Where Schedule C's profit is carried, and where several of the largest deductions a self-employed person takes actually live — retirement contributions and health insurance among them. That placement is not cosmetic: a deduction here reduces income tax and leaves self-employment tax untouched.
Everything on this site that lands here
Each article declares the sheet its number ends up on, so this list is the writing itself rather than a summary of it.
| Read | Where it lands |
|---|---|
| The biggest deduction on your return is not on Schedule C | Line 16 — Self-employed retirement plans |
The official page
Everything here is written from the IRS's own material, and the place to check it is Schedule 1 on irs.gov. Figures and rules change; the source is what settles them.
This is educational material, not tax advice. Your own situation may turn on facts this page does not know about.