Tax Tips: How To File Self-Employment Taxes for a Window Cleaning Business

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February 3, 2015

It’s tax season already. Can you believe it?! If you’ve recently entered the world of self-employment, you may not know how to file your taxes this year. Before you spend money hiring an accountant to handle your paperwork, check out these tax tips for window cleaning companies to learn how to file self-employment taxes on your own.

Tax Forms For Self-Employed Window Cleaning Companies

To file your taxes this year, you will need to complete all of the following forms:

  • Schedule C or Schedule C-EZ – Calculates Your Profits And Losses For The Year
  • Schedule SE – Calculate Your Taxes Due For Your Net Earnings
  • Form 1040 – Comprehensive Form That Incorporates Data From Schedule C And Schedule SE

Note that you may need other forms for your window cleaner services, depending on how you operate your business. You will come across these as you complete the forms below, and you can download them accordingly. We will explain more about these forms in the tax tips below, but these are the basic documents you need for self-employment taxes. They may seem overwhelming, but a lot of the information is repeated from form to form.

Completing The Forms For Self-Employment Taxes

Complete your tax forms in the order listed above: Schedule C, Schedule SE, Form 1040. The forms build on one another, so you will need information from the first to move onto the second. Each form has a set of instructions that explain what each line of information means. If you don’t understand what the IRS is asking for on one of the forms, refer to these instructions to provide the right data in the right places.

There will be a section of one or more of your tax forms that asks for your Principal Business Activity Code, or the industry you categorize your business as. Select “561720 – Janitorial Services” or “561790 – Other Services to Buildings & Dwellings,” unless your window cleaning company provides other cleaning services.

Turning In Your Self-Employed Tax Forms

The due date for your self-employment tax forms is April 15th. You must complete your forms before then in order to avoid a penalty. You have the option of calling the IRS for assistance if you get stuck on one of the forms you just don’t understand. Make a copy of your tax documents before you mail them into the IRS, and make sure you mail them with a tracking number. It will take the IRS 6-8 weeks to get your mailed tax form into the system, so you will want to have a spare copy or two in the meantime.

Check out Part 2 of our window cleaning tax tips to learn what to expect when filing self-employment taxes for the first time.