If you sell alarms or solar on commission, you're probably running a small business without realizing it. Here's the self-employment tax, the deductions, and how much of every check to set aside — in plain English.
As a 1099 door-to-door sales rep you are self-employed, which means no taxes are withheld from your commissions and you owe both self-employment tax (15.3%) and income tax yourself — so set aside roughly 25–35% of every check and pay the IRS quarterly. That one sentence is the whole game. The rest of this guide explains why, what you can deduct to lower the bill, and how to stay ahead of it instead of getting blindsided in April. This is general education, not tax advice — talk to a CPA or enrolled agent about your specific situation.
Most alarm and solar canvassing reps are paid as independent contractors. Instead of a W-2 with taxes already taken out, you get a Form 1099-NEC from each dealer or company that paid you $600 or more. Nothing was withheld. Nobody paid the employer half of your Social Security and Medicare. The upside is real — you can deduct business expenses a W-2 employee cannot — but the responsibility to calculate, save for, and remit your taxes lands entirely on you. If your crew runs a W-2 arrangement instead, most of this guide doesn't apply, so read your contract first.
A 1099 rep gets hit with two separate things on the same income:
Stack those together and it's easy to see why a rep who spent every commission dollar ends up owing thousands they don't have. The self-employment piece alone is bigger than most people expect. The IRS explains it directly on its self-employment tax page.
The safe habit: the moment a commission hits your account, move 25–35% into a separate "taxes" account and forget it exists. Lower earners in a low bracket can lean toward 25%; higher earners in a high-income year should lean toward 30–35% to cover the higher federal bracket plus state tax. Reps who wait and "figure it out later" almost always come up short, because the money feels like income and gets spent. Automating the transfer is the single highest-leverage financial habit in this job — it's exactly the discipline our rep finances tools are built to reinforce.
You're taxed on net profit, not gross commissions — so every legitimate business expense you track is money you don't pay tax on. Report them on Schedule C (the IRS overview is on its About Schedule C page). The big ones for a canvassing rep:
The rule is "ordinary and necessary" for your trade, and the discipline is documentation. A deduction you can't substantiate with a log or receipt is the one that collapses if you're ever audited. Photograph receipts as you get them and keep a running log rather than reconstructing a year in April.
Most reps under-claim mileage because they never tracked it. The IRS lets you deduct a set standard mileage rate per business mile, and a rep putting on serious windshield time between neighborhoods, appointments, the office, and training can rack up a deduction worth thousands. Driving between work stops generally counts; your commute from home to a regular workplace generally doesn't. The requirement is a log of date, miles, and business purpose. This is where a tool that already knows your routes and doors pays for itself — SecurityQS logs your driving alongside your knock activity so your mileage record builds itself instead of being a shoebox of guesses. The IRS keeps the current rate and rules on its standard mileage rate topic.
If you have a space used regularly and exclusively for your sales business — a desk where you plan routes, build quotes, and do paperwork — you may be able to deduct a portion of rent/mortgage interest, utilities, and internet, either by the simplified square-footage method or actual expenses. "Exclusively" is strict: the kitchen table you also eat at usually doesn't count. When it applies, it's a meaningful deduction; when it doesn't, don't force it.
Because nothing is withheld, the IRS expects 1099 earners who'll owe $1,000+ to pay estimated taxes four times a year rather than all at once. Miss them and you can owe an underpayment penalty even if you pay your full balance on April 15. The mechanics are simple: take what you've been setting aside and send a portion each quarter via Form 1040-ES or the IRS Direct Pay portal. The IRS lays out the schedule and forms on its estimated taxes page. If you also want your take-home to be predictable in the first place, understanding how alarm commission is structured and roughly what reps make helps you plan the year.
You don't need to be an accountant. You need three habits.
The day a commission lands, move 25–35% into a separate tax account and treat it as gone.
Log mileage and snap receipts in the moment. A tool that records routes and expenses makes this automatic.
Send an estimated payment each quarter via 1040-ES or Direct Pay so April is a non-event.
Most door-to-door alarm and solar reps are paid as 1099 independent contractors, not W-2 employees. That means no taxes are withheld from your commissions, no employer withholds Social Security or Medicare for you, and you receive a Form 1099-NEC (not a W-2) at year end if you earned $600 or more from a payer. You are, in the eyes of the IRS, running a small business. That comes with real deductions — mileage, phone, gear — but also with self-employment tax and the responsibility to pay estimated taxes yourself throughout the year. Some crews use W-2 arrangements; check your agreement, because it changes everything about how you file.
A common rule of thumb is to set aside 25% to 30% of every commission check for taxes, and higher earners in higher brackets should lean toward 30% to 35%. The reason it is so much: as a 1099 contractor you owe self-employment tax of 15.3% (Social Security + Medicare, both halves) on top of ordinary federal income tax, plus state income tax in most states. The exact number depends on your total income, filing status, deductions, and state — but setting aside too little is the single most common way new reps get wrecked at tax time. Park it in a separate account the day the commission hits and pretend it was never yours.
Ordinary and necessary business expenses reduce the income you are taxed on. For a canvassing rep that typically includes: business mileage (the biggest one for most reps), your phone and data plan (business-use portion), sales software and CRM subscriptions, a home office if you qualify, marketing and door hangers, sample equipment, background-check and licensing fees, and half of your self-employment tax as an above-the-line deduction. You report these on Schedule C. Keep contemporaneous records — a mileage log and receipts — because deductions you cannot substantiate are the ones that fall apart in an audit.
Generally yes. If you expect to owe $1,000 or more in tax for the year, the IRS wants you to pay estimated taxes four times a year rather than in one lump at filing. The 2026 due dates fall in April, June, September, and the following January. Skipping them can trigger an underpayment penalty even if you pay in full on April 15. The practical move is to take the amount you have been setting aside from each commission and send a chunk of it in each quarter using IRS Form 1040-ES or the IRS Direct Pay portal.
The IRS standard mileage rate lets you deduct a set amount per business mile driven, which for a rep putting on serious windshield time between territories can be one of the largest deductions on the return. Driving between neighborhoods, to appointments, to the office, and to training generally counts; your commute from home to a regular workplace generally does not. The catch is documentation: you need a log of date, miles, and business purpose. Apps that track drives automatically — or a sales tool that already logs your routes and doors — make this far less painful than reconstructing a year of driving from memory in April.
SecurityQS was built for the solo 1099 rep — it logs your routes, tracks expenses and commissions, and keeps your Schedule C numbers ready. Flat month-to-month pricing, 30-day free trial, no credit card.
