Interior Designer Deductions: The Sample Library, the Software, the Site Visits, the Furniture You Resell at a Markup, and the Sales Tax Florida Expects You to Collect

An interior designer sells two things that the tax code treats differently: her design — a service — and the furnishings, fabrics, and fixtures she procures for the client at a markup — goods. Designers who keep those apart have a service business with a sample library and a software stack. Designers who resell product have inventory, taxable sales, and client purchase funds to account for, and in Florida the design fee itself becomes taxable when it is part of the sale of the goods — even if it is separately stated on the invoice.

The studio, the samples, and the software

Studio rent or a qualifying home office is deductible. Fabric, tile, wood, and paint samples, trade catalogs, and the shelving that holds them are supplies and equipment. Design software, rendering tools, project management platforms, trade-only sourcing memberships, and the website are deducted as paid. Presentation materials — boards, printing, mock-ups — are supplies.

Site visits and installation

Mileage to client sites, showrooms, and installations is deductible from a qualifying home office or studio; overnight travel for out-of-town projects is deductible, with 50 percent of actual meals or of the federal meal per diem. Attending a market or trade show is deductible travel and education. A spouse's or assistant's travel is deductible only if that person is the designer's employee, has a bona fide business purpose for the trip, and could otherwise deduct it.

Design fees or resale

| Model | Tax treatment | |---|---| | Fee-only: client buys everything directly from vendors; designer charges hourly, flat, or percentage fees | Service income; no inventory; no sales tax on fees in Florida | | Designer purchases goods in her own name and resells to the client at retail or at cost plus a markup | Goods are inventory (deducted as sold); sales to the client are taxable sales, and design fees that are part of those sales are taxable too; the designer registers, collects, and remits; the markup is income | | Designer places orders as the client's agent, using client funds, under the client's account | Pass-through; the vendor's invoice is to the client; the designer's fee is the only revenue |

Most designers run a mix, and the books must separate them — a fee invoice from a product invoice, client purchase funds from operating cash.

Trade discounts and markup

A vendor's trade discount to the designer is not income; it reduces the designer's cost. When the designer resells at the retail price, the difference is markup income. Designers who pass the discount to the client and charge a procurement fee instead have service income. Commissions a vendor pays the designer for referring a client who buys directly are income when received, and the designer should disclose them as her agreements require.

Client purchase funds

Deposits clients pay for furnishings the designer will order are, under the resale model, income when received by a cash-method designer — with the cost of the goods deducted in the year they are delivered to the client, not when the vendor is paid, so a December deposit for goods installed in February is taxable in the first year with no offsetting cost. Under the agent model, they are client funds held in trust, not income, and they belong in a separate account. Deposits for the design fee itself are income when received unless refundable and held separately. Freight, white-glove delivery, and installation billed to clients are revenue (and in Florida, installation and any delivery charge the client cannot opt out of are taxable with the goods when the designer sells the goods).

Florida sales tax

A designer who sells tangible goods to clients is a dealer: register, collect the 6 percent state sales tax plus any county surtax on the goods, on installation that is part of the sale, and on delivery charges the client cannot avoid, and remit. Design fees for a service-only engagement — a decorative scheme, advice, color and source recommendations, with no sale of goods — are not taxable; design fees that are part of a sale of goods are taxed as part of the sales price, and the Department of Revenue says that holds even when the fee is separately stated or itemized. A designer who buys goods for resale provides vendors a resale certificate and pays no tax on the purchase. Fee-only designers collect nothing. A designer who contracts to furnish and install items that become part of the building — built-in cabinetry, flooring — is generally the consumer of those materials and pays tax on them, unless the contract is a retail sale plus installation.

Worked example. A designer earns $140,000 in design fees and resells $380,000 of furnishings at about a 30 percent markup over her trade cost of $292,000 — $88,000 of markup income. Her fees are service income; those on design-only engagements are not taxable in Florida, but fees on the projects where she also sells the furnishings are part of those sales and taxable even though invoiced separately; the furnishings are inventory (cost deducted as sold) and taxable sales, with installation and unavoidable delivery charges taxed alongside the goods. She holds a resale certificate and pays no tax to vendors. She deducts her $18,000 studio lease, $4,600 of samples and presentation materials, $5,200 of software and trade memberships, 7,800 business miles (about $5,790 at 2026's standard rates — 72.5 cents a mile through June 30 and 76 cents from July 1 — if the miles fall evenly across the year), and $6,100 of travel to two markets. Client deposits for furnishings are income when received; the trade cost of the furnishings is deducted in the year they are delivered to the client.

Official sources

The Florida Department of Revenue explains: “Fees or charges by interior decorators or interior designers for design services that are part of the sale of tangible personal property are taxed as part of the sales price.” — Florida Department of Revenue, Sales and Use Tax for Interior Decorators and Interior Designers (GT-800052), https://floridarevenue.com/Forms_library/current/brochure/gt800052.pdf

The IRS explains: “Inventory treated as non-incidental materials and supplies is used or consumed in your business in the year you provide the inventory to your customers.” — Internal Revenue Service, Publication 334 (2025), Tax Guide for Small Business, https://www.irs.gov/publications/p334

The IRS explains: “If you have an office in your home that qualifies as a principal place of business, you can deduct your daily transportation costs between your home and another work location in the same trade or business.” — Internal Revenue Service, Publication 463 (2025), Travel, Gift, and Car Expenses, https://www.irs.gov/publications/p463

Related guides

• Interior Designer Entity and Estimated Taxes: The Fee-Only LLC, the Designer Who Resells and Needs Books That Separate Two Businesses, the S Election, and the Project Deposit Quarter
• Event Planner Deductions: The Vendor Money That Passes Through, the Site Visits, the Styled Shoot, the Client Gift Limit, and the Home Office That Runs It All
• Inventory for Tax: FIFO, LIFO, and the Small Business Rule
• Florida Sales Tax on Services: Which Services Are Taxable, the Nonresidential Cleaning Rule, and the Service Business That Sells Parts
• Business Trips: What Travel Costs You Can Deduct

Next step

Fairlight Accounting handles U.S. domestic, cross-border (U.S.–Canada), and international tax returns, plus bookkeeping, payroll, and CFO advisory. Our bookkeeping team separates design fees from product sales and sets up the client-fund and sales tax accounts a reselling designer needs. See pricing or book a free fit call.