Oregon contractor year-end checklist: November to January

The slow season is when the paperwork catches up with you: license and insurance renewals, tax forms, payroll reports and next year's prices. None of it is hard on its own. It is hard when it all lands in the same three weeks of January. Work down this list in November and December and January gets a lot quieter.

1. License: CCB status and continuing education

• Check your expiration date on the CCB license search. The CCB's contractor tools page lists renewal at $400 every two years. Our renewal checklist walks through the steps.
• Count your continuing education hours. The CCB's continuing education page says that, unless exempt, residential contractors need 3 hours of CCB laws, regulations and business practices classes every two-year license period, plus 5 hours of other approved courses if licensed by the CCB six or more years, or 13 hours if licensed less than six years. It also notes you will not get credit for more than three hours of CCB classes.
• Keep your CE certificates. The CCB says it only has records of the three hours taken from it, so you may need to send certificates from other providers yourself.
• Check subs too. The CCB's eWatch service monitors license status for you and your subcontractors.

2. Bond, insurance and workers' comp

• Write down renewal dates for your bond, liability insurance and workers' comp. Your license depends on the first two staying current; see the bond and insurance table.
• If you hired, or plan to hire, your first employee, review your exempt or nonexempt status and workers' comp coverage before the first payroll.
• Collect updated insurance certificates from every sub you plan to use next year.

3. Subs: W-9s and 1099s

• Total 2026 payments to each sub and chase missing W-9s now.
• For payments made in 2026, the IRS threshold for Form 1099-NEC is $2,000. Forms go to subs and the IRS by January 31, which in 2027 falls on a Sunday, so the IRS weekend rule moves it to February 1. Oregon also requires 1099s to be filed electronically through iWire.
• Details, exceptions and Oregon filing are in 1099-NEC for Oregon contractors.

4. Payroll, if you have employees

The Oregon Department of Revenue's withholding and payroll tax page lists these year-end items:

• Form OQ for the fourth quarter, due January 31. The DOR says reports due on a weekend or holiday are due the next business day.
• Form WR, the Oregon Annual Withholding Reconciliation Report, due January 31, and required even if you submit W-2 information electronically.
• W-2s filed with Oregon electronically through iWire, also by January 31.

If a payroll service handles this, confirm in writing which of these filings it covers.

5. Your own taxes

• If you make estimated payments, the fourth payment for 2026 is due January 15, 2027, for both the IRS and Oregon. See estimated taxes for Oregon contractors.
• Match receipts to large purchases, and separate business and personal spending, before you meet your preparer.
• Ask your preparer about any equipment or vehicle you are thinking of buying before year-end, before you buy it.

6. Paperwork and records

• Contract notices. The CCB says you must keep proof that you delivered required residential notices for two years after the contract is entered into. File each job's signed contract, notices and change orders together.
• Unpaid jobs. Lien deadlines run from when you finished or stopped work, not from the new year. Review anything open now; see contractor invoicing and lien deadlines.
• Your CCB number on new marketing. The CCB requires the number on bids, contracts, advertising (including websites), business cards, site signs and business vehicles with signage, and lists a fine of up to $400 for leaving it off. Check any new ads, truck wraps or website for 2027.

7. Winter demolition jobs

The CCB's contractor tools page notes that Oregon DEQ rules require an asbestos survey by an accredited inspector before demolishing residential buildings built before January 1, 2004, with a copy kept on site. If you are lining up winter interior demo, build the survey into the schedule and the bid.

8. Plan 2027

• Review each job's numbers: bid vs actual for labor, materials and subs. Which kinds of work made money?
• Update your prices for 2027 using real costs. See how to price a remodel bid and the bid calculator.
• Forecast the slow months with a 13-week cash flow forecast so January's renewals, tax payments and lighter draws do not collide.
• Refresh your contract template against Oregon residential contract requirements and your change order form.
• Write down one process you repeat on every job, such as onboarding a sub or sending invoices, so it happens the same way next year.

Sources: CCB contractor tools, CCB continuing education, Oregon DOR withholding and payroll tax, Oregon DOR iWire and IRS Instructions for Forms 1099-MISC and 1099-NEC, checked Oct 20, 2026.