For 2026, self-employed window cleaners pay taxes as a small business. What customers pay you, minus costs such as ladders, supplies, insurance and driving, is your profit. You owe income tax plus 15.3% self-employment tax, the Social Security and Medicare tax for the self-employed, on most of that profit once it reaches $400, paid during the year.

What taxes does a self-employed window cleaner pay on 2026 income?

For 2026, a window cleaner who works for themselves reports all cleaning income on Schedule C of Form 1040 and pays income tax plus self-employment tax, which is Social Security and Medicare tax for the self-employed, at 15.3% on 92.35% of net profit. Self-employment tax applies once net profit, meaning income minus business expenses, reaches $400, and income below that is still reported.

"Many people in this business and in other fields of self employment have told me not to worry about tracking expenses, filing taxes, etc. as a new guy, even if I were to make more than the minimum amount required to file self employment taxes."

— a new window cleaner on a window cleaning trade forum, June 2017

That advice is wrong for a first-year business. Once net profit reaches $400, Schedule SE is filed with the return to figure the tax, and an expense with no receipt, invoice or mileage log entry behind it can be disallowed.

Income tax is owed on top. Half of the self-employment tax, about $3,886 in this hypothetical, is deductible for income tax only, and the 2026 return is due April 15, 2027 for most people.

Will property managers and homeowners send me a 1099?

For payments made in 2026, a property manager, landlord, store or office that pays you $2,000 or more in the course of its business sends you a Form 1099-NEC by February 1, 2027, because January 31, 2027 falls on a Sunday. The threshold was $600 for payments made in 2025.

A homeowner paying to have their own windows cleaned is making a personal payment, and the IRS instructions say "Personal payments are not reportable," so most homeowners send nothing. Card payments come with a Form 1099-K from the card processor at any amount, and a payment app sends one for 2026 only when payments pass $20,000 and 200 transactions. Every dollar is reported on Schedule C whether a form arrives or not, so keep your own record of each payment by customer.

Can I write off squeegees, cleaning solution and liability insurance?

For 2026, squeegees, scrubbers, blades, cleaning solution and towels are supplies a window cleaner deducts on Schedule C line 22 in the year they are used, and general liability insurance premiums are deducted on line 15. Publication 334 allows costs that are "common and accepted in your field of business," and it lists liability insurance among deductible business insurance. When a cost is partly personal, only the business part is deductible. The records that back these costs are listed in our checklist for mobile service owners.

Can I write off ladders, a water-fed pole and a purification system in one year?

For 2026, ladders, a water-fed pole and a water purification system last more than a year, so they are normally depreciated, meaning deducted over several years, but they can usually be deducted in the year of purchase under the $2,500 de minimis safe harbor, a Section 179 election or 100% bonus depreciation. The de minimis safe harbor lets you deduct items costing up to $2,500 per invoice or per item by attaching an election statement to a timely filed return under the tangible property regulations. Section 179 is an election to deduct the cost of equipment in the first year, limited to the year's business taxable income, with the rest carried to the next year. Bonus depreciation, a first-year write-off of the full cost, is 100% for property acquired and placed in service, meaning put to use, after January 19, 2025 unless you elect out, per Publication 946.

How do I deduct the truck or van I drive between jobs?

For 2026 you deduct the business use of a truck or van either at the standard mileage rate, a fixed amount per business mile of 72.5 cents through June 30, 2026 and 76 cents from July 1, 2026, or by actual expenses, meaning gas, insurance, repairs and depreciation times the business-use percentage. To use the mileage rate on a vehicle you own, you must choose it in the first year the vehicle is used in the business.

Driving from one customer to the next is business mileage, but without a home office that qualifies as your principal place of business, the drive from home to the first job and from the last job home is commuting under Publication 463. Record the date and business miles at or near the time of each trip, because the rate changed on July 1 and estimates are not deductible. Our mileage versus actual expenses guide, written for mobile detailers, applies the same rules to a truck.

Do window cleaners have to pay quarterly estimated taxes?

For 2026, a window cleaner who expects to owe $1,000 or more is expected to pay estimated tax, which is tax paid in four installments during the year, due April 15, June 15 and September 15, 2026 and January 15, 2027 with Form 1040-ES. The penalty is avoided by paying the smaller of 90% of the 2026 tax or 100% of the 2025 tax, 110% if 2025 adjusted gross income, the income figure on your return before the standard or itemized deduction, was over $150,000, and it is figured per payment for the days it stays unpaid, so a late payment still cuts it.

My rule of thumb is to set aside 25 to 30 percent of profit for federal and state tax, which on $55,000 of profit is $13,750 to $16,500. It applies to profit, not to what customers pay, and it is not an IRS figure.

N&T Tax & Advisory Group is based in Santa Clarita and prepares tax returns for mobile detailers and other mobile service businesses remotely anywhere in the US. To set up a meeting, use our contact page.