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Are home maintenance and repair workers tips tax deductible in 2026?

Yes — home maintenance and repair workers are on the IRS tipped occupation list (code 401). Tips in this job are deductible for 2026, up to $25,000, if the customer chose the amount and could have declined.

Treasury Tipped Occupation Code 401 · Home services · official title: Home Maintenance and Repair Workers

How tipping works in this job

Trade work has never been tipped the way table service is, but customers routinely round up, add cash on a long job, or hand something over when a crew finishes a difficult day. On a multi-day job the tip often goes to the crew rather than the individual, to be split. The word “home” in the title is doing real work: this code is about work at a customer’s dwelling.

The regulations say: Perform work to keep machines, mechanical equipment, or the structure of a building in repair. May maintain and repair musical instruments, furniture, antiques, and non-fixtures. Examples given: Handyman, roofer, window repairer, house painter (interior or exterior), flooring installer, piano tuner, furniture restorer, antique repairer.

The thing most likely to disqualify your tips

The invoice is not a tip, and a trip charge or call-out fee is not one either. Everything you billed for is business income. The deduction reaches only the extra the homeowner chose to hand over on top of the agreed price — and for a self-employed tradesperson, only to the extent the trade is otherwise profitable.

Check your own numbers

Pre-filled for home maintenance and repair workers. Runs entirely in your browser — nothing is uploaded.

Step 1 — your occupation

Checking for Home maintenance and repair workers (Treasury code 401). This occupation is on the list.

Step 2 — is it actually a tip?

Answer for the money you are asking about. If some of your income is tips and some is service charges, run them separately.

Does the customer decide the amount?

A tip has to be an amount the payer chose. A percentage set by your employer or written into a contract is not.

Can the customer decline to pay it?

A tip is voluntary. If the customer had no way to refuse it, it is a charge.

Is it a mandatory service charge or auto-gratuity?

Auto-gratuity on large parties, resort service charges, contracted event gratuities.

Step 3 — your tips and income

The phase-out runs on modified AGI, which for most people is the same as AGI.

How were these tips earned?

3 questions left to answer.

OBBBA Deductions · obbbadeductions.com

Tips deduction worksheet — tax year 2026

Home maintenance and repair workers (code 401) · Single · Prepared October 1, 2026

The three tests, as answered

  • Does the customer decide the amount? not answered
  • Can the customer decline to pay it? not answered
  • Is it a mandatory service charge or auto-gratuity? not answered

Answer the 3 remaining questions above for a result.

Watch out for this in your job: The invoice is not a tip, and a trip charge or call-out fee is not one either. Everything you billed for is business income. The deduction reaches only the extra the homeowner chose to hand over on top of the agreed price — and for a self-employed tradesperson, only to the extent the trade is otherwise profitable.

Educational estimate only, not tax advice. It runs entirely in your browser and nothing you type is sent anywhere. The deduction is scheduled to expire after tax year 2028.

Estimate only, not tax advice. This site is general information, not tax advice. Figures are estimates and may not reflect the final IRS guidance for the tax year. Confirm your situation with a qualified tax professional or the IRS before filing.

Occupation list and tip tests from T.D. 10044; cap and phase-out from Schedule 1-A Part II. Figures on this site were last checked September 8, 2026. Produced by obbbadeductions.com — nothing entered into the calculator left the browser it was typed into.

How this applies to home maintenance and repair workers

This is one of the broadest codes on the list, sweeping together general handywork, roofing, interior and exterior painting, window and flooring work, piano tuning, furniture restoration and antique repair. What those share is that the work happens at somebody’s dwelling and finishes with a homeowner deciding whether the result was worth more than the invoice said.

Tipping in the trades follows completion rather than duration. On a single-visit repair a homeowner rounds up or hands over cash at the door. On a multi-day job — a room painted, a floor laid, a roof replaced — the money arrives on the last day and is usually given to the crew as a whole rather than to an individual, then split. Where you are the one holding it, only your own share is yours to deduct, and if the split is ad hoc it is worth agreeing and noting it while everyone is still standing there.

The narrower sub-trades inside this code behave quite differently. A piano tuner visiting the same households twice a year builds the sort of long relationship that produces regular modest tipping and an occasional larger one at the holidays. Furniture restorers and antique repairers are tipped rarely but generously when a piece with sentimental value comes back better than the owner hoped. Neither pattern resembles a painting crew’s.

The word doing the most work in the title is "home". This code is about work performed at a residence, so hours spent on a commercial fit-out, an office park or a rental portfolio managed by a company are a different activity. Everything you invoiced is business income regardless: the labour, the materials, the call-out, the disposal charge. If you are self-employed, remember too that tips are taken into account only to the extent the trade is profitable once materials, vehicle and insurance have been accounted for.

The three tests, whatever your job

  • Paid voluntarily

    The customer sets the amount and can decline to pay it.

  • Paid in cash or a cash equivalent

    Card payments and mobile payments count.

  • Received directly or through a tip pool

    Both routes qualify.

Questions

Are home maintenance and repair workers on the IRS tipped occupation list?
Yes. Home Maintenance and Repair Workers is Treasury Tipped Occupation Code 401, in the home services category. The regulations describe it as: Perform work to keep machines, mechanical equipment, or the structure of a building in repair. May maintain and repair musical instruments, furniture, antiques, and non-fixtures.
What is the most common reason home maintenance and repair workers lose the deduction?
The invoice is not a tip, and a trip charge or call-out fee is not one either. Everything you billed for is business income. The deduction reaches only the extra the homeowner chose to hand over on top of the agreed price — and for a self-employed tradesperson, only to the extent the trade is otherwise profitable.
How much of my tips can I deduct?
Up to $25,000 per return, whatever your filing status. The cap applies first, then the amount is reduced by $100 for every $1,000 of modified adjusted gross income above the threshold for your filing status.
Does a mandatory service charge count as a tip?
No. A mandatory service charge or automatic gratuity is not a qualifying tip, and the final regulations confirmed this explicitly. It does not qualify even when the customer cannot decline it — a qualifying tip has to be an amount the customer chose to give.

Related occupations in home services

Occupation data transcribed from T.D. 10044 — final regulations on occupations that customarily and regularly received tips, Treas. Reg. § 1.224-1(h) table 1, last verified 2026-09-08. Read the regulations.