The sheet almost every reader of this site files. Gross receipts at the top, expenses by line in the middle, and one net profit at the bottom that carries to your return and to self-employment tax. Get a cost onto the wrong line and the deduction usually survives; get it onto the wrong schedule and it often does not.
Line by line, and what this site says about each
Every row below that carries an article is a rule read from the IRS page that publishes it. The one row that carries none says why.
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 1099-K threshold you think you know | Part I — Gross receipts |
| The 1099-NEC has new boxes | Part I — Gross receipts, with tips and overtime carrying to Schedule 1-A |
| Which 1099 describes your money? | Part I — Gross receipts |
| $600 or $2,000? Both are right | Part I — Gross receipts |
| A client held back 24% of your invoice | Part I — Gross receipts, with the 24% withheld claimed on Form 1040 |
| Retainage: earned, not received | Part I — Gross receipts |
| Two 1099s arrived for the same money | Part I — Gross receipts |
| The product they sent you for free is income | Part I — Gross receipts |
| A tick in box 2, and no number | Part I — Gross receipts — from your records, because the form carries no figure |
| A foreign agency sends no form, and the amount is not in dollars yet | Part I — Gross receipts, translated to dollars |
| Paid in crypto, you earned dollars | Part I — Gross receipts — at the coin's dollar value when it arrived |
| No 1099 arrived. You still owe the tax. | Part I — Gross receipts |
| Your books and your 1099s will not match | Part I — Gross receipts, and the expenses the gross is reduced by |
| The 1099 vs the commission cheque | Part I — Gross receipts, with commissions paid out on line 10 |
| The retainer you banked in December is December's income | Part I — Gross receipts |
| A state grant to your business is income | Part I — Line 6, other income — business income not reported elsewhere in Part I |
| The app reports what you were paid for, not what friends paid back | Part I — Gross receipts, when the app paid you for goods or services |
| Zelle sends no 1099-K. The income still counts. | Part I — Gross receipts, for what Zelle carried in payment for your goods or services |
| Your first drive of the shift is probably not deductible | Line 9 — Car and truck expenses |
| The mileage log that will not hold up | Line 9 — Car and truck expenses, with Part IV |
| The first year decides whether you ever get a choice | Line 9 — Car and truck expenses |
| The contract says contractor. The IRS reads the relationship. | Line 11 — Contract labor, if the worker really is a contractor |
| The year you hire a second shooter, you become the one issuing forms | Line 11 — Contract labor |
| The 1099s you should not send | Line 11 — Contract labor |
| The camera you also film your family with | Line 13 — Depreciation and section 179, via Form 4562 |
| Section 179 cannot take you below zero | Line 13 — Depreciation and section 179, via Form 4562 |
| Only part of your tax preparation fee is deductible. The rest is worth nothing. | Line 17 — Legal and professional services |
| The first phone line into your home is never deductible. The rest of the bill can be. | Lines 18, 22, 25 — Office expense, supplies, utilities |
| Nobody owes you a 1099 for chair rent | Line 20b — Rent or lease — other business property |
| The destination wedding you stayed on for | Line 24a — Travel — the business days of a trip that was also a holiday |
| The extension that taxes your stipends | Line 24a — Travel |
| The 50-mile rule is a myth | Line 24a — Travel |
| 80% meals, and the 2290 deadline | Line 24b — Deductible meals, with Form 2290 on line 23 |
| You cannot put yourself on the payroll. You can put your 16-year-old on it. | Line 26 — Wages, and nothing for amounts paid to yourself |
| The closing gift is capped at $25 per client | Line 27b — Other expenses, from Part V line 48 |
| Your CEUs are deductible. Your degree never was. | Line 27b — Other expenses, from Part V line 48 |
| The $2,500 line that decides your tool deductions | Line 27b — Other expenses, from Part V line 48 |
| The simplified option, reduced twice | Line 30 — Expenses for business use of your home — the line both methods end at |
| The hours you count are not the hours the children are there | Line 30 — Expenses for business use of your home, via Form 8829 |
| You work at client sites all day. Your home office can still qualify. | Line 30 — Expenses for business use of your home, via Form 8829 |
| Your home gym is not your principal place of business | Line 30 — Expenses for business use of your home, via Form 8829 |
| Three IRS pages, three inventory limits | Part III — Cost of goods sold — or not, if you take the exception |
| The stock you bought in December is not a December deduction | Part III — Cost of goods sold |
| Deductions for the self-employed, by where they land | Part II, for business costs — and two deductions that land elsewhere |
| You gave the money back. The 1099 was still right. | a business expense on the same schedule the income went on |
| Sole proprietor taxes: the business files nothing. | Profit or loss from the business, carried to Form 1040 |
The official page
Everything here is written from the IRS's own material, and the place to check it is Schedule C 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.