Industries We Serve • Field Service

Job costing built for trucks, not just a shop.

Service call job costing, parts inventory tracking, and fleet vehicle depreciation for HVAC, plumbing, electrical, and field service companies.

Service Job Costing
Industries We Serve

Tax & bookkeeping built for HVAC, plumbing, and field service companies

Field service businesses run on a mobile workforce, a rolling inventory of parts across multiple trucks, and a mix of scheduled maintenance contracts and one-off emergency calls that each need to be tracked differently. Hasco Tax Advisors works with HVAC, plumbing, electrical, and other field service companies on job costing, parts inventory, and vehicle fleet deductions built around how service work actually happens.

Field Service Tax Issues

The tax questions specific to running a service fleet

Service call versus maintenance contract revenue

One-off emergency service calls and recurring maintenance contracts behave differently in your books. Contract revenue, paid upfront or on a recurring schedule for services delivered over time, should be recognized as the service is actually performed, not entirely when payment is received. Blending both revenue types into one line makes it hard to see which part of the business is actually driving profit.

Parts inventory across a mobile fleet

Inventory for a field service business is not sitting in one warehouse, it is spread across every truck, plus whatever sits in a central shop. Tracking parts inventory accurately, and correctly recognizing cost of goods sold as parts are actually used on jobs, is meaningfully harder than for a business with one fixed location, and it directly affects your gross margin numbers.

Vehicle fleet depreciation and Section 179

Work vans and trucks are often a company's largest capital expense, and most qualify for accelerated depreciation. Vehicles over 6,000 pounds gross vehicle weight receive more favorable Section 179 treatment than standard passenger vehicles, which matters directly when planning fleet purchases or replacements.

Technician classification: employee or subcontractor

Some field service companies bring on technicians as 1099 subcontractors during busy seasons. If you set their schedule, provide the vehicle and tools, and dispatch their jobs, the IRS is likely to view them as employees regardless of the 1099 label, creating real payroll tax exposure if the classification is ever reviewed.

Bookkeeping & Payroll

Job costing built for trucks, not just a shop

Service Call Job Costing

Parts, labor, and drive time tracked per job, so you know which calls and which technicians are actually profitable.

Technician Payroll

Payroll processed correctly for full-time technicians with proper overtime and on-call pay handling.

Parts Inventory Tracking

Parts inventory tracked across trucks and shop stock, with cost of goods sold recognized correctly as parts are used on jobs.

Fleet Depreciation

Work vehicles tracked and depreciated correctly, coordinated with Section 179 planning for maximum first-year deduction on fleet purchases.

Pricing scaled to your fleet and technician count
Whether you run one truck or a growing fleet, pricing is quoted flat-rate based on your actual volume and complexity.
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Frequently Asked Questions

Field service tax and bookkeeping, answered directly

Revenue from a maintenance contract should generally be recognized as service visits are actually performed over the contract period, not entirely when the customer pays upfront. Recording the full annual payment as income immediately overstates revenue for that period and understates it in later periods.
Parts inventory needs to be tracked at the truck or technician level, not just as one central total, with cost of goods sold recognized as parts are actually used on jobs. This is more involved than single-location inventory tracking but is essential for accurate gross margin reporting.
In most cases, yes, particularly if the vehicle's gross weight exceeds 6,000 pounds, which qualifies it for more favorable Section 179 treatment than a standard passenger vehicle. The vehicle must be used more than 50% for business to qualify for the full deduction.
This depends on the actual working relationship. If you set their schedule, dispatch their jobs, and provide the vehicle and tools, the IRS is likely to view them as employees regardless of the 1099 label. We review your specific arrangements against the IRS classification tests before you rely on that structure.
QuickBooks Online is the most common fit, often paired with field service management software for dispatching and job tracking that feeds into your books. We work within whatever system your business already uses rather than forcing a switch.
Related Services

Core services that support this industry

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