A lot of cable, fiber, satellite and smart home install work runs through subcontractors who pay techs on a 1099 instead of a W-2. The work is the same as a company tech’s. The taxes are completely different. This guide covers what’s specific to install techs: production pay, chargebacks, your own truck, and working for more than one company.
Production pay and taxes
Most 1099 install techs get paid by the job or by points: a set amount per install, upgrade, trouble call or drop. That means checks swing hard from week to week. A rainy week or a slow month means a small check; a busy upgrade push or storm season means big ones.
That’s exactly why setting aside a percentage of each check works better than a fixed dollar amount. A third of a small check is small, a third of a big check is big, and it tracks your real income automatically. How much to set aside.
Chargebacks and deductions from your pay
This is the single biggest thing install techs miss at tax time.
Many install companies take money out of your pay for:
- Unreturned or lost equipment: receivers, modems, gateways, remotes, ONTs
- Repeat calls or failed quality audits
- Truck, van or equipment rental
- Insurance the company requires
- Uniforms, ID badges, background checks, drug tests
- Meter or tool rental
Here’s the problem: the 1099 usually shows what you earned before those deductions. If you made $70,000 in jobs and the company took $4,000 in chargebacks, the 1099 likely says $70,000 even though only $66,000 hit your account. Unless you count that $4,000 as a work cost, you pay tax on money you never got.
What to do: save every weekly pay statement that shows deductions. Add up the deductions for the year. Hand that total to your preparer as a work cost. In Tech Tax Helper, record them as a purchase from that company.
Your truck
Install techs drive a lot: job to job all day, to the warehouse for equipment, back out for a trouble call. Those work miles are usually your biggest write-off. In 2026 they’re worth 72.5¢ a mile January through June and 76¢ a mile July through December.
The first trip of the day is the tricky one. If you go to a company warehouse every morning to load equipment, home to warehouse is usually commuting and doesn’t count; the miles after it do. If you get your route on your phone and drive straight from home to the first job, those miles may count. The commuting rule and what records to keep.
Your dispatch app’s job history is a gift here. It already shows the date and address of every job you ran. Screenshot or export it monthly and keep it with your odometer pictures.
Tools and gear you buy
If you buy it to do installs, it counts: drills and bits, ladders, compression and crimp tools, meters, fiber cleaning kits, toners, fish tape, staple guns, tool bags, boots, gloves, safety glasses, harnesses. Connectors, fittings, splitters, clips and wire you pay for out of pocket count too. The full list.
Buying a used signal meter off another tech? It still counts. Get a written receipt or at least a message showing the price and date.
Working for more than one company
Plenty of techs run work for two or three subcontractors, or switch companies mid-year. You’ll get a separate 1099-NEC from each one that paid you $2,000 or more in 2026. Each company only knows its own share, and none of them is setting anything aside for you.
Keep each company separate in your records: checks in, chargebacks taken, purchases made for that company’s work. It makes everything easier to match up with each 1099 at tax time. Tech Tax Helper gives every company its own check and purchase buttons, and adds them all together for the set-aside and the quarterly payments.
Am I really a contractor?
Some install techs paid on a 1099 work set schedules, wear company uniforms, drive company trucks and take every instruction from a supervisor. The IRS looks at how much control the company has to decide whether someone is truly a contractor or should be an employee. If you think you’ve been misclassified, the IRS has a form for it (Form SS-8) and a way to pay only the employee share of Social Security and Medicare (Form 8919). That’s a question for a tax pro or labor attorney. Until it’s settled, keep paying your quarterly taxes as a contractor so you aren’t stuck with a bill.
Storm work and out-of-town builds
When work takes you far enough from home that you have to stay overnight, lodging counts as a work cost, and so does a share of meals. Keep hotel receipts and note where and why you traveled.
Tech Tax Helper was built by someone who spent decades in cable and satellite install and ran a tech office. It’s made for exactly this kind of work: production pay from more than one company, a truck full of tools, and no one setting anything aside.
This is general information about U.S. federal taxes, not advice for your situation. If something here doesn't match your paperwork, ask a tax preparer.