks are subtracted when you can show what they were.
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The Gap Is Treated as Income
Deposits nobody can explain can be counted as unreported job income.
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We Tie Deposits to Jobs
Invoices, financing approvals, and returned deposits answer the gap. The IRS makes the final call.
Discreet help
You Don't Have to Explain How It Happened
When you're the one standing in a customer's house making their bathroom look like the photos, it's hard to admit the IRS has been writing to you. Most of our bath clients haven't told their subs or their families. We keep it private and practical, and nobody here is going to judge you for it.
Your consultation is free and confidential. Once you hire us and Power of Attorney is on file, the IRS deals with us, so the calls and the back-and-forth stop landing on you.
How We Keep It Discreet
- A free, confidential first conversation
- No judgment about how it happened
- Once Power of Attorney is filed, the IRS contacts us
- Phone, secure document portal, and video, with no office visit
How it works
How We Work a Bath Remodeler's IRS Case
You don't have to take a day off the job for this. We work by phone, secure upload, and video, and once Power of Attorney is on file, IRS contact about your case goes through us.
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Free Consultation
A representative calls you back, listens to what is going on, and tells you whether we can help.
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Power of Attorney
We file Form 2848 so the IRS contacts us instead of you.
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Transcripts and Returns
We pull your IRS transcripts and get any missing returns filed.
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Request to the IRS
We submit the program request on your behalf. The IRS reviews and decides.
Timelines and outcomes are determined by the IRS based on the facts of each case. Results vary and are not guaranteed.
IRS programs
IRS Programs That Fit Bathroom Remodelers
Installment Agreement
Individuals who owe $50,000 or less and have filed every required return may qualify to apply online. For bigger balances, we put together the financial statement the IRS wants to see.
Audit Representation
We answer the examiner, organize the deposit records, and attend meetings for you when the IRS allows it. The IRS decides the result.
Currently Not Collectible
If an injury or a dry spell leaves you unable to cover basic living costs, the IRS may suspend most collection for a while. You still owe the debt, and interest keeps running.
Offer in Compromise
An offer settles for less than the full balance when the numbers show you can't pay it. For a small shop with a van and hand tools, the math sometimes works, and we check it before you apply.
Where we help
Where We Help Bathroom Remodelers
Bath remodelers anywhere in the country can work with us by phone, secure upload, and video. If we have a local page for your city, it lists the nearby IRS offices and free help.
Frequently asked
Bathroom Remodelers and the IRS: Common Questions
Is Money From a Homeowner's Financing Company Taxable?
Do I Have to Send My Tile Setter a 1099?
What If I Never Sent 1099s to My Subs?
Can the IRS Audit Me Using My Bank Statements?
I Work Alone. Can the IRS Take My Van or Tools?
What Will It Cost to Resolve My IRS Debt?
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I cannot say enough good about Innovative Tax Relief. They have been very helpful and professional through this entire process. Josh has been a pleasure to work with and always tries to help if I don't understand something. I would highly recommend them to anyone needing help to resolve tax issues.
Josh is very kind, empathetic, and gives very thorough explanations to ensure I understand all of the work being done. Thank you for your support!
I worked with Tyler Supierz at ITR among others. They were very prompt and courteous. I am looking forward to a resolution to the problems I've been facing.
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